a continuation of Hunt for the Dragonlord, by Talonclawfange
buSection 4
Taig the Dragon/u/b
Link put a hand over part of the bite (his hand wasn't big enough to cover the entire thing), and dropped dizzily to his knees. While Link had been exerting himself battling the wolfoses, his quickened bloodflow had spread the poison of the Queen Tree throughout much of his body, and finally the effects of the poison were catching up with him. Link fell forward onto the ground. He was dimly aware of Raykel crouching by his side and asking him questions.
"Link are you okay?! It's the poison, isn't it?" Link's body was suddenly racked with pain, and he doubled up on the ground, groaning. "It's worse than I thought..." Raykel said. It was becoming quite painful for Raykel to put weight on his bitten leg, so he sat down next to Link. iThere has to be something I can do, THINK! /iRaykel looked around at his surroundings and searched his mind for something he could do, but found nothing. He knew Link had an enchanted Arlia plant with him, but that sort of thing healed slashes, small stabs, and bruises; not poison. Raykel continued to think, unable to take his eyes off of Link, who was breathing raggedly and still in a great deal of pain. Desperately Raykel dragged himself to his feet, grimacing as he was forced to put weight on his bitten leg. He completely forgot that he could heal himself with Link's Arlia as he began searching the ground for something that could help. He explored around the wolfos corpses and into the trees, but didn't find any trace of their backpacks, which would have been very useful.
Suddenly a dragon walked in front of him.
"Oh this isi exactly/i what I need right now!" Raykel growled, drawing his sword.
"Hey, hold it, pal! I'm not here to hurt you! If it wasn't for me, you would be tree food right now!" The dragon said. The dragon's voice was not yet deep, loud, and powerful like an adult dragon's, it was a young voice, like a teenager's.
"Tree food..? Do you mean to tell me that iyou're/i the one who set the Queen Tree's branches on fire and saved us?"
"That's me!" The dragon exclaimed triumphantly. "I am the Great Taig! Son of the King of Dragons who lives in the mountains!"
"I am Raykel, and I came from south of here. Thank you very much for helping, but my friend is in great danger now...would you happen to know how to counter the Queen Tree's poison?" Raykel asked hopefully.
"As a matter-of-fact I do! Where is this friend of yours?" The dragon asked, stepping closer to Raykel. The horse-sized dragon was shining red, with orange spikes down his spine. He had yellowish-gold wings and underbelly scales, and his eyes were a startling blue. His horns were large and slightly curved, and he wore two gold bracelets with blue jewels on the wrists of his forepaws. His talons were white, and his horns were mostly ivory colored, with tips of black.
"Follow me." Raykel said, and led Taig to Link. When they arrived, Taig's eyes widened in shock.
"Wow! How long has this guy been poisoned?! I'd better hurry..." Link was sweating freely and looked extremely pale. He was still grimacing in searing pain, and his breathing was getting alarmingly quick and shallow. Taig hurried over to him, and took out a pouch, which had been hooked to one of his bracelets. Raykel watched suspiciously.
iWho is this dragon? Did he really save us? If so, then why? Don't those bracelets mean the Dragonlord is controlling him? /iRaykel didn't like leaving Link to a dragon's healing, but he had no choice. If something wasn't done for Link immediately, he would surely be lost. Taig took some black powder out of the pouch and sprinkled it over the poisonous thorn's hole. It was hard to locate the small wound in the mess of blood running down Link's entire arm from the wolfos bite, but Taig was experienced at these things, and found it quickly enough.
"Will he be okay?" Raykel asked.
"Well, there's really no way to tell. Your friend went unconscious a moment ago...now all we can do is make sure he is warm and wait for him to wake up. If he does wake up, it should be in about two hours. In the meantime, you'll probably want to treat the other wounds he has...and your leg. You two must have fought an incredible battle after defeating the Queen Tree." Taig said, looking around at all of the wolfos corpses.
Raykel walked over to Link's still form and fished out the Arlia bud from his friend's belt. He first used it on Link's wolfos bite, which was bleeding more than any other wound, then the slashes on his chest. After that, Raykel used it on his own leg bite; following that with treating all of the small cuts and bruises both the Hylians had sustained from their battles against tree and wolf. While he was doing that, Taig was gathering all of the wolfos corpses into a pile. When Raykel had finished healing all of the wounds, he remembered Taig's advice about keeping Link warm, and looked around for their camping gear. Raykel remembered that they had put their stuff down before fighting the monster trees, but now he could not find it, and thought the wolves had probably run off with it. He decided that it wasn't very cold, anyway. Meanwhile, Taig had gathering all of the wolfos corpses into a pile, and was cutting them up with his claws and tailspike.
"What are you doing?" Raykel asked curiously.
"Heheh! Not only can the Great Taig heal, but he can also make Wolfos Steak! It's very delicious, you see. You can have as much as you want, and the other guy too, when he wakes up! Eh...if he wakes up, that is." Taig continued cleaning (not the washing kind, the kind you do to fish before eating them) the wolf corpses. Raykel thought eating wolfoses sounded gross, but then he realized how hungry he was, and decided that it might not be so bad to try something new, after all.
"So, Taig..." Raykel began, "Why did you save me and Link?"
"Link? Oh, you mean the poisoned guy. Well, ever since I decided to live in the forest by myself, the Queen Tree and its subordinates have tried to eat me. I come here regularly to eat wolfoses and rabbits, but those stinking trees eat most of them! In addition to that, every time I got close to those trees, they tried to wrap me in their vines and eat me as well!" The young dragon complained, "I am very grateful to you for destroying the Queen Tree."
"Link did it." Raykel said. "But saving us from the tree was a favor equal to us killing the Queen Tree, so why did you come back and heal Link? And why are you making us steak? I may be misinformed, but I've never heard of a dragon being so nice."
"To tell you the truth, killing the green wolfoses was a favor to me as well. Whenever I came across them while hunting for normal wolfoses, they attacked me! They were so much bigger, faster and smarter than ordinary wolfoses that I could never manage to beat them."
"That stinking, lying, Vux! He said he hadn't seen a dragon in a year!" Raykel growled.
"Vux? He was the really big one, right? He tried to eat me even more than the rest! Well now iwe're/i going to eat ihim!/i Hahahaahaaa!" Raykel gave Taig a strange look and he stopped laughing. "Eh, sorry. I get weird like that sometimes." By now Taig had laid all the wolfos meat on a big rock next to the corpses, and he began to breathe fire on the meat. Raykel watched wonderingly, thinking that the dragon was burning the stuff to a crisp. To his surprise, when the steady stream of fire coming from Taig's mouth stopped, the meat looked perfectly cooked.
"It's lunch time!" Taig said, but then realized it was getting dark, and looked up thought he canopy of tree branches. The bits and pieces of the sky he saw were pink and orange from the sun setting. "Eh, dinner time, I mean!" He corrected himself. He found a nice plate-like rock and breathed fire on it (killing the bacteria for sanitation), then he put some Wolfos Steak on it, and presented it to Raykel, proudly placing it on the ground in front of him. "Enjoy!" The dragon said, and watched him expectantly. By now Raykel trusted the dragon much more than he had before, but still didn't touch his food yet.
"Shouldn't the cook taste his own food first?" He questioned.
"Oh, of course! Silly me...but it's not like it's ipoisoned/i or anything." Taig ran over to the meat that was left on the big rock, and stuffed some into his mouth, smiling. Raykel then tried his steak, and found that it was delicious, even though it had no seasoning.
"Excellent, Taig." he complimented, looking over at Link, who still had not moved since the powder was given to him. "I hope Link wakes up soon so he can taste it..." Taig took some more steaks from the rock, leaving five or six, and sat next to Raykel to eat. Raykel asked, "By the way, Taig...do you think you could take Link and I to the mountains?"
"The mountains..." Taig thought a moment. "Well...I don't know..." he said uncertainly.
"What? Why not?" Raykel asked. "I thought dragons lived in the mountains."
"I don't really want to talk about it right now..."
"What's the matter, Taig? Is the forest dangerous between here and the mountains or something?"
"Well, actually yes. Very much so. I'm sure you've noticed that as you go farther into the forest, the canopy gets thicker. If we go much farther in, where it completely closes over, we will reach the very dangerous parts of this forest. There are creatures far worse than wolves there...some of the worst creatures are Shiftbats! Through all this danger, there is only one safe path. I do know the path...but I still don't want to go to the mountains...I can't talk about it now. Ask me when your friend wakes up - okay, Raykel?"
"Whatever you say..." Raykel agreed reluctantly. It had been more than two hours since Link had fallen, and Raykel was becoming very worried. He walked over to check his motionless friend's condition; finding that he had a pulse, but it was very faint. Raykel forced himself not to lose hope, and went back over to Taig, talking with him until it was time to retire for the night.
That night Taig insisted that he keep watch by himself, and Raykel was too tired to argue. The dragon kept a vigilant watch over the Hylians, but unfortunately Link still had not moved at all. Link's chest was rising only slightly as he breathed, and signs of life were barely perceptible. Taig turned away from the sight, looking into the forest. Later that night he could not hear Link's breathing at all. The dragon would have checked on him, but didn't have the heart. He feared the worst, and decided to wait until morning so Raykel could check Link himself.
Dawn came, and Raykel rose. The first thing he did was walk over to Link. Link was in the exact same position he had been in last night, and did not wake when Raykel called his name. Fearfully, Raykel reached a hand down and placed it on Link's neck, to check if the poor lad had a pulse.
Link jumped up from the ground instantly, nearly knocking over the surprised Raykel.
"Who? What? Where did those green squirrels go?!" Link demanded, still in dreamland.
"The boy's awake!" Raykel exclaimed happily. Link looked over at him.
"Eh? Oh, it was just a dream. Hi, Raykel!" he said, smiling.
"Are you okay? You seem to be well..."
"Okay? Hmmm..." Link thought a moment. "The last thing I remember was getting bitten by a wolfos...then...a dragon was leaning over me? What happened?"
"Good to see you this morning, Link." Taig said. Link, who hadn't seen him yet, jumped at the sound of his voice and turned around.
"A dragon!" Link said, drawing the Master Sword.
"Wait, Link!" Raykel said, getting in front of him. "Didn't you hear what the dragon said? He's on our side! His name is Taig, and he saved you from the Queen Tree's poison, and saved us both by lighting the tree's branches on fire! As for what happened...You fell unconscious after Vux bit you, remember?"
"Oh yeah...Thanks, Taig! Um, Sorry." He put the sword away. It might have been hard to believe the dragon wasn't just the same as the others he had encountered at some other time, but at that moment Link was too preoccupied with Zelda to bother with suspisions. "So...do you know anything about the Dragonlord, Taig? We have to save Zelda! She could be in big trouble right now!"
"Dragonlord? What's that?" Taig asked. Link sighed.
"That's too bad...I guess all we can do is keep traveling towards the Stalfos Swords."
"Staffloos Sords?" Taig cocked his head to one side.
"The mountains." Link said.
"Oh. I can't go with you..."
"Come on, Taig." Raykel urged, "You said you would tell me about the mountains and yourself when Link woke up."
"Oh, okay...well, you see...I am the son of Cirokaal, the King of Dragons, so you would think I would live with them, right? Well I ran away because my father is a jerk! He's supposed to be the King of Dragons, but he makes me do a bunch of stuff for him...and he never lets me go anywhere by myself! The only good thing he did for me was teach me how to survive in this forest, and he also taught me the only safe path through the dangerous part of it, but's that's all the good he was! And that's not the end of it! I really liked my mother, Sahoriel, but she went away and didn't even say good-bye to her own son! Father didn't do anything about it, either! As far as I'm concerned, my parents can live without me!"
"Taig, it sounds to me like you and your parents simply don't understand each other." Link said, "Have you ever told your father how you feel about him?"
"Well, not really."
"You see? You and your father just don't know each other's problems. Maybe if you go back and talk to him, your problems can be solved!" Link suggested.
"Hm...you really think we just don't understand each other? I never thought of that." The dragon said quietly.
"Also, your mother leaving without saying good-bye sounds very suspicious to me. Maybe your father didn't do anything because she didn't say bye to him either, and he doesn't know where she went. Did he even send a search party?"
"No...but your not supposed to send parties after members of royalty in dragon culture. It's considered disrespectful."
"So there was nothing he could do, if his wife just left without saying a word to anyone. I think the Dragonlord must have something to do with it. I also think we'll find him somewhere in the mountains; and if we do, we may find Zelda iand/i your mother!"
"Okay, you've convinced me. I'll take you to the mountains if it means my mom might be found..." The dragon's eyes were suddenly filled with moisture. "I...miss her so much..." Link walked over to the dragon and laid a comforting hand on his side.
"It's okay, Taig. While you go to your father we'll go to the Dragonlord if we find him. If your mom's there with Zelda, we'll save her, okay? You can be assured that Raykel and I will do everything we can...I really miss Zelda, too." Link said sadly. Taig dried his eyes.
"Well, what are we waiting for? I have father to talk to and you two have captives to save! Let's go to the mountains!" Link opened his mouth to agree, but suddenly the three companions heard a loud growling sound.
"The wolves are back!" Raykel said, looking around for them.
"Um...no they're not." Link said, scratching his head. "That was my stomach. I'm so hungry I could eat a wolfos!"
"And that you will!" Taig said excitedly, "We still have Wolfos Steak left over from last night! Finally, you will taste the Great Taig's superb cooking!" He ran over to the big rock and retrieved the last of the steaks. He warmed them up briefly with his fire, and the three ate a quick breakfast.
When they were done, they set off into the forest, Link and Raykel following Taig's lead. He seemed to know exactly where he was going, so no questions were asked about the path while the three traveled. Sometime in the middle of the trip, Taig mentioned:
"This is not only the safest path thought the forest, it's also the fastest. This way, it will only take one more day the reach the mountains. Any other way could take a week or more. Maybe much more, if you pick a very bad way. In a few hours we will reach a big rock, I like to call it the Shifting Like-like, because it looks kinda like one when it twists it's mouth over to eat you. We can stop there for the night, because it's the halfway point through the dangerous part the Ethereal Forest, or whatever you guys call it."
Like Taig said, the travelers reached the Shifting Like-like in a few hours, just before sunset. It was hard to tell it was sunset because the canopy of leaves was as solid as a roof, but Taig was very good at telling time in the middle of the forest. He said they had reached the Like-like just in time, for it was dangerous to walk even on the safe path at night, this deep in the woods. Taig ran off to go and catch dinner while Raykel and Link got firewood.
Despite the deathly silence of the woods, the companions had a cheerful dinner of some fruit and grizzly bear, which Taig said was his favorite food. After dinner it was time to sleep, and it was decided that Raykel would have the first watch, followed by Link, then Taig. The dragon and Link went to sleep under the overhanging part of the Shifting Like-like, but before he closed his eyes, Taig warned Raykel that there would be a lot of sounds in the forest, and to ignore them unless they sounded like they were very close. Taig then fell asleep immediately, but Link was just drifting off when he heard one of the sounds Taig had spoken of. It sounded like the crunching of bones, and the screaming of a small animal far away. Link found it even more difficult to sleep when he heard what sounded like the howling of a wolfos with a warped voice box. Then there was the humming of giant bug wings, and a ghostly moan. He covered his ears, trying hard to ignore the sounds and go to sleep. It was difficult, but he managed to get some rest after a while.
* * *
"I DON'T BELIEVE IT! How much will it take, you little brat?!" The Dragonlord yelled, slapping Zelda. "Give me the triforce, NOW!" Dakos cowered in the doorway of the cell. Zelda, secured to the stone wall by handcuffs, glared at the Dragonlord.
"I will inever/i place the triforce in the hands of an evil man. And I doi not/i believe you have killed Link. He is coming for me right now! I can feel it!"
"You can feel ithis/i, you stinking brat!" Zelda gasped as the Dragonlord's hand struck her face again. A tiny trickle of blood came from the side of her mouth.
"Force will only result in more frustration for you, Dragonlord. You can hit me as much as you want, and I will never give the Triforce of Wisdom to you." She said, staring him in the eye bravely.
"Arrggg! You'll be sorry you said that! If I can't slap the triforce out of you, I'll starve it out of you, heheheh. Hear that, Dakos? No more food or water for our stubbon prisoner, until she gives up the triforce!"
"bWhatever you say, Master./b" Dakos said, hanging his head in shame and fear. The Dragonlord grinned at Zelda.
"You see? I will have the triforce. If I can't starve it out of you, we'll try knives next. If torturing doesn't work, I'll eventually kill you to get it. I will have it. You are only delaying the inevitable." Zelda stared at him.
"You are not thinking straight. Whoever you are, you are human in there somewhere...all this violence is not going to help you, trust me."
"Don't try to preach to me, girly-girl! By the way, Link is very dead. I saw him die myself, and so did Dakos. He fell right off his horse, lifeless." The boy said, grinning. Dakos nodded.
"No he isn't!" Zelda argued, trying to beleive her own words. "He will defeat you, Dragonlord!!"
"No! I will NEVER fall! Link is dead, HAHAHAHAHA!" Continuing to laugh crazily, the Dragonlord and his pet dragon left the cell, taking the torch and locking the cell's door behind them. Zelda looked at the floor. iLink IS coming, isn't he? Maybe I'm only imagining that I feel his presence getting closer. Where IS he? He can't be dead...he just can't! /iZelda firmly kept herself from crying, and waited in darkness.
buSection 5
Bats and Cats/u/b
After Link and Taig's watching shifts were over, the dawn came, and the haunting sounds of the forest halted. There was still some grizzly left over from last night, so once again the three travelers had leftovers for breakfast. Once the short meal was ended, they pressed on. Taig led the way, talking about how he and his father didn't get along. After that, he started talking about other things, and Link realized he was just talking to counter the extreme silence of the dark forest. There were no birds, no butterflies, and no signs of life. Soon Taig got tired of talking, and lapsed into silence. Raykel and Link didn't talk either, and simply followed Taig, their thoughts wandering. Because of the darkness of the forest (there was barely enough light penetrating the ceiling of branches to see), Link did not see an object on the ground before he tripped on it.
"Yikes!" he exclaimed as he fell to his hands and knees, his yell startling the other two. Link got up, brushed himself off, and looked behind him to see what he had tripped on. He gasped, seeing that it was some bones. The bones of what, he could not tell.
"Are you okay?" Raykel asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Link said, "but I found a iskeleton!/i What was this creature before it died?" Link examined the bones. It looked like a creature with the claws and face of a cat, but a stature which was vaguely humanish, as if it was a cat who walked on it's hind legs; and it had bird-like wing bones, with a scattering of black feathers surrounding it. Taig walked over beside Link and looked at the bones.
"They're probably from a calwot." He said, "They are a tribe of creatures who live close to my clan and trade things with us, like food and metal and stuff. I never liked em' much, but then again I never really talked to them much, either. Since calwots live in the Stalfos Swords, this must mean we're getting close! In another couple hours, we should hit the mountains."
"Uh, Taig?"
"Yes, Link?"
"You said this is the safe path, right? So why is there a dead animal here? That must mean there's something close that has the power to kill a flying cat creature."
"Well, even on the safe path, this forest is never completely harmless. We'll just have to hope we don't find any monsters on our way out…especially a shiftbat!
"What exactly is a shiftbat?" Raykel inquired.
"It's a huge, bat-like monster that lives in small groups," Taig explained, "Some adults are even bigger than me! Their front appendages usually have claws, but they can shift the shape of the claws, so they can be serrated, like a knife, or shaped like teeth or spears…or anything they want, really. They are very aggressive, and the big ones only live on the border of the forests. The smaller ones can live farther in the forest, but they are still kinda big, for bats." Link and Raykel nodded, inwardly pledging to be on their guards. The small group continued through the forest, and nothing unusual happened for a few hours.
The light coming through the canopy of the trees was gradually increasing, meaning that they were close. They continued on, and soon the old familiar sounds of birds singing and insects chirping slowly returned. The group became less solem, knowing that they would soon be out of this huge forest. After about a half an hour or so of walking on, Taig, Link, and Raykel emerged into the sweet sunlight. The group heaved a collective sigh of gratefulness to be free of the Ethereal Forest.
Suddenly Taig let out a cry of dismay.
"What is it?" Raykel asked.
"I smell shiftbats!" Taig moaned, "And I hear them too! We're in trouble!" Before Taig could say more, Link and Raykel heard the flapping of leathery wings, and looked to the left. Coming around a bend of trees, were eight shiftbats of varying sizes. The biggest one was bigger than Taig, the second two biggest ones were about his size, the next size of bat was a little smaller, and the other four were about the size of a human. The shiftbats had heads that looked vaguely wolfish, and had large, black, bat wings. Their tails were long and furry, and their red eyes revealed their obvious bloodthirstyness. At that moment, each bat's feet looked like paws with three long, sharp, talons. The bats were upon the group in seconds, and immediately the two bats that were Taig's size flew at Taig. The dragon yelped in terror and flew away, the two bats pursuing. The bat that was bigger than Taig and two of the smaller ones flew at Link, and the other three went for Raykel.
Link braced himself as the first two bats reached him. The third bat, largest of all of them, hung back; apparently not considering itself needed to kill a human. The two bats clawed at Link with their eaglelike talons, but he held off their feet with his sword. After a few moments they got tired and flew backwards, to hover for a moment and rest. Link took out his bow and shot an arrow into the wing of one, and it fell to the ground, screeching in pain. The second one, infuriated, attacked with renewed strength. It transformed its feet into two large swordlike appendages, and swooped down at Link. Link brought up his shield and the shiftbat's legs were deflected, and Link managed to take a swing at the creature before it got away. He hit the shiftbat's legs above where the sword-like blades were protruding, and the bat screamed in rage, flying around for another pass. This time the bat turned it's feet into two trident-looking weapons, which were like spears branching off in three directions. The shiftbat flew above Link and dived for him, aiming its strange feet at his head. Not too smart. Link simply raised his sword above his head, and the monster could not pull up before it landed right on the blade and died. Link shook the bat off his sword, and turned to face the third and largest bat, which was now very angry.
As the bat began flying towards him, Link risked a glance twenty feet to the left, to check on Raykel's progress. It seemed that Raykel had killed or scared away the first bat, and the other two (one the size of a human, the other just a little smaller than Taig) were now tearing at him. He seemed to be having mostly success in his efforts to defend himself; however, he did have a few scratches on his armor, and a slash down the right side of his face. Link turned back to the large bat, about to reach him. The creature extended its claws, making them grow to twice their former size (the creature's claws had been about five inches long, now they were ten), and dived. This bat's legs were longer then the Master Sword, so the tactic Link had used on the previous bat would not work. Link raised his shield between himself and the huge claws meant for his head, and the talons clashed with it. This bat was a bit smarter than the others, and instead of giving Link time to retaliate, the beast grabbed his shield and flew into the air. Link's arm being attached to the shield, he went up with it.
"Yikes!!" Link yelled, clinging to his shield. The bat flew higher, and Link made the mistake of looking down.i Oh man, I'm going to fall! I hate heights! /iLink tore his eyes away from the ground, and focused on how he was going to get out of this mess. The first thing he did was sheath his sword and undo the straps binding his arm to the shield. He hung on the the side of the shield, dangling dangerously hundreds of feet above the ground. Link heard the bat-thing screech, and knew it was going to try and drop him. Link grabbed and held onto the bat's left ankle, just as it opened its oversized claws, and the Hylian Shield plummeted to the earth. The bat looked down at its feet, and glowered at Link.
Hissing, it tried to stick the claws of it's right foot into him. Link drew his sword and parried the bat's claws. Link soon cut the bat's right leg, and it nearly fell out of the sky, screeching in pain. While the bat stopped concentrating on Link and tried to fly strait, Link climbed up its leg and onto its back. Once the creature had gained control of itself, it began to do barrel-rolls, trying to make Link fall off its back. Link clung tightly to the bat's fur, not wanting to think about what would happen if he fell from this far up. Link tried to think of a plan to get back to the ground, but had no idea what he could do. If he hurt or killed the shiftbat, they would both fall. If he just sat there, the thing might carry him to its nest or something. While Link was thinking, the bat, in its futile attempts to shake him off, did some sharp turns and flew back over to whaere Raykel was fighting. Link saw him, three or four hundred feet below, battling the last bat out of the three which had attacked him. It was bigger then the first two he had defeated, and was definately larger than he was. The shiftbat's appendages were shaped like swords, and Raykel was doing his best to fend them off, but it was clear, even from a great height, that Raykel was wounded and tired.
iI have to go help him! /iLink thought, but still could not come up with a way. iWhere's Taig when you need him?/i Link wondered, thinking the dragon would be a great help at the moment. Link was still watching the heated fight between Raykel and the shiftbat, when suddenly Raykel made a fatal mistake in blocking. The bat hit Raykel's longsword out of his hand and drove one of its long, sharp, appendages through his chest. The blade easily pierced Raykel's armor, and Raykel screamed in terrible pain, falling to one knee.
"RAYKEL!" Link yelled, seeing his friend's attacking bat grin and shove its blade so far into Raykel's chest it came out of the other side of his back. The rock beneath them was speckled with bright blood. Link screamed in anger, and took out his bow. As the bat he was riding on did another barrel-roll, Link shot an arrow into the back of the shiftbat stabbing Raykel. Its sword-foot was pulled out of Raykel as it fell to the ground, lifeless. "Okay, bat," Link said, talking to the one he was riding,"You better take me down now, or you're history!" He drew his sword and held it above his bat's back. The shiftbat stopped doing barrel-rolls and screamed it's rage at Link. It tried to shake him off with more sharp turns, so Link drove his sword into it's shoulder. Bat screeching, Hylian yelling, they both plummeted to the earth. The bat hit the ground first, and since Link was still holding onto its back, it broke his fall. Recovering from the fall, Link quickly jumped off of the bat (after yanking his sword out of it's shoulder, wiping it quickly on the dead thing's fur, and putting the sword away) and dashed over to Raykel, who had collapsed. Link knelt next to him, and put a hand under his back, holding him in a semi-sitting position.
"Raykel, say something!" Link said loudly, digging for the Arlia in his belt.
"Link..." Raykel whispered, "You must go on without me...and save...the princess..." blood was dripping from his mouth.
"No! You're going to be okay, Raykel!" Link rubbed the Arlia on the huge sword wound, but the Arlia, not being especially powerful on those kinds of wounds, did not heal much. Link's hand that was holding Raykel was being drenched with blood, and Link turned Raykel over so he could use Arlia on the wound from the back, as he had on the front. Link then ripped off the top of his tunic, making some large bandages. Link looked down, and from the amount of blood spilling onto the rock on which he and Raykel were sitting, he knew Raykel would not make it without more help than Arlia and bandages could give. Despite this, he concentrated on tying the bandages over the bloody wound, ignoring a noise he heard behind him.
The first shiftbat Link had wounded with an arrow was sneaking up behind him, hoping to kill him quickly with a sharp leg before he could turn around. It's razorlike appendage gleamed sharply in the sunlight as it held it over Link's back. Link and the bat sneaking up behind him were facing the forest; and just as the shiftbat was about to make its move, a big red blur leaped out of the trees, sailed over Link and Raykel, and crushed the bat as it landed on the beast. Taig the dragon turned towards Link.
"Taig to the rescue! What would you humans do without the Great Taig?! I lost those other two bats easily in the forest, retaining minor damage, and came back just to save you! I-" Taig stopped in mid-sentence as he saw Raykel. "Uh-oh! Raykel's hurt! What are we going to do?" Taig lened over Link's shoulder, inspecting the damage. "Oh, wow...that's really bad. That looks like something really, really bad!"
"Taig, listen. Is the there any villages really close to here? The Arlia's healing will help Raykel live for a little while...but if we don't get him to some better healing quick, he'll die in less than half an hour." Link estimated.
"Yes, there is! The village of the calwots, Catalin, is about fifteen minutes away by air. Get Raykel and yourself on my back!"
"Can you carry us both?" Link asked, hauling Raykel's now unconscious form to the dragon.
"Am I the son of Cirokaal and Sahoriel or not? I am a prince, I can fly anywhere with any weight on my powerful wings!" Link had gotten Raykel and himself on the dragon now, and Taig tried to lift off. He hovered two feet off the ground, then dropped back down. "Sheesh! Just how much do you people eat, anyway? Uh, just a minute...I can get us in the air, no problem!" This time Taig got a running start, then lifted off the ground. He flew high, beating his wings as quick as they would go, and in ten or so minutes the three companions reached the top of the mountain; which was shrouded in clouds and mist, and littered with huge trees. Link held onto Raykel and tried not to look down, worried that Taig would get tired and fall out of the sky. Taig was breathing extrmely heavily, from tiredness and the thin air of high altitudes.
"Almost...there..." He huffed. "A couple...more minutes..." Panting, the dragon turned left. In about six minutes of slow, labored flying the dragon reached a village. A creature unlike any creature Link had ever seen flew past them. It was a big, leopard-marked cat, with white bird wings! iThat must be a calwot!/i Link knew. It was also wearing some strange clothes and had a long, pointed tail; shaped somewhat like a lizard's tail, but covered in fur. By now Raykel's blood had poured through bandages and past Link's hand, and was covering Taig's back. The blood-soaked dragon flew into the village and landed wearily in front of a calwot's hut, collapsing on the spot. Five or six calwots that had been walking around (on their hind legs) saw the grusome mess of a dragon, and hurried over. Three calwots were of the same build and had the same white wings as the one which had flown past Taig, but the other three were taller and more muscular, with longer tails and black bird wings. They only had clothes on their bottom halfs, and Link thought they must be males. The male calwots were all solid colors, one white, one black, the other brown; but the female calwots had markings. All six ran over to the resting Taig, and one calwot, the black-furred male, spoke.
"Two half-dead Hylians and the King Dragon's missing son? Just what the heck is going on here?" He looked at Link suspiciousy with his green cat eyes. His 'clothes' consisted of a metal-studded leather belt from which hung some leathery yet soft-looking material. His was not jet black, but a kind of ivery/i dark gray. His long tail twitched expectantly.
"We've been attacked by shiftbats," Link said, feeling a little strange talking to a cat. "My name is Link, you obviously know Taig, and this man here is Raykel. He is very badly hurt...do you think you could help him, please?" The male calwot was still giving him a suspicious look, but then a female calwot, with white fur and black cheetah spots, stepped in front of him. The clothes on her bottom half were like the male's, but on her top half there were two belt-like, metal-studded strips of material crossed over her torso, with cloth stretched between them to cover her chest. Her eyes were a golden green, and her long, white wings looked almost silvery as they caught the sunlight.
"Of course we'll help!" She said, looking irritably at the black male. The black male nodded, and walked over to Link, taking Raykel from him. The seven-foot-tall, very strong cat had no trouble carrying Raykel, and ran towards a large hut to the left of Taig. The female calwot stepped over to Link as he jumped off of Taig's back.
"Sorry about Coflix, he's always like that. Well well, a Hylian! I haven't seen one of you since I was four, and now two of you drop right into our village! I am Saroe," The cheetah-spotted cat said, offering a paw-like hand. Link shook it. Saroe kept talking, ignoring the fact that she got blood on her paw from Link's hand. "I alway wanted to use that human greeting gesture, ever since I was a kitten! We study Hylians in school here, you know. Dragons, griffons, Gorons and Zoras, too...many creatures. By the way...according to our books, you strange human males wear clothing on your chest...why don't you have some?"
"Well..." The embarrassed Link explained, "I had to tear it off for bandages..."
"Oh! No problem! I've got you covered, literally!" The calwot chanted some spell, and instantly Link's tunic was like new. "There you go! Us calwots have very good magic here. I'm sure your friend...Raykel, was it?...will be healed in a few days, so don't be worried about him."
"Thank you very much." Link said, "Is there anything I can do for you in return?"
"Not really, but I will have to take you to the King Calwot, Feelack. All foreigners must see him. But you can do that tomorrow, after we get your friend on his way of healing. Let's go check on him, shall we?" Saroe had completely forgotten Taig, who spoke up.
"Hey, Link. I'm going to rest here a few moments, then fly to the dragon's village. I'll probably be gone by the time you get back, so bye."
"See you sometime, Taig." Link said, walking over to him. "I can't thank you enough for your help." Taig smiled happily.
"Aw, come here, you little Hylian!" He said, grabbing Link and giving him a hug. "Hopefully the next time we meet, my mom will be saved. See ya!" He released the human, and Link, waving to the dragon, left with Saroe.
After seeing that Raykel was situated and had the proper spells put on him, Saroe got Link some food and then took him to one of the guest rooms in her own house (there were some extremely large trees growing in Catalin, and Saroe's house was one of the many built in the branches of these enourmous trees), since it was almost susnset.
"Are you sure you want me to sleep in your house? You don't even know me!" Link pointed out, "But don't get me wrong...I am very grateful."
"If I didn't take you in, I don't know if anyone would. Calwots are very loving and compassionate towards their own kind, but are suspicious of other races by nature. We've been living next to the dragons for over forty years, but we just started trading goods with them ten years ago; all because of our natural suspicion! It's ridiculous! I must be the only calwot in Catalin who doesn't think other species are lesser creatures than us."
"Hmm...well, I'm glad you were around when Taig landed, then." Link said, staring around at the huge tree houses.
"You're just lucky, I guess. Speaking of Taig and dragons, the King dragon is being very disagreeable...first the Queen and then his son left, and now he's accusing ius/i of stealing Taig? What reason would a calwot have for taking his son? I don't know if peace between our tribes will endure...hopefully Taig can calm down his father."
"Well, I talked him into speaking with his dad, at least." Link told her.
"Good. Well, I think you should be washed up before you go to sleep. Silly me, I should have had you cleaned before you ate! Shiftbats are known to carry many forms of unpleasant bacteria, you know."
"Okay...but where can I wash?"
"Where? You silly human!" She said, muffling a giggle with her paw. "I will wash you with my magic." The confused Link sat still as Saroe performed another spell, this time purging his entire body of dirt and harmful bacteria.
"Hey, cool! Is there anything you calwots ican't/i do with a magic spell?" Link asked.
"Well," Saroe replied, "We calwots do not posess either light magic nor dark magic, and we can't teleport or anything really fancy like that; but just about everything else...some calwot in Catalin is bound to have a spell for. I was a mother calwot a few years ago...and you'd be suprised how fast kittens get dirty and rip their clothes! That's why I quickly learned the two spells I used on you."
"I see. Are you sure there's nothing I can do for you? I feel like I'm taking advantage of you or something!"
"Heheh, don't worry, you're not. All the things I did for you, I did because I wanted to do them. If you really want to do something for someone, do it for the King. He'll trust you faster if you do things for him. Anyway, it's about time for bed. I'll be in my nest two doors down, so call if you need anything."
"Okay. Thanks again." Link said, and the calwot simply nodded and left. Link needed nothing at the moment, so he laid down on the soft bed, made of a calwot feather mattress supported by a metal frame. It was extremely comfortable, and Link fell asleep quickly. At first he slept peacefully, but then his dreams were overtaken by nightmares of what could be happening to Zelda. Even his subcounscious was worried about her now, not a good sign. The next morning Link arose early, eager to be on his way.
buSection 6
Trustworthyness and The Dragonlord's Fortress/u/b
"So, this is Link the Hylian?" The aged, jet-black King of the calwots, Feelack, looked down at Link from his metal throne. Link kneeled.
"Yes, I come from the kingdom of Hyrule, but I'm sure you know about that. Saroe told me you study Hylians. Your Majesty, I would like to know if there is anything I can do to repay your kindness shown to Raykel and I."
"As a matter-of-fact, there is something you can do; If you have certain qualities, that is. The last human that came here could not do this favor for me, and as you've probably been told, I don't trust humans very easily; so it took a while for me to trust her. If iyou/i can do this, I will know you are trustworthy."
"Huh? I don't understand!" Link said.
"Then be quiet while I explain, human!" The King took a deep breath. "There is a black creature that had recently decided to inhabit the mines deep in this mountain upon which we stand. These mines are the source of an ore calwots use to make many metal things, including weapons and armor. There is also gold in that mine, and metal and gold are the main things we trade to the dragons, so they are very important. This black creature who inhabits the mines kills any mining calwot who comes in contact with it, because it can't be killed by anything but light magic, something us calwots don't have. Now do you understand? You must destroy this monster, and if you can do it you must have light magic, and only good, trustworthy creatures possess that. Of course if a creature does not posses it, such as a calwot, it does not mean that they iaren't/i trustworthy!"
"Um, Ii think/i I understand." Link said. "I kill a monster in your mines, and you'll trust me."
"Silly humans...always in such a hurry to say things that they leave out important details. iYes/i, in a nutshell, that's what I just said."
"Alright! I'll be glad to get rid of it if it's evil. Where are these mines?" Link inquired.
"A guard will take you. Coflix! Come here and take this human to the entrance to the mines. Don't go inside yourself, understand?"
"Yes, sire." A black male calwot stepped forward. Link recognized this calwot to be the one who had carried Raykel to get healed yesterday. The cat took Link to the mines, and Link entered by himself.
The mines were very dark, absent of the torches which would usually light them, because they were completely abandoned. Link lit a fire arrow, and continued fearlessly into the mine's black tunnels. After perhaps an hour of wandering, Link knew he would get lost soon if he didn't turn around, so he did. As he entered the tunnel he had just exited, he heard a hissing sound behind him. Link turned quickly, dropping his fire arrow and fitting a light one to his bowstring, aiming at the dark form in front of him. The light from the arrow illuminated a huge, hideous creature. It was completely black, and it's twisted skin crawled as if alive. It had seven tentacles spread out in differend directions. It had two glowing, red eyes, which pierced Link's soul as he stared into them.
Link knew this was a creature of fear. It first intimidated it's opponents by it's huge blackness and horrifying form, then tried to hypnotize them with fear by means of it's great, red eyes. Now it stared into Link's.
"iKneel before me, pathetic creature of light!/i" The monster's raspy voice demanded, "iI control the blackness of fear, and the sun's children are no match for me! Kneel and die!/i" The eyes glowed more intensley, trying to pry into Link's soul and force him to surrender himself to the monster.
Link, however, was not impressed. He released the light arrow into the monster's forehead (or the crawling mass of skin above it's eyes, which Linki assumed/i was it's forehead); and it reared back in pain, it's tentacles reaching for Link in a last attempt to destroy him before it died. Before the creature's appendages could reach Link, it shuddered and collapsed, quickly disintegrating into a pile of ash. iWell, THAT was't so hard! /iLink thought. iIt would have been an easy task for the calwots to kill the beast themselves if they posessed any light magic at all. Oh well, maybe I can finally concentrate on saving Zelda and the Dragon Queen now! /i
Link quickly found his way out of the mines, to the waiting Coflix.
"Well, well. I must admit I never thought I would see you again." The calwot said in it's calm voice. "Perhaps I underestimated you. I am sorry for my rudeness in the past. It is an honor to finally meet you, Hero of Time." The cat extended a paw to shake.
"Huh? How did you know?" Link, perplexed, shook the cat's paw-like hand.
"I never thought I would use this human greeting...But like I said, it is an honor. The woman who came here and left a few days ago said that the Hero of Time was approaching our village. Even though she could not beat the monster in the mines, she assured myself and the King that the Hero of Time could defeat it easily. Oh yeah, she also said your name was Link."
"If you and the King already knew my name was Link, and I was the Hero of Time, why didn't you just trust me in the first place?"
"The King had to test you. Plus we ireally/i needed the monster to be destroyed, heheh. Let's get back to the King."
"I would have killed it anyway, if the King just asked! Wait a sec...just who was this woman who knew me, anyway? It couldn't be Zelda..."
"I can't tell you. It is a calwot rule not devulge any information about a person unless they say you can. The woman said I could only tell you that you know her, and what she said about you." With that, the two returned to the King. Saroe was waiting there, and her and Coflix briefly licked eachother's snouts, the calwot greeting. Link told the King what happened in the mines.
"Well, you have indeed proven yourself, Link. Or should I say 'Hero of Time'? The humans have such interesting titles." The King stated, "You have done us a favor that we can't repay easily, even with the hospitality and such; so it is my turn to ask: what can the calwot tribe do for you?"
"Um, well you see my friend's been kidnapped by a dragon, and I've already wasted a lot of time getting to this mountain, so please say you can tell me something about the Dragonlord!"
"Dragonlord? The only Lord of Dragons I know is Cirokaal."
"Oh no! You don't know of the Dragonlord? If I don't find Zelda soon, terrible things might happen to her, maybe terrible things are happening now! Tell me, has anything unusual happened lately, other than the disappearance of Cirokaal's family?"
"Actually, yes. A huge, black cloud is curently floating on the other side of the mountain, and it's been there a very long time, ever since Sahoriel vanished. If you wish, some calwots can take you. Nothing is really known about the cloud, though. Calwot and dragon alike have not investigated it since it is far away and not causing any problems. It's just a cloud, after all."
"That's the ionly/i strange thing you know of?"
"Other than Cirokaal and the dragons' rudeness, yes." The King said. Link was a little dissapointed, but decided not to give up. At least he could investigate this cloud. It iwas/i very unusual for a black cloud to stay in one place for long amounts of time.
"I'll leave immediately." Link said.
"Are you certain? I don't usually tell information about other creatures, but I must tell you this: the last person taken to the cloud by a calwot a few days ago has not returned yet. The calwot disobeyed my orders not to go into the cloud, and has not returned either."
"I'm certain. There is something very suspicious-sounding about this cloud." Link said.
"As you wish. Since Saroe and Coflix are the only calwots other than myself who are acquainted to you, they will take you." Feelack turned to the two, who were standing to the side. "Do you two have anything to do right now? If not, take Link to the cloud. Even if he dies, do not enter yourselves." The King ordered.
"Yes, Your Majesty." They said in unison, bowing. Link turned to the King.
"Thank you. I wont die in there, okay? I will be back so Raykel and I, and hopefully Zelda, can go back to Hyrule. By the way, do you and your clan want to be part of Hyrule?"
"You know, humans, although silly and ambitious creatures, have always been an interest of mine...even if it doesn't show. Hyrule does have a lot of goods us calwots could use...such as bombs, potions..." The King stroked his wiskers thoughtfully. "We could even learn to use some of the weapons made there for more efficient hunting. Using spells for everything can be mentally exhausting. I think maybe it's time for the calwots to come out of our shell. The citizens of Catalin will vote, and if the majority agree with it, calwots will go with you when you go back to Hyrule, and negotiate with your King. It sounds good to me."
"Alright! The more, the merrier, as far as the King of Hyrule is concerned. I know him personally, he's very nice." Link said. After a brief farewell, Saroe and Coflix each took one of Link's arms. iMore flying high above the ground./i Link made a sour face. iHow NICE. Heights just can' t leave me alone lately, can they? /iLink thought unhappily, but there was no other way. The cats lifted off and flew out of Catalin, towards the other side of the mountains, on to the pitch black enigma of a cloud.
Darkness enveloped the calwots and Hylian as they entered the thick darkness of the cloud. After flying a few minutes in ominous silence, Coflix spoke.
"Saroe, you know we can't go much farther in..." he said.
"Oh, cut it out, Coflix! You're always like this! We'll go until we have a reason to stop and turn around!" Saroe hissed.
"What?! We can't do that! The King's orders..."
"Listen Coflix, I know our King is wise, but in this case he wants us to go back to Catalin and leave Link alone because he doesn't care what happens to him! Well iIido! If you don't like it, you go back; because I can carry him by myself!" She growled. Coflix thought a moment.
"You're lucky I'm your friend, Saroe." he said with a smile.
"Heheh, I know. I'm pressing my luck, but I'm just so sick and tired of calwot racism. You care about humans, don't you?"
"I suppose..."
"Well they would be mighty dissapointed if we dropped their 'hero' halfway into a black cloud and left! I wish the King could see things my way..."
"I guess, but I don't think Catalin would like 'your way' very much, even if the King did. The citizens don't respect the King as much as they did when he was young and strong. I don't even think they will vote for calwots going to Hyrule, despite the good reasons to do so. Perhaps things would be different if Feelock were King."
"Who's that?" Link asked, releived that they weren't yelling anymore. An altercation between the cats could result in a certain Hylian being dropped, and Link didn't want to imagine that; he was having enough trouble keeping himself from looking down. He looked up at Coflix, wating for an answer.
"Feelock is Feelack's, or the King's, only son. He's an only child because the King refused to have kittens with any cat but his life mate, who died after having Feelock. Feelock would be King right now, but he isn't around. The old King mantains his beleif that Feelock will return to take his place as the new King before Feelack gets too old...but I don't believe it."
"Why would Feelock just leave like that? Did he not want to be King or something?" Link questioned. Coflix explained.
"No one really knows why the King's son left. It was like when Taig and Sahoriel dissappeared, without a good-bye. Back when Feelock was born, he was a good kitten, growing into a strong leader, but during his teen years, about five years ago, he got rebellious. Nothing very serious happened between father and son until one day Feelock just left."
"That's sad. I wonder if Ganondorf had anything to do with it? He was in power five years ago."
"We don't think so. Calwots left him alone and he left us alone."
"It ticks me off!" Saroe interrupted, "We should have helped the humans and fought Ganondorf! I would have gone and helped myself if I hadn't been a mother cat back then! Children can be such big responsibilities...but I think I'll have another two or three next year anyway..."
"With who?" Link asked curiously. "I didn't see a husband in your house."
"Calwots choose mates in a way closer to cat tradition than human and dragon tradition. We don't have a set-for-life mate unless we really want one. I don't have one because I just want kittens, not a male to bother me all the time. Kittens stay with their mother for two to five years, then they leave; except Royalty who of course stick with the family. My kittens left only a year ago...I miss them!" Link looked forward into the cloud. iThat changing mate thing is pretty nasty,/i He thought, but didn't dare say it out loud to the two cats who could drop him if they wanted to. Besides, he didn't want to be rude. As he was looking into the blackness of the cloud, he saw something.
"Hey, guys! There's a...hm...is that a building? I see torches." Link pointed, and the cats flew in the that direction.
"It seems to be a structure of some sort." Coflix said. The two cats and the human flew towards the mysterious form, and as it materialized out of the clouds, they saw that it was indeed a building. Or the front of one, at least. What they saw was an enourmous doorway, big enough for a large dragon, set into an exceptionally large wall. Huge stairs ran up to the door, and the front of the structure was so big it disappeared into the clouds on all four sides, so it was impossible to determine the true size of the fortress. All of it was made of black stone, almost blending in with the dark clouds. It would have been extremely difficult to spot if not for the huge torches on either sides of the door. The cats landed on the top of the big stairs and put Link down.
"This builing must be floating in the cloud, cool! Wow, this building looks big enough for dragons to me! It ihas/i to be the Dragonlord's fortress!" Link said, seeing that each stair was half as tall as him.
"I am afraid we must wait for you here." Saroe said. "We can bend the rules, but not break them. We might be put in jail for disobeying direct orders from the King if we advance any further. How long do you think you'll be in there?" She asked.
"I have no idea." Link said. "In the worst case scenario, I'd say a day."
"What? We can't wait that long!" Coflix protested.
"We can and we will!" Saroe firmly declared. "If we don't go in with him, the least we can do is stay here and not leave him stranded!"
"Okay..." Coflix reluctantly agreed.
"Thank you both. I will be back." With that, Link turned to the great door, and enterred the fortress of the Dragonlord.
buSection 4
Taig the Dragon/u/b
Link put a hand over part of the bite (his hand wasn't big enough to cover the entire thing), and dropped dizzily to his knees. While Link had been exerting himself battling the wolfoses, his quickened bloodflow had spread the poison of the Queen Tree throughout much of his body, and finally the effects of the poison were catching up with him. Link fell forward onto the ground. He was dimly aware of Raykel crouching by his side and asking him questions.
"Link are you okay?! It's the poison, isn't it?" Link's body was suddenly racked with pain, and he doubled up on the ground, groaning. "It's worse than I thought..." Raykel said. It was becoming quite painful for Raykel to put weight on his bitten leg, so he sat down next to Link. iThere has to be something I can do, THINK! /iRaykel looked around at his surroundings and searched his mind for something he could do, but found nothing. He knew Link had an enchanted Arlia plant with him, but that sort of thing healed slashes, small stabs, and bruises; not poison. Raykel continued to think, unable to take his eyes off of Link, who was breathing raggedly and still in a great deal of pain. Desperately Raykel dragged himself to his feet, grimacing as he was forced to put weight on his bitten leg. He completely forgot that he could heal himself with Link's Arlia as he began searching the ground for something that could help. He explored around the wolfos corpses and into the trees, but didn't find any trace of their backpacks, which would have been very useful.
Suddenly a dragon walked in front of him.
"Oh this isi exactly/i what I need right now!" Raykel growled, drawing his sword.
"Hey, hold it, pal! I'm not here to hurt you! If it wasn't for me, you would be tree food right now!" The dragon said. The dragon's voice was not yet deep, loud, and powerful like an adult dragon's, it was a young voice, like a teenager's.
"Tree food..? Do you mean to tell me that iyou're/i the one who set the Queen Tree's branches on fire and saved us?"
"That's me!" The dragon exclaimed triumphantly. "I am the Great Taig! Son of the King of Dragons who lives in the mountains!"
"I am Raykel, and I came from south of here. Thank you very much for helping, but my friend is in great danger now...would you happen to know how to counter the Queen Tree's poison?" Raykel asked hopefully.
"As a matter-of-fact I do! Where is this friend of yours?" The dragon asked, stepping closer to Raykel. The horse-sized dragon was shining red, with orange spikes down his spine. He had yellowish-gold wings and underbelly scales, and his eyes were a startling blue. His horns were large and slightly curved, and he wore two gold bracelets with blue jewels on the wrists of his forepaws. His talons were white, and his horns were mostly ivory colored, with tips of black.
"Follow me." Raykel said, and led Taig to Link. When they arrived, Taig's eyes widened in shock.
"Wow! How long has this guy been poisoned?! I'd better hurry..." Link was sweating freely and looked extremely pale. He was still grimacing in searing pain, and his breathing was getting alarmingly quick and shallow. Taig hurried over to him, and took out a pouch, which had been hooked to one of his bracelets. Raykel watched suspiciously.
iWho is this dragon? Did he really save us? If so, then why? Don't those bracelets mean the Dragonlord is controlling him? /iRaykel didn't like leaving Link to a dragon's healing, but he had no choice. If something wasn't done for Link immediately, he would surely be lost. Taig took some black powder out of the pouch and sprinkled it over the poisonous thorn's hole. It was hard to locate the small wound in the mess of blood running down Link's entire arm from the wolfos bite, but Taig was experienced at these things, and found it quickly enough.
"Will he be okay?" Raykel asked.
"Well, there's really no way to tell. Your friend went unconscious a moment ago...now all we can do is make sure he is warm and wait for him to wake up. If he does wake up, it should be in about two hours. In the meantime, you'll probably want to treat the other wounds he has...and your leg. You two must have fought an incredible battle after defeating the Queen Tree." Taig said, looking around at all of the wolfos corpses.
Raykel walked over to Link's still form and fished out the Arlia bud from his friend's belt. He first used it on Link's wolfos bite, which was bleeding more than any other wound, then the slashes on his chest. After that, Raykel used it on his own leg bite; following that with treating all of the small cuts and bruises both the Hylians had sustained from their battles against tree and wolf. While he was doing that, Taig was gathering all of the wolfos corpses into a pile. When Raykel had finished healing all of the wounds, he remembered Taig's advice about keeping Link warm, and looked around for their camping gear. Raykel remembered that they had put their stuff down before fighting the monster trees, but now he could not find it, and thought the wolves had probably run off with it. He decided that it wasn't very cold, anyway. Meanwhile, Taig had gathering all of the wolfos corpses into a pile, and was cutting them up with his claws and tailspike.
"What are you doing?" Raykel asked curiously.
"Heheh! Not only can the Great Taig heal, but he can also make Wolfos Steak! It's very delicious, you see. You can have as much as you want, and the other guy too, when he wakes up! Eh...if he wakes up, that is." Taig continued cleaning (not the washing kind, the kind you do to fish before eating them) the wolf corpses. Raykel thought eating wolfoses sounded gross, but then he realized how hungry he was, and decided that it might not be so bad to try something new, after all.
"So, Taig..." Raykel began, "Why did you save me and Link?"
"Link? Oh, you mean the poisoned guy. Well, ever since I decided to live in the forest by myself, the Queen Tree and its subordinates have tried to eat me. I come here regularly to eat wolfoses and rabbits, but those stinking trees eat most of them! In addition to that, every time I got close to those trees, they tried to wrap me in their vines and eat me as well!" The young dragon complained, "I am very grateful to you for destroying the Queen Tree."
"Link did it." Raykel said. "But saving us from the tree was a favor equal to us killing the Queen Tree, so why did you come back and heal Link? And why are you making us steak? I may be misinformed, but I've never heard of a dragon being so nice."
"To tell you the truth, killing the green wolfoses was a favor to me as well. Whenever I came across them while hunting for normal wolfoses, they attacked me! They were so much bigger, faster and smarter than ordinary wolfoses that I could never manage to beat them."
"That stinking, lying, Vux! He said he hadn't seen a dragon in a year!" Raykel growled.
"Vux? He was the really big one, right? He tried to eat me even more than the rest! Well now iwe're/i going to eat ihim!/i Hahahaahaaa!" Raykel gave Taig a strange look and he stopped laughing. "Eh, sorry. I get weird like that sometimes." By now Taig had laid all the wolfos meat on a big rock next to the corpses, and he began to breathe fire on the meat. Raykel watched wonderingly, thinking that the dragon was burning the stuff to a crisp. To his surprise, when the steady stream of fire coming from Taig's mouth stopped, the meat looked perfectly cooked.
"It's lunch time!" Taig said, but then realized it was getting dark, and looked up thought he canopy of tree branches. The bits and pieces of the sky he saw were pink and orange from the sun setting. "Eh, dinner time, I mean!" He corrected himself. He found a nice plate-like rock and breathed fire on it (killing the bacteria for sanitation), then he put some Wolfos Steak on it, and presented it to Raykel, proudly placing it on the ground in front of him. "Enjoy!" The dragon said, and watched him expectantly. By now Raykel trusted the dragon much more than he had before, but still didn't touch his food yet.
"Shouldn't the cook taste his own food first?" He questioned.
"Oh, of course! Silly me...but it's not like it's ipoisoned/i or anything." Taig ran over to the meat that was left on the big rock, and stuffed some into his mouth, smiling. Raykel then tried his steak, and found that it was delicious, even though it had no seasoning.
"Excellent, Taig." he complimented, looking over at Link, who still had not moved since the powder was given to him. "I hope Link wakes up soon so he can taste it..." Taig took some more steaks from the rock, leaving five or six, and sat next to Raykel to eat. Raykel asked, "By the way, Taig...do you think you could take Link and I to the mountains?"
"The mountains..." Taig thought a moment. "Well...I don't know..." he said uncertainly.
"What? Why not?" Raykel asked. "I thought dragons lived in the mountains."
"I don't really want to talk about it right now..."
"What's the matter, Taig? Is the forest dangerous between here and the mountains or something?"
"Well, actually yes. Very much so. I'm sure you've noticed that as you go farther into the forest, the canopy gets thicker. If we go much farther in, where it completely closes over, we will reach the very dangerous parts of this forest. There are creatures far worse than wolves there...some of the worst creatures are Shiftbats! Through all this danger, there is only one safe path. I do know the path...but I still don't want to go to the mountains...I can't talk about it now. Ask me when your friend wakes up - okay, Raykel?"
"Whatever you say..." Raykel agreed reluctantly. It had been more than two hours since Link had fallen, and Raykel was becoming very worried. He walked over to check his motionless friend's condition; finding that he had a pulse, but it was very faint. Raykel forced himself not to lose hope, and went back over to Taig, talking with him until it was time to retire for the night.
That night Taig insisted that he keep watch by himself, and Raykel was too tired to argue. The dragon kept a vigilant watch over the Hylians, but unfortunately Link still had not moved at all. Link's chest was rising only slightly as he breathed, and signs of life were barely perceptible. Taig turned away from the sight, looking into the forest. Later that night he could not hear Link's breathing at all. The dragon would have checked on him, but didn't have the heart. He feared the worst, and decided to wait until morning so Raykel could check Link himself.
Dawn came, and Raykel rose. The first thing he did was walk over to Link. Link was in the exact same position he had been in last night, and did not wake when Raykel called his name. Fearfully, Raykel reached a hand down and placed it on Link's neck, to check if the poor lad had a pulse.
Link jumped up from the ground instantly, nearly knocking over the surprised Raykel.
"Who? What? Where did those green squirrels go?!" Link demanded, still in dreamland.
"The boy's awake!" Raykel exclaimed happily. Link looked over at him.
"Eh? Oh, it was just a dream. Hi, Raykel!" he said, smiling.
"Are you okay? You seem to be well..."
"Okay? Hmmm..." Link thought a moment. "The last thing I remember was getting bitten by a wolfos...then...a dragon was leaning over me? What happened?"
"Good to see you this morning, Link." Taig said. Link, who hadn't seen him yet, jumped at the sound of his voice and turned around.
"A dragon!" Link said, drawing the Master Sword.
"Wait, Link!" Raykel said, getting in front of him. "Didn't you hear what the dragon said? He's on our side! His name is Taig, and he saved you from the Queen Tree's poison, and saved us both by lighting the tree's branches on fire! As for what happened...You fell unconscious after Vux bit you, remember?"
"Oh yeah...Thanks, Taig! Um, Sorry." He put the sword away. It might have been hard to believe the dragon wasn't just the same as the others he had encountered at some other time, but at that moment Link was too preoccupied with Zelda to bother with suspisions. "So...do you know anything about the Dragonlord, Taig? We have to save Zelda! She could be in big trouble right now!"
"Dragonlord? What's that?" Taig asked. Link sighed.
"That's too bad...I guess all we can do is keep traveling towards the Stalfos Swords."
"Staffloos Sords?" Taig cocked his head to one side.
"The mountains." Link said.
"Oh. I can't go with you..."
"Come on, Taig." Raykel urged, "You said you would tell me about the mountains and yourself when Link woke up."
"Oh, okay...well, you see...I am the son of Cirokaal, the King of Dragons, so you would think I would live with them, right? Well I ran away because my father is a jerk! He's supposed to be the King of Dragons, but he makes me do a bunch of stuff for him...and he never lets me go anywhere by myself! The only good thing he did for me was teach me how to survive in this forest, and he also taught me the only safe path through the dangerous part of it, but's that's all the good he was! And that's not the end of it! I really liked my mother, Sahoriel, but she went away and didn't even say good-bye to her own son! Father didn't do anything about it, either! As far as I'm concerned, my parents can live without me!"
"Taig, it sounds to me like you and your parents simply don't understand each other." Link said, "Have you ever told your father how you feel about him?"
"Well, not really."
"You see? You and your father just don't know each other's problems. Maybe if you go back and talk to him, your problems can be solved!" Link suggested.
"Hm...you really think we just don't understand each other? I never thought of that." The dragon said quietly.
"Also, your mother leaving without saying good-bye sounds very suspicious to me. Maybe your father didn't do anything because she didn't say bye to him either, and he doesn't know where she went. Did he even send a search party?"
"No...but your not supposed to send parties after members of royalty in dragon culture. It's considered disrespectful."
"So there was nothing he could do, if his wife just left without saying a word to anyone. I think the Dragonlord must have something to do with it. I also think we'll find him somewhere in the mountains; and if we do, we may find Zelda iand/i your mother!"
"Okay, you've convinced me. I'll take you to the mountains if it means my mom might be found..." The dragon's eyes were suddenly filled with moisture. "I...miss her so much..." Link walked over to the dragon and laid a comforting hand on his side.
"It's okay, Taig. While you go to your father we'll go to the Dragonlord if we find him. If your mom's there with Zelda, we'll save her, okay? You can be assured that Raykel and I will do everything we can...I really miss Zelda, too." Link said sadly. Taig dried his eyes.
"Well, what are we waiting for? I have father to talk to and you two have captives to save! Let's go to the mountains!" Link opened his mouth to agree, but suddenly the three companions heard a loud growling sound.
"The wolves are back!" Raykel said, looking around for them.
"Um...no they're not." Link said, scratching his head. "That was my stomach. I'm so hungry I could eat a wolfos!"
"And that you will!" Taig said excitedly, "We still have Wolfos Steak left over from last night! Finally, you will taste the Great Taig's superb cooking!" He ran over to the big rock and retrieved the last of the steaks. He warmed them up briefly with his fire, and the three ate a quick breakfast.
When they were done, they set off into the forest, Link and Raykel following Taig's lead. He seemed to know exactly where he was going, so no questions were asked about the path while the three traveled. Sometime in the middle of the trip, Taig mentioned:
"This is not only the safest path thought the forest, it's also the fastest. This way, it will only take one more day the reach the mountains. Any other way could take a week or more. Maybe much more, if you pick a very bad way. In a few hours we will reach a big rock, I like to call it the Shifting Like-like, because it looks kinda like one when it twists it's mouth over to eat you. We can stop there for the night, because it's the halfway point through the dangerous part the Ethereal Forest, or whatever you guys call it."
Like Taig said, the travelers reached the Shifting Like-like in a few hours, just before sunset. It was hard to tell it was sunset because the canopy of leaves was as solid as a roof, but Taig was very good at telling time in the middle of the forest. He said they had reached the Like-like just in time, for it was dangerous to walk even on the safe path at night, this deep in the woods. Taig ran off to go and catch dinner while Raykel and Link got firewood.
Despite the deathly silence of the woods, the companions had a cheerful dinner of some fruit and grizzly bear, which Taig said was his favorite food. After dinner it was time to sleep, and it was decided that Raykel would have the first watch, followed by Link, then Taig. The dragon and Link went to sleep under the overhanging part of the Shifting Like-like, but before he closed his eyes, Taig warned Raykel that there would be a lot of sounds in the forest, and to ignore them unless they sounded like they were very close. Taig then fell asleep immediately, but Link was just drifting off when he heard one of the sounds Taig had spoken of. It sounded like the crunching of bones, and the screaming of a small animal far away. Link found it even more difficult to sleep when he heard what sounded like the howling of a wolfos with a warped voice box. Then there was the humming of giant bug wings, and a ghostly moan. He covered his ears, trying hard to ignore the sounds and go to sleep. It was difficult, but he managed to get some rest after a while.
* * *
"I DON'T BELIEVE IT! How much will it take, you little brat?!" The Dragonlord yelled, slapping Zelda. "Give me the triforce, NOW!" Dakos cowered in the doorway of the cell. Zelda, secured to the stone wall by handcuffs, glared at the Dragonlord.
"I will inever/i place the triforce in the hands of an evil man. And I doi not/i believe you have killed Link. He is coming for me right now! I can feel it!"
"You can feel ithis/i, you stinking brat!" Zelda gasped as the Dragonlord's hand struck her face again. A tiny trickle of blood came from the side of her mouth.
"Force will only result in more frustration for you, Dragonlord. You can hit me as much as you want, and I will never give the Triforce of Wisdom to you." She said, staring him in the eye bravely.
"Arrggg! You'll be sorry you said that! If I can't slap the triforce out of you, I'll starve it out of you, heheheh. Hear that, Dakos? No more food or water for our stubbon prisoner, until she gives up the triforce!"
"bWhatever you say, Master./b" Dakos said, hanging his head in shame and fear. The Dragonlord grinned at Zelda.
"You see? I will have the triforce. If I can't starve it out of you, we'll try knives next. If torturing doesn't work, I'll eventually kill you to get it. I will have it. You are only delaying the inevitable." Zelda stared at him.
"You are not thinking straight. Whoever you are, you are human in there somewhere...all this violence is not going to help you, trust me."
"Don't try to preach to me, girly-girl! By the way, Link is very dead. I saw him die myself, and so did Dakos. He fell right off his horse, lifeless." The boy said, grinning. Dakos nodded.
"No he isn't!" Zelda argued, trying to beleive her own words. "He will defeat you, Dragonlord!!"
"No! I will NEVER fall! Link is dead, HAHAHAHAHA!" Continuing to laugh crazily, the Dragonlord and his pet dragon left the cell, taking the torch and locking the cell's door behind them. Zelda looked at the floor. iLink IS coming, isn't he? Maybe I'm only imagining that I feel his presence getting closer. Where IS he? He can't be dead...he just can't! /iZelda firmly kept herself from crying, and waited in darkness.
buSection 5
Bats and Cats/u/b
After Link and Taig's watching shifts were over, the dawn came, and the haunting sounds of the forest halted. There was still some grizzly left over from last night, so once again the three travelers had leftovers for breakfast. Once the short meal was ended, they pressed on. Taig led the way, talking about how he and his father didn't get along. After that, he started talking about other things, and Link realized he was just talking to counter the extreme silence of the dark forest. There were no birds, no butterflies, and no signs of life. Soon Taig got tired of talking, and lapsed into silence. Raykel and Link didn't talk either, and simply followed Taig, their thoughts wandering. Because of the darkness of the forest (there was barely enough light penetrating the ceiling of branches to see), Link did not see an object on the ground before he tripped on it.
"Yikes!" he exclaimed as he fell to his hands and knees, his yell startling the other two. Link got up, brushed himself off, and looked behind him to see what he had tripped on. He gasped, seeing that it was some bones. The bones of what, he could not tell.
"Are you okay?" Raykel asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Link said, "but I found a iskeleton!/i What was this creature before it died?" Link examined the bones. It looked like a creature with the claws and face of a cat, but a stature which was vaguely humanish, as if it was a cat who walked on it's hind legs; and it had bird-like wing bones, with a scattering of black feathers surrounding it. Taig walked over beside Link and looked at the bones.
"They're probably from a calwot." He said, "They are a tribe of creatures who live close to my clan and trade things with us, like food and metal and stuff. I never liked em' much, but then again I never really talked to them much, either. Since calwots live in the Stalfos Swords, this must mean we're getting close! In another couple hours, we should hit the mountains."
"Uh, Taig?"
"Yes, Link?"
"You said this is the safe path, right? So why is there a dead animal here? That must mean there's something close that has the power to kill a flying cat creature."
"Well, even on the safe path, this forest is never completely harmless. We'll just have to hope we don't find any monsters on our way out…especially a shiftbat!
"What exactly is a shiftbat?" Raykel inquired.
"It's a huge, bat-like monster that lives in small groups," Taig explained, "Some adults are even bigger than me! Their front appendages usually have claws, but they can shift the shape of the claws, so they can be serrated, like a knife, or shaped like teeth or spears…or anything they want, really. They are very aggressive, and the big ones only live on the border of the forests. The smaller ones can live farther in the forest, but they are still kinda big, for bats." Link and Raykel nodded, inwardly pledging to be on their guards. The small group continued through the forest, and nothing unusual happened for a few hours.
The light coming through the canopy of the trees was gradually increasing, meaning that they were close. They continued on, and soon the old familiar sounds of birds singing and insects chirping slowly returned. The group became less solem, knowing that they would soon be out of this huge forest. After about a half an hour or so of walking on, Taig, Link, and Raykel emerged into the sweet sunlight. The group heaved a collective sigh of gratefulness to be free of the Ethereal Forest.
Suddenly Taig let out a cry of dismay.
"What is it?" Raykel asked.
"I smell shiftbats!" Taig moaned, "And I hear them too! We're in trouble!" Before Taig could say more, Link and Raykel heard the flapping of leathery wings, and looked to the left. Coming around a bend of trees, were eight shiftbats of varying sizes. The biggest one was bigger than Taig, the second two biggest ones were about his size, the next size of bat was a little smaller, and the other four were about the size of a human. The shiftbats had heads that looked vaguely wolfish, and had large, black, bat wings. Their tails were long and furry, and their red eyes revealed their obvious bloodthirstyness. At that moment, each bat's feet looked like paws with three long, sharp, talons. The bats were upon the group in seconds, and immediately the two bats that were Taig's size flew at Taig. The dragon yelped in terror and flew away, the two bats pursuing. The bat that was bigger than Taig and two of the smaller ones flew at Link, and the other three went for Raykel.
Link braced himself as the first two bats reached him. The third bat, largest of all of them, hung back; apparently not considering itself needed to kill a human. The two bats clawed at Link with their eaglelike talons, but he held off their feet with his sword. After a few moments they got tired and flew backwards, to hover for a moment and rest. Link took out his bow and shot an arrow into the wing of one, and it fell to the ground, screeching in pain. The second one, infuriated, attacked with renewed strength. It transformed its feet into two large swordlike appendages, and swooped down at Link. Link brought up his shield and the shiftbat's legs were deflected, and Link managed to take a swing at the creature before it got away. He hit the shiftbat's legs above where the sword-like blades were protruding, and the bat screamed in rage, flying around for another pass. This time the bat turned it's feet into two trident-looking weapons, which were like spears branching off in three directions. The shiftbat flew above Link and dived for him, aiming its strange feet at his head. Not too smart. Link simply raised his sword above his head, and the monster could not pull up before it landed right on the blade and died. Link shook the bat off his sword, and turned to face the third and largest bat, which was now very angry.
As the bat began flying towards him, Link risked a glance twenty feet to the left, to check on Raykel's progress. It seemed that Raykel had killed or scared away the first bat, and the other two (one the size of a human, the other just a little smaller than Taig) were now tearing at him. He seemed to be having mostly success in his efforts to defend himself; however, he did have a few scratches on his armor, and a slash down the right side of his face. Link turned back to the large bat, about to reach him. The creature extended its claws, making them grow to twice their former size (the creature's claws had been about five inches long, now they were ten), and dived. This bat's legs were longer then the Master Sword, so the tactic Link had used on the previous bat would not work. Link raised his shield between himself and the huge claws meant for his head, and the talons clashed with it. This bat was a bit smarter than the others, and instead of giving Link time to retaliate, the beast grabbed his shield and flew into the air. Link's arm being attached to the shield, he went up with it.
"Yikes!!" Link yelled, clinging to his shield. The bat flew higher, and Link made the mistake of looking down.i Oh man, I'm going to fall! I hate heights! /iLink tore his eyes away from the ground, and focused on how he was going to get out of this mess. The first thing he did was sheath his sword and undo the straps binding his arm to the shield. He hung on the the side of the shield, dangling dangerously hundreds of feet above the ground. Link heard the bat-thing screech, and knew it was going to try and drop him. Link grabbed and held onto the bat's left ankle, just as it opened its oversized claws, and the Hylian Shield plummeted to the earth. The bat looked down at its feet, and glowered at Link.
Hissing, it tried to stick the claws of it's right foot into him. Link drew his sword and parried the bat's claws. Link soon cut the bat's right leg, and it nearly fell out of the sky, screeching in pain. While the bat stopped concentrating on Link and tried to fly strait, Link climbed up its leg and onto its back. Once the creature had gained control of itself, it began to do barrel-rolls, trying to make Link fall off its back. Link clung tightly to the bat's fur, not wanting to think about what would happen if he fell from this far up. Link tried to think of a plan to get back to the ground, but had no idea what he could do. If he hurt or killed the shiftbat, they would both fall. If he just sat there, the thing might carry him to its nest or something. While Link was thinking, the bat, in its futile attempts to shake him off, did some sharp turns and flew back over to whaere Raykel was fighting. Link saw him, three or four hundred feet below, battling the last bat out of the three which had attacked him. It was bigger then the first two he had defeated, and was definately larger than he was. The shiftbat's appendages were shaped like swords, and Raykel was doing his best to fend them off, but it was clear, even from a great height, that Raykel was wounded and tired.
iI have to go help him! /iLink thought, but still could not come up with a way. iWhere's Taig when you need him?/i Link wondered, thinking the dragon would be a great help at the moment. Link was still watching the heated fight between Raykel and the shiftbat, when suddenly Raykel made a fatal mistake in blocking. The bat hit Raykel's longsword out of his hand and drove one of its long, sharp, appendages through his chest. The blade easily pierced Raykel's armor, and Raykel screamed in terrible pain, falling to one knee.
"RAYKEL!" Link yelled, seeing his friend's attacking bat grin and shove its blade so far into Raykel's chest it came out of the other side of his back. The rock beneath them was speckled with bright blood. Link screamed in anger, and took out his bow. As the bat he was riding on did another barrel-roll, Link shot an arrow into the back of the shiftbat stabbing Raykel. Its sword-foot was pulled out of Raykel as it fell to the ground, lifeless. "Okay, bat," Link said, talking to the one he was riding,"You better take me down now, or you're history!" He drew his sword and held it above his bat's back. The shiftbat stopped doing barrel-rolls and screamed it's rage at Link. It tried to shake him off with more sharp turns, so Link drove his sword into it's shoulder. Bat screeching, Hylian yelling, they both plummeted to the earth. The bat hit the ground first, and since Link was still holding onto its back, it broke his fall. Recovering from the fall, Link quickly jumped off of the bat (after yanking his sword out of it's shoulder, wiping it quickly on the dead thing's fur, and putting the sword away) and dashed over to Raykel, who had collapsed. Link knelt next to him, and put a hand under his back, holding him in a semi-sitting position.
"Raykel, say something!" Link said loudly, digging for the Arlia in his belt.
"Link..." Raykel whispered, "You must go on without me...and save...the princess..." blood was dripping from his mouth.
"No! You're going to be okay, Raykel!" Link rubbed the Arlia on the huge sword wound, but the Arlia, not being especially powerful on those kinds of wounds, did not heal much. Link's hand that was holding Raykel was being drenched with blood, and Link turned Raykel over so he could use Arlia on the wound from the back, as he had on the front. Link then ripped off the top of his tunic, making some large bandages. Link looked down, and from the amount of blood spilling onto the rock on which he and Raykel were sitting, he knew Raykel would not make it without more help than Arlia and bandages could give. Despite this, he concentrated on tying the bandages over the bloody wound, ignoring a noise he heard behind him.
The first shiftbat Link had wounded with an arrow was sneaking up behind him, hoping to kill him quickly with a sharp leg before he could turn around. It's razorlike appendage gleamed sharply in the sunlight as it held it over Link's back. Link and the bat sneaking up behind him were facing the forest; and just as the shiftbat was about to make its move, a big red blur leaped out of the trees, sailed over Link and Raykel, and crushed the bat as it landed on the beast. Taig the dragon turned towards Link.
"Taig to the rescue! What would you humans do without the Great Taig?! I lost those other two bats easily in the forest, retaining minor damage, and came back just to save you! I-" Taig stopped in mid-sentence as he saw Raykel. "Uh-oh! Raykel's hurt! What are we going to do?" Taig lened over Link's shoulder, inspecting the damage. "Oh, wow...that's really bad. That looks like something really, really bad!"
"Taig, listen. Is the there any villages really close to here? The Arlia's healing will help Raykel live for a little while...but if we don't get him to some better healing quick, he'll die in less than half an hour." Link estimated.
"Yes, there is! The village of the calwots, Catalin, is about fifteen minutes away by air. Get Raykel and yourself on my back!"
"Can you carry us both?" Link asked, hauling Raykel's now unconscious form to the dragon.
"Am I the son of Cirokaal and Sahoriel or not? I am a prince, I can fly anywhere with any weight on my powerful wings!" Link had gotten Raykel and himself on the dragon now, and Taig tried to lift off. He hovered two feet off the ground, then dropped back down. "Sheesh! Just how much do you people eat, anyway? Uh, just a minute...I can get us in the air, no problem!" This time Taig got a running start, then lifted off the ground. He flew high, beating his wings as quick as they would go, and in ten or so minutes the three companions reached the top of the mountain; which was shrouded in clouds and mist, and littered with huge trees. Link held onto Raykel and tried not to look down, worried that Taig would get tired and fall out of the sky. Taig was breathing extrmely heavily, from tiredness and the thin air of high altitudes.
"Almost...there..." He huffed. "A couple...more minutes..." Panting, the dragon turned left. In about six minutes of slow, labored flying the dragon reached a village. A creature unlike any creature Link had ever seen flew past them. It was a big, leopard-marked cat, with white bird wings! iThat must be a calwot!/i Link knew. It was also wearing some strange clothes and had a long, pointed tail; shaped somewhat like a lizard's tail, but covered in fur. By now Raykel's blood had poured through bandages and past Link's hand, and was covering Taig's back. The blood-soaked dragon flew into the village and landed wearily in front of a calwot's hut, collapsing on the spot. Five or six calwots that had been walking around (on their hind legs) saw the grusome mess of a dragon, and hurried over. Three calwots were of the same build and had the same white wings as the one which had flown past Taig, but the other three were taller and more muscular, with longer tails and black bird wings. They only had clothes on their bottom halfs, and Link thought they must be males. The male calwots were all solid colors, one white, one black, the other brown; but the female calwots had markings. All six ran over to the resting Taig, and one calwot, the black-furred male, spoke.
"Two half-dead Hylians and the King Dragon's missing son? Just what the heck is going on here?" He looked at Link suspiciousy with his green cat eyes. His 'clothes' consisted of a metal-studded leather belt from which hung some leathery yet soft-looking material. His was not jet black, but a kind of ivery/i dark gray. His long tail twitched expectantly.
"We've been attacked by shiftbats," Link said, feeling a little strange talking to a cat. "My name is Link, you obviously know Taig, and this man here is Raykel. He is very badly hurt...do you think you could help him, please?" The male calwot was still giving him a suspicious look, but then a female calwot, with white fur and black cheetah spots, stepped in front of him. The clothes on her bottom half were like the male's, but on her top half there were two belt-like, metal-studded strips of material crossed over her torso, with cloth stretched between them to cover her chest. Her eyes were a golden green, and her long, white wings looked almost silvery as they caught the sunlight.
"Of course we'll help!" She said, looking irritably at the black male. The black male nodded, and walked over to Link, taking Raykel from him. The seven-foot-tall, very strong cat had no trouble carrying Raykel, and ran towards a large hut to the left of Taig. The female calwot stepped over to Link as he jumped off of Taig's back.
"Sorry about Coflix, he's always like that. Well well, a Hylian! I haven't seen one of you since I was four, and now two of you drop right into our village! I am Saroe," The cheetah-spotted cat said, offering a paw-like hand. Link shook it. Saroe kept talking, ignoring the fact that she got blood on her paw from Link's hand. "I alway wanted to use that human greeting gesture, ever since I was a kitten! We study Hylians in school here, you know. Dragons, griffons, Gorons and Zoras, too...many creatures. By the way...according to our books, you strange human males wear clothing on your chest...why don't you have some?"
"Well..." The embarrassed Link explained, "I had to tear it off for bandages..."
"Oh! No problem! I've got you covered, literally!" The calwot chanted some spell, and instantly Link's tunic was like new. "There you go! Us calwots have very good magic here. I'm sure your friend...Raykel, was it?...will be healed in a few days, so don't be worried about him."
"Thank you very much." Link said, "Is there anything I can do for you in return?"
"Not really, but I will have to take you to the King Calwot, Feelack. All foreigners must see him. But you can do that tomorrow, after we get your friend on his way of healing. Let's go check on him, shall we?" Saroe had completely forgotten Taig, who spoke up.
"Hey, Link. I'm going to rest here a few moments, then fly to the dragon's village. I'll probably be gone by the time you get back, so bye."
"See you sometime, Taig." Link said, walking over to him. "I can't thank you enough for your help." Taig smiled happily.
"Aw, come here, you little Hylian!" He said, grabbing Link and giving him a hug. "Hopefully the next time we meet, my mom will be saved. See ya!" He released the human, and Link, waving to the dragon, left with Saroe.
After seeing that Raykel was situated and had the proper spells put on him, Saroe got Link some food and then took him to one of the guest rooms in her own house (there were some extremely large trees growing in Catalin, and Saroe's house was one of the many built in the branches of these enourmous trees), since it was almost susnset.
"Are you sure you want me to sleep in your house? You don't even know me!" Link pointed out, "But don't get me wrong...I am very grateful."
"If I didn't take you in, I don't know if anyone would. Calwots are very loving and compassionate towards their own kind, but are suspicious of other races by nature. We've been living next to the dragons for over forty years, but we just started trading goods with them ten years ago; all because of our natural suspicion! It's ridiculous! I must be the only calwot in Catalin who doesn't think other species are lesser creatures than us."
"Hmm...well, I'm glad you were around when Taig landed, then." Link said, staring around at the huge tree houses.
"You're just lucky, I guess. Speaking of Taig and dragons, the King dragon is being very disagreeable...first the Queen and then his son left, and now he's accusing ius/i of stealing Taig? What reason would a calwot have for taking his son? I don't know if peace between our tribes will endure...hopefully Taig can calm down his father."
"Well, I talked him into speaking with his dad, at least." Link told her.
"Good. Well, I think you should be washed up before you go to sleep. Silly me, I should have had you cleaned before you ate! Shiftbats are known to carry many forms of unpleasant bacteria, you know."
"Okay...but where can I wash?"
"Where? You silly human!" She said, muffling a giggle with her paw. "I will wash you with my magic." The confused Link sat still as Saroe performed another spell, this time purging his entire body of dirt and harmful bacteria.
"Hey, cool! Is there anything you calwots ican't/i do with a magic spell?" Link asked.
"Well," Saroe replied, "We calwots do not posess either light magic nor dark magic, and we can't teleport or anything really fancy like that; but just about everything else...some calwot in Catalin is bound to have a spell for. I was a mother calwot a few years ago...and you'd be suprised how fast kittens get dirty and rip their clothes! That's why I quickly learned the two spells I used on you."
"I see. Are you sure there's nothing I can do for you? I feel like I'm taking advantage of you or something!"
"Heheh, don't worry, you're not. All the things I did for you, I did because I wanted to do them. If you really want to do something for someone, do it for the King. He'll trust you faster if you do things for him. Anyway, it's about time for bed. I'll be in my nest two doors down, so call if you need anything."
"Okay. Thanks again." Link said, and the calwot simply nodded and left. Link needed nothing at the moment, so he laid down on the soft bed, made of a calwot feather mattress supported by a metal frame. It was extremely comfortable, and Link fell asleep quickly. At first he slept peacefully, but then his dreams were overtaken by nightmares of what could be happening to Zelda. Even his subcounscious was worried about her now, not a good sign. The next morning Link arose early, eager to be on his way.
buSection 6
Trustworthyness and The Dragonlord's Fortress/u/b
"So, this is Link the Hylian?" The aged, jet-black King of the calwots, Feelack, looked down at Link from his metal throne. Link kneeled.
"Yes, I come from the kingdom of Hyrule, but I'm sure you know about that. Saroe told me you study Hylians. Your Majesty, I would like to know if there is anything I can do to repay your kindness shown to Raykel and I."
"As a matter-of-fact, there is something you can do; If you have certain qualities, that is. The last human that came here could not do this favor for me, and as you've probably been told, I don't trust humans very easily; so it took a while for me to trust her. If iyou/i can do this, I will know you are trustworthy."
"Huh? I don't understand!" Link said.
"Then be quiet while I explain, human!" The King took a deep breath. "There is a black creature that had recently decided to inhabit the mines deep in this mountain upon which we stand. These mines are the source of an ore calwots use to make many metal things, including weapons and armor. There is also gold in that mine, and metal and gold are the main things we trade to the dragons, so they are very important. This black creature who inhabits the mines kills any mining calwot who comes in contact with it, because it can't be killed by anything but light magic, something us calwots don't have. Now do you understand? You must destroy this monster, and if you can do it you must have light magic, and only good, trustworthy creatures possess that. Of course if a creature does not posses it, such as a calwot, it does not mean that they iaren't/i trustworthy!"
"Um, Ii think/i I understand." Link said. "I kill a monster in your mines, and you'll trust me."
"Silly humans...always in such a hurry to say things that they leave out important details. iYes/i, in a nutshell, that's what I just said."
"Alright! I'll be glad to get rid of it if it's evil. Where are these mines?" Link inquired.
"A guard will take you. Coflix! Come here and take this human to the entrance to the mines. Don't go inside yourself, understand?"
"Yes, sire." A black male calwot stepped forward. Link recognized this calwot to be the one who had carried Raykel to get healed yesterday. The cat took Link to the mines, and Link entered by himself.
The mines were very dark, absent of the torches which would usually light them, because they were completely abandoned. Link lit a fire arrow, and continued fearlessly into the mine's black tunnels. After perhaps an hour of wandering, Link knew he would get lost soon if he didn't turn around, so he did. As he entered the tunnel he had just exited, he heard a hissing sound behind him. Link turned quickly, dropping his fire arrow and fitting a light one to his bowstring, aiming at the dark form in front of him. The light from the arrow illuminated a huge, hideous creature. It was completely black, and it's twisted skin crawled as if alive. It had seven tentacles spread out in differend directions. It had two glowing, red eyes, which pierced Link's soul as he stared into them.
Link knew this was a creature of fear. It first intimidated it's opponents by it's huge blackness and horrifying form, then tried to hypnotize them with fear by means of it's great, red eyes. Now it stared into Link's.
"iKneel before me, pathetic creature of light!/i" The monster's raspy voice demanded, "iI control the blackness of fear, and the sun's children are no match for me! Kneel and die!/i" The eyes glowed more intensley, trying to pry into Link's soul and force him to surrender himself to the monster.
Link, however, was not impressed. He released the light arrow into the monster's forehead (or the crawling mass of skin above it's eyes, which Linki assumed/i was it's forehead); and it reared back in pain, it's tentacles reaching for Link in a last attempt to destroy him before it died. Before the creature's appendages could reach Link, it shuddered and collapsed, quickly disintegrating into a pile of ash. iWell, THAT was't so hard! /iLink thought. iIt would have been an easy task for the calwots to kill the beast themselves if they posessed any light magic at all. Oh well, maybe I can finally concentrate on saving Zelda and the Dragon Queen now! /i
Link quickly found his way out of the mines, to the waiting Coflix.
"Well, well. I must admit I never thought I would see you again." The calwot said in it's calm voice. "Perhaps I underestimated you. I am sorry for my rudeness in the past. It is an honor to finally meet you, Hero of Time." The cat extended a paw to shake.
"Huh? How did you know?" Link, perplexed, shook the cat's paw-like hand.
"I never thought I would use this human greeting...But like I said, it is an honor. The woman who came here and left a few days ago said that the Hero of Time was approaching our village. Even though she could not beat the monster in the mines, she assured myself and the King that the Hero of Time could defeat it easily. Oh yeah, she also said your name was Link."
"If you and the King already knew my name was Link, and I was the Hero of Time, why didn't you just trust me in the first place?"
"The King had to test you. Plus we ireally/i needed the monster to be destroyed, heheh. Let's get back to the King."
"I would have killed it anyway, if the King just asked! Wait a sec...just who was this woman who knew me, anyway? It couldn't be Zelda..."
"I can't tell you. It is a calwot rule not devulge any information about a person unless they say you can. The woman said I could only tell you that you know her, and what she said about you." With that, the two returned to the King. Saroe was waiting there, and her and Coflix briefly licked eachother's snouts, the calwot greeting. Link told the King what happened in the mines.
"Well, you have indeed proven yourself, Link. Or should I say 'Hero of Time'? The humans have such interesting titles." The King stated, "You have done us a favor that we can't repay easily, even with the hospitality and such; so it is my turn to ask: what can the calwot tribe do for you?"
"Um, well you see my friend's been kidnapped by a dragon, and I've already wasted a lot of time getting to this mountain, so please say you can tell me something about the Dragonlord!"
"Dragonlord? The only Lord of Dragons I know is Cirokaal."
"Oh no! You don't know of the Dragonlord? If I don't find Zelda soon, terrible things might happen to her, maybe terrible things are happening now! Tell me, has anything unusual happened lately, other than the disappearance of Cirokaal's family?"
"Actually, yes. A huge, black cloud is curently floating on the other side of the mountain, and it's been there a very long time, ever since Sahoriel vanished. If you wish, some calwots can take you. Nothing is really known about the cloud, though. Calwot and dragon alike have not investigated it since it is far away and not causing any problems. It's just a cloud, after all."
"That's the ionly/i strange thing you know of?"
"Other than Cirokaal and the dragons' rudeness, yes." The King said. Link was a little dissapointed, but decided not to give up. At least he could investigate this cloud. It iwas/i very unusual for a black cloud to stay in one place for long amounts of time.
"I'll leave immediately." Link said.
"Are you certain? I don't usually tell information about other creatures, but I must tell you this: the last person taken to the cloud by a calwot a few days ago has not returned yet. The calwot disobeyed my orders not to go into the cloud, and has not returned either."
"I'm certain. There is something very suspicious-sounding about this cloud." Link said.
"As you wish. Since Saroe and Coflix are the only calwots other than myself who are acquainted to you, they will take you." Feelack turned to the two, who were standing to the side. "Do you two have anything to do right now? If not, take Link to the cloud. Even if he dies, do not enter yourselves." The King ordered.
"Yes, Your Majesty." They said in unison, bowing. Link turned to the King.
"Thank you. I wont die in there, okay? I will be back so Raykel and I, and hopefully Zelda, can go back to Hyrule. By the way, do you and your clan want to be part of Hyrule?"
"You know, humans, although silly and ambitious creatures, have always been an interest of mine...even if it doesn't show. Hyrule does have a lot of goods us calwots could use...such as bombs, potions..." The King stroked his wiskers thoughtfully. "We could even learn to use some of the weapons made there for more efficient hunting. Using spells for everything can be mentally exhausting. I think maybe it's time for the calwots to come out of our shell. The citizens of Catalin will vote, and if the majority agree with it, calwots will go with you when you go back to Hyrule, and negotiate with your King. It sounds good to me."
"Alright! The more, the merrier, as far as the King of Hyrule is concerned. I know him personally, he's very nice." Link said. After a brief farewell, Saroe and Coflix each took one of Link's arms. iMore flying high above the ground./i Link made a sour face. iHow NICE. Heights just can' t leave me alone lately, can they? /iLink thought unhappily, but there was no other way. The cats lifted off and flew out of Catalin, towards the other side of the mountains, on to the pitch black enigma of a cloud.
Darkness enveloped the calwots and Hylian as they entered the thick darkness of the cloud. After flying a few minutes in ominous silence, Coflix spoke.
"Saroe, you know we can't go much farther in..." he said.
"Oh, cut it out, Coflix! You're always like this! We'll go until we have a reason to stop and turn around!" Saroe hissed.
"What?! We can't do that! The King's orders..."
"Listen Coflix, I know our King is wise, but in this case he wants us to go back to Catalin and leave Link alone because he doesn't care what happens to him! Well iIido! If you don't like it, you go back; because I can carry him by myself!" She growled. Coflix thought a moment.
"You're lucky I'm your friend, Saroe." he said with a smile.
"Heheh, I know. I'm pressing my luck, but I'm just so sick and tired of calwot racism. You care about humans, don't you?"
"I suppose..."
"Well they would be mighty dissapointed if we dropped their 'hero' halfway into a black cloud and left! I wish the King could see things my way..."
"I guess, but I don't think Catalin would like 'your way' very much, even if the King did. The citizens don't respect the King as much as they did when he was young and strong. I don't even think they will vote for calwots going to Hyrule, despite the good reasons to do so. Perhaps things would be different if Feelock were King."
"Who's that?" Link asked, releived that they weren't yelling anymore. An altercation between the cats could result in a certain Hylian being dropped, and Link didn't want to imagine that; he was having enough trouble keeping himself from looking down. He looked up at Coflix, wating for an answer.
"Feelock is Feelack's, or the King's, only son. He's an only child because the King refused to have kittens with any cat but his life mate, who died after having Feelock. Feelock would be King right now, but he isn't around. The old King mantains his beleif that Feelock will return to take his place as the new King before Feelack gets too old...but I don't believe it."
"Why would Feelock just leave like that? Did he not want to be King or something?" Link questioned. Coflix explained.
"No one really knows why the King's son left. It was like when Taig and Sahoriel dissappeared, without a good-bye. Back when Feelock was born, he was a good kitten, growing into a strong leader, but during his teen years, about five years ago, he got rebellious. Nothing very serious happened between father and son until one day Feelock just left."
"That's sad. I wonder if Ganondorf had anything to do with it? He was in power five years ago."
"We don't think so. Calwots left him alone and he left us alone."
"It ticks me off!" Saroe interrupted, "We should have helped the humans and fought Ganondorf! I would have gone and helped myself if I hadn't been a mother cat back then! Children can be such big responsibilities...but I think I'll have another two or three next year anyway..."
"With who?" Link asked curiously. "I didn't see a husband in your house."
"Calwots choose mates in a way closer to cat tradition than human and dragon tradition. We don't have a set-for-life mate unless we really want one. I don't have one because I just want kittens, not a male to bother me all the time. Kittens stay with their mother for two to five years, then they leave; except Royalty who of course stick with the family. My kittens left only a year ago...I miss them!" Link looked forward into the cloud. iThat changing mate thing is pretty nasty,/i He thought, but didn't dare say it out loud to the two cats who could drop him if they wanted to. Besides, he didn't want to be rude. As he was looking into the blackness of the cloud, he saw something.
"Hey, guys! There's a...hm...is that a building? I see torches." Link pointed, and the cats flew in the that direction.
"It seems to be a structure of some sort." Coflix said. The two cats and the human flew towards the mysterious form, and as it materialized out of the clouds, they saw that it was indeed a building. Or the front of one, at least. What they saw was an enourmous doorway, big enough for a large dragon, set into an exceptionally large wall. Huge stairs ran up to the door, and the front of the structure was so big it disappeared into the clouds on all four sides, so it was impossible to determine the true size of the fortress. All of it was made of black stone, almost blending in with the dark clouds. It would have been extremely difficult to spot if not for the huge torches on either sides of the door. The cats landed on the top of the big stairs and put Link down.
"This builing must be floating in the cloud, cool! Wow, this building looks big enough for dragons to me! It ihas/i to be the Dragonlord's fortress!" Link said, seeing that each stair was half as tall as him.
"I am afraid we must wait for you here." Saroe said. "We can bend the rules, but not break them. We might be put in jail for disobeying direct orders from the King if we advance any further. How long do you think you'll be in there?" She asked.
"I have no idea." Link said. "In the worst case scenario, I'd say a day."
"What? We can't wait that long!" Coflix protested.
"We can and we will!" Saroe firmly declared. "If we don't go in with him, the least we can do is stay here and not leave him stranded!"
"Okay..." Coflix reluctantly agreed.
"Thank you both. I will be back." With that, Link turned to the great door, and enterred the fortress of the Dragonlord.