Chapter 4. The King of Red Lions

Light, and a deep voice. "Link."

Pain. Oh man, pain. My whole body felt like one giant bruise. The darkness tried to wash over me again, and I welcomed it.

"Link," the voice said again. "Wake up Link."

I groaned and blinked open my eyes. The sun was high in the sky above me, with not a cloud in sight. I was lying in a small boat with a intricately carved head of some kind on the bow. The boat was in a small cavern, or at least there was rock above and around the water it sat in,

"Well, have you come to your senses yet?" the voice said. "You are surprisingly dull-witted." The carved head turned and looked at me.

The carved head turned and looked at me!

I yelped and scrambled backwards, feeling the boat tip dangerously beneath me.

"Did I startle you?" the boat asked. He, for the voice was definately male, sounded amused. "I suppose that is only natural. As wide as the world is, I am the only boat upon it who can speak the words of men."

"Well that's a relief," I said before I could stop myself.

"I am the King of the Red Lions," the boat said, still sounding amused. "Do not fear... I am not your enemy."

"I figure you wouldn't have saved me if you were." I looked around. No one else was in sight. "You are the one who saved me, aren't you?"

"Yes," the boat said. "Link, I have been watching you since you went to the Forsaken Fortress to rescue your sister. I understand how your desire to protect your sister could give you the courage to fearlessly stand up to anything..."

I felt sort of proud at that.

"But such a bold attempt was foolhardy!"

I gulped. He sounded angry now. The expression on the boat's face didn't change, but his voice was expressive enough that I had no trouble interpreting his mood. He was angry because I had made him worry. This guy, this boat, barely even knew me and he had been worried about me. I must have been being really stupid.

"I suppose you saw him," the boat said when I didn't reply. The anger had faded from his voice now and he just sounded...sad. "The shadow that commands that monstrous bird. His name is...Ganon."

My eyes widened.

"He who obtained the power of the gods, attempted to cover the land in darkness and was ultimately sealed away by the very power he hoped to command. He is the very same Ganon. The emperor of the dark realm the ancient legends speak of."

"But...those stories aren't real...are they?"

"They are," the boat said solemnly. "They are very real."

I stared at him, and he continued.

"I do not know why the seal of the gods has failed, but now that Ganon has returned, the world is once again being threatened by his evil magic. Tell me, Link... Do you still wish to save your sister from him?"

I nodded. "Of course!"

"And will you do anything to save her?"

I nodded again. "Yes."

"I see." He was silent for a moment. "In that case, I shall guide you as we go forward. Advising you on what you should do, and where you must go. Ganon cannot be defeated by human hands, let alone by what little strength you possess. The key to defeating Ganon is locked away in a great power that you could wield after much toil and hardship. Do you understand?"

And, much to my surprise, I did. That man, he had commanded that bird like it was nothing, and he apparently was in charge of all those monsters as well. And if he was really Ganon from the stories... I had to save Aryll. I had to. No matter what.

"In that case, we depart!" he exclaimed. "To the Great Sea!"

We didn't move.

The boat coughed embarrassedly. "Ah, but I am getting ahead of myself. This is actually a bit embarrassing for me to admit, but..." He coughed again. "Although I am a boat that possesses the power of speech...I possess no sail. And a boat with no sail can sail no seas."

"What about, like, rowing?"

"Do you really want to row across the entire Great Sea?"

"Uh, no. Good point."

"I have brought you far to the east of the dark gaze of the Forsaken Fortress. On this island is a town of merchants who deal with a wide variety of goods. If you search hard enough, surely you can find one who will sell you a sail. I am sorry to ask this of you, but without a sail, I will be useless to you."

"I can do that," I said. "I've got some cash."

"Feel free to explore and stock up on whatever you think you may need. We may be gone for some time."

"It's going to take that long?" I asked, dismayed.

"Well, with a sail perhaps it will less difficult to get around, but we will still need to travel to many places."

I sighed. "Okay."

I climbed out of the boat and splashed to shore. The boat watched me as I did. It was a bit unnerving. Was a talking boat an inanimate object?

"Remember, there is no time to play," the boat said. "Come back immediately as soon as your errands are done."

"Okay," I said, rolling my eyes.

"I saw that."

The boat didn't sound angry, so I grinned at him before I rounded the corner of the cave-thing.

There was a grassy slope and a patch of flowers, plus a couple of small girls and wandering pigs. Above the slope I could see a wall, and buildings, and hear the sounds of people and commerce. There was a small building at the top, looked like a shop of some kind, as well as a lone tree and a low pointless wall.

It seemed like a nice place.

I headed up the slope and toward the archway that led into the town proper. There was another couple of tall trees just before it, and beneath them was an old man, dressed in shabby clothing. As soon as he saw me he came running towards me with this desperate look on his face. I was afraid he was a beggar, and since I didn't know if I had any money to spare I was reluctant to talk to him.

But when he got to me, instead of asking for change, he immediately started in on a story about how his daughter had been taken by a giant bird.

"Did it look like it was wearing a mask?" I asked. "And have these long trailing feathers?"

"Yes!" the man exclaimed. "Have you seen it?"

"Yes," I said hesitantly, not really wanting to get into the whole thing.

"You must help me!" the man insisted. "If you save my daughter from that monster, I will be forever in your debt! Can you do this for me? Please?"

"Sure I will," I said. "Of course."

"Oh thank you kind sir!" the man bowed to me several times. "Thank you! Thank you!"

This was getting embarrassing, so I excused myself as politely as I could. Before passing under that archway, I asked a man standing nearby about it. All he said was that it represented home to him.

That made me wonder, what was home to me?

The city was a hive of activity. It looked like everyone on the island was in the streets; walking, talking, just being. The kind of place that didn't deserve giant birds kidnapping its children.

There weren't many shops, and none that looked like they would have a sail. You might think that any island would have that kind of thing, just in case, but it was rarely true. The people who lived on the islands were islanders, and they took care of their own.

The little shop on the hill sold bombs. At first I was very excited by this, but the shopkeeper turned out to be one of those high-and-mighty types who thought all children were sticky-faced little thieves. Jerk. Plus he charged way too much. Who could possibly afford that much for only ten bombs!

There was one little shop that I almost passed right by, because there was nothing in it. It was staffed by just one small man, wearing a thick fur-lined coat that was far too warm for this weather. I was curious though, so I decided to strike up a conversation.

Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, the man was the type of person who would tell his life's story to a brick wall. I found myself treated to a tale of epic adventure and tragedy in search of fortune. And apparently in the end Zunari, for that was the man's name, lost everything except the thing he called "that." From the context, I thought it might be a sail.

"From the looks of you, I would say you are a traveler as well," Zunari said. "Oh, yes indeed! Could you not purchase that from me? It is my one and only heirloom from home. The people in this town do not seem the least bit interested in that, despite the fact that it would help them travel the dangerous seas about their town... Please! I beg of you! I wish to open a business here in this town, so I am in desperate need of finances. How does... 80 rupees sound?"

It sounded like robbery, but I was desperate. "Sure," I said.

"Yes, yes, yes! You have made a good purchase today, my young master! You have saved my life and business as well! Treasure it dearly! It is the finest sail in the world! Treat it as such!"

"Er, right. Thank you."

Sail acquired, all I had left to do was make sure I wouldn't die for the next few days. Food, water, a tarp; all easy enough to find. But I didn't want to go back to the boat just yet. For one thing, it was creepy. A talking boat! How could I not be a little freaked?

But he seemed nice, and he had a point. I didn't know what I was doing with that Ganon guy. I didn't know what I was doing at all. Chances were good the boat knew more than I did.

Wow, what did that say about my intelligence?

I found a bench that had a nice view of the ocean and sat down for a think. The facts were: Aryll was still kidnapped, and her kidnapper was damn scary. Ganon. The guy who... Well I couldn't remember exactly what the stories said he'd done, but it was bad. I knew that much at least.

And the boat had a plan. Or it seemed to anyway. And I didn't.

Really...what did I have to lose?

I gathered up my stuff and headed back to the little bay under the cliff. The King of Red Lions waited patiently, watching me with those painted eyes. What really creeped me out about it was that it wasn't at all creepy. Shouldn't painted wooden eyes be creepy?

"Well?" he asked.

"Got a sail," I said

"Excellent! Are you ready to go?"

"As I'll ever be."

"Do you know how to sail?"

"Vaguely."

"Well I can give you instruction along the way. We do not have much time, so we should get started."

Learning to sail from a boat makes more sense than it should. You'd think, with being the boat and facing forward most of the time, the King of Red Lions wouldn't know as much about what went on on his back, but he did. He told me to mark the place we were sailing to on my sea chart, announced that a westerly wind was blowing, and we were off.

I like sailing. Always have. The feeling of freedom, it's like nothing else. I'd never sailed with a destination in mind before, and never nearly so far from home. I wasn't that good at it either, as it turned out. I was so busy learning, I didn't even have time to be scared.

"Hey, um, can I call you King?" I asked after a while.

"If you wish," the boat said, sounding amused.

"It's just, you know, King of Red Lions is kind of long."

"I understand."

"So where are we going?"

"It is not far. We will be there shortly."

"Am I gonna have to fight?"

"I do not know. I hope not."

"Well when will we get there?"

"How old are you Link?"

"I just turned twelve, why?"

"No reason. There! On the horizon! That is our destination Link, Dragon Roost Island."

"Dragon Roost Island," I repeated. "Cool."

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sorry this took solong. And was so short. There was...a death in the family. Two deaths actually. And as if that wasn't bad enough, I literally cried myself sick. So, uh, yeah. Sorry.