Chapter 19: Encounter with the hobo
"Ah! There's more Keese!"
"Duck everybody!"
The group ducked as the two black bats flew past their heads. They swung around in midair as Link stood and readied his sword.
The bats flew toward him, and he sliced the first one neatly in half. The remains exploded in a puff of purple smoke. He spun around and found the second flying toward the high ceiling, so he quickly pulled out his hookshot and pierced the monster with a small "bang". It dropped a green rupee. He hurriedly picked it up and stuffed it into a small pouch on his belt, before a rat could swipe it.
"Feeling better?" he said to Aryll as he turned around, sheathing his sword with a ssshhhh. Aryll was holding Tetra's arm tightly, her eyes wide with fear.
"I t-think so," she said. "I n-never seen a b-bat bef-fore."
"Let go, let's go!" Tetra said impatiently, and she repositioned her grip on the flaming torch. "We have a legend to find!"
They kept walking, further and deeper into the cave, until it was so dark that they could just barely see- even with the fire burning at its brightest. Suddenly, Link heard the sound that only trained ears could hear.
"There's a bokoblin nearby!" he whispered, putting his hand on Tetra's shoulder. "We're getting closer to it now."
"Draw your weapons, everybody," Tetra ordered as she pulled out her dagger, and Link and Aryll pulled out their swords. They kept walking.
Movement! The flicking light caught the shadow of a pointed tail, which suddenly disappeared. Then, there was the piercing battle cry of the bokoblin, and it leapt out of the shadows, onto Link!
Link pushed the bokoblin off and thrust his sword toward it, but it simply dodged the attack and bounded toward Aryll!
"Aryll! Shield!" Link barked, and Aryll pulled out the family shield and held it in front of her. The bokoblin hit the shield with its stick, and roared in outrage.
"Attack it!" Link ordered, and Aryll swiped her sword at the bokoblin, slashing its arm. It shrieked in pain, but didn't hesitate. She hurriedly put up her shield again as it tried to bite her. Suddenly, it stepped back and leaped!
"Parry!" Aryll yelled to no one, and rolled under the bokoblin. The monster landed and looked around, as she stood and tightened her grip on her blade. Finally, she slashed its back with all her might, and the bokoblin uttered one last cry before exploding into purple smoke, leaving behind a Joy Charm.
"Good job Aryll!" Tetra and Link exclaimed as Aryll claimed the charm. She beamed.
They kept walking.
Up ahead, there was a turn in the path. Littering the walls were the graffiti of people who had been there in the past, and crude drawings.
" 'HYRIA LIVEZ HER3," Tetra read one of them. "I wonder who... Hyr...ia... is?"
Finally, the path ended at a large cavern. The room was full of various chests and loot, but there was no sign of gold or silver anywhere. Link and Tetra stared in awe, speechless. Aryll picked up a scroll that was lying by her feet, and examined it, when started unrolling it.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" a voice suddenly barked form the other side of the room. The three jumped in surprise, and Aryll dropped the parchment.
"I am HYRIA! An' I demand that you leave this here place immediately!"
It was a man who was sitting in a chair at the other end of the room. He had a graying beard and silver hair, and was wearing black pants with a gray poncho. He was fingering a book in one of his wrinkled hands.
"If you want something here, you ain't gonna get it," he said in a voice that was cracking from age. "Everything here's mine."
"Do you have the legend of the three heroes here?" Link questioned. Hyria's eyebrows furrowed.
"Yes. Why'd you ask? You can't have no book!"
"Where did you get it?"
"My friends."
Suddenly, they were aware that several rats had crawled onto the man's head and shoulders. Their beady red eyes stared daggers at the three, as their purple tails swayed in the still air. Aryll shuddered and hid behind Link, but he stepped forward.
"Can we have that legend?"
"No!" the man barked back. A rat jumped off his arm and squeaked.
"We need to see it!"
"No."
"I'm serious, man. The fate of the ocean is with us!"
"No."
Link had to grit his teeth to keep himself from yelling. Meanwhile, Tetra was scanning the room for the old book. She spotted a book that matched the picture on a small pile of wood several yards away. She whispered her find to Aryll, and she nodded. Link listened in and understood what he should do.
He turned to face away from Hyria, took the hookshot and extended its stiff chain a little, then locked it in place so that it couldn't retract. Then, he watched the man until he was looking away, and Link stuck the hookshot under his own armpit.
He yelled as if he were in pain and stumbled forward, alarming Hyria.
"What's the matter with you, boy?" he yelled, and Link just gasped in response. He pointed toward his hookshot, which he was holding in place with his arm.
"There was a ninja hidden in this room! He suddenly sneaked up behind me and stabbed me! You must help me!" he wailed, and quietly winked at Aryll when Hyria was looking at the weapon with a look of horror on his face. Aryll had sneaked over to where the book was, and hid it under her shirt. She calmly stepped back to where Tetra was silently cheering her on, and they watched Link.
"Why is there no blood, boy?"
"It's a cursed weapon! It slides in and out of the flesh without so much of a mark or sound, but it hurts terribly!"
"How much does it hurt, boy?"
"As if there is somebody stabbing the back of my hand with a thousand poisoned knives!"
To add further to the affect, Link pretended to faint, rolling his eyes up and falling face-forward.
That did the trick. Hyria was so shocked that he shrieked and suddenly stood, a couple of rats falling off him, and he ran through another tunnel that was behind his chair, flailing his arms the whole way. Link laid there for a couple more seconds just in case, and he got up, brushing his clothes off, the hookshot falling to the ground. He picked it up and unlocked it, and he ran with the other two girls out of the cave.