Hey there! It's another chapter! Yeah! See, I'm really not abandoning this fic! Anyway, on with
the chapter!
Disclaimer: I own . . . . . . no Zelda.
The Legend of Zelda
The Golden Land
Chapter Nineteen
Search for the Sorceresses
LinkT, LinkW, Zelda, and Tetra stood at the edge of the Kokiri Forest preparing to leave.
They waved to their friends. Aryll, Saria, Makar, and Medli were remaining in the forest. They,
along with the Kokiri were going to "set up camp" in the Forest Temple and keep hidden from the
Fierce Deity. The Legendary Heroes and the Princesses of Destiny had to go this part of their
journey alone.
With one last glance back, the adventurers passed the threshold of the forest. They had to
cover their eyes and the sudden advent of sunlight nearly blinded them. After adjusting to the light,
they began to move away from the woods toward the great plains of Hyrule.
As they walked, Tetra constantly fiddled around with the hilt of her newly acquired sabre,
unused to carrying such a thing. Zelda, on the other hand, was continually adjusting the bow on her
back. True to his word, the Deku Tree had two brand new fairy bows ready by the time they arose
in the morning. He also had four full quivers of arrows ready for the adventurers.
Once they got sufficiently far from the forest, LinkT called for them to stop. He got out the
Ocarina of Time and played a tune that the others recognized as Epona's Song.
"What are you doing?" LinkW asked. "Our horses are still up by the castle."
"You sure?" his counterpart replied with a smirk.
"Well, yeah, I . . ." LinkW was cut off by the whinny of a horse. Sure enough, four horses
could be seen coming over a nearby hill, Epona in the lead. "But . . . how in the . . . ?" LinkW
gaped.
The Hero of Time shrugged. "I really don't know how it works, but don't look a gift horse
in the mouth." LinkW raised an eyebrow. "Pun not intended."
They horses quickly caught up with their owners, neighing softly. LinkT mounted Epona,
while LinkW mounted the horse he had ridden earlier, a black mare with white trim that he called
Shadow. Tetra mounted her ginger haired horse which she had aptly named Ginger. Zelda mounted
the mostly white horse that Medli had ridden earlier. Strangely, the horse had no problem accepting
its new rider.
The four rode north, keeping the edge of the forest to their right. Zelda, of course, proved to
be very capable at horsemanship, much to Tetra's chagrin. The group made good time on the trip.
The rode on through the morning, stopping to eat some time around noon, shortly after reaching a
small pond connected to a river that LinkT informed them was a tributary of Zora's River. They
continued on, following the river to it's source. Eventually they reached the point where the small
river separated from it's source, Zora's River, which flowed out from under a rock overpass. As it
was evening when the group reached this point, they decided to make camp for the night there, under
the rocks that formed a sort of gate to the source of Zora's River.
In the morning, LinkT told his counterpart as much as he could remember about the
upstream part of Zora's River and about the Zora's Domain. LinkW let Shadow graze out to graze,
as he had to go it by foot from here on. He turned to face the river, noticing that the only ground
leading through the natural gate was on the other side. "So, how do I get through here?" he asked.
LinkT grinned. "Well . . . . you get wet," he replied, shoving the Wind Waker, now clad in
the blue Zora Tunic, into the river.
LinkW rose back to the surface, treading water and glaring at his counterpart while the girls
laughed. "I will get you for that," the Wind Waker threatened before turning and swimming to the
other side of the river.
"Good luck!" Tetra called after him before he vanished behind the rocks.
The remaining three companions continued their journey northward on horseback. The rode
the entirety of that day, crossing a bridge over Zora's River in the late afternoon. They reached the
entrance to Kakariko Village, or what was left of it. As Zelda had told them, the town was a wreck.
They spent the night in one of the more intact buildings that the princess pointed out.
The next day, the group headed to the graveyard behind the town. LinkT examined the
scene. Dampe's old hut had been totally washed away and the entire area was a muddy mess. Some
of the gravestones had even been yanked out of the ground. After a while, the Hero of Time picked
out a grave stone that, if memory served, belonged to Dampe. He puched the stone aside and, as
luck would have it, a stone lined hole was revealed.
"This is it," he informed the girls. They both exchanged glances, then smiled at LinkT
sweetly. *Uh oh. Something's up.*
The girls batted their eyelashes, trying to look innocent. "Link, dear," Zelda began.
*Red flag!*
"Seeing as how you're a big, strong man," Tetra continued.
*Danger! Danger! Danger!*
"Don't you think that maybe you could help us poor girls out," Zelda picked up.
*Oh crap! I'm screwed!*
"And go fetch the hookshot for us?" Tetra concluded.
LinkT glanced from one girl to the other and back. He sighed in defeat. "Alright."
Both girls cheered and wished him luck. They proceeded to find places to sit where they
wouldn't get muddy. *Isn't doing this once enough?* the Hero of Time thought just before he leapt
down the hole.
About a half hour later, LinkT crawled out a tunnel into the remains of the Kakariko
Windmill. He held the old hookshot in his hand. After getting out of the ruble, he headed back to
the graveyard. He found the princesses sitting on stone slabs, their backs to him. He grinned.
Payback!
The Hero of Time crept up to the girls slowly and silently. Soon he could hear their
conversation. "And then, on my birthday, he got me the most . . . interesting present. You see, I
guess he wanted to do something special . . . ," Zelda was saying, holding back giggles, as Tetra also
seemed to be doing.
*Oh, great!* LinkT thought, *Their telling embarrassing stories. About me!* He continued
to sneak up, until he was right behind the girls.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!" he yelled right behind them. They both screamed bloody
murder, leapt to their feet, stumbled, and fell forward into the mud. They both stopped screaming
when they caught sight of their assailant, who was laughing hysterically. They both glared up at
him. "You know," he chided, "Your first reflex should have been to draw your swords."
"Shut up, Link."
After that little incident, LinkT parted ways with the girls. He headed up the Death
Mountain Trail, while they left the town and continued north.
* * * * * * *
Still dripping water, Link the Hero of Winds trudged on down the bark of Zora's River. He
had found several places where he had to jump from one side of the river to the other to continue.
Actually, he had already been up this far. He had missed a jump and was washed back down to the
entrance. Rivers and oceans were nothing alike.
Grumbling, Link leapt over the crevice he had missed earlier and continued on. Dispatching
the occasional Octorock, he soon came to the base of a large waterfall.
"Looks like this is it," he muttered to himself as he climbed up onto a bridge-like stone path
that crossed in front of the falls. He jumped over to another natural bridge which crossed directly in
front of the waterfall. After searching for a minute he found an engraving of the Triforce, still
visible after all the flooding.
Link pulled out the Wind Waker and assumed his conductor's pose. He directed the baton
into the varying positions associated with the notes of Zelda's Lullaby. The wind itself seemed to
chant the tune as he conducted it.
Once the song was finished, the ground began to rumble. The waterfall began to split in
half, separating to reveal an opening in the stone wall behind the falls.
"I guess he was right," Link muttered, putting away the Wind Waker and bracing himself
for a jump. He leapt across the gap, landing in the opening, then continuing on in.
Link was shocked by what he found. The opening led to a massive cavern. There was little
dry ground to be seen, as most of the cavern was filled by a crystal clear pool of water. A massive
waterfall fell from an opening high up the side of the enclosure, breaking the otherwise impregnable
silence. Light, which filtered in from a number of indirect sources at the top of the cavern, bounced
off of the water and danced across the stone walls. The entire place seemed untouched by the
flooding of the land (of course, most of it was underwater anyway).
The Hero of Winds took a moment to pry himself away from the enchanting scene. He
finally began his trek up the only land path to be had, a stone ledge that lead from the entrance
around the side of the cavern and eventually up a flight of stairs. Link hurried, taking the steps two
at a time. When he reached the top, he found a throne-like fountain, which was the source of the
waterfall below. The Hero of Time had told him to take the passage that led behind the throne, so
Link did. It led outside to an enclosed lake. According to the Deku Tree, this was where the
Sorceress of Water could be found.
Unfortunately, there wasn't anything around that looked like a manmade structure. The
entire area was covered by the lake, although parts of it were only shin deep. Link began to walk
around the shallow part. There was a large fallen tree sticking out of the water, and a few large
rocks. The only thing that didn't look natural was a stone platform at what could be considered the
"front" of Zora's Fountain, as it was called. The platform stood a foot or so above the water. It had
stairs leading up to it and several pillars on top. However, it didn't lead to anything, it just dropped
off into the deeper water.
Link stood at the edge of the platform looking out over the water. There was nothing there.
No palace, no temple, nothing. Had the Great Deku Tree been wrong? No, the Sorceress HAD to
be here somewhere. Link inspected the blue tunic he was wearing. The Hero of Time had told him
that it would allow him to breath under water. Could that be it. Link shrugged. There was one way
to find out.
The Wind Waker crouched for a moment and hopped into the air. He tapped the heels of his
boots together. Magically, heavy metal encasements formed around the boots, pulling him back
down to the ground with a clank. *Time to get wet.* With that, Link hopped over the edge of the
platform.
As he sunk through the water, the Wind Waker tried to hold his breath. Gaging for air, he
finally let go in a rush of bubbles. To his surprise, Link found that he could, indeed, breath again.
It was a rather odd sensation, to breath water.
Calming down, Link took a look around his surroundings as he descended through the
water. the light was getting fainter, but he could still see. A few fish passed by as he looked around.
Then he looked down. He blinked. The bottom of the lake was a massive flat plain, which was
almost entirely covered by a giant pinkish oyster shell. Link landed softly in front of the giant shell.
A large staircase led up from the ground to a giant, pearl-covered door carved into the shell. In front
of the stairs were two rows of torch stands that, strangely, were burning underwater.
The Hero of Winds stood for a minute, examining the odd scene. Finally, he trudged his
way up the stairs to the large door. *What now?* he thought. There was no latch to pull the door
open with, so how did he open it? Finally, he decided to just knock. For a moment, nothing
happened. Then, suddenly, the door split in the middle, sliding open. Link stood there for a minute,
then shrugged and walked in. The door closed behind him.
* * * * * * *
Link, the Hero of Time, scaled the rocky passes of Death Mountain. He would reach the
summit soon, but he was not sure how that would help him. His target was the next mountain over,
Fire Mountain. Maybe at the top of Death Mountain he would be able to see a way to cross over.
About a half hour ago, Link had passed an odd sight. Settled on the rock above the
Dodongo's Cavern had been the pirate ship that he and his companions had sailed on. There hadn't
appeared to be anyone around anymore.
Link continued walking until he finally arrived at once had once been the entrance to Goron
City, however now it was the home of the Rito. Link entered to find most of the Rito congregating
there, along with the pirates that worked for Tetra. When they spotted him, the pirates instantly
clamored around him asking questions much more quickly than he could answer, mostly about
Tetra and the others. Fortunately, the Rito Chieftain, followed by his son, soon came over and saved
him from the crowd of sailors.
"You are the other young man named Link, are you not?" the chieftain asked.
"Yes, that's me," Link replied.
The chief nodded. "I see. By chance, do you know what has happened? Why has the land
resurfaced from beneath the waves?"
"Actually, that was why we needed to speak with Lord Valoo earlier," Link responded.
"We required this thing, which was at the bottom of the sea." He gestured to the Master Sword,
which was sheathed on his back.
Komali inspected the weapon. "Hey, that's Link's sword, isn't it?"
The Hero of Time nodded. "Yes, he used it for a while. However, I have used it before as
well."
The chieftain stroked his chin. "I thought that Link said that sword was sealed with
Ganondorf."
"It was," Link replied. "But we needed the sword for something far more dangerous than
Ganon. So we raised Hyrule and picked a fight with Ganon. We won, by the way, and sealed him
up again a different way."
"You freed Ganondorf to recover that sword?!" the chieftain asked in shock. "What could
be worth risking Ganon's release for?"
"The demon we were trying to destroy earlier," the Hero of Time responded. "He is known
as the Fierce Deity, and now he has acquired the Triforce." The Rito exchanged heated whispers.
"We're in a bit of a spot now," Link continued. "If we don't do something soon, the Fierce Deity
will destroy the world! That's why I'm here. I'm trying to find this 'Sorceress of Fire' who is
supposed to live on the next mountain over. However, I can't seem to find a way over to the
mountain."
Murmurs ran through the crowd of Rito. "But, Link will stop this Fierce Deity!" exclaimed
prince Komali. The Rito murmured in agreement. "He's really strong," Komali continued. "He
can save the world."
"We already tried that," the Hero of Time replied. "Neither of us could even touch the Oni.
That's why I need to find the Sorceress of Fire."
"I'm afraid that I have never heard of this sorceress," the Rito chief replied. "But, if you
know where you want to go, we could fly you over to the other mountain." He gestured towards the
entrance. "Could you point out where you wish to go?"
"Of course," Link replied. "I'm very grateful." Link and the chief, followed by Komali,
Quill, and several other Rito moved outside to where they could see te other mountain. Link
examined the mountain from afar. "I'm not really sure where I need to go, so anywhere would be
fine."
A deep voice behind them all rumbled in a forgotten language. Everyone turned around to
find Valoo perched above the entrance to the Rito city. The giant red dragon looked down upon
them and again spoke in his strange language.
"Uh, what did he say?" Link asked.
At a nod from the Chieftain, one of the maidens who served the dragon god stepped forward.
"The Great Valoo greets you again. He says that he understands you seek the Sorceress of Flames."
Link nodded. "That's right."
Valoo again spoke. The maiden, after hearing the dragon's words, turned back to Link.
"The Great Valoo says that he knows the location of the sorceress you seek."
The red dragon beat his wings and took to the air. He lowered himself down even with Link,
nearly resting his head on the platform the Hero and the Rito stood on. He then spoke again. Link
turned to the girl translator. "The Great Valoo, wishes for you to climb on his back. He says that he
will take you to the sorceress's lair."
Link nodded and climbed onto Valoo's neck, just above the shoulder blades. The dragon
beat his wings again and rose through the air. He soared towards the nearest mountain, looping
around the other side. He swooped down towards a giant domed rock formation. The dragon
touched down in front of the rock.
The rock was a giant dome, shaped like a half circle. In the front, the extruding rocks stuck
forward. The middle extrusion was shaped like a smooth, elongated, amphibious head. It had a
slightly beaked mouth, and two narrowed eye on either side of the head. The other two extrusions
were shaped like short, stubby arms.
"THIS IS TURTLE ROCK."
Link looked down at Valoo. "You can talk? In this language?"
The dragon nodded it's head slightly as the Hero of Time slipped off. "THIS LANGUAGE
OF MEN IS DIFFICULT FOR DRAGONS TO SPEAK. IF SOMEONE CAN TRANSLATE I
PREFER THE ANCIENT LANGUAGES."
"I see," Link replied. "He turned to the massive domes Turtle Rock. "So, this is where the
sorceress lives?" The dragon nodded. "So, how do I get in?"
"KNOCK AND YOU SHALL ENTER."
"Knock?" Link asked raising an eyebrow. The dragon nodded. "Okay." Link walked up to
the head of the turtle. He raised a fist and knocked on the turtle's nose. There was a rumbling
sound, then the turtle's head began to shift, the mouth opening to reveal a passageway.
Navi flew out from under Link's hat. "You know," she said. "You never have good
experiences entering something's mouth. Link nodded, but entered the passage anyway. The stone
turtle's mouth closed behind him.
* * * * * * *
"Wow. Now that is a view!" Tetra let out a low whistle as she scanned the horizon. She
stood at the edge of a massive cliff, looking out over the landscape below. Zelda stood next to her,
also admiring the scenery.
The two princesses had traveled north for two days to reach this cliff. From the top of it,
they could look off, over a massive valley. The tree covered valley had, like Hyrule, been
submerged underwater. However, barely visible at the far end of the valley was another cliff,
fencing in the low lands. The cliff had probably been where Hyrule had been separated from the rest
of the continent, the valley and Hyrule sinking away. Zelda had said that the far cliff did not exist
previously-the high ground having been part of the valley in the pre-deluge era. Tetra noted that,
had she and her friends sailed more northward on their trip to find a new homeland, they probably
would have found this continent.
The pirate turned to the princess. "So, you think the bluff we're looking for is here?"
"I'd say that there is a good chance," Zelda replied.
"So . . . . how do we find this sorceress?"
"No clue."
The girls began to walk along the edge of the cliff, looking for anything out of the ordinary
(and admiring the view). It only took them a few minutes to find something VERY strange.
"Look at this!" Tetra exclaimed, running over to a stone platform. The platform stood a few
feet above the surrounding ground, with stairs leading up to it on the side away from the edge of the
cliff. The other side of the platform went right out to the edge of the cliff, more or less becoming
part of it. Upon the platform stood two large basins, each with a roaring fire flickering in the wind,
but never going out.
The princesses climbed onto the platform and began looking around. Zelda laid down on her
stomach, stretching her head out over the cliff. "Hey, it's flat!" she exclaimed.
"What do you mean?" Tetra asked, laying down next to her. The side of the cliff was
perfectly flat, matching up exactly with the platform. "Now that is odd," Tetra mused. "Hey,
what's this?" The pirate hung her arm over the edge, feeling the smooth stone. "There are
indentures here!"
"Let me see," Zelda responded, leaning further over the cliff to see. Evenly spaced
indentures ran down the side of the cliff as far as she could see, leading to what looked like a very
large cleft in the cliff. "They're handholds!" she exclaimed. "We have to scale down the side of the
cliff!"
Tetra looked at her like she was crazy. "We have to climb down THERE?!" Zelda gave a
sympathetic look and nodded. "Just great," the pirate grumbled.
"We might as well get going," Zelda advised, already lowering herself over the edge. Tetra
gave a sigh and followed down.
The climb down was rather unnerving for the two princesses. Each of them nearly fell at
various times. Not to mention how far they had to go. It took nearly a half hour to climb down to
the large opening in the bluff. By the time they got there, both girls' arms were aching.
The girls took a moment to rest before examining the enclosure they were in. It was as if a
giant cube had been cut out of the cliff. However, the space was not empty. A very large and wide
stair case stood in the center leading up to a large stone door covered by engravings. On either side
of the stairs sat an identical statue. The statues were of a woman, dressed much like a Gerudo,
sitting cross legged. She had six arms, the top two clasped above her head, the middle two spread
out wide, and the bottom two clutching a basin of fire that sat in her lap.
The princesses walked up the stairway to the sone door. While Zelda examined the carvings
on the door, Tetra raised a fist and knocked. "Anybody home?" she called out.
Zelda rolled her eyes. "You're not going to get in like that."
Just then, te door gave a shudder and slid up, raising out of the way. "You were saying?"
Tetra remarked, smirking.
Zelda rolled her eyes. "Come on," she said, entering through the door. Tetra followed, and
the door lowered again, shutting behind them.
the chapter!
Disclaimer: I own . . . . . . no Zelda.
The Legend of Zelda
The Golden Land
Chapter Nineteen
Search for the Sorceresses
LinkT, LinkW, Zelda, and Tetra stood at the edge of the Kokiri Forest preparing to leave.
They waved to their friends. Aryll, Saria, Makar, and Medli were remaining in the forest. They,
along with the Kokiri were going to "set up camp" in the Forest Temple and keep hidden from the
Fierce Deity. The Legendary Heroes and the Princesses of Destiny had to go this part of their
journey alone.
With one last glance back, the adventurers passed the threshold of the forest. They had to
cover their eyes and the sudden advent of sunlight nearly blinded them. After adjusting to the light,
they began to move away from the woods toward the great plains of Hyrule.
As they walked, Tetra constantly fiddled around with the hilt of her newly acquired sabre,
unused to carrying such a thing. Zelda, on the other hand, was continually adjusting the bow on her
back. True to his word, the Deku Tree had two brand new fairy bows ready by the time they arose
in the morning. He also had four full quivers of arrows ready for the adventurers.
Once they got sufficiently far from the forest, LinkT called for them to stop. He got out the
Ocarina of Time and played a tune that the others recognized as Epona's Song.
"What are you doing?" LinkW asked. "Our horses are still up by the castle."
"You sure?" his counterpart replied with a smirk.
"Well, yeah, I . . ." LinkW was cut off by the whinny of a horse. Sure enough, four horses
could be seen coming over a nearby hill, Epona in the lead. "But . . . how in the . . . ?" LinkW
gaped.
The Hero of Time shrugged. "I really don't know how it works, but don't look a gift horse
in the mouth." LinkW raised an eyebrow. "Pun not intended."
They horses quickly caught up with their owners, neighing softly. LinkT mounted Epona,
while LinkW mounted the horse he had ridden earlier, a black mare with white trim that he called
Shadow. Tetra mounted her ginger haired horse which she had aptly named Ginger. Zelda mounted
the mostly white horse that Medli had ridden earlier. Strangely, the horse had no problem accepting
its new rider.
The four rode north, keeping the edge of the forest to their right. Zelda, of course, proved to
be very capable at horsemanship, much to Tetra's chagrin. The group made good time on the trip.
The rode on through the morning, stopping to eat some time around noon, shortly after reaching a
small pond connected to a river that LinkT informed them was a tributary of Zora's River. They
continued on, following the river to it's source. Eventually they reached the point where the small
river separated from it's source, Zora's River, which flowed out from under a rock overpass. As it
was evening when the group reached this point, they decided to make camp for the night there, under
the rocks that formed a sort of gate to the source of Zora's River.
In the morning, LinkT told his counterpart as much as he could remember about the
upstream part of Zora's River and about the Zora's Domain. LinkW let Shadow graze out to graze,
as he had to go it by foot from here on. He turned to face the river, noticing that the only ground
leading through the natural gate was on the other side. "So, how do I get through here?" he asked.
LinkT grinned. "Well . . . . you get wet," he replied, shoving the Wind Waker, now clad in
the blue Zora Tunic, into the river.
LinkW rose back to the surface, treading water and glaring at his counterpart while the girls
laughed. "I will get you for that," the Wind Waker threatened before turning and swimming to the
other side of the river.
"Good luck!" Tetra called after him before he vanished behind the rocks.
The remaining three companions continued their journey northward on horseback. The rode
the entirety of that day, crossing a bridge over Zora's River in the late afternoon. They reached the
entrance to Kakariko Village, or what was left of it. As Zelda had told them, the town was a wreck.
They spent the night in one of the more intact buildings that the princess pointed out.
The next day, the group headed to the graveyard behind the town. LinkT examined the
scene. Dampe's old hut had been totally washed away and the entire area was a muddy mess. Some
of the gravestones had even been yanked out of the ground. After a while, the Hero of Time picked
out a grave stone that, if memory served, belonged to Dampe. He puched the stone aside and, as
luck would have it, a stone lined hole was revealed.
"This is it," he informed the girls. They both exchanged glances, then smiled at LinkT
sweetly. *Uh oh. Something's up.*
The girls batted their eyelashes, trying to look innocent. "Link, dear," Zelda began.
*Red flag!*
"Seeing as how you're a big, strong man," Tetra continued.
*Danger! Danger! Danger!*
"Don't you think that maybe you could help us poor girls out," Zelda picked up.
*Oh crap! I'm screwed!*
"And go fetch the hookshot for us?" Tetra concluded.
LinkT glanced from one girl to the other and back. He sighed in defeat. "Alright."
Both girls cheered and wished him luck. They proceeded to find places to sit where they
wouldn't get muddy. *Isn't doing this once enough?* the Hero of Time thought just before he leapt
down the hole.
About a half hour later, LinkT crawled out a tunnel into the remains of the Kakariko
Windmill. He held the old hookshot in his hand. After getting out of the ruble, he headed back to
the graveyard. He found the princesses sitting on stone slabs, their backs to him. He grinned.
Payback!
The Hero of Time crept up to the girls slowly and silently. Soon he could hear their
conversation. "And then, on my birthday, he got me the most . . . interesting present. You see, I
guess he wanted to do something special . . . ," Zelda was saying, holding back giggles, as Tetra also
seemed to be doing.
*Oh, great!* LinkT thought, *Their telling embarrassing stories. About me!* He continued
to sneak up, until he was right behind the girls.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!" he yelled right behind them. They both screamed bloody
murder, leapt to their feet, stumbled, and fell forward into the mud. They both stopped screaming
when they caught sight of their assailant, who was laughing hysterically. They both glared up at
him. "You know," he chided, "Your first reflex should have been to draw your swords."
"Shut up, Link."
After that little incident, LinkT parted ways with the girls. He headed up the Death
Mountain Trail, while they left the town and continued north.
* * * * * * *
Still dripping water, Link the Hero of Winds trudged on down the bark of Zora's River. He
had found several places where he had to jump from one side of the river to the other to continue.
Actually, he had already been up this far. He had missed a jump and was washed back down to the
entrance. Rivers and oceans were nothing alike.
Grumbling, Link leapt over the crevice he had missed earlier and continued on. Dispatching
the occasional Octorock, he soon came to the base of a large waterfall.
"Looks like this is it," he muttered to himself as he climbed up onto a bridge-like stone path
that crossed in front of the falls. He jumped over to another natural bridge which crossed directly in
front of the waterfall. After searching for a minute he found an engraving of the Triforce, still
visible after all the flooding.
Link pulled out the Wind Waker and assumed his conductor's pose. He directed the baton
into the varying positions associated with the notes of Zelda's Lullaby. The wind itself seemed to
chant the tune as he conducted it.
Once the song was finished, the ground began to rumble. The waterfall began to split in
half, separating to reveal an opening in the stone wall behind the falls.
"I guess he was right," Link muttered, putting away the Wind Waker and bracing himself
for a jump. He leapt across the gap, landing in the opening, then continuing on in.
Link was shocked by what he found. The opening led to a massive cavern. There was little
dry ground to be seen, as most of the cavern was filled by a crystal clear pool of water. A massive
waterfall fell from an opening high up the side of the enclosure, breaking the otherwise impregnable
silence. Light, which filtered in from a number of indirect sources at the top of the cavern, bounced
off of the water and danced across the stone walls. The entire place seemed untouched by the
flooding of the land (of course, most of it was underwater anyway).
The Hero of Winds took a moment to pry himself away from the enchanting scene. He
finally began his trek up the only land path to be had, a stone ledge that lead from the entrance
around the side of the cavern and eventually up a flight of stairs. Link hurried, taking the steps two
at a time. When he reached the top, he found a throne-like fountain, which was the source of the
waterfall below. The Hero of Time had told him to take the passage that led behind the throne, so
Link did. It led outside to an enclosed lake. According to the Deku Tree, this was where the
Sorceress of Water could be found.
Unfortunately, there wasn't anything around that looked like a manmade structure. The
entire area was covered by the lake, although parts of it were only shin deep. Link began to walk
around the shallow part. There was a large fallen tree sticking out of the water, and a few large
rocks. The only thing that didn't look natural was a stone platform at what could be considered the
"front" of Zora's Fountain, as it was called. The platform stood a foot or so above the water. It had
stairs leading up to it and several pillars on top. However, it didn't lead to anything, it just dropped
off into the deeper water.
Link stood at the edge of the platform looking out over the water. There was nothing there.
No palace, no temple, nothing. Had the Great Deku Tree been wrong? No, the Sorceress HAD to
be here somewhere. Link inspected the blue tunic he was wearing. The Hero of Time had told him
that it would allow him to breath under water. Could that be it. Link shrugged. There was one way
to find out.
The Wind Waker crouched for a moment and hopped into the air. He tapped the heels of his
boots together. Magically, heavy metal encasements formed around the boots, pulling him back
down to the ground with a clank. *Time to get wet.* With that, Link hopped over the edge of the
platform.
As he sunk through the water, the Wind Waker tried to hold his breath. Gaging for air, he
finally let go in a rush of bubbles. To his surprise, Link found that he could, indeed, breath again.
It was a rather odd sensation, to breath water.
Calming down, Link took a look around his surroundings as he descended through the
water. the light was getting fainter, but he could still see. A few fish passed by as he looked around.
Then he looked down. He blinked. The bottom of the lake was a massive flat plain, which was
almost entirely covered by a giant pinkish oyster shell. Link landed softly in front of the giant shell.
A large staircase led up from the ground to a giant, pearl-covered door carved into the shell. In front
of the stairs were two rows of torch stands that, strangely, were burning underwater.
The Hero of Winds stood for a minute, examining the odd scene. Finally, he trudged his
way up the stairs to the large door. *What now?* he thought. There was no latch to pull the door
open with, so how did he open it? Finally, he decided to just knock. For a moment, nothing
happened. Then, suddenly, the door split in the middle, sliding open. Link stood there for a minute,
then shrugged and walked in. The door closed behind him.
* * * * * * *
Link, the Hero of Time, scaled the rocky passes of Death Mountain. He would reach the
summit soon, but he was not sure how that would help him. His target was the next mountain over,
Fire Mountain. Maybe at the top of Death Mountain he would be able to see a way to cross over.
About a half hour ago, Link had passed an odd sight. Settled on the rock above the
Dodongo's Cavern had been the pirate ship that he and his companions had sailed on. There hadn't
appeared to be anyone around anymore.
Link continued walking until he finally arrived at once had once been the entrance to Goron
City, however now it was the home of the Rito. Link entered to find most of the Rito congregating
there, along with the pirates that worked for Tetra. When they spotted him, the pirates instantly
clamored around him asking questions much more quickly than he could answer, mostly about
Tetra and the others. Fortunately, the Rito Chieftain, followed by his son, soon came over and saved
him from the crowd of sailors.
"You are the other young man named Link, are you not?" the chieftain asked.
"Yes, that's me," Link replied.
The chief nodded. "I see. By chance, do you know what has happened? Why has the land
resurfaced from beneath the waves?"
"Actually, that was why we needed to speak with Lord Valoo earlier," Link responded.
"We required this thing, which was at the bottom of the sea." He gestured to the Master Sword,
which was sheathed on his back.
Komali inspected the weapon. "Hey, that's Link's sword, isn't it?"
The Hero of Time nodded. "Yes, he used it for a while. However, I have used it before as
well."
The chieftain stroked his chin. "I thought that Link said that sword was sealed with
Ganondorf."
"It was," Link replied. "But we needed the sword for something far more dangerous than
Ganon. So we raised Hyrule and picked a fight with Ganon. We won, by the way, and sealed him
up again a different way."
"You freed Ganondorf to recover that sword?!" the chieftain asked in shock. "What could
be worth risking Ganon's release for?"
"The demon we were trying to destroy earlier," the Hero of Time responded. "He is known
as the Fierce Deity, and now he has acquired the Triforce." The Rito exchanged heated whispers.
"We're in a bit of a spot now," Link continued. "If we don't do something soon, the Fierce Deity
will destroy the world! That's why I'm here. I'm trying to find this 'Sorceress of Fire' who is
supposed to live on the next mountain over. However, I can't seem to find a way over to the
mountain."
Murmurs ran through the crowd of Rito. "But, Link will stop this Fierce Deity!" exclaimed
prince Komali. The Rito murmured in agreement. "He's really strong," Komali continued. "He
can save the world."
"We already tried that," the Hero of Time replied. "Neither of us could even touch the Oni.
That's why I need to find the Sorceress of Fire."
"I'm afraid that I have never heard of this sorceress," the Rito chief replied. "But, if you
know where you want to go, we could fly you over to the other mountain." He gestured towards the
entrance. "Could you point out where you wish to go?"
"Of course," Link replied. "I'm very grateful." Link and the chief, followed by Komali,
Quill, and several other Rito moved outside to where they could see te other mountain. Link
examined the mountain from afar. "I'm not really sure where I need to go, so anywhere would be
fine."
A deep voice behind them all rumbled in a forgotten language. Everyone turned around to
find Valoo perched above the entrance to the Rito city. The giant red dragon looked down upon
them and again spoke in his strange language.
"Uh, what did he say?" Link asked.
At a nod from the Chieftain, one of the maidens who served the dragon god stepped forward.
"The Great Valoo greets you again. He says that he understands you seek the Sorceress of Flames."
Link nodded. "That's right."
Valoo again spoke. The maiden, after hearing the dragon's words, turned back to Link.
"The Great Valoo says that he knows the location of the sorceress you seek."
The red dragon beat his wings and took to the air. He lowered himself down even with Link,
nearly resting his head on the platform the Hero and the Rito stood on. He then spoke again. Link
turned to the girl translator. "The Great Valoo, wishes for you to climb on his back. He says that he
will take you to the sorceress's lair."
Link nodded and climbed onto Valoo's neck, just above the shoulder blades. The dragon
beat his wings again and rose through the air. He soared towards the nearest mountain, looping
around the other side. He swooped down towards a giant domed rock formation. The dragon
touched down in front of the rock.
The rock was a giant dome, shaped like a half circle. In the front, the extruding rocks stuck
forward. The middle extrusion was shaped like a smooth, elongated, amphibious head. It had a
slightly beaked mouth, and two narrowed eye on either side of the head. The other two extrusions
were shaped like short, stubby arms.
"THIS IS TURTLE ROCK."
Link looked down at Valoo. "You can talk? In this language?"
The dragon nodded it's head slightly as the Hero of Time slipped off. "THIS LANGUAGE
OF MEN IS DIFFICULT FOR DRAGONS TO SPEAK. IF SOMEONE CAN TRANSLATE I
PREFER THE ANCIENT LANGUAGES."
"I see," Link replied. "He turned to the massive domes Turtle Rock. "So, this is where the
sorceress lives?" The dragon nodded. "So, how do I get in?"
"KNOCK AND YOU SHALL ENTER."
"Knock?" Link asked raising an eyebrow. The dragon nodded. "Okay." Link walked up to
the head of the turtle. He raised a fist and knocked on the turtle's nose. There was a rumbling
sound, then the turtle's head began to shift, the mouth opening to reveal a passageway.
Navi flew out from under Link's hat. "You know," she said. "You never have good
experiences entering something's mouth. Link nodded, but entered the passage anyway. The stone
turtle's mouth closed behind him.
* * * * * * *
"Wow. Now that is a view!" Tetra let out a low whistle as she scanned the horizon. She
stood at the edge of a massive cliff, looking out over the landscape below. Zelda stood next to her,
also admiring the scenery.
The two princesses had traveled north for two days to reach this cliff. From the top of it,
they could look off, over a massive valley. The tree covered valley had, like Hyrule, been
submerged underwater. However, barely visible at the far end of the valley was another cliff,
fencing in the low lands. The cliff had probably been where Hyrule had been separated from the rest
of the continent, the valley and Hyrule sinking away. Zelda had said that the far cliff did not exist
previously-the high ground having been part of the valley in the pre-deluge era. Tetra noted that,
had she and her friends sailed more northward on their trip to find a new homeland, they probably
would have found this continent.
The pirate turned to the princess. "So, you think the bluff we're looking for is here?"
"I'd say that there is a good chance," Zelda replied.
"So . . . . how do we find this sorceress?"
"No clue."
The girls began to walk along the edge of the cliff, looking for anything out of the ordinary
(and admiring the view). It only took them a few minutes to find something VERY strange.
"Look at this!" Tetra exclaimed, running over to a stone platform. The platform stood a few
feet above the surrounding ground, with stairs leading up to it on the side away from the edge of the
cliff. The other side of the platform went right out to the edge of the cliff, more or less becoming
part of it. Upon the platform stood two large basins, each with a roaring fire flickering in the wind,
but never going out.
The princesses climbed onto the platform and began looking around. Zelda laid down on her
stomach, stretching her head out over the cliff. "Hey, it's flat!" she exclaimed.
"What do you mean?" Tetra asked, laying down next to her. The side of the cliff was
perfectly flat, matching up exactly with the platform. "Now that is odd," Tetra mused. "Hey,
what's this?" The pirate hung her arm over the edge, feeling the smooth stone. "There are
indentures here!"
"Let me see," Zelda responded, leaning further over the cliff to see. Evenly spaced
indentures ran down the side of the cliff as far as she could see, leading to what looked like a very
large cleft in the cliff. "They're handholds!" she exclaimed. "We have to scale down the side of the
cliff!"
Tetra looked at her like she was crazy. "We have to climb down THERE?!" Zelda gave a
sympathetic look and nodded. "Just great," the pirate grumbled.
"We might as well get going," Zelda advised, already lowering herself over the edge. Tetra
gave a sigh and followed down.
The climb down was rather unnerving for the two princesses. Each of them nearly fell at
various times. Not to mention how far they had to go. It took nearly a half hour to climb down to
the large opening in the bluff. By the time they got there, both girls' arms were aching.
The girls took a moment to rest before examining the enclosure they were in. It was as if a
giant cube had been cut out of the cliff. However, the space was not empty. A very large and wide
stair case stood in the center leading up to a large stone door covered by engravings. On either side
of the stairs sat an identical statue. The statues were of a woman, dressed much like a Gerudo,
sitting cross legged. She had six arms, the top two clasped above her head, the middle two spread
out wide, and the bottom two clutching a basin of fire that sat in her lap.
The princesses walked up the stairway to the sone door. While Zelda examined the carvings
on the door, Tetra raised a fist and knocked. "Anybody home?" she called out.
Zelda rolled her eyes. "You're not going to get in like that."
Just then, te door gave a shudder and slid up, raising out of the way. "You were saying?"
Tetra remarked, smirking.
Zelda rolled her eyes. "Come on," she said, entering through the door. Tetra followed, and
the door lowered again, shutting behind them.