Chapter 15

Eyes of Ganon

Another day has passed, and we have left the woods long ago. Soon, we will be reaching the pass through the hills and then there would be only a few short hours to the Harbor Town of Mido. We couldn't come up with a strong plan, but instead could only hope to find a way once we were in the city.

After cleaning the remains of the stinky mire from my body and clothes, the air around me felt so open and fresh. I have never been happier to walk on the dirt road away from the wet jungle! The sky was now clear and blue, save for a few fluffy white clouds that floated slowly to and fro. The high and majestic clouds looked like possible rain, and there was a light breeze that swept the land below, making the green grass dance for the sky's beauty.

This day was quite pleasant. Uneasy silence didn't find its way between us now, well, not as much as it used to. The prince never spoke again of what happened in the caves, and he looked more relaxed than before. His newfound joy reminded me of his sister. As siblings, they were a little different from each other, but he and Zelda had the same laugh.

But soon, the pleasant feeling of the day left us like a passing breeze.

As we were crossing the hills and towards the ocean, another boulder sat in our way, in the only place on the road where it would stop us completely. "What?!" My companion exclaimed. "Why is this here? Why would that group of moblins drop a roadblock here too?!"

First, I could only stare in disbelief at the rock while my friend complained about our cursed luck. How could we move on? We had to reach Mido! But then, as I wondered why it was even here, it began to make more sense to me. "They were waiting for me to leave the swamp." I pondered aloud. "And they wanted to make sure I would travel on the western road and not travel east away from them."

The prince huffed angrily in response. "Knowing why they did it doesn't reverse the damage. Now what can we do?"

There was only one way I could think of, but it would be long and dangerous. "There is a way to the graveyard if we go through Death Mountain."

But he was shaking his head before I even finished. "No, you should know as well as I do that it would take too long. Besides, that mountain is tricky. People struggle finding their way down once they're up."

"But we can't stand here! That mountain is the only option we have. I've been up and down it myself, I can get us through it."

"Yes, but are you certain you won't find us lost?"

That, I couldn't answer. I have been there a few times, but every time, come to think of it, I have struggled one way or the other. His Highness turned back to the roadblock. "I want those moblins' heads!" He cried yet again. "They have caused enough suffering to my kingdom."

"You're not serious about staying here are you?" I asked. "It could be days before someone even noticed it was here. Who knows how long it would take for them to move it?"

He sighed. "Of course I'm not staying. I just wish there was an easier way."

I didn't reply, but turned and walked back the way we came. I heard him curse that group of moblins one more time before joining me. We would have to walk the rest of the day back to the western road, follow it as it turns south, and then cross through the Water Town of Saria to reach the mountain trail.

In the distance, I could finally see the town and the towering Death Mountain past it. This was known as the Water Town of Saria because it was built around a river that split the town in two parts, but just a few miles up the road from it was yet another river that we would have to cross over by a wooden bridge. The woods on either side of us was staying behind and I could see a lot further with the fewer trees that remained.

The bridge was strong, but still creaked quietly as I stepped over it after my companion. The water underneath us splashed and bubbled soothingly. My attention was held tightly to the stunning landscape. It has been a while since I was in Saria.

But I didn't know that we were being watched by the water...

Suddenly, His Highness in front of me stopped when there was a loud splash followed by a glimpse of a small form, and it was a good thing that I was some steps behind, or I would have collided into him. "What was that?" I asked, but he didn't answer. Instead, he recoiled and went to unsheath the sword on his hip.

It was then when I was able to see past the prince's shoulder. It looked like the form of a fish that had jumped onto the surface of the bridge, but it wasn't an ordinary fish. This was a bago-bago, an undead, skeletal fish that had sharp, razor teeth. I have seen some of these before, in dark, evil, or sick places. But these were quite rare, and I've only seen very few. They like to attack with those horrible teeth on anything that breathed, and made it impossible to safely enter the water. I've never seen one jump out of the water and onto a solid surface though, and why was this thing here?

I followed my companion's move, but as soon as I had my sword in my hand, and Hyrule's heir approached the monster like he was thinking to just sweep it away, the bago-bago recovered from the flop and slithered at him at a surprising pace! The prince hesitated in shock, but recovered quickly enough to swing low. The monster flew back into the river.

Then His Majesty looked back at me. "Since when has this river been infected? I have not heard one report about it."

I wished I had an answer, but I could merely shrug. "I don't know, I haven't seen those monsters here before."

But that wasn't the end of it. Soon, the bridge was filled with bago-bagos! Many before us, and some even behind us. At first, we fought back-to-back, breaking some of the bony fish in pieces, and other times, I had no choice but to sweep them back in the water. In which case, they could just spring back up. But there were too many of them! And as more and more just kept coming, I realized that our best choice was to run!

"We need to reach solid ground!" The prince yelled, obviously thinking the same. "I need you to cover me!" The thought came to me how he was yet again assuming the leader role here, but I ignored it. He was right.

I slashed my sword across a bony fish that came too close to me, and backed up to stay close to the prince when he took a few steps ahead. He kept his expert footwork as he slashed and kicked at monsters so he could clear enough space to keep moving ahead. Like he asked, I kept my focus behind us, chasing away the dangerous water dwellers as they tried to take the advantage. I felt like we were there for hours, and I swore that every second we were there, that many more undead fish joined the fight.

But the plan was working well. Finally, I believed we have accepted teamwork instead of just doing what we can on our own. We were edging forward! Closer and closer to the road on the other side! I fought my hardest, and prayed every second we would leave this deadly bridge. But the bago-bagos had a new strategy to turn to.

Like the octoroks, a few of the monsters started to spit out rocks the size of my fists from their mouths. I took up my shield and was forced to stoop low to deflect them away, but there were so many monsters, and it was increasingly difficult to deflect and attack at the same time. The prince behind me released a grunt of shock. The monsters ahead were spitting rocks too. Lucky for him though, he was covered in armor, and I had to crouch to stop from getting hurt. Even then, rocks slipped past my defenses and stung every time. Once, I was so busy stopping flying rocks that I couldn't react in time before a small bago-bago squirmed close enough to sink its needle teeth down in my boot.

Thank the Goddesses, it may have sank those teeth through the leather, but it missed any flesh. I took my sword, knowing kicking it away would do me no good, and stabbed down. The metal cracked through the fish skull and it lessened its grip as it died for a second time. From there, I swung the weapon, with the monster still attached, over and up. The skeleton left the blade and was then sent flying back to the river.

"We're almost there!" Zelda's brother called. "Just hold on for a short while longer."

I could only pray those beasts won't still attack after reaching the end. For a second, I caught a glimpse of the grass border when I turned my head to look behind me. I quickly focused yet again on protecting the prince's back. We were so close to the end though, that my companion was fighting fewer and fewer enemies to move forward. Which was a good thing too, because his defense was becoming rushed and anxious.

As soon as His Majesty crossed onto dirt, he collapsed onto his knees. I too, wanted to fall over from the exhausting craze, but I chose to hold my pride up. I still didn't want Zelda's brother to see me weak. Instead, I bent over and allowed my breathing to calm. I looked over at the bridge where I had noticed that every sound of the horrible monsters had stopped.

The bridge was empty, like such an ambush was just our imagination. There was not one bago-bago, not even split bones where we shattered them. I took a step closer to look down at the river. The water bubbled peacefully and smoothly flowed down like normal. "That could have been a lot worse." The prince's voice stated behind me.

Again, he was right. A lot of things could have gone a lot worse than it did. But I wasn't thinking much about that. My thoughts were more confused on why they attacked us here. I have never encountered them at that bridge before. Was it related to the rumors? The simple thought of it again made me feel sick, but at the same time, I doubted it. They were not intelligent enough to take orders.

But then again, that didn't mean they weren't a result of the spreading evil.

After a short walk, we stopped to eat, and then picked up the road again for a little over an hour before Saria came into view. Like the river the town was built around, it was a calm and soothing place. I have been in this town before, but something about it was different this time. I didn't know what it was, but my instincts told me to turn around. And that feeling only increased the more we neared it.

I was trying to find out what it was that made me uneasy, for something in the air around the town seemed to make the sky dark besides the grey clouds that were sailing in over our heads. But once the dirt roads changed to stone, I knew what it was. The people everywhere were staring, and not at His Majesty, but at me. "What's going on?" The prince whispered. "Do you think they know who we are? Has my identity been found out?"

"No," I answered. "I don't think you have to worry about being discovered." People who didn't show awareness that we were there would stop and join the others once they saw. Some other citizens either came out of the houses to watch me, or stayed indoors and covered their windows. As we were passing, the ones talking with others dropped what they were saying and fell silent.

My unease continued to take over and now my heart was beginning to pound from the uncomfort. What's more, a short, bald man stood close by a sign just on my left. The sign was a welcome, saying, "Water town of Saria", but the town was far less friendly than I remembered it. This man, like the others, observed me, but with an almost frightened expression. The place soon became so quiet, making the wind sound stronger, but feel normal. The only thing I thought I could do was to keep moving through the crowd. Instead of shopping for any supplies, it was safe to say we should just move on with what we had. The path to Death Mountain was past the town's bridge. A knight controlled the pass only when he needed to. I just hoped he wasn't acting as weird as everyone else.

Even when we were near enough to the sign, I still wasn't expecting for him to grasp my arm! I hesitated, but the prince was quick and sprang forward, unsheathing his sword. "No, please!" The man cried, making the prince stop, but still gripping the sword close. "I'm not aggressive. I just need to know..." His voice fell to a quivering whisper, and he was still holding a tight grip on me. His eyes glanced nervously around us, like he wasn't sure about his choice of stopping me. "Are you him? Link?" He asked hurriedly, but in a quivering whisper. I hesitated yet again. "You wear the green tunic." He continued. "And you're young like him."

There was no point in hiding it, I'm sure everyone here knew who I was. "Yes," I answered. "I'm him."

"Are you crazy!?" My companion whispered harshly. I saw him open his arms on either side of him, like he was lost, but he quickly let them fall back with a soft, but thick, "pat" on his armor.

I ignored him though. "Why are you asking if you obviously know who you're talking to?"

The man glanced at the staring faces around us in a rising panic. When he seemed like he won't recover enough to speak, he still glance back at me, and then down at the grasp on my arm. He caught the sight of the Triforce upon that hand. It glowed differently at times, but now it was shining as bright as it could. It was totally visible even through the metal gloves I wore. He gave a short gasp before finally letting go of me, but said nothing of it.

When he spoke next, it was filled with even more urgency. "I hear them, you know? They are always talking about you, especially at night, beyond my windows." He swallowed and yet again let his gaze pass every one of the stiff citizens. "I know their plans." He somehow let his voice fall even lower. "You shouldn't be here! Eyes of Ganon are everywhere! They are looking for you."

And with that, he fell silent again, like this conversation was over. I was left feeling exposed and even more wanting to turn back and find another way to Mido.