Link's Awakening

Chapter Nine: Moblins in the Forest

As I followed Tarin deeper into the forest, I kept repeating in my head what he had told me, about how any talk about places beyond Koholint Island was nonsense, and that should have been a serious hint to me. If only I had the benefit of such hindsight in my youth, things might have turned out differently, but when you are faced with a brand new situation, lost and confused, well… sometimes you find yourself in the middle of a wet and dark forest, trying to impress a pretty girl by saving someone's lost pet.

As with many of the island's features that Link had discovered, the forest was a lot bigger than he imagined, and it was a good thing that he brought Marin's father along, because the young man surely would have gotten lost without him. Even with the dim orange glow of the lantern, and the canopy of leaves up above blocking most of the falling rain, he still got smacked in the face by more than a few branches, and all of the curving paths looked the same, to the point where Link didn't even know if he could find the way back to Mabe Village from there on his own.

There were a few landmark features that they passed by, such as a small pond, and even a small clearing where the mushrooms were growing out of the ground like crazy… this must've been the place where Marin went to gather them. With no leaves up above in the clearing, the now pouring rain came down on his head mercilessly, leaving the young man completely soaked even though it had only taken less than a minute to get back into the trees. By some miracle the lantern hadn't gone out, but then after following the next curving path, the big man suddenly placed it on the ground behind a large tree.

"What's wrong?" Link whispered, getting closer to him. "Why are we stopping?"

"Shhh, get down." Tarin warned quietly, motioning with his hand. "Look over there."

He was already soaking wet, so it was no problem for the young man to get down on his hands and knees, but then he looked underneath the branches up ahead, and was surprised to see a light. Flickering and yellow, the lighted torch hissed briefly each time a rain drop fell onto it, but the torch itself wasn't what concerned Link… it was the Moblin that was holding it. With its spear in one hand and the torch in the other, the stocky dog-like creature snorted and huffed, looking back and forth at everything it could see in the yellow light's limited range… and this creature wasn't alone.

There were a total of three of them, with two others sitting comfortably in what looked like the hollow trunk of a big fallen tree, while their companion was forced to stand in the rain. It was easy for Link to figure out that they were a team of guards, especially when one of the others switched with the torch holder a few minutes later, but the important question was what they were guarding. With only the lantern and the torch, the young man couldn't really see anything beyond the fallen tree trunk the others were sitting in, but… hey, maybe that was it.

During his father's stories, Link remembered hearing about a large den of thieves in the Eastern Forest, where the entrance was actually hidden by some branches from a fallen tree or something like that, so was it possible that the tree trunk was the entrance to the Moblins' hideout? If so, then locating the creatures was going to be a lot easier than the young man thought, but now was not the time to make his presence known. After all, he had no idea how many of them were in there, not to mention the Captain… Link's chest hurt for a second as he remembered taking that kick last night.

"I have an idea, Tarin." He whispered, still watching carefully how the guards moved. "How well do you know this forest? Better than them?"

"Son, I was walkin' this forest before your father could spell his name." The big man replied. "Just tell me what you need, and we'll make it happen."

Ignoring the comment about his father, especially since Link Senior had been illiterate until he was almost eighteen, the young man laid out a simple plan for distracting the guards. I mean, it was about as basic as you could get; Tarin making a lot of noise to draw them away while Link snuck inside and tried to rescue Bow-wow… yes, incredibly simple, but so were the minds of Moblins, so why shouldn't it work? Of course, it also meant that the big man had to take the lantern with him, but… hopefully there was light back inside wherever the tree trunk led.

So the plan was put into motion, with Tarin circling around to where he could make noise without being seen by the Moblins, and then starting to yell like an idiot. The creatures didn't need to chase him for long, all three of them just needed to be away from the fallen tree trunk long enough for Link to get inside, and then they could return to their post without ever knowing that something was wrong. The young man was certain that something would go wrong, like the big man getting captured or the Moblins noticing him, but surprisingly everything was going just fine.

As soon as Tarin made noise, all three of the stocky creatures took off over there to investigate, allowing Link a clear path to come out of hiding himself, and enter the fallen tree trunk. Okay, one thing went wrong, and that was when he bumped his head by walking right into the side of the entrance, but without the lantern and torch, it was very dark in the forest all of a sudden. The young man supposed that he was lucky to have found the entrance at all, but even with the slight bump on his head, at least now he was out of the rain as he followed the tunnel.

So far it looked like his suspicions were correct, because soon the tree trunk ended, and now Link found himself inside of a place that looked like it could have once been the start of a mine, with its interior made of dirt and rocks that were held up with wooden beams. Everything smelled like dirt and damn wood, even more so now that it was raining outside, but there were torches mounted on some of the beams, illuminating the whole chamber with flickering yellow light.

"No time for arguing!" A deep voice yelled from farther inside the hideout. "Guards keep watch on animal… no one allowed in swamp until crisis is over!"

In response to this yelling, a dozen more voices began to show their displeasure, revealing that some kind of meeting of the Moblins was happening in the large chamber that was just around the next turn of the tunnel. The Captain was easy to recognize, since he was easily the largest creature in the room, and standing all around were the others, all jumping up and down and yelling angrily, while a couple of them were off to the far side of the room, standing guard next to some kind of cage door. Clearly this was where they were keeping the missing Bow-wow… maybe… but how the hell was he going to get past all those Moblins?

"Silence!" The Captain ordered, grabbing an object that was hanging around his neck. "I am Captain, you will obey!"

The object hanging on the chain around his neck was actually in two parts, a metal triangle that was a strange color, and an attached striker. When the Captain hit them together, a barely visible distortion spread out from the triangle in all directions, causing all of the other Moblins and even Link to hold their heads in pain as they stumbled and fell to the floor. Still, through the pain as the large creature kept hitting the instrument, there was something else, almost as if at the same time that triangle was making the same music that had drawn him to the Full Moon Cello.

"Said… me… am… Captain." The Captain continued after stopping the noise. "Great One gave me Coral Triangle, said me take charge and watch forest, and… and me stop intruders who don't learn lesson first time. Grab him!"

Link hadn't noticed until right then, but when the Coral Triangle was played, not only had he fallen over like the others, but he had done so after stumbling his way into the chamber in plain sight. The young man was still a little disoriented from the triangle, but so were the smaller Moblins, giving him the time he needed to get up and draw his sword, plunging it into the chest of the first of them. Nearly stumbling back and falling himself as he pulled the blade back out, Link swung his small shield right into the face of the next Moblin, knocking it down, but the third one swung its spear at him like a club.

Whack! The head of the spear missed him, but the wooden handle went across Link's head so hard that it almost broke in half, resulting in the Moblins letting out a cheer before the young man even realized that he was lying on the ground. The dog-like creatures swarmed him next, pulling the sword and shield from his hands, and then dragging him by the arms over to where the Captain was eagerly waiting. The young man expected to be hit or even killed right there, but instead the large creature used the Coral Triangle again, causing Link and the other Moblins to collapse again.

"So is true." The Captain said angrily once he stopped. "You, outsider, trying to steal siren instruments, but you not get into swamp without Bow-wow, and me die before you get Coral Triangle."

As soon as the world around him stopped distorting, and he was able to move again, Link grabbed his sword and shield from the slowly recovering Moblins, before scrambling to his feet. The young man backed away while keeping his weapons raised in a defensive posture, since the creatures were no doubt going to attack him again as soon as they could, only this time they didn't. In fact, all of the smaller Moblins were scurrying away to both sides of the chamber, while the Captain… while the Captain picked up a proportionately large spear.

"On second thought, me change mind." The large creature growled, pointing the weapon at him. "You die before you get Coral Triangle."