Chapter Five
"You mean the great guardian of the instrument came out of a bottle? Doesn't sound very intimidating," Marin said as she sowed up Link's tunic.
The two were again sitting at the dinner table. As was frequently the case, both the door to the house and the window were wide open, allowing the wind to fill and flow through the room. Link sat in one chair with his legs propped up on another while he drank a bottle of milk in his undershirt and a pair of Tarin's shorts. Tarin had gone out to the forest earlier, but he had left the drink as a treat for Link after his return from the Bottle Grotto.
"He wasn't." Link defended between sips. "I got all of the new tears in my tunic when a Hinox tossed me across the room."
"How badly did you get scrapped up?" Marin asked seriously without looking up from her work.
"Ehh, not too bad."
Marin raised an eyebrow. She already had a chance to see the fresh cuts along Link's arms. "Hmm. Well, it's a bit worse than the last dungeon. I hope the amount of injuries you take doesn't keep going up each time like this… otherwise, you aren't going to make it through all eight alive!"
"I'll be fine," Link assured, "Though I'm hoping the instruments don't continue to get less interesting."
Marin stole a glance at the conch shell on the table. "I don't know. I kind of like it!"
The two fell silent for a few minutes while Marin continued working and Link finished off his bottle. Once he was done, he set it down on the table with a thud.
"Well, that's what I've done today. Did you ever end up going around for leads on the next dungeon?"
Marin smirked. "You almost sound a little doubtful."
"I wasn't sure how serious you were." Link squinted his eyes, realizing something needed to be addressed. "I'm not holding you to any obligation, Marin. You really don't have to be helping me with anything. Maybe you even shouldn't be."
Marin shook her head and clarified with a warm voice, "Of course there's no obligation. I'm here to help because I want to, and please don't pester me with silly reasons why I shouldn't. So there's that. As for your original question, I would have you know that I might actually have something. There's a guy we need to talk to."
"In Mabe?"
"No, actually. He lives in a villa… of sorts... out to the southwest of here, near the Pothole Field. I can show you the way, of course. I should warn you, though. The guy seems to have a weird thing for frogs. His place is run over with them."
"The guardian of the last dungeon was a clown inside of a bottle. I don't think anything can surprise me at this point."
"Fair enough," Marin chuckled. "As it is, we can't leave until I'm done sewing this up, which hopefully won't take too long. But we might also want to bring some food with us, because I don't know when we will be getting back. I already let Tarin know to not wait for us for dinner tonight before he left."
Link jumped up. "In that case, I should be useful. I can put together some food while you finish that up. Deal?"
Marin, having never eaten anything Link had cooked, looked skeptical. "Sure thing…" she finally replied slowly.
Link knew that she wasn't confident in his abilities, but that only encouraged him more.
"You know, let me show you something. Can you sit on the table?"
Marin's face registered confusion. "I am sitting at the table."
"No, I mean actually on the table. Right in the middle."
"Why would I do that?"
"You'll see."
Marin shrugged but did as she was ordered. After she got situated near the center of the table, Link knelt on one knee. He then gripped the edge of the table with one hand and lifted straight up. Marin was undeniably surprised as the entire table lifted nearly a foot in the air.
"That amount of strength shouldn't be possible."
"It's not- not to most. Now, do you think someone as strong as I am can't cook up a simple meal?"
"I don't see how the two chores are correlated." Even so, Marin was obviously impressed by Link's strength. She examined his arm to see how much force his muscles appeared to be exerting.
"Hey…" Marin mused as she squinted at something she saw. "What's that bracelet on your wrist? I don't reme-."
"No, no, n-"
After Marin scooted towards him, reached out, and removed the bracelet to look at it, Link abruptly lost his hold on the table, resulting in it hitting the ground heavily. The table leg nearest to where Marin was sitting gave out upon impact, which would have sent her sprawling on the ground had Link been there to catch her. Link thought it was a somewhat tender moment, but Marin didn't hesitate before pushing herself away and holding up the bracelet to Link.
"What is this and where did you get it?" she probed.
Link removed his cap and scratched his hair. "I, uhh, found it lying around in the Bottle Grotto."
"Just lying around, hmm? Is this how you were able to lift the table? And why didn't you tell me?"
Despite fearing the direction the conversation was taking, the young man being interrogated couldn't help but smile, much to the interrogator's chagrin. "So many questions. To be specific, I did find it in a chest, and I didn't tell you because I had forgotten about it."
"Or because you were trying to impress me."
"That, too," Link replied quickly. His hope was that if he admitted to it casually enough, Marin wouldn't get offended.
Though she fully realized what Link was trying to do, her reaction was nothing more than a shake of her head and a smile. "You should just be thankful that all you have to fix is the table leg. If you held that thing up much longer, you probably would have broke the table in half."
"What makes you say that?"
Marin looked at the fallen table and gave it a gentle kick. "Your hand with the magic bracelet would act as a fixed position. The bending of table due to me and its own weight would cause wood of this thickness to start splintering. You're lucky it survived as long as it did."
"You know, sometimes I wonder if you aren't as smart as Zelda herself," Link remarked as he shook his head in amazement.
"Ahh. I'm glad to know your princess also has a basic understanding of common sense... I'm sure she can't wait to see you again."
Link had previously mentioned Zelda's title and briefly outlined their relationship while he was answering Marin's questions about Hyrule. Link didn't catch the negative tone in Marin's voice from her last statement, and answered her quite sincerely. "Yes, I'm sure she's worried about why I never made it back. As is everyone, actually, now that I think about it. It'd be great if you and Zelda could meet sometime… I bet you'd like her."
Marin wasn't convinced that she and Zelda would get along, but she nearly tripped over in surprise at Link's words. "Meet sometime? How exactly do you plan on doing that?"
"Just because I'm leaving the island doesn't mean I never want to talk with you again, Marin," Link said with a chuckle. "You're my friend. I could either bring Zelda to Koholint for a visit, or you to Hyrule... Though the second probably makes far more sense from a political perspective."
"You'd… take me to Hyrule?" Marin asked as she awkwardly tried crossing her arms in different positions until finally deciding on putting her left hand on her right elbow while twirling her hair.
"I don't see why not. If you found a way to contact me, I could come back anytime you want. As communication seems to be an issue here, though… it would probably be easiest to come with me when I leave. So… what do you say to that?"
Marin pursed her lips. "I'll have to think about it, Link. I have to consider Tarin, you know? But I appreciate the offer… a lot!" Marin clasped her hands together. "Now you have a meal to make, I believe?"
"I thought I was supposed to fix the table…?"
"I was just joking. Don't worry about it," Marin waved off. "Tarin will have a tool kit with him. He'll take care of it whenever he gets back."
The two said no more, but both went to their work with smiles playing on their lips- Link's more playful and Marin's more bashful.
There were few ingredients on hand in the kitchen, and Link was even further restricted in his choices as he couldn't risk making something that might spill on the way to wherever Marin was taking him. Accordingly, Link simply put together a collection of sliced vegetables in a woven basket he found. He then added two sandwiches of bread covered in a kind of fruit extract.
Link presented his work to Marin, who was still sewing. She glanced at his creation briefly without lying down her needle.
"I'm sure it will taste fine, but that hardly qualifies as cooking."
"Can't do much more with the ingredients you have in there," Link complained.
Marin smiled. "I'd like to think Tarin and I have already made you better meals, but I'll see what I can put together tomorrow night. But really, though, I need to finish this up so we can go."
Link left her alone to allow her to focus on working. Instead of watching, he hopped up onto the open windowsill. Though the beach was not visible over the tree line and the cliffs below them, the ocean itself was quite discernible. Link peered out to the horizon in thought. It seemed inexplicable to him that he could have been swept away from a major travel route to Koholint after the storm, yet the island was so isolated that Link had yet to see a single ship off in the distance. Something didn't add up.
His thoughts were interrupted by a voice behind him. Marin was humming a tune as she finished up stitching the last couple of cuts on the back on Link's tunic. It was a fast and cheerful song, but Marin's voice somehow made everything sound like a sweet lullaby. Link closed his eyes and laid his head back to sleep. Before he could, though, something landed on his face. Sitting back up, Link opened his eyes to find his tunic lying on his lap.
"Get it on," Marin said hastily. "I'd like to get there before it's dark- there are monsters out. I'd prefer it if we can see them before they're on top of us."
"Alright. Though I'll need you to carry the food," Link answered as he walked to the closet. Shortly after, he was redressed and carrying his sword and shield on his back.
Marin led the way out the door. Once outside, she directed Link to the east. "We need to go that way, but we'll have to fight our way through those thick, thorny trees."
"There isn't a better way?"
"Not anymore. The villagers blocked off the road that direction with really heavy boulders from the cliffs on that side of town to deter the monsters. We'd have a hard time moving them on our own. Even with all of us helping, we had to carry them on platforms to get them in position. Maybe that's why I thought we'd break the table, as we collapsed a couple of those pla- … Oh. Right. Well, the path is just a little to the north."
Marin had cut off her monologue when Link raised his wrist. He had redressed it with bracelet he found in the Bottle Grotto.
The boulders were large enough that passing between them would be impossible, and passing over the jagged edges would inflict some serious incisions on the climber. Getting into or out of Mabe would still be possible, but at least the makeshift wall would prevent monsters from casually meandering into the village.
Link needed to use both hands this time to help balance one of the boulders, but he still made lifting it look like a simple task. He held it high enough to allow Marin passage before performing a half rotation and setting it down.
"You know," Marin mused, "There's something comical about watching you lift that like it's a pebble. Nothing to show off, mind you… but amusing, I'll give you that." Marin didn't give Link much time to get his belongings readjusted. "And we're off to the south! I don't see any monsters at the moment, but I wouldn't tempt them by standing around!"
With that, Marin began skipping her way towards the ocean. Link sighed as he matched her brisk pace. He wasn't in the mood to carry his weapons around, but he was also tired of his shield and sheath whipping his back at every step. Link eventually armed himself to relieve his spine of the nuisance; this intermission forced him to speed up to make up the ground Marin had gained while he shifted his equipment around. For whatever reason, the red-haired girl seemed to have more energy than she did the morning they went to go look for Tarin, which was reflected in her newfound speed. The lively smile on her face confirmed this.
While the two were at first running across an open prairie, the terrain became more undulated as they moved further south. To their right, the prairie began to dive off into a valley, while to their left, they came upon sharper peaks. Though far shorter than Mt. Tamaranch and the rest of the Tal Tal Mountain range, this appeared to be the highest elevation on the southern half of the island. The two were skirting a path around this mountain.
"This to our left is actually a large crater," Marin described. "The Key Cavern is within the bowl itself, near a pool that formed within the cavity. There's only one way into the inside of the mountain, though. That's where we are going."
"I thought we were visiting someone?" Link huffed between breaths.
"We are. He's now in control of the passage. I haven't tried going in since he set up his house there."
"Friend or foe?"
"Guess we'll find out."
It wouldn't be long before Link would have an answer. As the two rounded the mountain, the path began descending down to a second, lower crater. There, situated against the cliffs, sat a small villa that appeared to be cheaply and recently built. Marin's precautions were obviously with merit, as several frogs could be seen perched around the exterior of the house.
Link leaned against the wall in exhaustion while Marin immediately knocked on the door. He shook his head in wonder at how she looked like she had put in about as much effort in their jog as Link did into lifting the table and the boulder.
"The door is unlocked," a voice called from inside.
Marin swung the door open and turned to Link. "Are you going to join us, Link?" she teased.
Link nodded as if he was fine but had evident difficulty standing upright again.
The interior of the house was dark and the air stale. The numerous frogs leaping across the wooden floor did little to improve the presentability of the space.
Its occupant matched the appearance of his house. Though he was dressed in nice clothing, his attire was heavily wrinkled, and the man's hair was greatly disheveled. He was leaning back in a rickety chair at a table in the corner of the small house when he saw the two in the doorway. Upon seeing Link, he jumped up. His face, though tired, seemed pleasant enough. He could not have been more than ten years older than Link and Marin.
"I see your friend has accompanied you, as promised," he said with a smile. He stretched out his hand to Link to shake it. "My name is Richard. Please, come take a seat. Would either of you care for a drink?"
Link and Marin walked towards the table but shook their heads at the beverage offer. The two looked to each other at the same time in distrust of the chairs' stability; even so, both sat down without complaint. Richard joined them after laying out some food for the frogs.
"I reckon you are questioning yourself as to why you are here, Link. The story to that is a rather tragic one. You probably can't tell by my appearance anymore, but I actually once lived in a castle to the north known as Kanalet. Have you seen it?"
Link nodded. "From a distance, but yes."
"Well, though the castle is my rightful possession, I not so long ago was prematurely deprived of it. While writing one day, I was greeted with the sound of marching outside my chambers. Thinking it unnatural, I sent my attendant out into the hall to see what was the matter. Inching closer to hear what was transpiring, I heard my attendant ask what was the occasion for arms. He was answered by an announcement that the castle was to be overthrown that very instant. They then asked my attendant to either join the cause or risk death. The person leading the army also claimed that resistance was futile as forces of the nearby Key Cavern backed the group.
"Not waiting to see the result, I charged out of the room and took off the other way, only looking back long enough to see that most of my servants were within this rebellious crowd.
"As is evident in my presence today, I was successful in my escape from Kanalet. The whole event was concluded so swiftly that I was left in complete bewilderment as to what had happened. I do not know how many of my servants were involved in the plot initially or were persuaded upon the assembly of the coalition; this is not an important detail, as it seems all were rightfully punished. The more pressing matter was how to regain my possession.
Knowing that the villains that instigated my fall originated from Key Cavern, I came here to investigate what could be done. I scoured the island until I was successful in finding the Slime Key, which I used to seal the vile pit from the outside. Moblins are foolish creatures; by building my house here, none know how to find the tunnel into the crater, preventing the liberation of whatever lives within the dungeon. I also use the crater rim, which is traversable from the inside, to observe the occurrences at Kanalet. The castle remains covered in monsters, though I have made no sighting of my former servants. Either they fled, or the traitors were betrayed themselves."
"And where is this tunnel?" Link asked.
Richard pointed to a crate nearby. "Under that there. It is an ancient lava tube that runs under the crater. A short dig into the surface is all that was needed to find it."
"Who thought to dig here?"
"I certainly do not know. It is simply the way it has always been."
"It could just be a natural skylight that formed," Marin reasoned.
Link shrugged. "I'm still not sure why I'm here, though."
"I may control the Key Cavern, but I cannot hope to retake Kanalet on my own... It is also of absolute importance that I regain my set of precious golden leaves that I hope we will find upon our expedition. If they are not in the castle, the Key Cavern must be searched as well in light of the possibility that they were taken as unholy plunder."
"Golden leaves?" Link questioned. "What is so important about some leaves?"
"It matters not. I require your assistance. In return, the tunnel here and the Slime Key are yours. I do not like to think of it as a trade- merely two people who wish to help each other."
Link looked down at the sword still in his hand. He spun its tip against the floor. "What is the plan of attack, then?"
"There's a hidden entrance on the eastern wall of the castle. It is what I used to escape. It is also what we will use to gain access inside. Once in, we slay everything we come across until the premise is safe and the drawbridge can be lowered."
"So the basic strategy is use the hidden tunnel… and then slash your way to victory?" Marin interjected.
Richard nodded. "I… yes, you can say that."
Marin looked at Link hoping he would suggest something better. To her dismay, Link nodded along with him. "I like it. When do we start?"
"At dawn," Richard voiced with grandeur. Marin's cheeks puffed as she tried holding in her laughter. Richard was probably talking like his normal self, but there was something ridiculous about the whole thing, especially since he lived in such a nasty place. This made Marin think of something.
"Where did you get all this furniture, anyways? Did you make it yourself?"
"I found it in an abandoned house on the shore, actually. I do feel a tad bad about using the belongings, even though no one seems to use them anymore."
"What if whoever owned it comes back? I don't tolerate thieves," Marin muttered.
"I'm sure whoever owned it is quite dead and will not be coming back. Even so, I'll be returning them once I repossess Kanalet. I know it is all a tad grimy. I hope you did not plan on staying for dinner."
Marin grimaced to herself in response. She mouthed, "Oops," to Link, who returned a smirk.
Richard must have deduced their original intentions based off their reactions and the basket he spotted by Marin's side. "Of course, it is of no matter if you need to stay. It is getting late, and it is too dangerous to dine outside. Allow me to be your host."
Link and Marin both expressed their gratitude for Richard's generosity as they laid out the packed dinner. They even allowed Richard to share with them, since his appearance was befitting of someone who could use a larger diet. Richard didn't find the rather bland course particularly satisfying but restrained from complaint. Regardless of the quality of the meal, the three enjoyed each other's company, as Richard took a keen interest in Link's previous adventures. Marin seemed just as engaged by Link's retellings, who listened while curled up with her feet on her chair.
Richard liked the two enough that he recommended that they stay the night at his villa rather than venture back to Mabe in the dark. Marin thanked him for the offer, but pointed out that Tarin would be worried if they did not return for the night. So, with a bow, Richard escorted the two outside into the night sky and thanked them for their assistance. He also reminded Link to meet him at his house at dawn or at the earliest time he could make it.
When Richard finally closed the door, Marin managed to keep in her laughter only as long as she was unsure whether or not Richard might hear her.
"He has quite the way of speaking, doesn't he?" she giggled.
"Very regal, indeed," Link agreed. "Believe it or not, that's not so different from how the royal family in Hyrule speaks. I have to use the same manners when I'm with them."
"Do you enjoy those conversations?" Marin asked.
"Not really. The whole charade gets old before very long. I'm not really looking forward to having to deal with it again. I'd rather be here talking with you."
Marin frowned to herself, which was luckily not seen by Link. He might say something like that, but she knew he didn't mean it. Rather than putting Link on the spot by commanding him to actually stand by his word, Marin gave up the discussion.
"Richard is right," she said. "We should get back as fast as we can. No time to talk."
"Get back fast, ehh? I don't think you'll be able to keep up with me. There's only one thing to do…"
Without any warning, Link swept the young girl into his arms with a chuckle.
Marin smiled only slightly. His apparent ignorance of the sadness in her bearing was nothing short of frustrating. Even so, Link was clearly happy, which meant Marin had a hard time not being happy as well. Whenever he spoke of Zelda or his fame, Link quickly became serious. If it was being with Marin that made Link truly joyful… maybe there was hope that he wasn't above her after all.
"You were struggling just carrying that shield on your back on the way here... what makes you think you can handle carrying a person?" Marin joked.
"I'd say it's because I've grown stronger, but then you'd just have another opportunity to call me out for wearing my bracelet."
Link carried her until they neared the wall of boulders. The back and forth banter, though, lasted all the way back to the house. Tarin was already in bed when they returned but was still awake. After they assured him that they were unharmed and encountered nothing dangerous, he was finally calm enough to go to sleep. Marin was not far behind him.
Link needed a little more time before he was ready, as he folded his clothing and stacked his equipment beside his mat so that they would be easily accessible in the morning. If Link knew he would be ready to leave as soon as he woke up, perhaps he could rest easier that night.
His plans were spoiled as rest did not come easy for him. Rather than passing the night uneventfully as it had every other night on Koholint, Link's mind was assaulted by variety of shrouded images that eventually settled in the form of an unfamiliar dark room. As he tried to search about him, though, a strange force resisted any movement, creating an environment that almost felt as if he was wading through water. Link continued to trudge forward anyways. As he did, a staircase leading to a large pyramid in the middle of the room took shape. Link took strides up these steps as fast as the thick air would allow him. Though he was nearly out of breath by the time he reached the top, which plateaued to a flat square surface, Link's attention was caught by an object floating in the air at the plateau's heart. As he approached it, Link was amazed to discover that it was his very own ocarina that he thought had been lost in the wreck. Link took it into his hands and examined it to ensure that the instrument was in fact his.
The ground below the pyramid was lost in a sort of haze, so Link took a step back to begin his descent. Rather than finding solid ground, though, his feet fell into nothingness. Link released the ocarina from his hand in surprise and readied himself to make impact.
He never did. Link instead opened his eyes to find himself still on his mat at Tarin's house gasping and shaking. It took the young man a few minutes to gather himself. Something about the dream seemed wrong… as if it wasn't a dream at all. But it certainly wasn't real, either. Link couldn't make anything of the experience, which was likely what was bothering him so much.
Link eventually convinced himself that it was nothing more than a dream that was unusually realistic. There was no evidence that anything that he had experienced in it actually transpired. His clothes were perfectly dry, and he wasn't in possession of his ocarina. But then again, it had flung out of Link's hand when he fell…
As Link remembered it, he had been holding it in his left hand when he let go. He couldn't resist the temptation to turn to his side to see if anything was there.
Link felt a chill flow through his body when he noticed that something lying on the floor under Marin's bed nearly completely lost in the darkness. He couldn't entirely make out the object's form, but Link had little doubt as to what it was.
Odd as it was to look under someone's occupied bed, Link couldn't wait for the other two to wake up before confirming his suspicions. After standing up and shuffling between the two beds, Link turned around one last time to make sure Tarin was adequately unconscious before bending down on his knees and reaching under Marin's bed. He only had to hold the mysterious object in his hand for a moment before recognizing it as the shape of his ocarina. Link sighed as he stood back up with it in hand, pausing only long enough to steal a glance at the attractive woman peacefully asleep just before him. He took two steps back before allowing himself to fall onto his mat.
A coincidence. There was no other logical explanation. Likely, the ocarina had been in Link's pouch and had somehow fallen onto the ground when Link was carried to Tarin's house, later to be accidently kicked under the bed. It wouldn't be impossible.
Then again, the problem lied in the timing. What were the chances he'd find it just as soon as he had a unnatural dream about finding it? Seemingly unlikely, but he hadn't really thought to look for his ocarina until having the dream. He just happened to be carrying it in his left hand, and Marin's bed just happened to be on on the left side of his mat.
It was far from the first oddity Link had encountered since his arrival on Koholint, but this one was great enough that Link couldn't return to sleep. Rather than trying to reason it out, though, he decided to do what he had done after all the other experiences- ignore it and keep on facing the task ahead. Richard surely wouldn't mind if he arrived a little earlier than expected. Link quickly dressed and armed before returning to the cool night breeze as the sky to the east brightened with the approach of the coming sun.
Author's Notes- And there you have the first five chapters- half of the story! I hope you enjoyed it! If you were wondering why I uploaded five chapters right from the start, it is because I try to give enough material that readers will have a good idea of the tone and direction of the story before "jumping in." Of course, there is never a perfect stopping point. A warning I would give is that this story will be speeding up quite a bit in the next few chapters, which shouldn't come to a surprise since we are halfway through it and we have only seen two dungeons. Also, this story will be getting darker (and in my opinion, better) in some ways, which again should be expected given the inevitable outcome of coming events. Plenty of things will stay the same, like the expanded role of side characters. My thought is that if someone just wants to see Link running around alone, the game covers that aspect pretty well. The written medium opens up some more dynamic opportunities.
I already have the whole story written out; the wait involved will be due to having to do revisions/additions while busy with other work. All things said, it really shouldn't be too long before this is all up. Let me know if you saw any glaring errors or if there was anything you liked/disliked with a review, if you feel like it. Thanks!
