Chapter 28

"We need to get the Kenaks to hate the Fungistuls more than they hate us," Link suggested. "We can find out if anything ever happened between them in the past. If someone reminds them about it - "

"It's not that easy," Horacio sighed. "We can't just anger them and then tell them to fight for us."

"Do you have any other ideas?" Tael asked.

"We might be able to take the Fungistuls by ourselves," Horacio reasoned. "Do we know how many of them - "

"No," Link groaned, "but we need to reach a decision here quickly."

"Quick decisions are always the worst decisions," King Marcos frowned. "Horacio does have a point. We'll already be getting help, and it's too dangerous to send anyone into Kenak Jungle."

"What happened to that being our 'only option'?" Link demanded. "We can't fight creatures like the Fungistuls alone!"

"You don't know anything about the Kenak Jungle," explained Marcos. "Everything below the canopy drips black with death. That place has been known to devour adventurers alive, and only a few have ever been able to say they made it through and back. Let's assume the person we sent on the expedition got lucky and made it through. Then they'd have to face the Kenak tribe. In the histories, these people have been known for cannibalism and human sacrifice to their gods, the fire ants."

"They worship fire ants?" Link questioned.

"There's supposed to be a huge palace in the center of their village, built for the fire ants," Marcos described. "They may have built it to contain the creatures so they wouldn't kill the whole village, but one thing is for certain. Most of our previous explorers were locked inside as some form of sacrifice. Only one of them managed to escape the jungle and give us the information."

"Sounds fun," Link quipped. "I still think it's our best bet."

"That makes one of us," Horacio said.

"Then I'm going," Link decided. He turned and ran back down the great hall towards the doors, Tael in hot pursuit.

"Guards, stop him!" King Marcos yelled. Two guards stepped in front of the exit, barring Link's way out. Link skidded to a halt, turning around with an irritated look on his face.

"He's really going to do it, isn't he?" Marcos whispered to Horacio.

"I'd bet my life on it," Horacio replied.

"I can't allow a child like him to go into the jungle alone," Marcos said a little louder than he meant to. Link gritted his teeth and ran for the doors, preparing to dodge the guards.

"Wait!" Horacio yelled after Link. Link didn't miss a step. He was almost to the doors when Horacio called out again. "I have some things for you!"

"Make it fast," Link urged, turning around. Horacio whispered something to Marcos, who then looked away in disgust for a few moments.

"Take him to the storeroom," Marcos finally told a nearby servant. "Get him a pair of pegasus boots and the ice rod. Then tell General White to get the soldiers prepared for battle."

Link dashed through the pouring rain in his shiny red pegasus boots. He did think the little white wings attached to the sides were a little over the top, but as long as the boots worked he was fine with them. Though they were supposed to make the wearer incredibly fast, he could only manage a normal running pace against the strong gale. The wind tore at his face and the heavy drops of freezing rain steadily pelted him. He had to keep Tael in a secure pocket of his tunic to make sure the fairy didn't blow away.

The ice rod Link had received was composed of a short wooden rod with a crystal orb attached to the end. The wooden part was split so that he could twist the end of it, activating the device. Supposedly the orb's temperature could rise or fall almost immediately, so twisting the knob could make the crystal intensely cold, and it would go completely back to normal after switched off. He had to be very careful about handling it; it was cold enough to kill with a simple touch.

Reaching the gate leading into the market, he shook the bars in desperation, hoping the guard could see him. A bright flash lit up the dark sky, sending a crackle through the air and showing an ominous view of the island in the middle of the lake through the drawbridge gate. The wind was blowing north, but the storm clouds were going south. Was that even possible? He shook the gate again and shouted for the guard to unlock it for him, but the wind just tore the words from his mouth and swept them away.

Deciding he had to climb the gate, he hooked a boot through the gap between bars and attempted to pull himself to the top. The wind created enough opposition to gravity to make it relatively easy for him to climb the vertical bars. He was more concerned about flying away than falling down. At the top of the gate, he was able to hang from the bars nearly horizontally. Somehow he managed to lift his foot, hook it over the top of the gate, and scramble over, rolling down the bars and hitting the ground on the other side.

His first thought was that he had crushed Tael, but with a quick check into his pocket he confirmed Tael was still fine. Now his task was to find the Kenak Jungle. He carefully pulled the map Garod had given him so long ago out of the same pocket Tael was crouching in, placing it against the wall where the wind wouldn't blow it away. Protecting it from the rain with his body, he searched the map and found the words "Kenak Mountains" in the northeastern section of the map, just north of the haunted mountains.

There was no mention of a jungle, and the drawing certainly didn't indicate one, but it looked like his best bet. He peeled the map off the wall, folded it up, shoved it back into his pocket, and took off toward the drawbridge. His only option was to cut through the swamp; any other route would take too long. According to the servant who had given him gifts from the king, the pegasus boots were so fast that they wouldn't break the surface tension of water. Running across the thick swamp would be no problem. It was what came after it that worried Link.

Dark Link crouched in the cluster of bushes near the castle gates, watching Link speed off towards the swamp. So, he was leaving for the jungle alone. Dark had sworn to destroy Link, yet he couldn't bring himself to do it personally. This was his chance to let someone else take care of it and then go back to Hyrule with Link's blood. With the blood, Ganon would be revived, and he could escape the binds of the sacred realm. Ganon would reward Dark somehow, as he had promised the day he had created him.

Dark Link slipped from the world of light and silently followed Link into the dark forest surrounding the swamp.

The wind is dying down, Horacio thought. I had been worried it would continue getting stronger and stronger until there was no possible way to do battle. Even like this, our archers can't be used; the wind's against us. I just pray the wind slows more by the time the Fungistuls get here.

It had been difficult convincing his father that Link and Tael would be okay by themselves, but he had finally done so. He just hoped he had been right. It wasn't that he doubted Link, it was just that he was afraid of being wrong, especially if someone's life hung in the balance. If Link didn't come back, Horacio would never be able to forgive himself.

Rain pattered steadily against Horacio's helmet and wind whistled past his ears, but it was actually rather quiet. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he scanned the surrounding land. The storm had brought the edge of the forest to life, and it was hard to tell the difference between people hiding in the trees and branches simply swaying in the gale. The lake was boiling with energy, slapping against the dunes on the far side. Horacio was freezing, but there was no way he was leaving his post with such a threat nearby. If the Fungistuls did come, the Myrennians would need to prepare as quickly as possible.

Suddenly something moving on the central island caught his eye. It looked like a group of...Fungistuls? Yes! There looked to be about twenty of them on the island. What were they doing? He squinted through the rain, trying to see what was going on. Gradually, they strode toward the water in rows. There they stopped for a few moments. A prick of golden light flashed into Horacio's vision as lightning struck in the distance. One of the Fungistuls was holding something shiny. Or were they all? All of the Fungistuls at the waters edge bent down. Calm waters rippled outwards until the stormy waves had all but disappeared. No, that wasn't water...was it? The lake's surface lightened and was perfectly smooth. They had just frozen the water. The whole lake. The gigantic body of water, frozen just like that.

Horacio's jaw dropped open, and he couldn't bring himself to move until he noticed that they were starting to cross the ice. Several more were appearing on the island, seemingly from underground. He didn't wait to find out how many were coming. He ran to warn General White immediately. Somehow, he was feeling more frantic than he thought he would. Maybe they would need more help after all.

Tael struggled to keep down the meal he had eaten earlier in the day. He swung back and forth, back and forth, like someone had sealed him in a bag and was shaking it vigorously. He was stuck in Link's tight pocket until they arrived at their destination, and he didn't like it one bit. Only a few minutes had passed and he was already feeling sick.

"Link! Where are we?" Tael shouted as loudly as he could, hoping Link could hear him.

"We just passed a big stone temple," Link replied, out of breath. "Abandoned."

It must have been the place Horacio and Tael had been captured. Were they really travelling that fast? At this rate they would arrive at their destination within minutes. He could only hope it was fast enough to bring help in time. There was no telling when the Fungistuls would reach the castle, and the Myrennians might not be able to hold them off for long. Tael sat as patiently as he could, longing for a breath of fresh air.

The green wall of his prison lit up, nearly blinding him. Link's motion slowed, and soon enough he came to a complete stop. They weren't there already, were they? Tael thrust his head from the pocket and looked around, protecting his eyes from the bright sun. Behind them, soft, light green grass sloped steeply downwards until it disappeared in the thick purple sludge of the swamp. Blackened limbs stretched from the trees behind, seemingly reaching for the two to drag them back into the mire.

Tael turned and noticed that the trees had not ended. They were standing in a sort of peninsula of light, and the sickly trees hugged them closely on three sides. To the south, the haunted mountains and the green plains beneath them were in view. Their little ribbon of grass rested atop a tall hill, nearly as tall as the trees of the swamp. Ahead of them was a forest so densely packed with darkness that Tael was left gaping. Link was silent, as well. A soft breeze swept by, slightly rustling the diseased leaves of the jungle, and the two of them shuddered.

The trees were exactly the same as the ones behind, yet they produced a hundred times as much shade. It could only be magic. And that was just what they needed against the Fungistuls.

Wait, Tael thought. What happened to the storm? He floated from the pocket completely, trying to get a look over the trees. There was no sign of even a wisp of cloud to the west. I'm looking in the right direction, aren't I? But to his amazement, the sky was clear no matter where he looked.

"Link, the storm is gone! Completely!" Tael yelled, not sure whether to be joyful or worried.

But Link was already gone.

Chief Mohan stroked his forehead, poring over the unintelligible mess of ink before him. He had just discovered this ancient leather-bound book he believed to be an ancestor's journal, but it was written in a language unknown to him. Knowing that the wavy lines and symbols strewed across the page would give him information about his tribe's history only agonized him more. Nobody was able to decipher it, and he knew he'd go crazy if he never found out what was written inside it. His only knowledge of the tribe's past came from obscure stories told to him by his father ages ago. He slammed the book closed and cursed just as a knock came on his door.

"Come," Mohan commanded, slipping the book underneath his oaken bed. A man swung open the thick wooden door, sweating profusely.

"A trespasser's been sighted," he reported. "Southwestern edge."

"You know you don't have to report things like this to me. Trespassers are to be captured and used as sacrifices," sighed Mohan.

"Chief, this is different."

"What could possibly make this any different than - " Chief Mohan began.

"It's a boy with a fairy," said the man.

Chief Mohan was silent for a moment. Fairy? Fairies could do anything, couldn't they? But what was a fairy doing in his jungle? No matter. It could translate the journal for him. Fairies were said to know many languages. Whatever happened to the boy wasn't important, but Mohan would keep the fairy alive. Perhaps this was his only chance for learning the history.

"Capture the fairy by whatever means necessary," Mohan ordered the man. "The gods may have the boy. Prepare him for the sacrificial ceremonies and wait until you receive further orders."