Chapter Four:

Eyes

The door creaks with the punishment of age as Link pushes it open. Against the howl of the dark blustery wind, the creaking door sweeps Link out into the overwhelming darkness of the night. Link can barely make out the blunt figures of the distant houses as they sit underneath the cloud-ravaged moon. Even the exterior of the large house, where he had been acquainting himself with the townspeople for the past several hours, is impossible to observe other than the weak flame from the candles in the window sills.

Thump

Link jumps in surprise, loosening his grip on the handle of the door. The wind notices the opportunity and snatches the door from Link, slamming it shut behind him and leaving him alone in the abyssal night. He can feel his heart knocking against the inside of his chest as if it were on fire and for a moment he considers if the thumping noise was, in fact, this petulant noise after all.

Thump

Link turns to face the door, but the source of the noise remains hidden. Swallowing in an attempt to disperse his fear; he is instead given the taste of the stagnant remnants of the fish clinging to his tongue.

The wind continues to swirl around Link, whistling a melancholy tune to him as he stands stiffly, waiting for the noise to produce itself once again.

Hoot

Hoot? It certainly wasn't the noise Link had been expecting. Glancing into the thicket of trees shaking in the wind next to the house, Link spies two bright lights shining in the blackness. The lights glow a striking yellow that entices Link to investigate.

Link inches carefully towards the shining jewels; fighting the wind as it pushes him back. Link reaches the large house's other main door which stands only a few feet away from the dark trees.

Squinting intently, Link peers into the rustling leaves of the trees at the yellow circles that continue to shine in the darkness. As Link's eyes begin to ache in pain, the moon digs itself out from above the clouds, just enough to shed a thin streak of its light onto the branches of the trees. The piercing yellow fades away, leaving only a cumbersome outline of something perched on a tree branch.

Hoot

The shadowy figure bobs slightly as the sound rings forth into Link's ears. The moonlight vanishes as the moon succumbs to the clouds once again, and the yellow glare of the figure's eyes returns to tap into Link's nerves.

Link stands frozen in the whirling air, watching and waiting for the figure to make another noise or motion. With a powerful gust of wind, the trees are whipped against each other, prompting the dark creature to reveal a large wingspan. With powerful flaps, the bird gazes once more at Link before catching the wind and flying over Link's head into the darkness.

Link wipes a thick sheet of sweat from his forehead. Whatever the large bird was, it was gone now and with it the leering noise that had put Link on edge. Yet, even though the mysterious noise had finally ceased, the eerie winds continue to whisper their irritable song into Link's ear.

"Are you alright Link? Was there someone out here?" he could hear Marin ask him from behind.

Link turns around to find Marin gazing at him with a set of puzzled eyes. In fact, the whole party had exited the house to fire a succession of interrogative stares at him.

"I don't know what it was," says Link, turning to peer back into the shadowy woods, "some kind of bird, maybe."

A collective sigh whips softly from behind Link making the darkness lift ever so slightly to relinquish its tense grasp. The gathering starts to chirp with relieved chatter and many of the crowd start to wander back into the house, seemingly absolved of their brief moment of terror. Link watches as Marin ushers her father to return to the house before approaching Link.

"That probably seemed a little strange, huh?" Marin says to him, her eyes shying towards the ground.

Strange? Not nearly so. Link had seen similar situations in the market in Hyrule. The common folk were always quick to react to particular occurrences, namely his own trouble he created by being a delinquent, but never too long after the people would displace their worries with the next task to be done in their lives. Perhaps the people of Koholint are really no different from what he knew after all?

Link shakes his head, "They're not strange, Marin," he says with a yawn before falling to sit down on the dancing blades of windswept grass, "Not to me at least."

Marin kneels down beside Link. "I'm so glad you see them like that," she says with a smile, "everyone's so taken in by the events of the past few weeks that they're not acting like their normal selves. It's just that we…that they want to know so much about you, the anticipation is walking a very thin line."

Link's eyes start to feel heavy. It was obvious that these people were salivating just to hear what he had to tell them about Hyrule and his life outside of this little island, but he was so close to telling them how he really felt, how he just wanted to find the easiest way to get off this island and return to his life. However, the noise that had frightened an entire village of people now seemed like it was conveniently timed to stop him from saying those things.

A coincident no doubt, Link imagines as he lies back to stare up into the night sky. The white stars flicker in random patterns, but their light starts to fade as Link feels his eyes gaining more and more weight. "So, why didn't you say 'we?'" he says looking over to Marin.

Link can faintly see her smile before his eyes close shut and he loses his consciousness to the embrace of sleep.

An assortment of odors wafts through Link's nose as he rises up from his bed. The tropical smells blow in with the light wind as it passes through the open windows of Marin's house. Mixing with the flavors of yet another beautiful day on Koholint is the peculiar smell of a fresh meal.

Link rises from the bed; the sores and aches from the previous days almost completely absent. Stretching his arms in the air, he spies the source of the refreshing smell sitting on the lonely table set by the stove.

Link whips the chair out from underneath the table and turns it around, plopping down on it facing the back of the chair. A small wooden plate waits patiently on the table holding two cucco eggs cooked face-up and a large slice of watermelon curved along the bounds of the dish. Despite how delicious the food appears to Link, he cannot help feeling slightly disturbed by the arrangement of the food. The yolk of the eggs reminded him of the glaring yellow eyes that had paralyzed him last night, and the slice of watermelon curled into creepy red grin to complete what appeared to Link a very terrifying face.

With a quick stroke, Link grabs a fork lying next to the plate and jabs one of the yellow eggs, raising it to his mouth and devouring it whole. The egg is surprisingly freezing cold as it slithers down his throat. Shivering as he gulps down the egg, Link notices a piece of paper fluttering in the wind while held down by a cup near the plate.

Link raises the cup and downs a large gulp of the water inside to wash out the squishy egg, picking up the piece of paper and unfolding it with his free hand.

Link,

I am visiting another village on the island today and will be gone all day.

I apologize for not telling you sooner.

It would be best if you avoided leaving the village. It's not safe to travel outside the village alone.

Instead, if you would like, I'm sure many of the townspeople (including Dad) would enjoy your company for the day.

Enjoy your breakfast!

-Marin

Link! Read down here! I'm pickin mushrooms today so I'll be gone too! Don't go gettin in any trouble you hear? Good! Have a nice day!

-Tarin

Link tosses the note aside and takes another large gulp from the glass.

"Not safe outside the village?" Link says aloud.

Was there something he hadn't been told about this seemingly perfect little island? There's no way these people could be solely on edge because of his presence. There has to be something else. The thoughts race through Link's head as he grabs the slice of watermelon and stands up from the chair.

Eating away with large bites of the watermelon, Link treads to the bed and pulls his shield out from underneath. The surface of the shield looks incredibly worn in the slim beam of sunlight reaching inside the house from the window; most likely ravaged by the waves the night of the shipwreck.

Link bites off the last morsel of red fruit leaving only the green husk to set aside.

The shipwreck lingers in his mind as he straps the shield on his back. The Captain, the crew; he knew not if they were still alive somewhere out there. But there would be only one way to answer that question, he realizes as he walks out of the house. He cannot remain hiding in this village and catered to his every whim. He would have to figure out exactly what this island is made of.

As the winds rushing through the house had already predicated, outside the island's atmosphere emanates another perfect day under a cool, yellow sun. Link quietly strolls along the faint dirt pathway leading from Marin's house into the heart of the village. Many of the people who attended Link's welcoming feast bustle about outside of their homes along the stretch of road. Link particularly notices Madame MeowMeow grooming a couple of curious looking animals that appeared like nothing more than large black spheres; perhaps it was the set of jagged teeth that faded in and out of sight as the creature thrashed about a gaping jaw that gave it life in Link's eyes.

Some of the people avert their attention momentarily to toss a smile and an enthusiastic wave towards Link. Intent not to diverge from the road, Link reluctantly returns the gestures of the townsfolk with a lackluster twirl of his fingertips.

Reaching the hill above the well, where Link had met an unfortunate accident a day earlier, Link breathes a sigh of relief to reward his successful eluding of the townspeople. Link had decided to return to this hill to better grasp a sense of his surroundings, and even perhaps find an exit to the village which he had not managed to find to this point.

Stepping to the top of the cliff (yet quite a few steps back from the edge) Link turns in every direction to map out the village. Most of it was hard to make out. From below it seemed so open and visible, but now from above, nothing could be made out due to the abundance of trees. In fact, that's all that could be seen. Trees, trees, and even more trees, with only the slim edge of the beaches below the hills and the peaks of the jagged mountains above the hills separating themselves from the overgrowth of forestry.

Link sulks in his stance. Not only was the island itself a prison barred by water, but the village appeared to be one as well, just barred by trees instead.

"What are you doing up here?" says a childish voice suddenly.

Link returns his focus from the dense forests to the base of the hill. Standing just below him are the four quadruplets, the only one in red standing aggressively in front of the others.

"Tommy…" Link says, casually squinting his eyelids to leer at the child.

Tommy glares back with his set of small childish eyes. "I asked you a question, mister."

Link turns away to look back over the hill, "What am I doing? Nothing," he says, sighing, "I'm not doing anything."

"It looks like you want to get somewhere," says Tommy, "Maybe where Miss Marin went for the day?"

Absolutely not. This was his chance to do a little exploring on his own. The last thing he needed was Marin following him around.

Link turns to look back at Tommy. The little boy in red remains standing just below the hill with only one of the children in green still standing behind him. It clearly had to be Tayce by the way the child stood there: timid and preoccupied with worry.

"Yeah I'd like to see outside the village if possible, I suppose," says Link casually, ignoring the lack of two of the children. Although now that he thought about it, being with Marin would probably be a lot better than being with this devilish child.

"I know the way out of here. I'll take you there…for a price," Tommy says with a wide grin.

Probably my life, Link imagines. "Sure, what're you asking for?"

Link watches the grin grow wider on the child, but while Tommy's face lights up with glee, Link notices a trembling lip from Tayce whose face is covered with sweat. Suddenly Link feels a sharp tug on his back before he is thrown to the ground. In shock, Link is unable to move as he feels his shield torn off his back.

Lifting himself slowly to his knees, Link watches as the two missing green-shirted quadruplets struggle to carry his shield above their heads as they run towards the wall of trees just above the hill. Tommy and Tayce quickly catch up to them and help carry the shield closer to the forest.

With an angry grunt to quell the sharp pain in his leg as he stands up, Link sprints after the quadruplets without a thought. He quickly closes the gap, but the children reach the edge of the woods before he can reach them.

The three children in green hold onto the shield and disappear into the thicket, but Tommy stops to turn around and face Link just as he closes to the forest's limits.

Link stops a short distance in front of the red-shirted boy, recalling the well incident as a means to think twice about following the children into the woods.

Tommy grins at Link then sticks his tongue out and twists his face into a devilish leer before vanishing into the dense growth of the forest.

Every muscle and every nerve in Link's body quivers as if to beg him to chase after the quadruplets. But a tiny forethought holds him back. Clearly, these demons wanted him to follow them. There was almost a certainty that if he should follow them into this dim and apparently "dangerous" forest, he would most likely end up in an agonizing amount of pain, or quite possibly just be killed. He did not want to put anything past Tommy at this point.

But at the same time, they are only children. If they could survive in this forest, so could he, and perhaps this was the chance he had been waiting for to gain a little insight on the island outside the village.

With a cautious first step, Link passes through a nagging set of bushes and into the Mysterious Woods.

Passing into the woods felt like passing from reality into a dream. Where the windy hills of Mabe Village had been illuminated under a bright sun, the Mysterious Woods are covered in a thick shade that feels to Link as if it could suffocate him at its own whim. From outside, the trees appeared normal, but underneath their thick roof of tangled branches and dark green leaves, the living walls of the forest are colored a putrid brown as if they had risen from the shadows themselves. The woods certainly did not invite Link, but he had made the decision to tread onward, and he was not going to turn back.

The mess of fallen leaves and branches crackle and swish underneath Link's heavy footsteps as he treads carefully deeper into the woods. As he moves, Link pays close attention to the ground, searching for signs of a trail left behind by the children. The ground does not reveal what Link expects, however. Instead of various broken twigs and smashed leaves, Link notices that the floor of the forest is almost completely treaded into the ground, as if it were walked upon rather regularly, by much more than the tiny sets of footprints left by four children.

The observation sends a shiver down Link's spine. He stops for a moment to kneel and run his hand over the top of the ground. The mixture of leaves and dirt feels cold to the touch, extending the shiver from Link's spine to his entire body. The woods were mysterious indeed.

Hoot

Link jolts from his knees at the sound of a familiar noise. His breaths grow heavy as he darts his head in every direction, seeking out the origin of the noise: a peculiar set of yellow eyes he knew he would find.

In every direction, Link is left with the same sight: gnarled and shadowy branches curled in menacing positions covered in assortments of green and brown leaves. The yellow eyes, where were they?

Link stops at the sight of a large tree, much bigger than the others. Deep within its crowded branches, Link notices two tiny sparkles poking themselves out from the mass of leaves.

Slowly, Link takes very cautious steps towards the tree, tingling with nerves at every broken twig his feet snaps as he advances.

The large tree is surrounded by large piles of dead leaves that fill in the void between the adjacent trees. Link stops just before the leaves to reacquire the position of the tiny sparkles. The branches and leaves seem much more spread out at Link's improved position, and sure enough, the sparkles turn into the paralyzing yellow eyes that warned him the night before.

Swallowing to gather his courage, Link steps forward into the pile of leaves, determined to discover the identity of the eyes. His shield and those devilish children were just going to have to wait.

To Link's frequently occurring dismay, the pile of leaves surrounding the tree reveal themselves to be only a shield themselves, there to block the steep slope lying beneath.

Falling forward headfirst, Link hits the slope with a thud and immediately begins sliding on the smooth surface of the leaves as the slope descends deep below the ground he had been standing on. Faster and faster; the pace of the slide grows as it continues deeper in the woods. Link barely manages to roll away from incoming trees as he slides past them at increasing speeds. Finally, that slope levels out sending Link to a crashing stop into a large boulder at the bottom of the hill.

The forest ceiling swirls in various greens and browns as Link lies dazed against the boulder. Another sharp pain cruises through his head and into his hands and knees, which are completely covered by dirt and tiny shavings of leaves. Link manages to stand up, but the woozy feeling in his head forces him to lean on the boulder for support.

With his back pressed heavily on the boulder, Link presses his filthy hands to his forehead. The cool dirt feels soothing, releasing some of the pain that continues to rage inside his head. Link lets out a deep breath, groaning slightly as the cool air exits his mouth. To his surprise, his light groan is met with an equally light whimper from behind the boulder.

Link immediately perks his attention, and fights the pain as he turns around making sure he is completely hidden behind the boulder. Slowly, Link raises his head above the crest of the rock to find the source of the cry.

The boulder rests at the edge of a large clearing that sits illuminated by the thinnest layer of leaves Link had seen until this point. His eyes widen in surprise as he gathers the scene lying in the middle of the clearing.

The four quadruplets are all sitting upright in the center, bound by what appears to be rope. Link can only see the faces of the three children in green, who all sit sobbing with tears draining from their eyes.

Surrounding the four boys are five monstrous creatures, each with dark blue skin that appears to suck the light from above into an intimidating shadow-like aura. The monsters are clad in dark heavy-looking armor made from some form of animal hide that is tightly stretched over their bulging muscular forms. Two of them hold ominously gnarled bows complete with a large quiver of jagged arrows. Another two carry long and ragged spears decorated with dark-colored cloths and complete with a terrifyingly sharp point. The remaining creature, which appears much taller and muscular than the others, wears a metal helmet complete with two gigantic horns and holds a cragged sword covered in marks and chips from repeated use.

The five monsters loom over the children, grunting and snickering at each other as they observe the sobbing children. The horned monster circles around to face Tommy. It lets out a horrible cackle as it reaches down to grab the child. Tommy lets out a loud yell at being clutched by the beast, but the unfazed monster holds the child into the air and brings him over to his brethren.

The monster throws the terrified child down on top of Link's shield which had been lying amongst the circle of monsters.

"Fire" the horned monster grunts to his cohorts.

One of the lanced monsters sticks his spear into the ground and takes a stone from his pocket. He strikes the stone against the head of his spear to make a spark that immediately ignites a pile of branches and leaves next to Tommy and the shield.

Pushing past the aches from the boulder, Link steps out into the clearing. "Hey!"

All five of the monsters turn their hideous faces at Link. The dancing flames from the fire cast menacing shadows across their faces exaggerating their floppy, pointed ears and bulbous pig snouts. The light of the fire reflects against their bright yellow eyes making their black slits of pupils pierce directly into Link's soul.

The fire starting monster picks up his spear and stands in front of the monsters with bows with his spear-carrying companion. The horned monster opens his mouth to reveal a set of decayed and green teeth before letting out a rumbling cry that shakes the leaves and branches of the trees.

Link bends at the knees to ready himself as the spear-wielding monsters charge directly at him. The ground shakes underneath the massive footsteps of the monsters sending Link's heart into a vigorous pace. The first monster reaches Link and delivers a swing of his spear at Link's midsection, prompting Link to roll forward, underneath the whirling blade. His roll sends him past the first monster to its backside. Link prepares to deliver a kick to the back of its leg in an attempt to knock it down, but stops as he hears the sound of the other monster's spear cutting through the air towards his head.

At the last instant, Link leans back to avoid the spear, but the effort is too late, and the tip of the spear grazes his cheek, slicing a shallow cut into his face. Link rolls away from the first monster and onto his knees at the edge of the clearing. He raises his left hand to his cheek, running it along the burning cut before pulling it back. A bright cherry red streak of blood runs down his hand.

Link's breathing becomes heavy as he clenches his fist; the pain on his face dissipating into his tightly closed hand. He feels more than just the pain jolting through his body; it feels as if all of his nerves and all of his thoughts are centered directly on his hand as it pulses with vigor.

Suddenly, the back of his hand lights up with a bright light, revealing three golden triangles placed in an even pattern across his hand. Link raises his head to look at the monsters with his blue eyes as bright as the mark on his hand, staring adamantly at the monsters.

Without a warning, Link springs from his knees and charges the spear-wielding monsters, shouting a loud cry as he moves. The monsters ready their spears and charge back. The first monster reaches Link and holds its spear out before thrusting it forward, aiming directly at Link's chest. Before the thrust can reach Link, he jumps into the air over top of the spear and stomps down on the middle of it, snapping it in two pieces as it bends against the ground. The broken end remains embedded in the ground as the monster continues to hold onto it. The bladed piece flies into the air behind Link, who spins around to snatch it out of the air before twirling back and thrusting it straight into the monster's neck.

The impaled monster falls to the ground as the second monster readies a swipe with its spear. Link pulls the bladed piece of the spear out of the defeated monster and raises it with both hands to block the incoming swing. The other monster's spear strikes Link's end with a powerful blow, but breaks as it hits the tense piece of wood. Link reaches behind to grab the new broken bladed end. The second monster can only watch with a bladeless stick as Link holds both points in his hands before throwing them, whirling through the air, and straight into the monster's chest.

The second spear-wielding monster falls backwards with a monstrous crash. Link stands tall between the two bodies and turns towards the remaining three monsters, the blood from his cheek dripping slowly off his face.

The monster with the horned helmet gazes back at Link, the slits in his yellow eyes wide with surprise, but only for an instant, as he soon smacks the two bow-wielding monsters and points at Link with his large clawed finger.

The two monsters grab the jagged arrows from their waist-side quivers and place them in their bows which they stretch back and raise to point at Link.

Link lets out a calm breath, still staring intimidatingly at the monsters. As the monsters stretch the strings of their bows back to their limits, Link smoothly bends down and grabs the fire-starting stone from the dead monster near him. With the stone in hand, Link tosses it at the fire between the bow-wielding monsters. The stone ignites the flames sending a cloud of smoke into the air that blinds the monsters, backing them away from Tommy, who still sits trembling on top of Link's shield.

With the monsters distracted, Link races at the children, passing between the monsters to grab Tommy with one hand and his shield with the other. He reaches the other three children who are shaking with fright as well. Link sets Tommy down with the other children and whirls around just in time to raise his shield.

Two arrows slam into the shield, deflecting off the hard surface leaving Link and the children unscathed. Link peers over the shield to observe the monsters, which had recovered from the flash of smoke, and now raise another set of arrows to set in their bows.

Link pushes off from the ground and charges directly at one of the monsters, bashing him with the shield before it can ready another arrow. The monster remains upright, but is stunned as Link rolls off of it to its backside, grabbing an arrow from its quiver and jabbing it in the back. As the beast falls to its knees, the other monster fires another arrow which Link readily deflects. With the arrow deflected, Link slides his hand out of his shield, holding it on its side before spinning it like a disk and sending it smashing into the monster's head.

The monster crashes to the ground leaving the final monster with its horned helmet standing alone behind it. Link glares at the monster, which glares back with furiously shining eyes.

"Revenge," it snarls in a raspy voice.

Link watches as the monster turns its back to him and rumbles its way out of the clearing, disappearing into the dark trees. The defeated monsters lying on the ground start to fade into pitch black figures and soon disappear with a puff of dark smoke.

The light from the thin canopy had become dim with the approaching twilight, leaving Link and his shining hand as the brightest thing in the dark forest clearing.

But with another calm breath, the light from Link's hand vanishes suddenly and the pain from the cut on his cheek returns to sharply jab at his face. The immediate return of the pain drops Link to his knees, forcing loud and heavy breaths of exhaustion from his lungs.

Link holds his hand on his cheek and weakly regains his feet to walk over to the children who all remain huddled around each other in the center of the clearing.

Link falls to his knees in front of the children, still covering his bloody cheek from their sight. "Is everyone alright?" he says softly.

The children all nod their heads while sniffing and fighting back tears.

"You know how to get home right?" Link asks, "I don't know where I am."

The children all nod again.

"Good," says Link. "Now run straight home."

"Please come with us Mr. Link!" Tayce pleads, grabbing Link's damp shirt with a tiny little fist.

Link pats the child's shoulder. "I have to stay to make sure that monster doesn't come back," he says, "You all need to go home right now, okay?"

Tayce releases his grip and looks at his brothers. Teddy and Tison nod at Link and pick their brothers up from their knees and usher them out of the clearing.

As the children start disappearing into the woods, Tommy stops to turn and face Link, offering a faint smile before following his brothers into the woods and back to the village.

Once the boys are completely out of sight, Link lets out a sharp groan and falls down to lie on his back.

Turning his head, he brings his left hand to his face and gazes intently at the back of his hand.

"What…was that?" he whispers to himself.

Watching the back of his hand, Link expects to see the golden triangles and their golden light return to him, but to his surprise, the triangles are nowhere to be found. Instead, the subtle light of two shining spheres immerges from deep within the trees behind his hand. Link's eyes widen as he raises himself up to look into the forest.

It's the bird with its tormenting yellow eyes, it has to be. "Come out of there! Show yourself to me!" Link shouts at the sparkling lights in the woods.

To his surprise, the trees start to rustle and a few leaves fall from above. A large, shadowy figure advances from the pitch black forest to the edge of the clearing.

Link gasps as it comes closer, reaching down to muster any ounce of courage that could still possibly be left inside him.

The creature looms for a moment just beyond the trees before it emerges into the open for Link to finally see.