Chapter 15: Lon Lon Ranch

He swears at Jove's high altar by Epona,
whose picture's daubed on the doors of his reeking stables.

~Juvenal, Satires

Malon loved the smell of burning wood. Its sweet scent filled the air for miles around, calling her home whenever she left the ranch on an errand. In her mind, she could always picture the crackling flames and the logs turning white as they split in a geyser of sparks.

Today, she had taken a foal out to graze in Hyrule Field and had come home to find a surprise waiting for her. Beneath the tree that grew by the house, her father had lit a small fire to welcome her. Not unusual.

It was the body lying next to the fire that had seized her attention.

How the boy had gotten there, she could only imagine. Still, no time to question the gift fate had brought her. Tying Epona to the trunk of the tree, she shook her guest awake.

"Hey." Aroused from the shelter of Link's sleeve, Navi pinched Malon's arm. "Stop it. He's asleep!"

Link stirred from his rest with a moan. The first thing he saw was a crop of red hair dangling mere inches above his face. The first thing he felt was that hair brushing his nose so that he sneezed. The first thing he heard was her voice.

"Where am I?" He propped himself on his elbows and took in the sight of Lon Lon Ranch. To his right, a narrow lawn divided the house from the barn, where he could hear horses bucking their stalls and cows mooing in a racket that seemed to repeat itself every few minutes. To his left, the yard opened up into a larger meadow occupied by chickens and a fenced-in corral for horses.

"You're at Lon Lon Ranch, silly." Malon rolled onto her back and leaned up against the tree next to Link. "If you don't know how you got here, I sure don't."

"How long have I been here?"

"I've been gone all day."

"Navi?"

The fairy appeared at his side. "Here."

Link held his palm open for Navi to land in. "What's going on?"

"Someone attacked us when we left the village. They were wearing a mask."

"And they brought us here?"

"I couldn't see anything. They put me in a bottle with a blanket over it. There might have been more than one person."

Link sighed and laid his head back against the tree before he finally noticed the foal. Startled, he sat up and looked from Malon to the foal and back again. "Is that a horse?"

Malon giggled. "Link, meet Epona. Epona, meet Link." She pointed to the corral on their left. "Epona's mother was my mother's favorite horse."

The door to the house swung open. Talon peered into the yard and saw the two of them by the fire. "You two hungry?"

The barn door opened with a crash before they could answer. A man with a mustache came stumbling out with a pitchfork in one hand and a pail of water in the other. "Did someone say dinner?"

"You ought to know, Mr. Ingo," Malon said, still laughing. "You could smell a scrambled egg halfway across Hyrule!"

"True, Miss Malon, but my nose for a meal isn't half so good as your eye for a fine horse."

Malon blushed. "Thank you."

"Hey." Link stood to his feet, wincing as he felt the lump on the back of his head. "Could someone tell me where my things are…and why I'm here in the first place?"

Talon waved the spatula in his right fist at the scenery around them. "What's the hurry? You wouldn't leave without tasting my flame-broiled Tektite, would you?"

"I wish we could." Link scratched his head. "It's important that I leave right away."

"Oh, alright. Ingo, find him a horse and take him back to his folks. They're probably worried about him by now."

Link shook his head. "It's not that. I…don't have any parents."

"Then what's so important you would leave without having dinner? Aren't you hungry, young man?"

Link glanced at the place where his leather pouch should have been. "I can't tell you."

Malon grabbed his arm. "Stay. Please. Whatever you're doing can wait one night, can't it?"

The man with the mustache set his pitchfork and pail down by the side of the barn. "It's getting late, too. Might as well spend the night and leave in the morning. You wouldn't get very far tonight, anyway."

"What do you think?" Link looked at Navi.

"We can't waste time," Navi said, "but I think he's right. We wouldn't get that far."

Malon clapped her hands. "It's settled then. Come on, dad, hurry up and bring out the food!"

Link gawked at his plate in horror for several minutes. Had they not been so busy stuffing themselves, Malon, Talon, and Ingo would have noticed that he hadn't taken a single bite of Talon's flame-broiled Tektite, which bore an undeniable resemblance to the spider-like creatures that had attacked him on Death Mountain.

Talon came up for air first. Taking a deep breath, he wiped his empty plate with the sleeve of his shirt and proudly reached for seconds. Then he remembered his guest. "So what do you think?"

Link picked up his fork with a grimace. Better get it over with. He stuck the fork in a chunk of blue meat and lifted it to his mouth. Without chewing, he swallowed the whole piece.

It wasn't so bad at first. The taste reminded him of roast Octorok, only with a squishier texture. That is, until the spice erupted in his throat. Tears came to his eyes, and his cheeks flushed red. Snatching up a glass of Lon Lon Milk, he drank it in one breath, coughing when he set it down in the grass beside the fire.

"It's…the best flame-broiled Tektite I've ever tasted."

"I knew it!" Talon slammed his wrist against his knee. "I should start selling it in town!"

Link silently begged forgiveness for the fib and bit into the scrambled eggs. "So how did I get here?"

Malon laid her fork down. "I want to know, too."

Ingo fingered his mustache. "You may remember seeing me at Kakariko Village."

Link studied the man until his eyes gleamed with recognition. "You were sitting in the corner when that man gave me the food."

"That's right. I left right after you did, as a matter of fact. I had to get back to the ranch to finish my work for the day." Ingo shot a glance at Talon, barely noticeable. "When I saw you on the ground—it was just outside the village, Miss Malon—it looked like someone had tried to rob you, maybe. They must have heard me coming, though, since they didn't take everything."

Link swallowed. "Where are they?"

"Where's what?"

"The things I had with me!"

"Oh." Ingo chuckled. "I thought they'd be safe enough in Miss Malon's room."

Link pushed himself up to his feet again and stared at Ingo over the fire. "I'd like to see."

Talon grunted and reached for thirds. "Better help him find his stuff, hon, before he has a fit."

Malon waved them toward the house. "This way, fairy boy!"

Link sighed when he opened the charred leather pouch. The Spiritual Stones, Zelda's letters, the food he'd gotten in Kakariko Village, the Fairy Ocarina: everything was right where it should be. Strapping his sword back onto his belt, he paused.

Hyrule's in danger while I'm sleeping with cows and horses. He shook his head. I should have left by now.

"I'm glad you decided to stay," Malon said, her feet rousing creaks from the pine floor. "I don't get to talk to many people my own age out here, and when I'm in town, I'm usually just helping dad with his business."

Link shuddered at the memory of their most recent meeting. "Did you know the Knight in the village who was killed?"

Malon's smile faded until he could see tears glittering on her cheeks. "Cahus was always friendly to my dad when he delivered milk to the village."

"You didn't seem uncomfortable when you were trying to save him," Navi said.

Malon folded her arms. "I've helped my dad try to save dying animals. Trying to save a person isn't the same at all, but if you pretend it is, it's a little less terrible while you're doing it."

Link nodded. "You were good at it."

"I didn't save him."

"But that wasn't your fault. He was already dead, wasn't he?"

"I don't want to think about it." Malon grabbed his hand and guided him toward the stairs leading back to the ground floor of the house. "Come on. Let's go outside."

The three of them clattered down the stairs, passing through the kitchen on their way to the door. Talon had scooped up the dinner plates and carried them to a tub of water lying on the kitchen table, but not before licking them all to prevent the waste of any stray crumbs.

"Where are you three going in such a hurry?"

Malon barely glanced at her father. "Stargazing. Out by the tree!"

"Oh." Talon waggled his brows at Link. "She must like you. Most boys are lucky to survive past dinner."

"Dad!"

Malon nearly tore the door from its hinges in her eagerness to escape the house. Slamming it behind her, she fled towards the meadow, clutching Link's hand in hers until they had reached the tree. There, she released him and threw herself down by the embers of the dying campfire.

"Sit down," she said.

Keeping a comfortable distance, Link hunched back on his elbows until the back of his head touched the tree. Between them, the foal, Epona, neighed quietly and scuffed the grass.

For a while, neither said a word. Navi seemed content to roost in the tree's branches above them.

"So where are you from, fairy boy?"

Link looked back at Malon through Epona's legs. "This is the first time I've left the forest my whole life."

"I should have known." Malon smiled. "When I saw your clothes, I thought they were strange. Then I saw your fairy, and I knew."

"You've heard of the Kokiri?"

"I've heard stories, but I never knew they were true until now."

"I know what you mean." Link stared into the distance, awash in the sights and smells and thoughts and feelings of his journey. "It's like I was asleep until I left the forest, dreaming about other places and wishing I could go there. Then one day, I wake up and find out they're all real."

"Why did you leave? You said you were doing something important, but what is it?"

"I can't tell you everything." He peered up at Navi, who pretended to ignore them but was almost certainly eavesdropping. "It's about Hyrule. Something bad may happen to all of us if what I'm doing doesn't work."

"So you're trying to save the world." Malon ran her hand gently along Epona's left flank. "I guess that would put you in a hurry."

Link frowned. The shadows cast by the rising moon made it difficult to be sure, but he thought he saw a man tiptoeing through the corral, carrying a saddle and bridle and peeking over his shoulder every so often.

Just as he recognized the silhouette as Ingo's, a scream tore the night and stopped him from wondering what Ingo could be doing and why.

The scream had come from Malon. While he had been distracted by Ingo, a shadow on the roof of the barn had jumped to the ground, merging with Malon's shadow. The profile of her assailant stood out in the moonlight.

The Gerudo had Malon by the waist. By instinct, Link knew the woman would have weapons concealed near at hand, so he had to think of a way to keep her from getting them. His eye fell on the ashes of the campfire, stirred up by the terrified foal, Epona.

Before he could act, Malon had hooked her legs behind the Gerudo's kneecaps and pressed her weight against the woman's chest, pulling them both down hard on their backs. The force of the body landing on top of her drove the wind from the woman's lungs and freed Malon's upper limbs. Grabbing her assailant's arm, she yanked it to her mouth and bit down hard, drawing blood.

The Gerudo rolled to her feet with a curse and drew a pair of scimitars from a hidden sheath. Catching the glint of the blades in the moonlight, Malon froze.

Meanwhile, Link had stepped to the edge of the fire. "Leave her alone!" At this, the Gerudo reacted exactly as he had hoped she would: she turned completely to face him.

Link kicked the ashes of the fire into the woman's face, and while she stumbled about trying to flush her eyes, he picked up a blackened log and hurled it at the lowest part of her shins, hoping it would knock her over.

Malon shrieked as the woman rose up with a snarl and stabbed the soft part of her elbow.

"You and your father need not be killed. It is only the boy Lord Ganondorf desires."

Dizzy with pain, Malon clutched the wounded arm to her chest. "My father…owns this ranch. If you don't leave now…"

The woman scoffed, raising both swords above her head. "A rat does not tell the owl to leave when the owl is hungry."

"Watch out!" said Navi.

While the others had been grappling by the campfire, the fairy had been watching Ingo as he struggled to harness one of the horses. He had finally succeeded, but in his haste to climb into the saddle, his foot caught in the stirrup, and the frightened horse had taken off in the direction of the house, dragging Ingo along behind it.

Link charged past the Gerudo and tackled Malon to the ground, taking them both out of harm's way by a hairsbreadth. The Gerudo, sensing the danger, leapt aside a split second later, too late to avoid the horse entirely. The beast knocked her into the ring of the campfire, beneath the hooves of Epona.

The woman's body jerked as the foal trampled her, and Link found himself repulsed, even by the death of one of Ganondorf's servants.

The woman choked and tried to spit blood in their direction, but a broken collarbone prevented her from rising. "Fools…Hyrule will die…for its crimes against our people. There is nothing you can do to stop…the cleansing."

Link shuddered but could think of nothing to say. Not that it would have mattered. The woman's eyes had closed, and the rise and fall of her chest ceased as soon as the words had left her lips.

Malon whimpered. "I'm cold."

Link swallowed the bile rising in his throat and backed away from the Gerudo's body. Epona had snapped the rope holding her to the tree and galloped towards the corral.

"Link." Navi's wings beat silently in the night. "Malon's hurt."

He nodded and tore a scrap of his tunic at the left sleeve. Twisting the fabric around Malon's elbow, he tied it in a knot to staunch the flow of blood.

"You saved my life, fairy boy…"

Link shuddered. "I put you in danger by staying. She came here for me." And probably, he added to himself, for the Spiritual Stones.

I hope everyone enjoyed the Goron "food fight" and our first detailed look at Lon Lon Ranch and its inhabitants, human and horse alike. This weekend, I'll be attending Gen Con Indy 2012, so look for the next chapters to be posted probably on Monday, 8/20, following my descent from geek bliss. Take care!