Link's Awakening

Chapter Twenty Six: Safe at Last

Yes, I left Prince Richard behind in order to make my own escape, but the man tried to kill me, and threatened to hurt my friends, so he was on his own. I had no idea if Stalfos was still chasing me or not as I ran off into the storm, barely able to see what was right in front of me, and trying not to pass out from the ordeal I just survived. The marimba was the sixth Instrument of the Sirens that I had managed to gather, meaning that there were only two more left before I would be able to wake the Wind Fish… or at least until I had to make the final decision of whether or not to do so.

Link wasn't sure how long he had been running for, but eventually the fatigue caught up with him, reducing the full pace sprint down to a slow shuffle. The young man was completely soaked from the falling water, but that wasn't so bad because it also allowed him to cup his hands together for a few seconds in order to finally relieve his thirst, leaving only the tiredness that was tormenting his whole body. It was so tempting to simply fall on his face and sleep in the grass wherever he was, but if the skeleton was still after him… no, he had to keep moving.

Hopelessly lost, and with only the glow of the marimba to light the way, Link pressed forward, constantly on the lookout for something that was familiar, but all of the grass and trees looked the same. At least the trees were alive again, which meant that he was moving away from the graveyard, so… maybe somewhere on the prairie? Sure, why not? It could have been anywhere for all he knew, and the moon was completely invisible behind the thick clouds, meaning that the young man couldn't tell which direction he was going.

Now the wind was picking up, blowing sheets of water into his face that stung at the same time, forcing him to cover his face with his arms as he walked. This actually seemed to work for a while, but then Link stepped into a big puddle of water, causing him to fall forward with a loud splash. For a moment his whole body was underwater until he fought his way back to the surface, making the young man realize that this wasn't a puddle at all, it was more like a lake. A lake with very warm water, and… the warmth was so soothing that it made him even more tired by the time he reached the shore.

Maybe shore was the wrong word, since there was a short wall of stones all the way around it, which he must have stepped over without realizing it before falling in, so Link got about halfway over the stones… and then slumped there as the last of his strength left him. Laying there, the top half of his body hanging on the wall while his lower half was still in the hot water, the young man's eyes closed, but it was a restless sleep. Feeling like he kept waking up every few minutes, only to fall back asleep, Link's thoughts mostly consisted of how stupid he had been for ever wanting a life that was filled with adventure… because he had exactly that now, and it was awful.

Suddenly the idea of spending his life as a guard in Hyrule, and then one day inheriting the title of Lord Sheriff from his father, didn't seem so bad. Part of him wished that he and Agahnim had never left Hyrule in the first place, but then again he would have never learned this lesson in that case, and the young man also would have never met Marin. These thoughts were interrupted each time Link lost consciousness, and suddenly it was daytime. The rain had stopped, and instead of simply falling asleep again, the young man struggled to stay awake, as well as lift his head up long enough to see where he was.

There was a lot of steam rising up from the lake he was in, well… actually now that he could see the whole thing, Link realized that it was more like a small pond, or a hot spring. Yes, it was definitely a hot spring, and a short distance away was a familiar looking cottage, and the young man let out a sigh of relief when he realized that he had wandered back to Crazy Tracy's Health Spa. This meant that his wounds would be taken care of, so long as the woman gave him another sample of that awful tasting stuff that she sold there… yeah, all he had to do was stand up and…

Whack! Link was in the middle of using the wall to push himself up to his feet, when a fist came out of nowhere, striking him across the side of the head so that he slumped back down in the same position he had been in before. Making another attempt to get up, even though he was dazed from the hit, Link was knocked down again when the fist struck him in the forehead, before a hand… a familiar looking, and very bony hand grabbed him by the back of the collar in order to pull him up.

"Grave robber." Stalfos said, dragging him the rest of the way out of the hot spring. "I'm glad you stopped when you did… I almost lost you."

The young man desperately tried to grab his sword, only to be stopped when the skeleton punched him in the ribs, before grabbing the weapon itself and tossing it away. Stalfos continued to strike Link, throwing the young man back up against the stone wall, and slugging him in the stomach before pulling the small shield from his arm, and then smacking Link across the face with it so that he collapsed onto the ground. He tried to crawl away while Stalfos discarded the shield, only to find himself moving backwards when the skeleton reached down and grabbed him by the ankle.

"And all of this because of your greed." His enemy continued, reaching down to grab the fallen marimba with its other hand. "Come along now, grave robber… it is time to go…

Suddenly the skeleton's words were interrupted when its arm exploded a flash of orange light, releasing Link's leg as the now burning bones were scattered around them. It only took a moment for the fire to go out, and then the bones rolled back together the way they always did, with both Stalfos and the young man looking back to see Agahnim standing a near the door of the nearby cottage with his family. The skeleton just looked at them for a moment before returning its attention to Link, since it clearly only cared about those who touched the marimba, but then more flame appeared in the wizard's hand, and this time one of Stalfos's legs exploded after the fireball was tossed.

"Tracy, why don't you take the children inside?" Agahnim asked as a strange white energy began to crackle around his hands. "I don't think they need to see this just yet."

His wife took their two children by the hands and led them away, but while the wizard was waiting for his family to enter the cottage, Stalfos had once again turned its attention to Link. Once again grabbing the wounded young man by the ankle, the skeleton began to drag him away, ignoring Agahnim's orders for it to stop. As far as Link could tell, it seemed like his enemy just rebuilt itself from the wizard's magic just as easily as it did from a sword attack, and if so then there was nothing that could be done to save him. But just then the wizard vanished, reappearing an instant later right in front of the skeleton.

"Hechizo!" Agahnim yelled, aiming his hands right at Stalfos' chest.

The white energy gathering around the wizard's hands suddenly erupted into a flash of white light that consumed the skeleton, and when the light faded Stalfos was simply gone… replaced by a gelatinous Bot creature that was squirming on the ground as if confused. Gathering more flame in his hand, Agahnim tossed it down, and just like that the newly formed Bot creature was gone. Was that it? Was Stalfos defeated? The little bit of ash that remained of the skeleton was quickly blown away in the morning breeze, and then Link was dimly aware of the wizard calling for his wife to come back out.

With the skeleton finally no longer a threat, the young man allowed himself to relax, passing out again, and then waking up somewhere different. Through the nearby window he was able to see that the sky was clearing up, and there was… there was an odd taste in his mouth that was both familiar and unpleasant… that medicine Tracy had made him try the other day, maybe? Yes, it had to be, because the young man was feeling a hundred times better now, although there was still some lingering soreness when he tried to sit up.

"Not so fast, Junior, take it easy." Agahnim said from the chair where he was sitting nearby. "That skeleton really worked you over, didn't it? I hope getting the marimba was worth it."

The instrument was sitting on the floor nearby, which surprised the young man since he figured that the wizard would have taken the opportunity to hide it. After all, if Link wasn't able to get a hold of all eight instruments, then there was no way for him to wake the Wind Fish and leave this cursed place. At this point, that was all he really wanted, to take Marin and go back to Hyrule, where things made sense… and the only place where anyone had even heard of a creature like Stalfos was in the story of Lizard Mine.

"You're not going to stop, are you?" Agahnim asked, taking a look out the window as his children chased each other around the big tree. "Most people would be a bit humbled after facing something like that, but you're determined to wake the Wind Fish, no matter what, aren't you?"

"Agahnim, I want to go home." The young man replied, still a bit sore when trying to change the direction he was sitting. "If I do this, then we can both get out of here, and take the people we care about with us. Don't you miss everyone back in Hyrule?"

The wizard was silent now for a time, probably thinking about everyone back home, and it had been a lot longer since Agahnim had seen them then it had been for Link. Yes, the fight against Stalfos had humbled him, and made the young man wish that he had paid more attention to his training instead of always having his mind preoccupied by the desire to get out of his father's shadow. After all, Link Senior hadn't had any formal training at all before the fight against Ganondorf, so had he been as beaten down and exhausted as his son was now?

"We never did get to have our adventure together, did we, Junior?" The wizard asked, looking back over at him. "I remember thinking that the two of us were going to become great heroes of some uncharted land, and… now after so long I have the chance to do just that with my best friend. I know that without killing you, I can never stop you from waking the Wind Fish… so I'm going to help you."