Chapter 13
"I thought you were supposed to hate noise!"
Link was face to face with the River Devil, a gigantic spider-like creature who screeched at him in a high pitch bad enough to bust an eardrum. Link couldn't get near it. Not that it was dangerous in the most direct sense. It hadn't managed to injure him but it had knocked him on his ass several times. And he hadn't landed so much as a blow. Between the screeching and the creature's legs crashing into him, Link was starting to wonder if this thing had any weakness at all.
"OK jackass, here I come ready or not!"
Link applied the Jump spell and tried to execute a very high downward thrust only to get knocked over again.
"Remind me to send you my chiropractor's bills," groaned Link. "Hates noise? I made as much noise as I could and this damn thing wasn't affected at all. And this lousy whistle didn't summon so much as a breeze. Whistle… Wait a minute… Oh man am I a dumbass!"
Link pulled out the whistle and played a little tune. It wasn't loud at all but the River Devil screamed in agony which made Link want to scream in agony too because it was so loud. But it did work. The gigantic annoyance climbed up into the nearby rocks and the path was clear. Link's ears were ringing horribly. As you might imagine, elves have sensitive ears.
Had it not been for Link's concern over his ears he might have been paying better attention. Of course he noticed he was walking past a large wooden wall. Anyone would. What he failed to notice was that it wasn't a wall, it was the outside of a demon outpost. This part of the island had centuries ago been ruled by the wicked elf Ganondorf who once dwelt in the Great Palace. Ganondorf's obsession with evil and with the occult went to such an extreme that he eventually allowed himself to become the demon Ganon. And just because Ganondorf hadn't ruled here in a few hundred years didn't mean this outpost was unmanned.
THUD!
A rock hit Link in the back. It took him less than a second to realize what he had stumbled into but it was too late. Dozens of Lizalfos sentries were perched at the top of the wall above him. Ganondorf had wanted to make it practically impossible for an invading army to get to him. He had made it so that the only way into his realm was one narrow and fiercely guarded path.
The band of Lizalfos hissed at Link and lobbed rock after rock in his direction. Running did no good. He only got hit worse. All he could do was dodge and then run forward in brief spurts, which would have worked better had the path not been guarded by more monsters. And of course he couldn't very well dodge the rocks while fighting off an opponent. To make matters worse he had to pass three of these outposts. By the time he got clear he was bleeding all over and one eye was swollen shut.
As it so often happens in life, things only got worse. He didn't dare enter the woods without knowing what was there. Without being able to see clearly, he could only imagine what would happen if he entered the cemetery to the south. And yet the path was ending. He had to go somewhere and wherever he went he'd be unprotected. Good thing he didn't bring Impa to this terrible place.
It seemed the only option was to cross the bridge in front of him. According to his map, the town of Kasuto could be reached if he took that bridge east, and then took the bridge directly below it west to the town. He hoped they had a good healer. But this just wasn't Link's lucky day. The bridge was old and had fallen into disrepair. Chunks of it were missing and the Basilisk and Bago Bagos didn't make crossing a picnic either. Link couldn't avoid getting hit a few times. But he had to be cautious not to get knocked into the boiling water below. The bridge to town was identical. Oh, but you haven't heard the best part yet.
Kasuto was another one of those towns where the evil there had made the sky grow darker. Link was certain this place was swarming with Cult members. But no... It was deserted!
Oops, spoke too soon. There was that high pitched sound again but where was it coming from? Link looked all over but couldn't see so much as one Moa anywhere…
"Oof!"
Something ghastly hit Link in the stomach. He knew what it was like to be struck by a ghost, painful and so cold that it burns. He had been hit by a Moa for certain, but where had it come from? Even on his guard Link was hit several more times.
Without even thinking, Link ducked into a house with no door. Right away he could tell it was an Oracle's home. Oh, but he wouldn't still be here if everyone else had left. Would he? To Link's amazement, when he searched the basement an old man was indeed sitting by the basement wall. This fellow was the oldest Oracle he had seen yet.
"The town is dead," mumbled the Oracle who didn't seem surprised at the fact that he had a visitor. "Look east in woods."
Link crept forward and in the pale light noticed that the old man was blind. "What happened here?" asked Link.
"Isn't it obvious?" replied the Oracle. "The Holy Legion of Ganon had a strong presence here for quite some time. They finally waged all-out war here in which neighbor fought against neighbor. But they were just too strong. In the end the demons showed up and aided them. Those who managed to flee survived. The rest were killed and the town was nearly burnt to the ground. I was blinded in the fight."
"But you stayed. Why?"
"This town is my home!" replied the Oracle. "I'll be damned if anyone makes me leave this place. This is where I want to die. The demons are smart enough not to trouble me. I may be old and feeble but the magic I possess is strong beyond words and will kill even the strongest of them. But don't ask me for this magic just yet, heir of Elezaar. Yes, I know who you are."
"You and everyone else on this planet," replied Link. "But everyone else could see my crest."
"Who else would show up here in a time such as this?" replied the oracle.
"I could be a Cult member."
"No chance. You are the one. I can feel it."
"Then why won't you help me?"
"I will," replied the Oracle. "But not just yet. You are not ready. I want you to increase your magical talents to their very limits. And one little favor…"
Link sighed. "I'm listening."
"I'd like for you to find the survivors of this town. They are far away but still so dear to me. You must aid them in any way you can. The eastern most part of this half of the island is where they have hidden themselves."
"I'll do what I can," said Link.
"And here is what good I can tell you," replied the Oracle. "There is a heart icon at the eastern edge of the desert. And in the nearest palace there is a Magic Cross which will enable its bearer to see these hidden Moas. There is no way to reach Ganondorf's Palace without it. There are too many of them."
"Where is the palace with the cross?" asked Link.
The old man smiled. "The Hidden Palace? Perhaps the survivors will tell you. It will give you greater incentive to find them."
Link was getting slightly impatient with this old codger but somehow felt strongly sympathetic to him as well. Here he was, so old and nearly on death's doorstep, blind, and completely alone.
"How long have you been here?" asked Link.
"I have tried my best to keep track of time," replied the Oracle. "By my reckoning, it has been eighteen months."
"Eighteen months!" exclaimed Link. "And no one ever visited you in that time?"
The old man shook his head sadly. "It's just too dangerous. And I don't know if they know I'm still alive. Wait… my son… My eldest son would surely sense it if I passed… Yes… Yes they know I am alive. And they are in good hands. My son is a wise and worthy man. I'm sure he is their Oracle now. Please go to him…"
The Oracle broke into a coughing fit and couldn't continue. Link looked around. How had he survived? Where on earth would he have gotten food and water? From the looks of him he was half-starved. And how could he have lived through this horrible loneliness?
Link picked up a ratty old blanket he found nearby and placed it over the old man who didn't even seem to have the strength to sit up now. He lifted up the old man's head and gave him what was left in his water skin and a few stale pieces of bread he had taken with him. The old man promptly fell asleep but not before mumbling a brief word of gratitude. Link swore to himself this man would see his son again. Perhaps Link had been meant to be good to the elderly as part of his destiny in life.
The minute he had left the Oracle's house, Link fled from the town as fast as he could. As badly injured as he already was he didn't want to be messing around with an invisible enemy. He had to endure yet another fun trip over the bridge and after that a long trek across the desert to find the heart icon. This was truly a bad place. There were giant Scorpions here that could shoot fire from their tails. Cute, eh? The heat icon wasn't hidden though, nor was it guarded.
New Kasuto was another story. The old man had neglected to mention that the eastern forest to which he was referring was on the other side of the mountains. Link didn't find the cave through the mountains for three hours. Needless to say, the cave was well-guarded by demons and by the time he emerged he was in need of healing again. But to his shock, there was no town.
Here it was, getting dark and there was a small patch of woods and a beach. No town though. But at least there weren't any enemies here. Oh wait, here they were. Lizalfos. Lots of them. And they were far better with their shields than even Ironknuckles. Link had already learned the hard way that the maces held by Red Lizalfos couldn't be stopped by his shield.
Where on earth was that town?
The only thing odd about this place was a large patch where there was literally no room between the trees. Hmm… no axe, true, but he had a magic hammer. Lo and behold the trees dropped like they'd been hit by Paul Bunyan himself with only a light tap of the hammer. Yes indeed, here was the town. It had been very well hidden. Not only were the trees covering it but the buildings had been camouflaged well.
The townspeople looked shocked to see Link coming. Immediately he held up his crest to assure them that he was not an intruder. I think that was the first time he had ever openly brandished it. Once again he was swamped with requests to save the town.
"This part of the woods had been clear," explained one woman. "There hadn't been any demons out here. We were safe. Now they're here and we can only hope we haven't been discovered. If they saw you come here, we're dead."
"That might be a problem," said Link. "I knocked down a few trees to get in here."
"Not a problem at all," replied the woman. "Those trees aren't real. They're magic. They reappeared right after you knocked them down."
All of the sudden Link remembered something.
"Quick! Where is your Oracle?"
A young woman took him to a house in the middle of town. But this couldn't be right. There was no basement. It was a split level house and it was empty.
"Things are not always as they seem," explained the young girl. She pressed on a stone near the chimney and the back of the fireplace opened revealing a secret passage. "Yes, we are quite cautious. Can you blame us?"
The passage lead into the basement where the old man's son seemed delighted at Link's arrival.
"At last!" he exclaimed. "The one with the crest has arrived. And none too soon. The forces of evil will overrun this country soon…"
"I'm sorry to interrupt," said Link, "but I saw your father."
"My father! How is he? I had hoped he survived but as each day passed I lost more and more hope. He was so stubborn. He wouldn't come with us."
"I think he's fading fast," replied Link. "I think the food and drink I brought him had been the first he'd had in ages. He wanted me to help this village."
"It's too late," replied the Oracle. "He most likely wanted you to lead us to safety but we are trapped now. The demons have surrounded the woods around us. Our only hope is that they don't discover we are here so close to them. The monsters are strong but hardly intelligent. We can't follow you to the northern part of the island."
"Then your safety depends on my quest," said Link, thinking out loud.
"I want your word you will complete that quest," said the Oracle.
"You have it."
"Very well. Remember the magic word. AROKA!"
"What will that do?" asked Link.
"Aside from unlocking things that have remained hidden by magic, it will alter some demons to a weaker form."
"Did you learn that word from your father? Is that his magic?"
"No," replied the Oracle. "That was all mine. An oracle only passes his greatest secret to his heir when he is near death. I developed this one myself after years of academic study on the principles of magic."
"I'm sure your father would be proud. I'll bring you to him if I can."
The townsfolk in New Kasuto were more eager to aid Link than any he had encountered thus far. One was eager to tell him how to find the palace. He had to play his flute by the boulders known as Three Eye Rock. Another told him they was a sort of "warp" in the palace; a hole that would continually take you to a lower floor. When you reached the lowest point you would rematerialize at the highest point. And of course there were women in town all too happy to restore his health and magic. But the Oracle's young nephew gave him what he needed most at the moment: lodging. It was dark but the evenings were coming sooner now; sooner than they should. The evil over the land had become strong.
The next morning Link set out to take on the Hidden Palace. At least that was the plan until an old woman stopped him in his tracks. "You deserve my help" was all she said. Link followed her to a nearby house. She led him inside.
"What sort of help were you going to offer me?" asked Link.
The woman didn't answer. She stared hard at Link.
"What is it?"
At length she finally spoke.
"You're so… young. I can't go through with it."
"What's that mean?" asked Link. "You mean you're not going to help me after all?"
"I was supposed to lure you in here and murder you," she answered.
"WHAT!"
"It was all set up," she continued. "The Cult told me all I had to do was kill you and I'd have my husband back. He was slain when the Cult members in the old town turned against the rest of us. All I had to do was lead you to your death and they swore they'd bring him back from the dead."
"And you believed them?" asked Link in disbelief.
"I've seen it with my own eyes!" insisted the woman.
"What exactly is it that you saw?"
"I saw them kill a dog. Mind you, witnessing this ritual this was forced upon me. I had been captured. They slit its throat. Then before I had recovered from the shock of seeing an innocent animal killed, they brought it back to life right before my very eyes," she replied.
"They did?" Link started to wonder if it had been false promises and not worship of power that had lured some people to join the Cult.
"How did they bring it back to life?" he asked. He had a nasty feeling he knew the answer already.
"A Mago priest had cut the animal," she explained. "Then after the dog bled to death, its body was burned with the Mago's magic fire. The ashes were collected and placed on an altar to Ganon. The Mago cut himself with a knife and chanted a few words that I didn't understand. The dog reappeared! The Mago told me his blood was magic. He said he would gladly dig up my husband's body and restore him with his blood. And all I had to do was to offer you fairy water laced with poison."
Link sighed. Now he understood. "Thank you for your honesty. But ma'am, his blood wasn't magic."
"What do you mean? I'm telling you, I saw it!"
"I've been taught a lot about that particular type of black magic," replied Link. "The spell was successful because he was the one who killed the dog. That's how that incantation works. And that was for an animal, not an elf or a demon. In order for them to have resurrected your husband, they would have had to find the Cult member who killed your husband and drain him of ALL his blood. That's something they never would have done. Dark magic leads one to deceive the innocent. And even if they had gone through with it… well… if I understand this correctly, only his body would have been brought to life. He would have returned to this world with the soul of a demon."
The woman fell to the floor sobbing. "Then I've lost him forever. What am I going to do? He was all I had!"
Link didn't comfort her. He still didn't completely trust her.
"I swore a blood oath," she continued. "If I betrayed them I swore to end my own life." She lifted up her sleeve to show "HLG" tattooed onto her arm. "If my neighbors knew I'd be strung up."
"It's never too late to do the right thing," Link insisted. "I should know. And as for your neighbors, I'm sure they sympathize with what you're going through. The hardest times of our lives bring out either the best or most desperate in all of us."
"Nearly all of them lost a loved one," she replied. "None of them went to this extreme. Tell them not to lose hope."
With that she pulled out a small vial and drank from it. She collapsed. "I… never put this in the fairy water… it's in the basement…"
"No!" shouted Link. "You said not to lose hope! You said it yourself!"
"All I have to hope for is gone," she mumbled. "The world you will create when you win wasn't meant for traitors."
"You're wrong!" retorted Link. "It was meant for all of us! All of us! Every single sinner among us who struggles with the darkness every day of our lives. And we don't always win. But we're always ready to try again, dammit! These Cult members, they despaired. I understand it now. They lost their belief that goodness could ever overcome when the darkness seemed so strong. They were lured by evil but they didn't love it yet. But they were too frightened of being on the losing side. They learned to love it in time. And when they committed evil in the name of Ganon and realized what they had done they didn't believe they could ever be forgiven and turned their backs on the light . That's when they really began to truly love evil. But it doesn't have to be like that! People can change. Lives can be lived again. I know it, I just know it."
The woman was getting weaker. "You're right. Everyone else is always right and I'm always wrong. But… I do regret drinking this poison. So stupid… you make me want to live again when I'm about to die… I wish I'd known you long ago. But…"
She broke into a coughing fit. She was having trouble breathing now.
"Chosen one… come closer," she whispered. Link leaned over to hear her. "There is… a secret at… edge of… town…"
The old woman breathed her last. The sympathy and pity Link felt outweighed anger or grief. He reached over and closed her eyes for her. He knew what he had to do. He had just spoken wisdom. He had told the woman to follow her own advice but she wasn't strong enough to do it. But he had to be strong enough to follow his own advice. He quietly descended the stairs and in the basement he found the bottle of fairy water. He debated with himself for a moment whether or not to risk drinking it. It could have all still been a lie. It could have. But he had started on something he couldn't stop now. He drank it in one gulp. Link sat down and waited for nearly an hour. When he hadn't felt the effects of any poison by that time he got up and left the house.
"Swear to me one thing," he said to her neighbors. "Swear to me you won't bury her here. You will bury her in your own cemetery north of your true home."
"But that land is dangerous beyond compare now," he was told.
"It will be safe again. You have my word. My business shall be concluded soon."
Link strolled over to the edge of town where he found himself in front of a huge green wall. A secret at the edge of town, huh? Where? A spell that reveals things hidden by magic might be called for here.
"AROKA!"
Instantly a mound arose from the ground. The enormous mound had an entry large enough for a giant to enter. Link crept inside. He couldn't believe his eyes. He felt like jumping for joy. He had found a magic key! He knew immediately what it was. He had used one before. Nothing could stop him now.
At about three o'clock that day Link reached Three Eye Rock with a new determination soaring within him. It seemed ironic that his newly acquired spell wouldn't reveal what lay hidden there. He reached for his flute, but suddenly something occurred to him.
In nearby Kasuto, the old Oracle lay in his basement listening to the sounds of footsteps. He knew exactly who they belonged to.
"You knew, didn't you?" asked Link.
The old man didn't reply.
"You knew it was too late to get them out of there but you sent me anyway. Why?"
"Get them out of there?" replied the old man. "No. They needed hope. So many have fallen to despair. Now do you understand this terrible Cult?"
"I do," replied Link. "After Ganon's death his remaining minions were instructed by the Leader to act with a great show of force. They were to deceive the people into believing that the demons now had more power and greater numbers than ever before. It led the people to lose all hope. Ganon was dead. After all that effort and bloodshed that went into defeating him, it seemed his forces had only grown in strength. But it was all a lie. The monsters would have died out soon. But discouragement and despair fueled the evil. The Cult began. All the people had to do was hold on to hope and this could have been over already. That's what you wanted for your people."
"Yes," replied the old man. "The word is AFIERNA. Tell my son. I doubt I'll get a chance to see him before I die."
"Will you lose hope too?" asked Link.
"Don't leave just yet boy," said the old Oracle. "Stay a while and keep me company. Perhaps I'm not so invincible either."
"Who is?" replied Link. "I brought some more provisions. Better than what I could give you last time."
The next day Link arrived back at Three Eye Rock. He could only imagine what lay waiting for him in the last of Elezaar's palaces. But a far worse thought crossed his mind. The thought of what the world would become if he failed. It wasn't even noon yet and already the land was growing dark. Link blew his whistle and the Hidden Palace appeared instantly.
End Chapter 13