Chapter Five
Link speaks
I fell when the earth shakes hit, but I was lucky. Underneath the overhang was a bent, twisted wreck of a tree, and it caught me under my shield arm, bending but not breaking. It took a long time to get to a place where I could climb up and play for Epona, and longer to find the men. Some, the least wounded, had left for the king's garrison. The others were glad to see me alive. They had set up a camp in a shallow cave. They insisted on checking me over. My shield arm was bruised, and I had some other bruises, but no cuts. They had medical supplies and food and managed to make a fire. There was a spring nearby. "Get help," they told me. "Go to Woldshold and get help." By the time I found the town, it was getting dark. The streets were empty except for a lady who was rushing down the street. She was blond and plain, but she resembled the picture of my mother.
She said, in a strangled tone, "Link?" I nodded. "How-how do I know you're my sister's child?" I reached for the locket in my pouch and showed her. She sobbed. "Sweet Goddess. I've sent a message to the King's garrison. Mother's gone mad. I just don't know what else to do. Come. Come with me, it's not safe here at night." The house she took me to was large and a good length from town. She took me straight to the kitchen and got me fed. "All of our servants live in the town," she said, "and leave at night. Mother always insisted." While I ate, I told her what happened and she started to cry. "I didn't know, "she moaned. "Until today I didn't know. Mother's gone mad. She's trying to kill the Duke." I was on my feet in a moment, demanding to know where. She did not know. I asked if she could get help for the men I left, and she said no one from the town would dare to go, they were all afraid of her mother, but one trusted man had gone for the King's garrison.
I left, to her shouted dismay. I took Epona to the woods behind the house and played the Song of Earth. I expected to feel a tug, or see an arrow. I did not expect to see a fairy appear. It whispered to me, and I followed it to a cave. There were six Dinofoes. One had a key. There were Bubbles, mostly, thank the goddesses, weak. Then the fairy told me it dared go no further, healed me, and was gone. I slid in and hid under a table. I could see a cage in the corner, and I could see an erect, gray-haired woman working over something. Then I heard my uncle's voice, and knew he was in the cage. The relief was so great it was almost painful. He was alive.
The Duke watched the witch work over her trough, and finally asked, "I was bringing the boy to see you. Why send men after him?" She said nothing and did not even look over at him. She had brought a man to deal with his needs, bind him, and lock him back in the cage. Finally she seemed to be satisfied with what she had, and came over to look at him. "Duke Stefan of Lawrence," she sneered. "At least this makes my plans a little easier, but I wanted my grandson first. Those fools. Ineffective, like your family. Your wild brother took my delicate daughter away and none of you did anything to stop him. Now you think to take the Link lands by keeping the boy. I will not have that." The Duke reflected, in his shock, that her voice was like Link's, deep and husky. In Link, the voice grated. Hers did not. "Instead I will have yours, through the boy. For a start. I have power, and I will have more. I sent the Dinofoe after your children. It was a test. I sent no more. I need the boy alive."
"He went over the cliff. No one could have survived that. "
"I would know. He is alive. Hurt, perhaps, but alive. I have keyed my creation to him, you see. To any male relative with my blood, and he is the only one. I know enough that he would not see the need for my plans. This one," she indicated the trough, "will be my puppet, and the real one will be my key to full power. He has power locked within him. That power will call a dark lord, who will reward me at his release. By that time I will have my grandson under my control. Not that you will know, or care. For now, regret, my lord Duke. Regret that you did not marry my daughter and have this child instead of your brother." She walked away, into the recesses of the cavern.
"Uncle!" He looked up to see Link, putting a key into the lock and opening the door. "Quickly, while she's gone, we have to hurry before she wakes that thing. Here," Link was slicing at the bonds with his eating dagger.
"Link, get help. Go. Hurry. She has creatures that guard the entrance." Link was helping him stand.
"My aunt sent for help. I took care of the creatures. If I don't get you out she'll kill you. Come." He urged his uncle out, almost carrying him, but they had not taken two steps before they heard the chanting. Something was stirring in the trough. Link shoved his uncle back into the cell and threw him the key and the knife, and turned. The Duke looked past his nephew and saw the thing almost formed with a sword and shield. Link put his sword and shield on his back, and from somewhere pulled his bow and quiver of arrows. He moved away from the cage as laughter rang out in the cavern.
"So, he did bring you here. I hoped so. Hello, Link Lawrence. I am your grandmother, Lady Beatrice Link. Put down your toys. You have no chance of defeating me. You'll only get hurt." Link said nothing. "Don't be a fool." The copy had become fully formed and solid. Link waited. A chanting began, and it moved toward him. He drew, fired, hit, and repeated until his quiver was empty. The copy stopped when hit and withdrew the arrow, becoming ragged. With the last arrow, Link dropped the useless bow and drew his sword and shield. The copy stopped, and the ragged edges closed. Link had not missed the copy once. The chanting stopped as Lady Link caught her breath. Link attacked, getting in two blows before she began again. At the moment the chanting started, his blows were copied. He jumped back, circling constantly, trying to push it back. It would not let him come near the witch. When she stopped again, he reached into his pouch and threw something that exploded, then attacked, getting in blows while she coughed. Then she began again, and again the blows were copied. The copy was getting only one or two blows to Link's several. Link repeated the throws several times. Then he used only the sword. The Duke saw the trap. If Link attacked with the sword while the chant went on, he took the blows he was giving. If Link attacked with any other weapon, the damage was to the puppet alone, but Link had exhausted his distance attacks. Link was faster, and it could not close against him. The fight went on and on. Link was taking a pounding, but the chant was slowing as well, and the puppet was healing more slowly. The Duke wanted to unlock the door and go after the witch, but he was too weak to do much more than stand. It was becoming a contest of who would grind down first.
Then she stopped again, and Link moved. He slammed his sword across the copy's shield arm, exposing the sword arm, and swung, just as the chanting began again and the copy moved. The Duke heard the crack of both swords connecting, and Link stumbled back. The chant stopped again. The copy was standing, both arms down, shield and sword on the ground. Link had his shield. His sword was on the ground and his arm dangled, useless. The sudden quiet echoed for a time as the combatant's eyes locked, blue and brown, boy and grandmother, hero and witch. The Duke forced himself to put the key in the lock and try to open the cage. He had just gotten it open when he heard Link say, "Don't make me kill you."
He stared. He could only see Link's back. Link and the copy were in the middle of the cavern, with Beatrice on the other side opposite the Duke. He had trouble believing his ears. Link was helpless now. He had no weapons left, he had endured a pounding that would have had most men on their knees, his arm was broken and he had to be in terrible pain. He was facing a witch whose puppet was only feet from him, and would heal when the chanting began again.
"I have no intention of killing you, " the witch said, misunderstanding. "I have a healing potion which will keep you from dying and take care of the worst hurts. I cannot allow you to fight me further, however, so you will be weak." There was a grudging admiration in her voice. "You have my strength, if wasted on foolishness. You are truly my get, unlike my silly daughters. Stay still and don't give me more trouble. If you do, I'll make you watch while it kills him." Link did not reply. He stepped back. She began the chant again, and the puppet healed, and then went to pick up its sword. At that moment, Link shouted, and struck the ground with his shield fist. The cavern lit up with fire exploding around Link. The Duke turned his head and closed his eyes. When he could see again, there were three bodies on the floor, and a terrible smell of cooked meat. He got the door open and made it to Link, who was in a clear area that was not charred. The boy was breathing in shallow gasps. Now that he was close, the Duke could see the small cuts on his arms and legs and back, where the sword blows had landed, and a larger one on Link's head, bleeding into his hair and down his back. He could see where the sword arm was broken, bending at the middle of the forearm. "Which one is the healing potion?" he asked Link, not expecting a response.
"Red," Link whispered. The Duke searched and brought it to the battered boy, lifted him and fed it to him slowly. The cuts stopped bleeding. He saw the bones in the forearm straighten and firm. Link's breathing became steadier. He put Link down to let the potion work further and looked at the copy. It lay burnt and still. He went over to Beatrice. She was untouched, but not breathing. By this time the spell was wearing off and he was strong again. He picked Link up and carried him out.
The party from the King's garrison found them. They looked with horror at Link, who was covered with dirt and blood, and got them to the town. They had already found and brought the duke's men, and a party was scouring the area searching for the rest of the outlaw band. The Duke saw Link given over to a healer, with one of his lightly wounded men guarding, and took the commander to the cavern himself. A messenger went to the King within the hour with the grim news. The commander looked at the dead bodies of the Dinofoes and the ashes that were the Bubbles, and looked at the burnt remnant of the copy, and said," Your nephew, that boy, he did all of this? Alone?" The duke confirmed Link had. "She cast some kind of spell that weakened me, and left me in that." He pointed to the cage. The commander looked Lady Link over. He nodded to himself and sent his men to take away the body and set a guard.When they returned, the commander interviewed Elaine Link, and placed her under house arrest as a precaution. The healer reported that Link was as comfortable as he could make him. There was a undercurrent of rage underneath his professional coolness. "The healing potion stopped the bleeding and healed a broken arm and likely cracked ribs. It did not completely heal the cuts, and there was something else in it, something to daze. Your Grace, he had to have it, because without it that child would have died, but that potion was designed to get someone under control."
"How injured is he?"
"He's got bruises, some bone-deep, where the cuts are. His back, sword arm, and legs are going to be black within a few days. The cut on his head was shallow. He's dazed, and I think he's under a coercion spell. "The healer stopped and took a breath. "Sir, Your Grace, what I am trying to say is that this looks deliberate, as if the boy was beaten to force him to take the potion."
"That fits," the commander said thoughtfully. "He'll live?"
"Barring complications, yes."
"Can we speak to him?"
"If he isn't asleep. If he is, it can wait. He needs all the relief he can get. With that head wound, I don't dare give him anything strong for pain." The healer stalked into the room. Link looked terribly young and vulnerable, lying propped on pillows, his eyes closed. "Lad?" the healer said softly. Link stirred and turned to look at them, his eyes remote. The Duke walked over to him and brushed his hair out of his eyes. The healer left.They found chairs, and the Duke asked Link what happened after he fell off the edge of the path. Link told them, his voice not more than a whisper most of the time, about being caught on the tree, getting to the road, finding the men, and finding his aunt. When the commander would have asked questions, the duke stopped him, raising a hand as Link continued about playing the Song of Earth the Bard had taught him and the fairy appearing, fighting the creatures and being healed by the fairy before it fled, about finding his uncle alive and the conversation between the witch and his uncle, about trying to get his uncle out, and the double forming.
"And?" the commander said. The Duke jumped. Link started again, his voice a thread. He told about fighting the copy and trying to get past it to the witch. "I hoped, if I could get the weapons down when she stopped, I could stop her, but she was too fast. It broke my arm. All I had left was Din's Fire. I knew it would kill her. I could not let her kill him. I could not let her have me. If the dark lord has the holder of the Triforce of Courage, he need look no further. She was the center for the darkness, the center for the greed and madness. I had to stop her. I had to stop her." The agony he had endured came through in dry recital.
"Link, enough," the duke said softly. "Sleep now, with no dreams." Link closed his eyes and turned his head away, and his breathing became regular. They got up and left, the Duke summoning the guard. They went to the room the commander had taken for an office and sat.
After a moment the commander said, in a even voice, "I'm going to hear that voice in my nightmares. The boy is the Hero of Time in the stories?" The Duke nodded.
"We came to make a first visit. He'd never met her. " The commander got up and sent for wine. The Duke felt the long, painful hours weigh on him.
"Poor boy. This goes far beyond my authority, your Grace. I can only make my report and send all of you to the capitol to have the matter heard. A formality, of course, as there is no question that there was dark magic being practiced and not only murder, but treason planned. It will be arranged when the healer says your nephew can be moved. " The duke nodded, stood, and left. He stopped to see Link again before seeking his bed. The guard told the Duke that no one but the healer had been by. He added that they had sent Link to the town to get help, thinking they were sending him to safety, never dreaming the boy would try to find the Duke on his own. The Duke assured him that there was no blame to his men, and went to bed.
Link speaks
They took me back to the castle in a carriage with all the padding they could find on it. It did not matter. Nothing mattered. I existed, always in pain and with the fight in the cavern running through my mind again and again. It ran though my dreams, and I would wake, arched and sweating in my bed, frightening my attendants. I could not speak of it. I did not speak at all. If I could not answer by nodding or shaking my head, I would not answer. They put me back in the same room in my uncle's suite I had before. The healer swore when she looked over me. I did not even try to listen. When she got my attention, I did as she said. Then the Princess came to see me. I heard the healer and my aunt talking to someone, and the door. When she spoke, I looked over and tried to stand. She waved me down and sat by me. "Tell me," she said. I shook my head, as before. "Link. There is a danger to Hyrule here. I have to know what it is. Tell me."
I felt the power in her voice, and for the first time, I was able to talk. It hurt. It hurt worse than the beating I endured from the copy, and at one point I broke down and wept, unable to stop myself. She got me water when I faltered, and wiped my face when I stopped weeping, and she listened. Then she spoke, and the words she said came from someone besides herself and reached into me, stopping the cycle of pain and soothing the agony inside me. "There is no blame here, Link, Hero of Time. You were given the power from the Goddesses to defend Hyrule. The one you struck was evil, and in her evil she would have destroyed everything in her path. "Then she said, "What else could you have done, Link? She gave you no choice. Even when you warned her, she gave you no choice." I fell asleep. When I woke, I was hungry. Ian came in, looking fearful, and tried to climb on the bed. I reached an arm, and he almost pulled me out. I hadn't realized I was so weak. "Link?" Anna came in and stood by the door. "Ian, Mother told you to leave Link alone!" I managed to push myself up, and saw I was wearing only a nightshirt in full daylight. The sleeve fell back, and Anna came over to look at the bruises. " Ouch!" she said. "Did you get beaten up, Link? "
By that time the healer and my aunt had come to the door. I looked up. "Can I get something to eat?"
"Not much," she said firmly. "Broth and sops. If you keep that down, we'll see." She left. My aunt said, "Don't tire Link out, children, come along." Ian hunkered down by me, starting to pout.
"It's all right," I said, tickling under his chin, and he giggled. Anna sat on the bed and started to tell me about everything that had happened since I left.
The King settled the matter quickly. Neither Link, the Duke, nor Elaine Link was guilty of any crime. Beatrice Link was dabbling in dark arts, and she was plotting murder and treason by her own statement. Elaine Link wanted to see Link, and she wanted the matter of the Link inheritance settled. The Duke agreed to try to work with her.
Then the earth shook. It shook for several seconds. "Magic," the Princess said, feeling the tingle. Reports came in immediately. There was no major damage to the Castle, although there was breakage. As the day went on, more reports came in. Russo was consulted and reported that there was a magic component but he did not know what it was. Link was anxious about his friends, to the point the Duke sent a messenger to Lon Lon Ranch. He returned with the news that the ranch had not suffered major damage and that Epona had shown up on her own. A quart of milk was sent with the message. Malon had not heard anything about the Lost Woods and would send word when she did. Link got dressed and began moving around slowly, under the healer's sharp eye.
Elaine Link came to see her nephew and listen to his painful and carefully edited account of what had happened to her mother. "She was mad," the plain version of Bethany Link said simply. "She wanted to have someone in the family in the nobility and to control people. When Bethany ruined her plans, she became bitter. No one can blame you, Link. I'm sorry she hurt you so badly." She cocked her head. "You look a great deal like your mother."
"Can you tell me about her?" he asked. She talked. Link settled onto a comfortable spot on the garden bench and listened. Some time later he woke up when Ian jumped on his lap. His aunt was still talking, not having noticed that Link had gone to sleep on her. The healer came out and firmly said that Link needed to rest now, and that matters to do with the land had better be discussed with the duke or duchess. When the duke asked what they had discussed, Link remembered talking about the death of his grandmother, and nothing else. "I went to sleep," he said sheepishly.
"Smart move," his uncle said, and was kicked under the table by the duchess. Sir Wills came by the next day, and persuaded the healer to let Link resume lessons as a way to move around a little. Within another week he was back at sword practice. After some persuasion, the duke allowed Link to go out with an escort to the Ranch to see Epona and be scolded by Malon. He managed to slip off to the Lost Woods as well, when the escort was talking to the blacksmith and discussing horses. Saria told him that some of the children were injured but no one was killed. She took him to the Great Deku Tree.
Beatrice Link was not alone, the Great Deku Tree told Link. Someone was working with her. Because she did not know what Link was, it did not either. Link had struck it a hard blow, but now it would know to be alert. "Not good," Link told it and Saria. "My family is watching for me now. I only dare to go for healing today, after I speak to you. I was badly hurt, and they have been very protective. My uncle in particular is suspicious of my coming here. If he had sent one of the men we had with us then with me, I could not have come at all. He is family. He can stop me from acting."
"But if it is needed for Hyrule..." Saria protested.
"Only if needed for Hyrule, and how do I prove that to him?" Link asked.
You must speak to the Princess, the Great Deku Tree said. She will find a way. See the Great Fairy, Link, and then speak with the Princess on this.
Link got back to the ranch and back to the Castle early, where the escort went about his business and Link was not expected back yet. He went to the Great Fairy, who healed him and boosted his magic.