Chapter 18
When Link opened his eyes, two things surprised him. First of all, a glowing woman was leaning over him from the side. Her face appeared chiseled and cold, but also soft and warm. Flowing, shiny curls swarmed around her head like bronze snakes. As he jerked away in shock, he noticed the second thing.
His body had been fully healed. Even his broken arm was as good as new, and the sling was gone. Tears came to his eyes as Tael floated above him.
"You can thank Queen Rosaria," Tael said. "She got rid of the Moblins, freed all the humans and healed your injuries. And believe me, you had a lot."
"Who are you?" Link inquired with interest, sitting up and turning to the shimmering woman.
"I am the Great Fairy of the Mountain. This used to be a Goron city, and I was the protector. Only, I didn't do my job very well. I was captured here with the rest of the city and was split in half so that I couldn't cause any harm. Your friend Tael helped me escape."
"When was this place a Goron city?" Link asked, scanning the vast, empty cavern full of humans milling about.
"Over four hundred years ago. All the Gorons were killed, and the Moblins captured a group of humans from Myrennia castle who happened to stumble upon us. Ironically, they had just been attacked by the Ikanians, so they had come to Pyrobia to seek shelter. What they found was much different."
"Four hundred years of this," Link commented.
"Yes. The Moblins came down hard on anyone who tried to use the Hylian language. Now, most of the captives don't know any Hylian. Except for your other friend, and a couple others who were captured more recently," Rosaria said, giving a slight jerk of her head. Link turned to observe Horacio jogging toward them.
"Link, we've been trying to decide what we need to do," Horacio said. "I've discussed some options with other recent arrivals and we explained them to the rest of the people with the help of translators. Some think we should head for Myrennia Castle Town, through the mysterious forest. Others want to skirt the edge of the desert until they reach the path to Hayen Village and settle there. And then...there are those who refuse to leave."
Link wasn't surprised. "The people down in the mines seemed hesitant to leave their cell when I freed them. Do you think they're afraid of being outside? They've never left this place."
"I would guess. I came to ask your opinion."
Link scratched his head. "There are what, two hundred some people? I don't know how so many could move into one of those towns all at once, even if they were split up. Are there any other villages close by?" Horacio shook his head. "Then what do you think?"
"Actually, I think it might work if we give everyone what they want. Some of them will go with me to Hyrule Castle Town, some will go to Hayen, and the rest will stay here and rebuild Pyrobia under Rosaria's guidance."
"But the Moblins are still down there," Link argued. "They could come up here at any moment. And where would they get all their food?"
"I'll take care of those beasts," Rosaria said confidently. "I've been waiting to ever since that day..." she trailed off and then abruptly continued. "The ground here is actually quite fertile. Although the Gorons only eat rocks and didn't grow any food, there are plenty of green plateaus outside perfect for growing things. Mountain Boars are also common, so they'll have meat."
"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe...Moblins have feelings, too?" Link asked, almost in a dreamy state. "They have wives, children...what do you think? On one hand, they torture and kill a lot of people...but according to you, the Gorons attacked first."
Rosaria was taken aback. "They killed the Goron miners first. They're heartless, cruel creatures and deserve nothing better than to die." There was an awkward pause and Link saw something about her face soften. "There was one Moblin, though...he was completely lost in his emotions. He said that killing was what he least wanted to do, but once he started, it was his favorite thing to do."
"You believed him?" Horacio said in shock.
"I probed his mind, and he was truthful. I was about to free him from the curse when..." Rosaria turned away to hide her tears.
"Do you think it's possible that in Moblins' minds, everything is reversed? Every chance humans get, we try to kill them all as if they're just big, mindless insects. Years of thinking like that just left a permanent scar between the races, and now we just hate each other. Sometimes I wonder what it was that caused us to go against each other in the first place."
"Are you siding with them now, too!" Horacio shouted, clapping his hands on his forehead in disbelief. "They have brains the size of peas. All they think about is blood."
"Rosaria...is there a way to negotiate with the Moblins without anyone getting hurt?" Link suggested. "Maybe if we show that we aren't just killing machines, things could turn out better than we expected."
"I can try. But I already killed the Moblins up here. That should upset the rest of them enough to make them refuse and then kill us. If it gets that far, though, I get to slaughter them."
Seeing that he couldn't do anything else about it, Link turned to Horacio. "I'll go with the group to Hayen. I have someone there I need to talk to, so I might as well go with them."
"Oh? Who might that be?"
"Garod, the guy I told you about earlier. I'm going to tell him to do a little more research before sending me into the desert like that," chuckled Link.
"Actually, if you're looking for information about the Pearl of Darkness, I think you should speak with King Raoul. You told me Garod suggested seeing him?"
"So then you do believe me? Anyway, like I told you, I can't see the king," Link sighed.
"I think I can help you out with that. Now, still want to go to Hayen?" Horacio said.
"If you can really get me in, then I'll go with you, I guess," Link said. "When do we leave?"
) () (
The sun was setting over the peaks of the reddish-brown Amathar Mountains when the group of one hundred and forty-seven amazed humans emerged from the yawning entrance to Pyrobia. A valley stretched down the side of the mountain and emptied into a flat area covered in tall grass and a few sparse trees, eventually growing into a thick forest. On the left, Link could see the desert stretching into eternity. On the right, the sky was clouded and purplish.
"Those are the haunted mountains," Horacio commented as the huge group slowly started down the winding mountain path. Link stared at the black jagged mountains, whose peaks were invisible behind the opaque thunderclouds. They dwarfed the Amathar Mountains.
A chill went down Link's spine. That was where he had to go. He could see it in the distance, but he knew that he couldn't get there yet. After speaking with the king - if Horacio kept his word - maybe he would get more details on the Pearl. He kept his eyes on the shadowy mountains, even after the sun vanished behind the Amathar peaks and night covered the weary humans like a smothering blanket, reminding them of their hunger.
"Do you think we can find any fruit or anything in the forest?" Link asked Horacio, exhausted.
"I'm not sure. There are thousands of different species of fungi in there, but I have no idea which ones are poisonous; they're not in any books. I think it'd be safer to leave them alone. I know there is a good amount of water that flows through the woods, so if we can get through quickly, we'll be fine."
The group remained mostly silent until they reached the mouth of the valley; this was where they would split up, some leaving to follow the edge of the woods, and the rest plunging in. The two groups did a quick head count; Horacio's group contained sixty-three (not including Tael) and the other group was made up of eighty-four.
The groups split apart and Link watched the others disappear into the night. Ahead of him loomed an endless forest of strange, twisted trees. He had never heard the stories about the woods and neither had the Moblin-raised humans, but Horacio seemed on edge.
"Feeling a little tense, Horacio?" Link joked.
"We don't know much about the woods. Few people venture underneath the gnarled boughs of the mushrooms; it's a very odd place."
"Those are mushrooms?" Link asked, surprised. He examined the trees around them and it was then that he noticed the mushroom-like qualities. The lowest branches were arching out from the trunk at the same level and at regular intervals, and to Link's surprise, there were strange greenish membranes stretched between them. On the ends of the branches were what he had assumed to be leaves, but they were actually tiny individual mushrooms, tinted the same strange green hue as the membranes.
Upon touching the trunk, instead of a rough, brittle texture, he found it to be rubbery and soft. He sneezed and looked up, almost expecting to see tiny pores floating around, but it was too dark. The thick smell of mildew hung in the air. Horacio was right. They were plunging into a forest of gigantic fungus.
"So what happened to those few people?" Link asked, guessing at the answer.
"Well, I know it sounds cliché, but they were never seen again. I've heard a lot of theories about what happened to them. One of them is that they turned into mushrooms, which is highly unlikely. Another is that they found something special and built a city around it. And of course, there's always the obvious: they died. But I would restrain from telling that to anyone."
Link observed the group of humans walking alongside them. They did look a little confused and frightened, but that was probably to be expected after having lived inside a cave for all their lives. Suddenly a question struck him: What were they going to do once they reached Myrennia Castle? Just drop them off and tell them to get jobs, build houses, learn Hylian?
He asked Horacio, who just smiled and said: "I've already taken that into account. Don't worry."
Suddenly there was a frantic peak of noise in the group's conversations, and Link turned around to find people spinning around looking for something. The group translator turned back and forth, pointing his finger in the air.
"Sixty-one," he said in despair.
"Did you miscount?" Horacio quickly tried it, and Link made sure to do a count himself just to make sure. But the result just confirmed their fears. The number of people had dropped by two.
"Maybe we didn't count right when we split up," Tael suggested.
"Maybe, but some of the group is saying they can't find their friends," said the translator. Horacio turned pale. Link turned to look at him.
"Can we worry now?" Link asked.
4