Chapter 20: Naburu, the Spirited One
Link spent the night on the steps in front of the Spirit Temple, and the next morning, after waiting several minutes to ensure that Sheik wasn't about to appear (where was she, anyway?), he walked inside, and was immediately assaulted by pots flying at him.
It reminded him of the floor tiles that had tried to murder him back in the Fire Temple. Just what he needed, to be on guard even against inoffensive (normally) objects.
He climbed the flight of stairs formerly flanked by jars, and peered at the two armos knights, or statues, in the centre of the landing. He turned to his left, and saw that there was a small hole installed in the bottom of the wall—too small for an adult to crawl through, which meant….
He sighed, and turned to the right, where a giant grey wall with a crescent moon and a familiar symbol—what was that? a battleaxe?—was painted in white on it. He turned to the armos knights, brushed by one, leapt away, and was already swinging the Megaton Hammer at it when it started to move. It shuddered at the impact, and then it whirled around in circles, before finally exploding. Link turned to the second one, brushing against it, and then swinging the hammer at it before it could escape. At the end of its aimless hopping, it too exploded.
Link waited. Nothing happened. He stared around the room, seeking out any secret paths. There were none. He walked over to the strange high grey wall, tried telling it to open. Nothing happened. He pushed it. Nothing happened.
Well, what had he expected? He already knew that he'd have to come back here as a child to enter that crawl hole. He turned around, glancing around the barren room, all of unadorned smooth orange stone.
He walked out into the sun, down the steps leading into the temple, and was approaching an arch he hadn't noticed the night before (understandable given his fatigue), when a figure leapt down from it, straightening up as she hit the soft sand. She avoided the leevers with almost casual grace, walking towards him until she stood on the safety of the platform.
"Sheik, where have you been?" Link said. "I thought you were right behind me, or something…and then, last night, it occurred to me that you might have been kidnapped by gerudos, and I thought, 'no, she's too smart and fast for that', but I wasn't sure if something had happened to you…I just came from looking at the Spirit Temple. I was starting to think you weren't going to come, which is bad. And not just because it would mean that I couldn't make any progress here…."
She let him trail off, to cock his head, brows furrowed in concern at her uncharacteristic behaviour. Last night, he'd dismissed his fears as ridiculous, tossing and turning on the steps of the Desert Colossus. Sure, Sheik slightly resembled a man, which would anger the gerudo guards, but he knew that she could take care of herself. But today, something seemed…off. Perhaps something else had happened.
"Sheik, are you alright?" He was alarmed to see, even from this distance, that her eyes were rimmed red and puffy.
She didn't answer him.
"Past, present, future…. The Master Sword is a ship with which you can sail through time's flow. The port for that ship is the Pedestal of Time, in the Temple of Time…. With both the Ocarina of Time, and the Master Sword, you can travel back and forth through time as you like."
"Whoa!" he called out, waving his arms to get her attention. "Sheik, just answer me, please. What's wrong? Don't keep up that Sheikah façade, alright? I can tell that something is wrong. Please. Just trust me."
Sheik stood there at the bottom of the steps, and he wondered if she'd died, and this were her ghost. But, only a poe would appear in broad daylight thus, and she didn't look like a poe. Something must really be bothering her….
"Link Sylvanus…" she said, and he flinched at the sheer formality of her voice. What had happened to their being friends?
"I decided that it would be best if I stood aside and allowed you to live your own life. When your quest is done, we must go our separate ways. You will return to living your life…and I will return to mine. I have been very unprofessional in my dealings with you. I apologise."
"Wait!" Link cried, firmly ordering his feet not to move. She'd probably disappear if he tried to come any closer. "I don't mind! I never minded! Aren't we friends?"
Sheik hung her head, and said nothing. Link stared at his feet to make sure they didn't start moving on their own, or something. "Did whoever is giving you orders give you a hard time about us being friends? Because, Sheik, I'll talk to them. I'll fix things; I'll do whatever needs to be done, just tell me."
It had never occurred to him before, that Sheik must be receiving orders on where to go, what to do. Were they perhaps from…Zelda?
For the first time, a strange emotion—something like resentment—strove to surface within him. Princess or not, she shouldn't be able to deny Sheik the basic right to happiness, right? He liked Zelda; truly, he did; he hoped it wasn't her. But then, what…?
"No one gave me orders. It was my own decision. It is what is best."
The way she hung her head, the blankness in her voice, the way she slouched, uncharacteristic for her…all these things suggested that she believed what she said. How could she think it would be best?
"Now, if I may continue," she said, in that same, level voice. "The Master Sword enables you to travel back and forth between present and past. Where the way is barred in one time, it may be open in the other. Now, learn the "Requiem of Spirit", which will enable you to return to this place at any time."
He opened his mouth, closed it again, bowed his head, unsure of what to say. Sheik played a slow procession of notes, each resonant, echoing through the desert with a heavy, solemn air, oppressive as the heat of the sun overhead.
He pulled out the Ocarina of Time, into her expectant pause, and repeated the sequence of notes, and then, together, they wove a final song, somehow heavy with grief and loss, as if written in the wake of a final parting.
When it was through, Sheik nodded to him, once, and he was unable to keep his feet still any longer. He ran towards her, but a wall of sand rose up between them. Maybe, Sheik was able to affect any of her surroundings—not only fires as she had in the Death Mountain Crater.
There was a brief flash, the wall of sand fell, and Sheik had gone. He stared at the spot where she had stood, as if some remaining trace of her would be embedded there.
Would he see her again?
Only gradually did he become aware of the oppressive heat of the desert sun, beating mercilessly on his skin. He closed his eyes, bowed his head, tried to regain focus. He had a task to complete. If he never saw Sheik again, that was a matter outside of his control. He wished that she had explained to him; had he done something wrong? The look in her eyes haunted him.
But, he had a quest to complete. Perhaps, Sheik would change her mind, would seek him out.
He could help. If she decided not to, there was nothing he could do. He repeated the words in a whispered reminder, over and over again, and then raised the Ocarina of Time to his lips once more, playing the "Prelude of Light" to return him to the Temple of Time. It would almost be a relief, to leave the responsibilities and heavy mantle that came of being the Hero of Time in the future—the constant rush to save the world.
Three days, repeated over and over.
He shoved the mysterious thought aside as he appeared in a flash of yellow light, in the familiar Temple of Time. There were so many things he needed to remember to do! He'd have plenty of distractions from Sheik's odd behaviour….
He hoped that his memory of the future would feel more distant than it had seemed when he'd returned back in time the last time. He couldn't bear to think about recent events. Not yet.
He climbed the steps, walked to the Pedestal of Time where he'd first met Sheik, frowned, determined to set those memories aside. The Shadow Medallion stood before the Pedestal. He'd have to walk over it, or around it, to return the blade to the Pedestal.
The Shadow Temple…that had been the last time he'd seen Sheik behave normally. Was her strange behaviour on account of the news he'd delivered to her? He should have sought her out; ensured she was alright. His chest tightened, breathing became difficult. He knew this emotion. Guilt. Endless time thinking of what might have been different, if he'd done something different.
He wanted to leave it all behind, in the future. He walked over the Shadow Medallion symbol, and stepped up onto the black triforce to lay the Master Sword to rest.
There was a flash of light, a sense of moving at great speed, wind rushing by, and then he stood clutching the hilt of the Sword in too-chubby hands. He hopped off the Pedestal of Time, noticed how the light slanted through the windows, high above, the way light never seemed to flood the temple in the future.
He sank to his knees, to give himself proper opportunity to recover, and then stood, slowly, balancing the weight of the hylian shield, which seemed much heavier now. He turned to Navi, who nodded, answering his silent question.
He ran out the door into the bright sunlight of midday, and passed by the rows of gossip stones, and easily heard the bustle of the market nearby. Such a strange notion. The people there seemed so distant, now.
In a daze at the sudden commotion, after such a long time spent with only Navi for company—and, briefly, Sheik—he staggered about the square, past the man who'd told him the way to Lonlon Ranch, bound for the apothecary.
He entered the shop, and sagged in relief at the reduction in noise and activity. There was another customer in the shop, but he was merely perusing the wares.
Link checked his supplies. He needed two full bottles of the medicine of life. Or maybe, one of life medicine, and one of the ultimate medicine? He hung back, deep in thought, well aware of the sudden bounty of time that lay before him.
He ended up buying a bottle of the medicine of life, refilling what he'd drunk of a second bottle of the stuff, and buying a bottle's worth of medicine of magic. He wondered whether or not the apothecary remembered him, in the future. It was possible.
With his medicine purchased, he staggered out of the town square, past the guardhouse, across the not-yet-broken drawbridge, and into Hyrule Field. He set off at a run for the running man's spot, that he had marked on Link's map. For expedience, he wore the bunny hood as he ran. He was certain that he looked ridiculous, with those dangling rabbit ears flapping down around his face. He was equally sure that he didn't care.
He hunted down the running man, encountering him just where the running man had told him they would meet. A younger version of the man sat with his legs straight out, braced against his hands, as he leant back, looking at the starry night sky, watching the progress of the moon.
Link left the path, to head around him. No stalchildren appeared. He frowned, puzzled, but shrugged it off.
"Hello!" he said to the man, unsure of how this conversation would begin. Navi raised an eyebrow, as if disbelieving how he'd chosen to begin. The running man didn't seem to hear Link. His gaze was fixed upon a spot slightly above Link's head. He raised his arms towards his chest, and leant forward, staring at the dangling bunny ears.
"I don't believe it! Can it be? Are those ears…genuine rabbit ears? Oh, happy day! A chance to reunite with nature, to become one with the spirit of the rabbit, as I was always meant to be. You must sell me those ears!" he cried, an intensely piercing look in his eyes. Link stared.
"Sell those ears to me! I must have them! I'll pay any price; nothing is too high! But, I must have those ears!"
Link slowly removed the headband from his head, and handed it over to the man, who grew even more frenetic.
"Yes! Yes! At long last, my dream is coming true! I shall race through this field at unstoppable speeds! I shall return to nature, and become one with all creation! I shall become one with the spirit of the great rabbit himself! Finally, the actor, the prop, and the stage are all set together—I can become what I was always meant to be!"
He pumped his fist, a determined set to his face. "Yes! Take it! Take all my money! I don't care. With these ears, I have everything I need! Let's see…a man can carry a maximum of five hundred rupees in a wallet. So here! Take these! No matter how much I pay you, it can never compare to what you've given me!"
Link stared. The man's mania was evidently not a recent development. The man shoved orange rupee after orange rupee into Link's hand. He wouldn't have known how much the coins were worth, were it not for the Wind Waker's experiences on the Great Sea.
Despite his words, the man shoved seven orange rupees at Link before Link managed to excuse himself, and flee. Stalchildren began to emerge from the ground for the first time since he'd come back in time, and Link stared at them. They seemed less threatening now.
Without warning, the man stood up from his perch, and struck off along the trail in a streak—almost a blaze—of white, tan, and red.
The connection of a stalchild's hand with his shoulder brought Link back to reality. He ran back onto the path, and stared in the direction the running man had gone. He'd never seen anything move that fast.
He struck off back for town, using the fifteen minutes it would take for the stalchildren to realise he wasn't about to leave the safety of the path to plan what to do next. Return to the Market, and then go to the Spirit Temple. He'd see what he could accomplish there, and then return to the future, replenish his supplies…and then, most likely, return back to the past to speak with the frogs along Zora's River.
At some point, too, he wanted to ask Darunia for advice concerning Sheik. He had the sense that, this time, Darunia wouldn't understand better than he did, himself. Even merely deciding how to lay out the problem without revealing too much, and breaking time itself, or something, was a dilemma.
The stalchildren sank back into the ground. He glanced up at the moon, where it sat halfway across the sky, and played the "Prelude of Light".
From the Temple of Time, he entered the darkened streets of the market, perhaps for the first time. It was eerie, the similarity, and vast difference, between the moment, and the market seven years hence. This market was filled with the plodding and barking of dogs. Guards flanked either side of the street leading to the path leading to Hyrule Castle. A man and a woman danced next to the well in the centre of town, and he averted his eyes from the reminders of another well, and the market itself, which made him think of the future market, filled with redead.
He wandered back to the secluded area like a garden, with its line of gossip stones, and several dogs. It had to be secluded enough, he decided. He lay down in the grass next to such a stone, and fell asleep.
The next morning, after breakfast, he returned to the Happy Mask Shop. The familiar redheaded man behind the counter needed no explanation. He understood at once what Link's return must mean—or had a sixth sense for knowledge of his masks. The latter seemed strangely plausible.
"Ah! You sold the bunny hood!" he said, grinning broadly as Link approached the counter. As usual, the Happy Mask salesman's mouth was spread in a grin so wide, his eyes looked shut. His hands were clasped before him, and his tone was full of excitement and eager anticipation. "Very well done indeed! Please pay me back fifty rupees for the bunny hood now."
That was easy enough. Link handed over a violet rupee he pulled from his wallet. Truly, Hyrulean wallets were impressive things.
The salesman took the money, and nodded.
"Congratulations! You sold every one of my masks! As a result, I will lend you a special mask. It is not for sale. It is known as the Mask of Truth. It is an old, sheikah mask that they used to use when questioning people. It is said that it can see into people' minds, and reveal their thoughts…a rather disturbing mask, it is."
Link looked down, as a slice of pain ripped through his heart, at speech of the sheikahs.
And, a mask that could see into the mind? Ordinarily, he'd balk at the thought, but he desperately wanted to know if Sheik was truly well, or if she had backed off under duress. Was there something she wanted to tell him, but couldn't, for whatever reason? Not that it mattered; he never seemed to have a mask with him in the future, which meant he had to rely on guesswork, regardless.
The Happy Mask salesman handed over a white mask, with the crying eye of the sheikahs outlined in red paint. The eye itself was bright yellow. It was garish, and somehow alarming, perhaps because the stark red lines looked rather as if they'd been painted in blood.
"Understand that I am displaying a great deal of trust in you, lending you this mask," said the Mask Salesman, his smile evening out for the first time into what passed for a level expression. His eyes were closed, as if he were thinking about what to say…or maybe his eyes were always closed, or incapable of opening. Who knew?
"It is a very powerful mask, but—!" His expression return to normal, the bright grin rekindled, hand clasped once more before himself. "To be so successful at selling all of those masks…to spread so much happiness…I know that you must be trustworthy. I know that you will not abuse or lose this mask.
"If you want, you can trade it in for any of the other masks you have sold, free of charge. I have some other, specialty masks, as well, that you might like. You can exchange any mask for any other at any hour that I'm open. I look forward to seeing you again!"
Link picked up the mask, and held it up over his head. He stared at it in fascination, at the way light streamed as if focused by an irregular shaped prism through the mask.
"Thank you, sir," Link said, staring at the man, trying to figure out some mystery he only had inklings of. Why was the man so familiar? What was the importance or significance of these masks?
His eyes caught on a spooky mask standing on a shelf to the left; he shivered. He looked at the Keaton mask, and swallowed hard. There were too many memories connected to this place. He'd done as the Mask Salesman had requested, and sold all the masks. But, he didn't understand how the loan of the Mask of Truth could offer the happiness the man had promised, so long ago.
He fitted the mask over his head, and was not terribly surprised to see that he could still see easily. The strap attached to the mask made it easy to secure the mask into place.
He wondered how you went about reading minds, wearing this mask. It wouldn't do to do so accidentally, but in certain cases, it might be useful.
He had an idea, remembering that both the gossip stone and the Mask of Truth were made by the sheikahs. Suppose they were connected somehow. It wasn't very likely, but the gossip stones by the Temple of Time were out of the way…and they had to be called 'gossip stones' for a reason, didn't they?
With mounting suspicion, he approached one of the stones—the one furthest from the Temple of Time, and closest to market. He stared at it long enough for his truth-seeing eyes to confirm that nothing lay hidden about it. But, as he stared at the rock, it spoke, in a voice unheard by his ears. It rang, instead, in his mind, the way that Tetra's voice had rung in the Wind Waker's mind. Was that why…?
"I heard something interesting from the castle guards," it said, as he stared at it. "They say that, for all her social graces and manners, Princess Zelda is secretly quite the tomboy! Fancy that!"
Link blinked repeatedly, staring at the innocent looking stone. When nothing more happened, he looked to the stone next to it.
"I heard a fascinating rumour," said the second stone. "I heard that the King of Hyrule secretly always wanted to learn music, but his parents wouldn't allow him."
Goddesses Three! They were a lot of horrid gossips, weren't they? Link sighed, pulled off the Mask of Truth, and rubbed his temples. He stared at the rocks, and they stared back innocently, as he felt a burgeoning connection form, between him and…something. He wrenched his gaze away.
"Link, is something wrong?" Navi asked, fluttering over to land on his shoulder. Perhaps, she was less inclined to urge haste, here, on the other side of time, where it didn't make much difference how long it took him to do something.
"You…you didn't hear it?" he asked. Was it that only he could hear the stones, because only he was wearing the Mask of Truth?
Navi fluttered in front of his face, eyes wide in earnest curiosity. He sighed.
"The stones…they spoke to me, in my head. It sounded the way what I hear via a faerie connection sounds. But then, how could you not hear it?"
Navi fluttered down onto a gossip stone, swinging her legs against the stone, clutching her knees with her hands.
"Have you tried speaking to others without using our connection? Maybe it is distant speech."
And, just how would he go about testing that? Navi was always with him. Their bond had passed the point of his awareness. He barely thought about it anymore, and wasn't entirely sure that it could be circumvented. In fact, he was fairly sure that it couldn't be.
When he pointed this out to her, she huffed, and conceded the point, but landed on his shoulder, staring straight ahead with her usual thoughtful expression.
Link shrugged, resigned to a temporary lack of answers, and decided that there was no real reason not to see what he could make of the Spirit Temple. He pulled out the Ocarina of Time, put away the Mask of Truth, and played the "Requiem of Spirit". It bore him away to the scorching desert in a flash of orange light, depositing him, mercifully, on the leever-less entryway of the Spirit Temple.
He walked inside, and held up the shield in time to avoid being murdered by flying jars. Yes. Somehow, regenerating murderous jars made as much sense as plain murderous jars. Perhaps more. After all, as Navi would remind him, temples were thinking places.
He paused, listening intently, but heard no foe alerted to his approach. They'd have to get through the crawlspace, or past the grey wall, anyway. There were no armos knights in the middle of the room, yet. He could see that even from the entrance.
He nodded to himself, climbed the stairs, looked to the right, noticed the grey wall standing precisely where it had been before (not a recent development, then), turned to the left, and saw a woman standing in front of the crawlhole.
What? He stared at her for several seconds, as if his Eyes that could See the Truth would reveal her to be an illusion, if he just waited.
Her back was turned to him, and she was kneeling beside the hole leading deeper into the temple (which he had noticed before), left hand clutching the edge of the hole. She wore bright pink clothes that, as far as he could see, were identical to those of all the gerudos he'd seen so far. Her skin was dark as theirs, too, and her hair a bright blood-red.
He approached, hoping that the gerudos were less likely to attack a boy than a man. As he approached, she rose onto her feet, turning as she did to face him. Now, he could clearly see the familiar gerudo outfit, the silver necklace inset with some sort of opaque pink gemstone, the decorative circlet encircling her forehead, her bright pink lips and eyelids (she must be wearing makeup). Her eyes were bright yellow. She seemed young—perhaps a couple of years older than his seventeen-year-old self. She stared at him, and then, slowly, relaxed.
"Oh. It's just a kid. I haven't seen you around here before, kid. I have to wonder how you made it all the way here. Someone might ask the same of me, but at least I'm a woman, and a member of the race that owns these lands. You, on the other hand…I don't know what you are. I've heard of a people who live in the depths of the forest and appear to be children. Does that meant that you're not actually a child? Are you a spirit, perhaps? I suppose it's not really my business."
Link had no idea how to answer anything she said. He was a kokiri, and wasn't. He was a hylian, and wasn't. He was a being outside the usual definitions, which was sometimes useful, but worthless for self-categorisation.
Thankfully, she didn't seem to want a response. "What does matter, is what you intend to do here. Just what are you doing here, kid?"
Link stared at her, but this time, she seemed to want a response from him. He considered what he should tell her. Mentioning his quest to defeat Ganondorf was out. But, without that framework, he had no purpose in being here.
"Uh…I guess I'm not really doing anything right now. I just wanted to get into the Temple…."
She turned to him, hands on hips, with a smirk that promised trouble.
"Great! Then you arrived at just the right time!" Her smirk became a broad smile. Didn't she care that he was a man? All of the other gerudos thought it was critical. But, she just smiled, and continued on. "See, there's something I need through that hole, but I'm too…mature…to fit through there. But, hold on a minute. You're not one of Ganondorf's henchmen, are you?"
Her eyes narrowed in accusation, as she folded her arms. Link's eyebrows rose. Well, this he'd never expected. If he didn't know better, he'd say that was distaste he heard in the woman's voice.
"No," he said. "He's an evil man, and I could never serve the likes of him."
Her expression relaxed, and she gave him a much milder smile than he would have expected. "Good. Then, kid, I want to ask a favour of you. Will you hear it?"
He nodded, cocking his head, curious as to what she would have to say. She nodded in return.
"What's your name, kid? I can't keep calling you 'kid'."
Link stared at her, distracted by the sudden shift in topics.
"My name's Link Sylvanus," he said, looking up at her, hands on his hips. Once again, he noticed how very tall everyone was, compared to him.
She nodded again, unfolding her arms. "A pleasure to meet you, Link Sylvanus. It's fortunate for me that you dropped by. My name is Naburu. I'm a lone wolf thief."
Link stared at her, open-mouthed, as he struggled to regain his composure. This was Naburu, Ganondorf's second-in-command? Perhaps…somehow, he could keep her from being seduced by power, keep her from becoming the woman the carpenters had warned him of.
He glanced at Navi, who was staring just as earnestly at Naburu. Naburu, however, was looking down at the ground, expression distant and unseeing, as if she was planning what to tell him.
"I know what you're thinking!" she said, and Link resisted the urge to pull on the Mask of Truth, to check her mind for sincerity. He didn't even know how to, which did well at removing the lure of it. But, she couldn't possibly be thinking that he was a time-traveler from the future trying to figure out how to keep her from being corrupted by Ganondorf.
"But, although Ganondorf and I are both thieves, we're completely different kinds of thieves. He steals from women and children…he even tortures and kills them, in some mad quest for power…I hate him!
"You might not know this, but…only one gerudo man is born once every hundred years, and he is automatically declared our king. But, law or not, I'll never bow to such a man! I'll sooner live my whole life in exile! My sisters don't see it the way I do. So, I've cut myself off from the rest of my people."
She tilted her head back, looking heavenward, as if for strength. "His foster mothers, the twins Komei and Kotakei, live here, in this temple. I've tracked it down as their base of operations. They are powerful sorceresses in their own right, and they raised him. They made him what he is. That means they're very dangerous. I want to get into their base, learn their plans, and then thwart them. But, I need your help for that!"
She lowered her head, folding her arms once more. "That's where you come in. I need you to go through that hole. Somewhere beyond that point is a relic of our people, that allows you to move and lift great weights. They're called the silver gauntlets…. But, I see that look on your face. Don't get any ideas! The gauntlets won't fit a child, anyway, so retrieve them, and be a good boy and give them over to me! Do this, and I'll reward you. You won't regret helping me! I promise I'll give you something good!"
He stared, trying to figure her out, but she was inscrutable. "Well, hurry up! The longer we're here, the greater the chance of one of them spotting one of us!"
She moved aside, and motioned towards the crawlhole. "In there," she said, as if there was need for explanation.
Link smiled, nodded, and walked over to the small hole, before falling flat and squirming through the narrow passage.
Halfway through, he could hear the distinctive shriek of metal against stone. Unfortunately, he couldn't see the source.
A short time later, however, he emerged into the short corridor beyond. It had two short flights of steps, and curved around in an arc. At the top of the last flight of steps was a huge, circular landing. In the centre of the landing was a beamos, its eye constantly roving, seeking out…well, probably him, specifically. As if that defence weren't enough, a moving spike trap circled it in endless rings. An eyeswitch hung over the barred door to the left; the other door, readily accessible, stood to the right. He'd have to pass both spike trap and beamos to reach either.
He stared at the eyeswitch, but pulled out the bomb bag, judging the distance and the time it would take for a bomb to reach the beamos, and broke the stem accordingly, before throwing it at the monster. It hit the beamos, and exploded, and the beamos itself exploded, leaving only the circling spike trap. Well, as long as the spike trap didn't change its pattern (and why would it?) Link was alright.
He ran to the circular red rug upon which the beamos had stood, and then timed his passage just right to avoid hitting the spike trap on his way to the readily available, right-hand door. There was no handle; he ordered it to open, not thinking about it, and crossed into the next room. On the far side of the room was a tall wire mesh of a fence. Keese clung to it, and to cracks in the walls around the room. Through the mesh, he could see silver rupees hovering in the air.
He stared around the room, as if he would notice something more the longer he looked—a distinct possibility, given the nature of his Eyes that could See the Truth.
Nothing appeared. He frowned, puzzling the room out. He supposed that he was meant to have gone through the other way, and collected the silver rupees before arriving here. But why?
Why did dungeons do anything? To make matters more complicated, of course. For the moment, he contented himself with pulling out the boomerang, eliminating what keese he could within his throwing range, before withdrawing the slingshot. Nothing happened when the last of the keese fell, burning, into the abyss that filled the room.
He sighed, backtracked, and took aim at the eyeswitch over the left-hand door. The bars rose, and he entered the room beyond. Judging by the shape of the room, and the wire mesh that began at about the same distance away as the previous, these two doors led to the same room. He couldn't see the mesh continue on into the room he'd been in before; the wall dividing the two rooms barred it from view. But, unless the Spirit Temple behaved as illogically as the Forest Temple, it had to be the same room.
There was a hole in the mesh, on the left-hand side. A series of platforms provided a way across. Unlike the other room, Link could see sand providing a makeshift floor for this room. Reassuring.
He crossed over to the first small, square pillar of stone rising up from the floor, and then leapt onto the next. A stalfos dropped down before him. Just the one, true, but it was the first time he'd seen them, the first time he'd fought them, as a child. He found himself in doubt as to his swordsmanship, fighting a bigger opponent, and with a weaker sword.
Still, what choice did he have? He doubted the slingshot would work any better than arrows against these things. He raised his shield, instead, cursing the small area he had on which to fight. This would be a battle at close quarters regardless, but he preferred having the opportunity to manoeuvre. Nayru's Love could absorb the damage, but he wouldn't be able to use a charged spin attack, and he'd still be able to be pushed off the column.
He considered replacing the hylian shield with the deku one as the crushing weight of the stalfos's skeleton bore down on him; the skeleton soldier had tried a jump attack. The shield absorbed the impact, but left Link's arm screaming with the effort of holding the heavy shield, combined with the strain of trying to take the blunt force of the attack.
The skeleton leapt back, noticing that its sword had been blocked, and then brought its buckler up to defend itself, circling around Link as best it could—which essentially meant traveling in a semicircle around Link before encountering the wall.
Link lashed out in its brief moment of indecision when it felt the wall limiting the mobility of its right hand. He'd been expecting it, and leapt for the stalfos, slicing through the ribcage, but dealing little real damage. He leapt back again, raising the shield to defend himself against its blows once more. The soldier snarled at Link's more successful mimicry of its own attack.
Link decided to take a risk, retreating to the edge of the platform, waiting for the stalfos to return, and to strike at him. He analysed its location, in the split second before it swung its sword, and then leapt, coming around behind the stalfos and cutting through the gap between the wrist and arm bones of its left hand, as he was at about the right height. The hand fell off, and the shield fell with it, leaving the stalfos exposed.
He finished off his parry attack by bringing the sword down directly into its skull, and then hauling it out, launching himself over its head to land before the skeleton. But, even as he watched, the hand writhed and squirmed, and he lashed out repeatedly at the skeleton soldier while he could, as the hand once more rose from where it had fallen, still holding the buckler.
The hand reattached, in whatever way skeletons kept their bones functioning as a cohesive unit, and Link somersaulted sideways, towards the wall, over the stalfos's blow, and out of reach. He landed heavily, and held his sword out to the side, focusing on it until it burnt blue. As the stalfos approached, he swung the sword in a spin attack, releasing a wave of energy. The buckler broke the attack, and blocked most of the energy, but enough got through to give the stalfos pause.
Stalfoi were much harder to fight as a child. Link frowned, but set his face in determination, straightening up, shield out to defend himself as the stalfos resumed its circling, making the occasional feint, to see if Link would attack. He didn't.
Eventually, the stalfos's sword rang against the hylian shield, and Link swiftly counterattacked again. It burst into flames, at last, collapsing onto the ground, leaving Link free to continue on his path across the gap, to the hole in the wire fence.
The far ledge was boring. There was nothing but a plain, orange floor leading through the hallway formed by the wall dividing the two rooms. Now, he was on the other side of the fence, where the silver rupees were. They floated in various places around the room, most hovering over floating platforms in the abyss. But, when he'd collected the last of them, a segment of the wire fence that hadn't seemed special before slammed down across the gap, providing an easy path across the fence. Had that been the point of all of this?
At least, from here, he could see the shallow recess in this far wall—hidden from sight when he'd first entered the room, but visible here, on the far side of the room. The alcove had two burning torches, and an unlocked, unbarred door. A way deeper into the dungeon.
Link trudged through several smaller rooms, filled with familiar foes—likelikes, skulltulas, and even, once, floormasters. The temple seemed fairly straightforward, but for its impressive size. Unlike the other dungeons he'd been through in his current, child's body (bar the well), this one refused to go easy on him.
And then it brought out a new foe, one he'd never seen before, in a room with a lattice of thin beams suspended over an infinite abyss. He could see a step-on switch in one of the squares that formed at the meeting place of these strips of ground, but he didn't have time to learn what it did, before a giant humanoid figure rose out of the abyss, and began spitting fireballs at him. It had a canine head, but a humanoid body, and was wrapt tightly in bandages. He was grateful for this; these things were dangerous enough without the increased mobility freedom from the bandages would provide.
Navi called them "anubēs", and claimed that they were vulnerable to fire. Link took the hint, and used the only fire spell available to him. He swiped to the right, and then to the left, muttering a prayer to Din under his breath, as a fireball began to coalesce around him, and then to expand outward. The thing emitted a horrible, deep roar, loud and guttural, as the fire reached it.
Link watched it burn up in the orange flames of Din's Fire, and then the blue flames appear to finish it off.
Bars shot up, opening the way to a door he hadn't seen from the entrance. He approached, carefully making his way across the narrow strips of safe ground.
The door opened onto the central chamber of this Temple, or what had to be one of the central chambers. Even from the low ledge he stood on (with its armos knight, or statue, blocking quite a wide part of his field of vision; he just climbed the nearby steps for a better vantage), he could see the huge statue leaning against the far wall.
It was of a beautiful woman, wearing a cobra hood as a hood, with a snake draped over her body. Her hands were outstretched, as if in supplication, or as if offering some great gift. In the left hand, the mark of the Triforce gleamed in its golden paint.
The snake was green, the woman's pants and gerudo shirt were pink. Her hair was bright red, but mostly hidden by the cobra hood. Her eyes were closed, her expression serene, but solemn, and dignified. She leant against the wall, legs akimbo, with a treasure chest lying in front of her. It was a big treasure chest, too. The silver gauntlets, perhaps?
Unbidden, memories of the silver gauntlets that the Wind Waker had known filled his mind's eye. Beautiful, intricately melded flexible gloves made of silver and…something soft and red. They were unprepossessing, and the straps made them seem too much of a hassle to be of any use, but they were an impressive tool. Far too large, however, for a child. Oversized on a child's hands. Perhaps, Naburu was meant to have them.
Still, he asked himself whether it could possibly be that the gauntlets the Waker of Winds had discovered in the heart of an active volcano were the self-same gauntlets Naburu had asked him to retrieve. If that be the case, it suggested two things. The first was that he was still guiding the way of the future. The second was that, when all was said and done, he would obtain possession of the gloves.
This combined with what he had heard of Naburu's future for truly troubling scenarios and possibilities. He did not like the suspicions growing ever more vocal in the back of his mind. Who knew the powers of even one gerudo sorceress? Who knew what they were capable of? Might they have killed Naburu, and replaced her with someone acting in her name? Had they called down evil spirits—a poe, perhaps—to possess her? Naburu's view of Ganondorf seemed unshakable, immutable. That did not bode well for her.
He pushed the non-armos over the side of the ledge on his way down, and it landed on a switch with a heavy clicking noise. Bars shot up, uncovering the door at the top of the stairs.
Link raised his hands over his head, and drew them back towards himself, muttering a prayer to Farore as he did. A ball of green light formed, and then vanished, over his head. He took out a bottle of the ultimate medicine, and took a few sips. His arms began to recover from the stalfos's assault, and the magic in the medicine flooded his body, driving out the magical exertion of casting two of his most magically exhausting spells, especially so close to one another.
Then, he swung over the side of the ledge, and dropped to the ground. He couldn't help wondering if he'd already found the silver gauntlets.
It was always difficult to retrieve the contents of a big treasure chest when he was in his child's body. It required perching precariously on the rim, hooking his foot over the side, and carefully balancing as he pulled whatever lay within out. This time was no different.
The dungeon map was a worthwhile reward in a place such as this. A glance at the map showed him quite clearly that the path he'd chosen when he'd crawled through the hole would only enable him to explore half of the temple. This room however, connected three different paths of the temple.
The eastern path was accessible only by hookshot, as he discovered when he walked over to investigate, almost thoughtlessly dodging the murderous pots that threw themselves at him as he came too close. That way was out.
The central door was barred, and he could see no readily apparent way of opening it, which was a pity, because according to his map, it led to a path with some way down. Since he'd been climbing higher and higher, and the corridor behind the barred door led to an area somewhere in the centre of the building, but facing south, he thought he understood that it provided a quick route from somewhere close to the entrance, to this very room. For now, however, that way was barred to him. Literally.
There was nowhere to go but through the door at the top of the staircase, right next to the door through which he'd entered this room. Accordingly, he climbed the stairs, ordered the door to open, and emerged into another lattice room. Another room with strips of safe ground over an abyss. His mind balked at trying to comprehend how this was possible.
Another anubis rose up out of the ground, and he sighed at the increased cost in magical energy he would expend. It was, however, disturbing merely floating there, motionless but for its face, with its glaring, burning eyes, and fireball-spewing mouth.
He cast Din's Fire, watching the monster, as Navi stayed well away from the thing, which was a further disconcerting factor; Navi did not scare easily, and if she avoided this monster, she must believe that it could actually hurt her.
There were two doors in the two corners of what had been the right-hand side of the room when he'd entered. The door to his left was unbarred, and the door to the right was locked. According to the map, the room beyond the locked door was small, and therefore probably held nothing of great importance. Or, perhaps, the compass. Ah.
There was no help for it now. He turned to the uncovered door, ordered it to open, and walked into a room filled with spike traps moving in straight lines between the walls, and various raised areas scattered around the room. Several blocks surrounded a raised path shaped into a cross, with a beamos sitting near the end of the point facing him. There were several torches around the room, but Link's eyes were drawn right to the ray of light streaming through the window. He didn't know if it were day or night, at the moment. Temples made telling time very difficult. But he rather suspected that it was sunlight.
He approached the beamos, realised he had no way to reach it from below. And then, he remembered the bombchus he'd won long ago at the Bombchu Bowling Alley. He'd never used one, but the woman who ran the bowling alley had given him twenty as the prize for beating the game. He still remembered how to use them.
He pulled out the bombchu from his bomb bag, as Navi furrowed her brow, staring back and forth between the bombchu and Link. She watched him wind the toy, and then set it down in the direction of the beamos. The bombchu and the beamos exploded on contact with one another, leaving Link free to explore that particular area.
However, although he dodged the spike trap shuffling back and forth between the side of the cross between the entrance and the blocks, he still wanted some way to prevent their reaching him, if he could. That passage was a bit too narrow for his liking.
He pulled the nearest block out of its resting place, noticing the design engraved onto it, that it was the same white on dark grey of the huge wall he'd seen blocking the eastern path of the temple, recognising that familiar axe design. The Hero of Winds had closely scrutinised the mirror shield. Even now, Link could recall that design to mind. What did it meant that the same design was on these blocks?
He pushed the block to restrict the passage of the moving spike trap, and then climbed onto the block in the corner of the cross, deciding to look at the room from a different angle.
There were two other beamoi, including one near the patch of light. There were three other spike traps. There were at least six torches in the room, most of them stationed near beamoi and spike traps. There was a barred door at the far side of the room. And, finally, one of the blocks had a sculpture shaped like the sun sticking out of it. That sun had two, closed eyes, a sharp, pointed nose, and a frowning mouth. Petal-rays extended all around it. With its eyes closed, it almost looked asleep.
Link glanced again at the patch of sunlight. He came to a decision. He'd drag the block into the sun, to allow the sunlight to hit the sun sculpture, because the existence of that window could not be a coincidence. Then, he'd position the blocks around the room to block the paths of the spikes most likely to injure him as he ran around the room lighting torches from the lit brazier near the entrance. On the way, he'd destroy the three remaining beamoi.
He nodded to himself, plotting his path, and climbed back down, taking care to remember which block had the sun sculpture on it; he couldn't see the top of them, as short as he now was.
He dragged the block, slowly and carefully, into the light, pausing only once to set a bombchu scuttling towards the nearby beamos. The moment the sun sculpture was bathed in sunlight, it emitted a humming noise, and began to shine with its own light. The bars shot up out of the door, but Link continued with the plan he had already laid.
He continued around the room, destroying beamoi, and trapping the spike traps, and then returned to the entrance, carefully avoiding the remaining trap. He withdrew a deku stick, lit it on the brazier, and set about on a circuit of the room, lighting each torch he came across, and finishing near the still free spike trap. He watched a treasure chest drop down onto the higher ledge nearby.
He sighed, climbed onto a shorter ledge, and then onto the taller ledge, and opened the treasure chest to find a small key.
It was time to backtrack.
He returned to the lattice room, set the key into the door, and opened it. The room was small, and appeared empty. Then, he heard the telltale whistling, and saw the shadow growing ever bigger. He rolled out of the way, as… nothing… dropped down behind him with a fleshy plopping noise. He stared at the area, and saw the wallmaster.
Unwilling to risk its escape, he cast Din's Fire, again, eating up the monster in the shape of a human hand. It left behind sixty-five rupees, three red, and one blue. And, of course, there was the big treasure chest beginning to form as the spark of orange light circled around the empty room.
Navi shook her head at him, but made no comment. He flung open the treasure chest, and sighed, not entirely surprised that it held the compass. At least now he knew where important things were in the dungeon. For example, he knew that somehow, the boss's lair was beyond a hidden passage in the statue room. But that was the boss; he had to figure that out later, anyway.
Instead, he returned to the room with the spike traps, and the beamos, and approached the unbarred door.
When he ordered it to open, it immediately obliged, and Link entered the room. It appeared to be a dead end until Link saw the skulltulas clinging to the left hand wall. He withdrew the slingshot, hitting the first skulltula, knocking it off the wall,, as it burnt away in those familiar blue flames, and then aiming for the one above that skulltula, and then the one above that.
Finally, the wall was safe to climb, and he wasted no time in seeking out handholds in the rock, climbing the rough surface up into the room at the top. It was a circular room, with sunlight struggling to seep around a boulder blocking up a hole that seemed to lead to outside. One of the closed-eyed sun sculptures hung on the walls, and the door to the next room was readily accessible, but barred. Rough, unworked rock stood in the corners, as if this temple had not been quite finished when it was abandoned, or there had somehow been a cave-in in just this room, and none had bothered to clear away the debris.
As he walked further into the chamber, he heard a familiar squawking, and a lizalfos dropped down out of the ceiling. He wasted no time in drawing the hylian shield, and the Kokiri Sword, and lashing out at the lizalfos. These were far less capable opponents than the stalfoi; even before his journey through time began, he'd had no difficulty defeating them.
He rolled under another blow, and lashed out again as the lizalfos searched for him. His blow informed it as to his whereabouts, but he wasn't troubled by this. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Navi flutter over to the ring of light seeping through what might have once been a hole in the wall. Or, at least, he assumed that it had been a hole in the wall.
He executed a flurry of attacks, the pattern of the horizontal slice that he'd learnt from Orca…maybe. Right, left, up, down. The lizalfos was ill-equipped to handle a barrage of blows. It fell over, expelling a huge gust of air as it fell to the ground, burning.
Link followed Navi over to the ring of light, and she nodded to him, as if they'd conferred as to the meaning of the phenomenon, and she'd just confirmed their guess to be true. Perhaps, she'd come to understand him too well.
"I recommend you wind up a bombchu, just enough so that it explodes on impact. Back up a little, perhaps, to understand the shape of this rock better, and better understand its weaknesses."
He took several steps back, and a second lizalfos dropped down on him. He could hear Navi's exasperated sigh across the room. She flew over to join him, this time, silent in her observation, unable to guide the sword, but ready to offer advice if she thought he would appreciate it.
But, lizalfoi were, anymore, little more than nuisances. He'd fought too many redead, in the well, and in the Shadow Temple, for such a minor foe to garner much attention. He replaced the hylian shield on his back, and lashed out several times in swift succession, as the lizalfos recoiled, and then Link somersaulted out of the way, as it recovered.
When it, too, fell to the floor, Link glanced up at the ceiling, saw no holes. Even staring at the ceiling did not reveal the origins of the monsters. He made a circuit of the perimeter of the room. Nothing.
He returned his attention to the ring of light, and the stone blocking up a hole in the wall. The most probable explanation was that those who had constructed the temple had installed a window in this room, covered it loosely with the huge rock, and then installed a sun sculpture on the wall, just where the sunlight would always be sure to hit.
He pulled out the bomb bag, took out a bombchu, carefully wound it five times, and set it down facing the giant stone. It came close, but exploded before it reached the rock. He gritted his teeth, pulled out another bombchu, and wound it seven times, aiming it at the rock. This time, it exploded in a small landslide, leaving a great hole in the wall. A broad beam of sunlight hit the sun sculpture, and the bars across the door rose. He nodded to Navi, and she crossed her arms, grinning, and landed on his shoulder.
"Be very careful, Link," she warned, in a low whisper. "This is the last room marked in this part of the temple." Yes, Link remembered that. What he wasn't sure of was what that signified.
He understood a little better when he entered the room, saw the figure slumped on a makeshift throne, saw the door standing behind the figure, bars anchored across it. Two colonnades flanked a red carpet leading up to the slumped figure's chair. He thought that it was an empty suit of armour. He thought that it was a person, fast asleep in his suit of armour, or maybe even dead. He thought that it was far too conspicuous in its placement to be either.
"Navi?" he asked, and without needing to say more, she understood.
"That's 'iron knuckle'," she whispered; her voice sounded strained and taut. She might have lost some of her colour. He realised that she was frightened. Tension filled the air, an ominous feeling, a presentiment of doom.
He walked toward the figure with measured steps, wary with cause, with mounting dread, as his skin prickled, and he shivered with that strange sense, the warning sign, the presentiment of danger, that always presaged a perilous battle—as he knew from what he'd observed in two lifetimes, whether or not they were both his.
It didn't move. He was able to walk right up to it, go around its throne, edging around it, to always keep it in sight, and always be able to block an attack it would make. He walked right up to the door behind it. Nothing happened.
"I think…" Navi said, so low that he could barely hear her. "I think that you must strike the first blow."
She bit her lip, and fluttered over to the suit of armour. It looked to be a pile of armour, of the sort knights had worn in stories that Orca had told. The armour was pristine and gleaming silver, the leathern parts that held it together were beautifully decorated, and here and there, cloth covered what he knew was iron underneath, with banded designs and intricate geometric shapes embroidered on some manner of stiff, heavy cloth. Diamonds of red and turquoise covered the white background of the cloth jerkin that hung over the suit. It looked more of a piece of art than an opponent. But, there was no denying his intuition, or Navi's strained breathing.
He drew the Kokiri Sword, swiped at the jerkin, and leapt backwards, somersaulting to the side the instant he landed, as the suit of armour stood.
It raised an enormous greataxe above its head, swung it one-handed, and began to stomp towards him. He was reminded of himself, wearing the iron boots. Well, this suit was made entirely of iron. It made sense if it was slow as a result of that great weight.
The ground shook as it approached. Dust fell from the ceiling. Link raised the hylian shield to block its attack, and Navi pressed her lips tight together, shaking her head. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, and leapt back in time to avoid a fatal blow. The axe sheared through his hylian shield, cleaving it in two.
He stared, disbelieving, and dropped the remnants of the shield. It seemed that this was a foe he'd need to fight without a shield. That was possible, right? He'd just have to remember to buy another shield from the bazaar before he went forward in time, something he was not about to forget.
It was distracting, truly it was, the sudden freedom he had to manoeuvre. Unencumbered by the unwieldy shield, he was lighter on his feet, quicker to react. It was at the cost of his defence, but—
Oh. Nayru's Love. If ever there was a time for it—
He ran to the far side of the room, slammed his hands together, and slowly forced them apart, with the required murmured prayer to Nayru. A haze of blue distorted his vision. Navi stared at him.
"Link! Don't forget…now you have a time limit. That spell lasts only as long as you're thinking about it…and it draws from your magic energy. And when you run out of magic energy, it'll start feeding off your life force."
Ah, yes. That. And nothing was stopping the iron knuckle from tossing him around, either. He'd still have to fight using his head, but at least he didn't have to fear that the axe would slice right through him the moment he made a mistake.
Iron knuckles moved quicker than they seemed to. It had already crossed the room, and was now within swinging distance for its axe. It readied the axe at its side, as if in a parody of the spin attack, and Link lashed out at it, slicing at it once.
It staggered back, distracted, grunting, and raised the axe above its head. Link somersaulted to the right, away from the blow, and followed it with a quick stab at the armour. The monster turned and swung the axe at him. He ducked, and then leapt forwards once the axe had passed overhead. The Kokiri Sword sliced through its jerkin, lodging in the breastplate beneath, but Link had to wrench it out, backflipping to avoid yet another attack. He swiped at the monster with the Kokiri Sword again, hit again, but still didn't seem to be making any difference. He wished for the Megaton Hammer, wondered if it would make any difference.
He leapt to the side, hiding behind one of the room's decorative columns. In the manner of a darknut, the iron knuckle cut the column into a pile of rubble with a double slash, which nevertheless left it open to attack.
Link was already on his feet the moment he saw it cut through the column, and he leapt at the monster, dragging the inexplicably powerful Kokiri Sword further down the breastplate. There was a screech of metal against metal, but Link had to beat a hasty retreat as the monster raised its axe over its head again.
He stood, several feet from the inexorable iron knuckle, and waited for it to approach. He couldn't use the spin attack with all of his magical concentration fixed upon his shield. He had to make sure to remember to notice that blue haze even as he kept most of his attention fixed upon the miniboss. He tightened his grip on the hilt of the sword as the monster approached.
The moment it was close enough, he leapt for it again, just barely avoiding the blow it was already aiming at him; he was in its range, too. He was cutting through the breastplate, at least.
He yanked the sword out of the breastplate, holding it out to the side without thinking, fighting almost automatically. He realised too late that he couldn't use the spin attack this way, as the iron knuckle sent him flying across the room.
His concentration on the shield spell wavered when he hit the wall, hard. The shield absorbed the impact, but he lost his concentration for the moment, and the shield itself fell. The monster was too close to risk casting the spell again.
Instead, he held the blade out to the side, focusing magical energy into it until he felt it burn blue. He knew that his magical energy was almost depleted, but he'd have enough for a spin attack.
He leapt to the side, avoiding its first swipe, and then stepped forwards, unleashing the full fury of the compressed magic fire that he'd forced into the blade. The arc of blue fire distracted the monster…or maybe it was distracted instead by the pieces of its armour that fell to the ground with a clanging sound. The helmet stayed, and the gauntlets and boots, but the breastplate had gone, as well as the greaves and…well, pretty much all of the metal armour, leaving a monster bedecked in some sort of chainmail suit of armour underneath. It wore a chainmail tunic, which jingled as it ran. Because, yes, the previous fight had been too easy, and now Link had to contend with a foe with a weapon heavy enough to cut through the hylian shield, and fast enough to keep up with him.
However, he also swiftly noticed that, with its armour gone, any little injury distracted it as a mortal wound might distract Link. It staggered, reeled, backed up, reached for what might pass for a heart with its unarmed hand, as Link slashed at the still-impressive armour protecting its chest. Every time he scored a hit, it forgot what it was doing.
He almost thought he could just have hacked away indiscriminately at it without fear of punishment. But, that was probably a false hope; even the slightest misjudgement, and its improved reflexes would strike Link down before he had a chance to get out of the way. He settled for moving in, stabbing or slicing at the chest, and then immediately retreating. That was the most secure option. He no longer had the time to cast the spell; the iron knuckle would be upon him before he could finish.
He'd just leapt at it, dragging the Kokiri Sword down through that armour, when it fell to its knees, erupting into blue flames. The head and even the skin of its body remained hidden, a mystery, as the flames ate away at it.
Across the room, the bars rose.