Chapter 55: Master of Time Perregrinn and Death Watcher Kyte
With the Fairy Flower in hand, Link backtracked to the bridge he couldn't cross earlier and found a boulder on the walkway. Removing it, a section of the trunk slid away revealing a hidden room like the others. Inside, there was a small chest with a silver key in it. Link then walked along a bridge with several Bubbles flying in and out which he easily cut down. On the next walkway there was a bridge heading southward while the other went eastward.
"You know, I haven't seen a single Fairy since we got here," Link noticed. "Do you think you could find them for me, Proxi?"
"Sure thing!" Proxi responded and flew off.
Several minutes passed and there was no sign of Proxi anywhere. Concerned, Link took the southward bridge in the direction Proxi went while dealing with ChuChus that were crawling all over. At the next tree, he found a silver lock on a door embedded in the trunk and unlocked it. There was a large chest inside and when Link opened it he found a big golden key. After that, he took the next bridge that went southward only to be confronted by a blast of air blown by a nearby windmill. To his surprise, the Fairy Flower's leaves widened to form a makeshift shield that kept Link from being knocked off as he made his way across. At the next tree, the two bridges were both unusable. So Link chose one and went along the walkway till he came to a bridge that faced a large door with a golden lock. On the way Keese came flying down along with the flameless Bubbles.
Once they were dealt with, Link opened the door with the gold lock and entered the tree. There were several vines growing inside the hollow trunk which Link climbed onto till he heard something from below. The sound of skittering feet gave Link enough reason to climb up further till he came to a hole in the trunk. Climbing through it, Link found himself on a branch high above the walkway. Hearing the thing crawling toward the hole, Link took out the Master Sword and Hylian Shield. But to his surprise, the only thing that crawled out of the hole was a small black millipede. Then in a matter of seconds, the millipede grew tremendously.
It had orange and red stripes along its body, big black eyes, a pair of sharp pincers, and a silken sack along its back. Link heard muffled noises coming from the sack, and guessed they were the missing Fairies. The millipede then shot silken strings at Link which stuck to the Hylian Shield. Using the Master Sword to cut them off, Link climbed further up the tree while the millipede crawled along the trunk. Using the Talon Clasp, Link fired it at the webbed sack and created enough holes for the Fairies to get out of. Once they were released, the millipede became distracted in trying to capture them again which gave Link the opportunity to go underneath its exposed underside which was pale and slash it several times with the Master Sword. After enough swings, the millipede lost balance and fell down to the Haunted Grounds.
"Thanks, Link," Proxi said after a sigh of relief. "That Wood Louse Milpede captured me when I approached this tree."
"He probably came from the Haunted Grounds, looking for food," Link guessed.
"Yeah, though I'm surprised the Great Fairy didn't notice anything," Proxi responded.
"Since it was hidden inside the tree, I suspect she didn't detect its presence."
"Maybe, but let's head to the Fairy Grove."
"Right."
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At the top of the tree, Link saw a floating island several feet above where the Fairies seemed to be gathering which consisted of a circle of bright green trees that shimmered in the moonlight and a crystal-clear fountain with running water. Then Link stepped on something invisible that lifted him slightly up into the air. There were crumbs of bread scattered on the thing Link was on and several more like it further up.
"It's an invisible staircase," Link realized. "Sylvan probably left the crumbs on purpose."
"Let's hope she's all right," Proxi said nervously.
A child's scream erupted from the island, prompting Link to run up the invisible staircase to the top. He found Perregrinn and Kyte by the fountain where they were attempting to drown Sylvan.
"Tell us where the Guaracha of the Southern Storm is, Sage!" yelled Kyte.
"Or we'll destroy your beloved Wind Instrument," threatened Perregrinn who reached into the fountain and picked up a bassoon made of wood that seemed to radiate.
After a few seconds, though, Perregrinn dropped the bassoon as his hands became steamy.
"What's wrong, Perregrinn?" Kyte asked irritably.
"I don't know. The Bassoon of the South started to burn as soon as I touched it, even though it's clearly not on fire."
"That's because they're blessed by the Goddesses while you two are creatures of the Twilight," Link said, getting the Watchmen's attention.
"Not you again!" Kyte exclaimed.
"It seems you didn't quite get the message," Perregrinn said folding his arms. "Either you beat it or we'll have to pick up where our comrades left off and finish the job."
"I'm not going anywhere unless you agree to let the Kokiri girl go."
"No deal, kid," Kyte said as she held Sylvan up by her hair. "She's too valuable to our Mistress, and so I guess we have no choice but to kill you."
Then with that, Perregrinn disappeared and reappeared right behind Link. Dodging him, Link then felt something hit him though he couldn't see what it was. This continued several times until Link decided to charge the Master Sword up with magic and release it in a rapid spin. As a result of the Spin Attack, the invisible thing was hit revealing it to be Perregrinn. He staggered for a moment before disappearing again. Link was ready this time and used the Spin Attack to hit him again. Then after a third time, Perregrinn keeled over as his bird helmet shattered revealing his face to be dark blue with dots shining like stars.
"So you figured it out," Kyte said, tossing Sylvan into the fountain. "Perregrinn has the ability to appear anywhere by warping the fabric of space, thus casting the illusion that he can travel through time. But I'm not into illusions. The dead are my specialty, and they've got a bone to pick with you!"
Kyte snapped her fingers and several ReDeads spawned into existence. Defeating them with a final Spin Attack, Link ran around the trees to look for more of the green potions he found in the Hidden Lagoon. Fortunately, they were inside small holes in the trees but just as Link found them Kyte summoned a few creatures that had bandages wrapped around their humanoid bodies.
"Gibdos!" Link exclaimed and summoned Joelle from the Ghost Lantern who set them on fire.
"You have the Poe Sisters on your side, eh?" Kyte said bemused. "Well, two can play at that game, you know!"
Then she summoned several Poes who wore brown garments that crowded around Joelle thus forcing Link to summon the other three. Beth, Amy, and Meg quickly aided their sister and took down the other Poes with very little difficulty. Angered, Kyte summoned three Stalfos who closed in on Link. Meanwhile, Perregrinn managed to recover from the Spin Attack and came up on Link from behind when a hoppy but low tune played through the air. This caused Kyte and Perregrinn to suddenly freeze and fall to their knees while holding their ears in pain. Inside the fountain stood Sylvan holding the bassoon like it weighed nothing looking intently at something carved into the fountain which resembled musical notes.
"NO!" cried Kyte. "We were so close!"
"The Mistress will hear about this, and destroy you!" Perregrinn shouted as Link looked down at him.
After taking care of the Stalfos, there was a brief flash of light and the two Watchman passed out just like Cestral and Shikrah did. While Perregrinn's face changed to an older version of Pip, Kyte's transformation wasn't noticeable due to her bird helmet still being on. But when Link removed it, he saw the face of Karoline only her hair was longer and she looked paler.
To be continued…