Coin-Operated
5.0
Bright Bright Bright
"Zelda? Zelda!"
"Wha-what?" I cry out, startled from my sleep. My head whips around as my eyes try and take in my surroundings. Dark. I can feel the stirring of the wings of warning again. Dark dark dark. The wings start their beating, and the initial cawing fills my ears. I look inwards briefly, just to make sure everything is contained in my core, and it is, but I see something new. The wings of warning are stemming from the new golden magic. I shake my head, and bring my sight back out. Out. Link crouches beside me, and I remember that I'm still at the carnival. Glancing up, I see the window alight with orange. Orange? Orange! That's not sunlight. There's no way that's sunlight. "Link! What's going on?" I ask. The panic within me swells with the flurrying black wings. How long have I been asleep? What's happened in that small window of time?
"We have to go. Where's Ilia?"
"She-!" I look over at the bed behind Link and see that it's empty of any occupant. The covers have been thrown back and the sheets are mussed, and that's the only evidence that remains that Ilia really was here at some point. "I don't know!" I choke, feeding on Link's sense of urgency. I quickly shove my feet into my shoes and scramble to my feet, saying, "She was here when I went to sleep."
Link swears softly, and he pops up onto his feet. A swishing of gears sounds. I look out the window, and my heart begins to pick up its pace from what I see. The soft spurring hits my ears again, and Link tugs on my dress to get my attention. "Zelda, come on," he says in a commanding tone. "Is there anything you need to grab?" he asks me, and I quickly pat my dress pockets. I still have my money. I nod; that's all we'll really need. The keys to my car have officially been rendered useless and unusable from now on, I'm sure. He throws open the door to the wagon, and I scurry after Link.
He leads me through the maze of the carnival, his head whipping in every direction as we move, looking for any familiar face. Mine, too, darts every which way while keeping one eye on Link so I don't lose him. My eyes itch in the white heat. We see no one; a good portion of the wagons have been left abandoned, the doors flung wide open. It's not long before breathing becomes difficult for me. With each swooping intake of air, my throat and lungs burn a little more in protest.
The flames blaze, hot, red, orange and angry. My throat chokes up from the smoke, and I shield my eyes. I stumble in the grass, tripping over debris, but Link grabs ahold of my arm and pulls me along. His grip is firm as he guides me through the blazing tents and wagons. My eyes are watering, and the intense heat alone makes it difficult to breathe, never mind the smoke.
Link drops my arm, and I flail wildly after him without success. I sway on my feet, lost and confused. I feel nothing but the heat of the growing wildfire searing my skin as I grapple uselessly at the air, trying to find anything solid that I can feel. Something, anything tangible at all. Just to know I'm not lost to the world, doomed to be swallowed up by hungry fire. I rub my stinging eyes. Link, where have you gone?
Cold. Wet.
I shiver, choking on the cool liquid that coats me. Water? I blink. Link takes hold of me, and a surge power rushes through me. I feel him smooth back my wet mop of hair. "This'll help," he says, tossing one bucket aside, and picks up the other at his feet.
"I thought you'd left me!" I cry.
Link pulls me along through the tents, shooting a grin back at me. "Never," he says. "Not again." The bucket sways in his hand, the water sloshing inside of it.
Shouts sound from ahead of us, and Link immediately stops dead in his tracks. I stumble a little as I walk straight into him. We backpedal, and Link pulls me around the side of a wagon that hasn't caught fire yet. "Underneath," he instructs me, and we both crawl under the wagon, Link pushes the bucket along. The dry, dehydrated grass of the field scratches at my wet skin as I settle in under the wagon, watching as the flames begin to engulf a tent in the distance to our left. I catch my breath, sucking in what I can.
Yells bellow out above everything else raging through the air, strong and defiant. It takes me a moment, but then I recognize the voice as Mido's, the short man with the cane, the one responsible for managing the carnival. I glance over at Link in fear; his eyes are fixed straight ahead and his mouth in a grim, straight line. I pull my attention to what's at hand in front of us and see nothing at first. Then the pattering of footsteps come bounding from around the wagon before us. The short legs. The small feet. It can only be Mido.
I open my mouth to call out to him, but Link deftly flings a hand over my mouth. I glance at him. His eyes wide, he shakes his head and mouths, "No." My eyes bounce between Mido's small feet pulling to a stop, him heaving to catch his breath, and Link, who only whispers to me, "We're too late."
Mido's feet begin to trip over themselves as he tries to hurry off, but the stampede storms into view. The drumming in my head and chest and the beating of the warning wings make the sounding shouts almost impossible to hear. Mido makes impact with the ground. White noise. It's all white noise coming from the stampeding feet. They scream in demanding tones, and Mido's voice rings back out in rough defiance as he struggles to get up onto his feet.
Oh Mido!
The succeeding blasts deafen even the drumming noise inside my head and the wings of warning. The seconds that follow the blasts are silent. The beating of my heart stops, and the warning wings take the moment to stretch wide.
The resounding inner crash of noise inside me breaks out when I see Mido strike the ground face down in a heap, his tweed cap flying off of his head. I move to crawl out from under the wagon to go to him, but Link's hand latches onto the back of my dress, and he pulls me back. "Not yet," he hisses. I whip my head back to where Mido lays still on the ground when the stampede of feet pulls up in front of us. There's a chatter of talk from them, and then I see the men set the small tent in front of us ablaze. I'm startled and jump when I see red hot embers flying down around us. Link shakes his head, begging me not to move. Is he insane? He shakes his head again, his hand still maintaining its grip on the fabric of my dress.
The group of men files past us and Mido on the ground. We wait long after the thunder of their feet passes before Link and I crawl out from under the burning wagon, Link dragging the bucket of water with him. I'm barely halfway up on my feet when I collapse at Mido's side. I reach out to him, but recoil when I notice the dark stains on his jacket. The water sloshes in the bucket as Link sets it down again, and he rolls Mido onto his back. Ruby red covers the front of Mido's white shirt, blooming through the smeared grass and dirt stains.
"Shit," Link mutters, looking Mido over. He looks around and whispers, "Mido. Mido! Come on." Link pats Mido's cheek, and the short man's eye flicker open. Looking at Mido's face, Link frowns.
"Oh," the short man croaks. "It's you two."
"Link! We have to get him out of here," I say, tugging on Link's sleeve and glancing at the wagon we were under. The flames are slowly consuming it, and the warning wings are screeching their alarm for us to keep moving, to get out of the path of this destruction. I sneak a glance inward and see their rapid beating, but the gold magic has also formed something new. A wall of intricate gold vines now covers my core, shielding me. With each beat of the warning wings, the vines thicken and pulse with my magical core. I snap my eyes back to the reality at hand, and say again, "Link."
But Link doesn't move, doesn't take his eyes off of Mido. Mido shakes his head and struggles to roll onto his side. "You saved my ass once, so I'm already on borrowed time."
"Have you seen anyone else?" Link asks him.
Mido shakes his head and finally gives up his struggle to move onto his side. "Take it, will ya?" he says, his voice barely above a whisper. "Your best bet is to get to the caravan, if they haven't reached it yet."
"Want us to stay?"
"No. No point." Mido pats his chest and then pulls out a set of keys from his vest. The keys tumble through his fingers and onto the ground.
It's almost a full minute before Link responds. "Goodbye Mido."
"Later Link."
Link swipes up the bucket, the keys and Mido's cap, and nods for me to follow in the opposite direction of the task force went. I hurry up onto my feet and stumble after him. Link hands me Mido's cap, nimbly dodging fallen debris and shoves the keys into his pants pocket. I give Mido one last fleeting glance behind me. He rolls fully back onto his back, but moves no more. My foot strikes a tent stake, and cursing, I turn my attention back to following Link, who has momentarily stopped to allow me to catch up.
I'm totally lost among the wild flames. I would have no chance if Link wasn't here. With Mido's cap pressed to my nose and mouth, the musty scent of the tweed fills my lungs as Link and I twist and turn through the maze of the carnival. Several times, we find ourselves having to backtrack in order to avoid being trapped by the flames. Feeling dizzy again from the smoke, I reach out a hand and latch onto the cross of Link's suspenders. He stumbles a bit by the sudden restraint and then begins to move more slowly through the maze.
Link stops in his tracks, and I stumble right into him. He pulls me along and shouts out, "Marin!" As Link pulls to a stop again, I come around his side and clutch his suspenders again. Marin lies on the ground curled up by the wheel of a wagon that has yet succumbed to the fire. Link moves forward a bit, calling her name, and I stumble with him. Marin lifts her head up. The cream colored dress she wears has been dirtied so much by the dirt it looks to be an ugly brown-grey. Apart from her soiled dress and a few minor cuts and bruises, Marin looks relatively fine.
Marin's head flops back to the ground. "Just leave me," she mumbles, closing her eyes. Her arms wind themselves around her face.
"Marin! Get up!" Link commands her. I let go of his suspenders, coughing deep and low, when he stoops to pull Marin to her feet. A stinging burn laces up my chest. "We have to go, come on!"
"Leave me alone!" she screeches, wrenching her arm out from Link's hand. The water sloshes a little out of the bucket. She stumbles back into the wagon, her legs buckling under her.
Link, however, picks her back up, despite her screaming protests. "Marin, if you don't shut it, so help me Farore, I will knock you out where you stand." When Marin only continues to fight Link, he swoops her up and throws her over one shoulder with his free arm, kicking and screaming. Link turns to me. "Zelda, come on."
"Marin," I call, pulling Mido's cap from my face, and she shoots a glare at me. "Have you seen anybody?"
Her nostrils flare with her labored breathing, but she answers. "I saw Ilia running towards where the animals were kept and Darunia took after her," she spits.
I pick up my pace to match Link's and grab hold of his suspenders, putting the cap back to my face. He shakes his head. "There's no way you two would make it over there," he says. "How long ago was it?" he asks Marin.
"I don't know!" comes the screech.
"Then we have to hope they got out of there," he says grimly.
With a few more twists and turns, we emerge at the edge of the carnival where a caravan of vehicles sits mostly untouched. A few of the vehicles have obviously been taken, most likely from escaping carnies. But as we near the caravan, Link sets Marin down on her own feet and swears. Marin and I catch our breath on the fresh air. I flop the cap onto the crown of my head.
"What?" Marin asks, heaving a little.
"They slashed the tires."
"What!" Marin's head flies back over to the caravan and she moves towards the cars before letting out a bellow of curses herself. "They're all flat!"
"We're going back into the fire. The truck by the gaming tents should still be there," Link says. He looks down at the bucket, and then throws the water on both of us. Marin yelps and hollers at him as Link throws the bucket off into the distance. "Shut it, Marin, we have to keep moving."
I move to follow as Link and Marin take off, but something moves out of the corner of my eye. I catch sight of it. The black, leathery wings pound away, and I scurry to catch up, and tug on Link's sleeve. "The takkuri!" I exclaim, pointing behind us.
"Godsdammit," Link spits, watching as the takkuri takes off above us over the carnival. "They'll be coming now for sure." We pick up the pace as we make our way back into the blazing mess, Marin and I stumbling along in a haze.
"Link!" Marin wheezes, clutching a stitch in her side. "Where are we even going?"
"Everywhere!"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
I cough, "We have to keep moving so the takkuri doesn't see us."
"What's a damn takkuri have to do with this?"
Link shoots Marin a glare over his shoulder. "The takkuri has been spying on the carnival for the president's task force," Link says.
"And you know this how?" she exclaims, coming to a stop and clutching her chest.
"Link," I say, reeling under the smoke and heat, "Marin and I can't stay here much longer." My eyes itch like mad and tear up from the smoke.
Link opens his mouth to respond, but then clamps it shut and rushes at Marin and me. He flings us both onto a shoulder and pushes through the flames. Mido's cap slips from my head, and my hands flail to catch it before it's lost. With the cap safely in my grasp, I look up and see the takkuri flying after us. "Link!" I yell, watching as the massive bird swoops down low. Shouts from the task force buzz over the fire's roars.
"I know!" he grunts, jostling Marin and me as he leaps over debris. My hands claw at the back of Link's shirt as I push myself up. There's a break in the flames up ahead of us leading out to open field that has yet to catch fire. Desperate cries sound out. Marin and I look at each other briefly before our eyes scan to see where they're coming from. "I'll go back," Link assures us.
"What about the takkuri?" I ask.
Link snaps, "I'll take care of that too." Link runs us out onto the open field and sets us down on the grass. "Try to get as far as you can, and don't look back. I'll try and come back with the truck if I can." He turns back and hurries off only to skid to a stop when the takkuri sinks down low, squawking at us.
Link makes a swipe for it, but the takkuri evades him and circles us in the field. It squawks again, calling out for the task force. The takkuri dives down a little farther, snapping its beak. Marin squeals, covering her head and flopping down into the grass as it makes a swipe at her. It soars upwards, squawking again and circling us.
Thinking quickly, I scramble to my feet. "Link!" I screech, my lungs burning. I pull my wallet from my dress pocket and toss it to him. "Open it and throw it as far as you can!"
He fumbles for a second to open it and then flings it through the air. The takkuri squawks in delight as all of my money flies through the air. The bills fly off in the light breeze, but it's the coins that capture the monstrous bird's attention. They glitter and shine under the moonlight and the light of the blazing fire as they soar through the air and disappear off into the distance, and the takkuri takes off after them.
Link, Marin and I take a moment to look at each other in disbelief. Another round of shrieks pierce the night, and Link bolts off in a flash back into the blaze. My feet feel like lead, but I force them to move, one in front of the other, and I give chase after Link, shoving Mido's gap onto my head. Marin shouts out behind me, "He said to move away, you idiot!" I spare one glance over my shoulder and see Marin standing disbelieving out in the field before she shakes her head and turns tail from the blaze that's engulfing the carnival.
I cough, and it rattles my ribs and my spine. It flares up in my lungs and burns my throat. I rub my eyes, trying to keep the itching at bay.
I see Link not far ahead, and he looks up. "It's Fanadi!"
The large fortune teller is trying to worm and wiggle her way out of a destroyed wagon. Angry, bubbling flesh decorates her bare arms as she scrabbles to get out of the wreckage. Link picks up and easily tosses aside a fallen beam, and I take hold of Fanadi's hands and pull. My heels dig into the dry earth, and Fanadi lets go of one hand to help push herself out of the tight space she's wedged in on the side of the demolished wagon. Link pushes me aside, and with one tug, he frees Fanadi, but the sudden disturbance causes what's left of the roof to slide forward. Fanadi scrambles to get out of the way as I back up, but she only succeeds in briefly pinning Link down by his arm. She rolls away in time to avoid the roof. Link, however, has no such luck, and I hurry to pry him out from under the debris.
"I think it's broken," he says as Fanadi and I get him out. We help get him to his feet, and I'm about to ask him what he means when I hear the stampeding feet. Link hears it too, mutters a swear and says, "Forget the truck, we have to run."
Link and I immediately take off, but with one look behind us, I see Fanadi struggling to match our pace with her large size and lack of fitness. "Fanadi, hurry!" I call back. She stops and looks back behind her where the sound of the stampeding feet grows louder. She shakes her head, and then she waves me off. One man from the task force appears around a flaming tent. He shouts a warning for the others, waving one hand. In the other hand, he brandishes a purple magnifying glass-like object with an eye in the center. "Fanadi!" I holler, but she only waves me off again as the uniformed man makes his way closer.
"Zelda, just go!" Link calls back, and with one last look at Fanadi, I take off into the field. Link waits for me off in the distance of the field, and then he waits patiently for me to catch my breath. My whole chest might just as well be consumed by the flames. "You can do it, love," Link says. I nod, and we sprint off, the growing roars of our pursuers behind us. I feel Mido's cap lifting off my head as we take off, and clamp a hand to keep it on. Link lets out an airy laugh and snatches the cap from me and puts the wet thing on his own head.
I stumble as the ground slopes downwards, tripping over my feet and the uneven ground until I end up sprawled out on the ground. Link doggedly makes his way past, an arm flailing. "Princess! You better get a move on, love!" he teases, his voice harsh but quiet. I get back on my feet and chase after him, our feet pounding like drums in my ears. When I stumble again, I hop on one foot and dispose of my shoe and remove the other, tossing it over my shoulder and flying down the hill after Link. I wince, feeling stray rocks striking the bottoms of my feet, but a childhood of cobblestones and concrete has left them tougher than another's.
The field rises up, and we both scramble to scale the new incline. My hands claw at the dirt as we make our escape from the looming sounds of the task force behind us, and I ignore the fire raging in my breast. We reach the crest of the hill, and pause for me to catch my breath. I collapse in the grass, the world twirling in around me. Link stands tall, a beacon in the sea of grass all around us.
"The ranch is in this direction, isn't it?" he asks.
"We can't bother Malon," I wheeze, coughing a little. "Not with this."
"We have to stop somewhere for you," he says.
I tell him, "You could just leave me; you've done it plenty of times today."
"Don't be stupid," he chastises, bending down. He balances himself on the balls of his feet and scans the horizon. "I told you I won't leave you behind again." Again? What's he mean "again"? The world spins a little more around me. "Come on, love, we have to keep moving."
"Your stupid pet names," I mumble, closing my eyes. My eyes may be closed, but I can still feel the earth underneath me spinning and turning away. "What were you talking about before?" I breathe. "You said you thought something was broken?"
"My arm," he says. "The one the deku babba bit. It's not working."
I roll over onto all fours and push myself back up. The embers of the steady burn in my chest are still white hot, but time is of the essence. "Let's get moving."
"You sure?"
"We have to."
Link and I sprint off further into the grassy fields, the burning blaze a mere slit of light on the horizon of the hills now, but we can still hear the shouts drifting through the fields and the whistle calls of the task force. The looming noise spurs us to keep pushing forward.
I don't know how long we've been running, but every piece of me feels like it's about to fall apart. If there's one thing this whole mess has given me, it's fear, and my very own fear is the only motivation that I have to keep moving, keep running. I'm wheezing, I'm gasping - I am just plain out of breath. My pace has slowed considerably, but Link easily slows down so I don't fall behind. When I look behind us, I can still see the glow of the fire gone amok.
I shake my head and try to focus on what's ahead of us, when Link suddenly cries out, "Zel-!" I scrabble to a stop and look behind me and see Link pitch forward. He lands roughly face down on the ground, sliding a forward a bit on the slope.
I hurry up the hill to him and shake his shoulder, screaming his name, but he doesn't respond to me. Oh goddesses! I push him over onto his back. I pat his face some, but then remember the gesture is useless on the machine. The machine! He's a machine! My hands immediately fly to my pockets, and it's then do I realize the full impact of what I've done. I'd had Link throw everything I had off into the fields to put the takkuri off of our tracks. "Dammit!" I screech in frustration.
I'm in the middle of Hyrule's biggest portion of uninhabited grassland, with a carnival burning down in the distance, friends and acquaintances have either gone missing or are dead, a squad following me in pursuit, not a single rupee to my name and my only remaining companion is a machine that has just turned off. I slam my face into Link's shoulder to muffle my screams.
I am royally screwed.
…
With only a few breaks for rest, I actually make it to Lon Lon Ranch just before the next nightfall with no further run-ins with authorities, the most luck I've had in days. My feet ache, my back hurts, my tongue feels like sandpaper, my stomach has long since given up its protests for food and I just want a soft bed to lie down on. While Link is much lighter than I expected, his massive size and dead weight on my back wears me down as I reach the gates of the ranch. The world around me is cast in a warm orange glow from the setting sun as I trudge through the gates and head towards the stables. With little grace or care (sorry, Link), I throw Link off of my back and pull him off to the side, setting him upright against the stables.
I throw open the stable door, and call out for Malon. Her fiery head pops up from a horse's stall, and I stumble over to her. "Zelda! What happened?" she cries, dropping the hoof she was cleaning of dirt.
"I need two things from you."
She blinks, but nods and says, "Okay…?"
"I need you to take me out to Lake Hylia, and I need to steal a pair of shoes."
She frowns. "I can do that, but tell me what happened?"
"Malon, I really don't want to go through the burning death trap I just escaped all over again," I groan. "Please."
Malon walks out of the stall, and secures the gate. The horse inside whinnies to her, and she gives its nose a quick rub. "Sorry, but I gotta go," she coos to the animal. The horse pulls back, bobbing its head.
We walk out of the stables together, and she asks me, "Do you need to leave now?"
"Yes, if we can!"
Hearing the urgency in my voice, she tells me, "Alright, alright. Calm down now. Let's get you some shoes to wear first." She leads the way into the house, and I glance back to check on Link.
"Malon, you wouldn't happen to have a coin would you?"
She shakes her head. "I'm afraid not, sorry. Dad just had everything put away yesterday too." Great. Luck has most certainly been on my side these last few days, that's for sure.
I follow her into her room where she outfits me with a pair of socks and her extra pair of work boots after we clean and bandage my sore feet. She giggles, and I frown at her. "Sorry," she says, laughter still lacing her words, "but you just look a little weird wearing those boots with your dress." I finger my dress, feeling the dirty fabric. "Why don't you a shirt of mine and some overalls too? Your clothes are all filthy. I can wash them and keep them for you until next time." If there is a next time. Oh, Malon, I hope there is.
"Sure," I grumble, taking the proffered clothing. She leaves, telling me she'd get me a wash bin to clean myself up in, and she returns a few minutes later with the water. "I could heat up some hot water up for you," she offers.
I shake my head. "I don't want to waste time," I tell her.
"I'm going to finish up my duties in the stable, and then we can go. I just have to tell my father before we head out what I'm doing."
"Thank you, Malon."
"Just… You have to tell me all about your crazy adventure when you're no longer in trouble, okay?"
I bark a laugh. "Sure, Malon. I can do that." She leaves me to wash up and change. It doesn't take me long, and before I hurry out of the house in the borrowed overalls, I down a few glasses of water in the kitchen. As I jog down the steps of the porch, I feel the legs of the overalls catch on each other. They're a bit baggy on my small frame, Malon being a much bigger girl with years of muscle being built up from the labor.
When I enter the stables again, the first thing out of her mouth is "What happened to your friend? Is he alright?"
"He's fine, but he'll be better once I get him down to Lake Hylia," I say. "Malon, will you have enough gas? I don't have any money left, I lost it all."
"It'll be fine. I can just take a few extra cans of gasoline with us and put it on the back of the truck," she says, walking back out of the stables. "I'll get the truck ready."
"Okay," I say. "I'll be there in a minute." I kick Link's legs open and suck in a breath to prepare myself, and then I stoop down with my back to Link's chest. I throw his arms over my shoulders and hook my arms under his knees. Piggy-backing him, I head slowly over to the garage, where I hear the truck spur to life.
It's a tight fit, but the three of us make it in the truck with Malon driving, Link squashed between us, leaning on me, and me up against the window for some sleep.
…
"Hey, Zelda." Malon's voice is gentle in my ears. "We're coming up to the lake." I stir and open my eyes. "Where exactly do you need me to take you?"
"There's a researcher here by the name of Mizuumi," I say. "I'm not sure where he's at exactly though."
"We can stop and ask somewhere," she says, yawning.
I look out the window. It's completely pitch black outside. "How long was I asleep?" I ask.
"Long time," Malon says. "A couple of hours at least."
I rub my eyes. "Who's going to be out at this time of night to ask?" I didn't think about any of this, and Malon, knowing this too, gives me a pointed look.
We're in luck, and I send Nayru a little thanks, and find a small rest stop on the edge of town, Peoria, that sits along the banks of the lake. Malon pulls up at the building, and tells me to wait. "I'll be fine. Be right back," she promises. I crane my neck though to watch her as she walks into the building and to see in through the windows. She speaks with the man on duty inside for a couple of minutes, and he scribbles on some paper before handing it to her.
"See? Easy," she says, wagging the paper at me. "Got some directions."
The town is small, miniscule in comparison to the sprawling and winding streets of Castleton. Malon drives slowly through the dark town that's barely lit at night, but it still doesn't take long to reach the other side of town where on a cliff overlooking the lake sits an odd building. Malon frowns as we pull up. "This is it?" she says.
I shrug. "I hope so."
We exchange a glance before both of us get out of the truck, leaving Link lying on the bench seat inside. We both hesitate at the door, before Malon pushes the doorbell. The buzz sounds inside and sudden shouts ring out. Feet stomp, growing louder as they approach the front door. Malon and I both jump a little, when a very eccentric middle aged man opens the door. He peers out us with a magnifying glass to one eye. Grey hair pokes out wildly from under the blue cap and the pair of goggles on his head. "What's the meaning of this late hour?" he demands.
Malon and I glance at each other quickly once more before I respond, "Um, are you Professor Mizuumi?"
"What's it to ya?" he asks, launching himself forward at me. The eye behind the magnifying glass whizzes around as he looks me over. "What're you doing wearing pants? Shouldn't you two girls be wearing proper dresses?"
"Look, my friend Link really needs your help," I tell him.
He starts at this. The magnifying glass drops from his eye. "Link, you say?" he asks, his tone much lighter this time.
"Yes," I say. "He's in the truck. There's something wrong with his arm, and I can't wake him up."
"That's an easy fix you-"
"I don't have any," I inform him.
He scratches his chin, mumbling to himself as he thinks this over. "Alright, lass, I'll help you out. Bring him in."
Malon and I breathe sighs of relief and go to pull Link out of the truck. Malon helps me with him inside before bidding us goodbye. I walk her out of the house and to the truck. "I really owe for this one, Malon," I tell her. "Thanks."
"I'm just slowly racking up the favors now, aren't I?" she says devilishly. "I'll have to call you in for some fantastic vacation one day. Maybe a cruise or something," she muses.
I laugh. "Anything for you, Malon," I say, shutting her door. She waves and pulls out and heads back into the little town.
I head back into the professor's house, and find myself not in any usual or normal home. The walls are lined with jarred specimens, maps and chalkboards covered in calculations. There's a little kitchenette to one corner by the door, and a winding staircase opposite, but the room is mostly devoted to whatever this madman is working on. The professor has Link on a table off to the side, and he digs around in some drawers. He spares me one glance before turning back to the drawer.
"So," he says, "got no coins, eh?"
"No, I kind of lost all of my money. I had Link throw my whole wallet to distract a takkuri."
The professor pauses at this, and looks back at me, then back to the drawer. "And what's a takkuri doing out and going after a little lass?"
"Link was convinced the takkuri was spying on the carnival he was travelling with for that task force."
"Oh yes," Mizuumi says dazedly. "Those squads came through here a couple of weeks ago. Relentless." The contents of the drawer rattle a little more before Mizuumi shuts it with a triumphant "Ah-ha!" The strange man shuffles over to where I stand by Link on the table, a pouch in his hand. He fumbles a little with the small buttons on Link's shirt before I step in and help him. Opening the small pouch in his hand, he plucks a coin out and slips it into the slot on Link's chest.
The gears whirr away inside of Link, and his eyes snap open. He jumps at the new surroundings, and his head swivels around taking it in. "Link, I got you to Lake Hylia," I say.
He looks at me, and then he notices Mizuumi shuffling away. I help him sit up, and Link swings his legs over the table. "How long has it been?"
"About a day or so," I tell him. "I don't even really know. Everything seems to have meshed together," I chuckle. "Malon was the one that got us here though."
"Where is she?"
"She just left to head back to the ranch not long ago."
Mizuumi reappears at my side, and pushes me away, a tool box in his hand. I step aside, and Mizuumi asks Link, "Alright, which one is it this time?"
Sheepishness spreads across Link's face and he taps his left arm. "I got bit by a deku babba first, then crushed by a fat lady and a falling wagon roof."
"Sounds like quite the adventure," Mizuumi comments, pushing Link's fallen, ratted sleeve up to look at the arm. "I see where the deku babba bit you. Nothing than some new silicone can't fix." He throws the tool box onto the table next to Link and opens it. Producing a pair of scissors, the professor digs on tip into a hole in Link's rubberish skin and cuts his arm open. The scissors clatter in the toolbox when the professor tosses them aside. He hums softly to himself as he rips the skin on Link's arm open and then peels it off from the elbow down.
"Step back," the professor says, sliding the goggles on his head down. A small circular saw in the professor's hand whizzes to life, and sparks start to fly as he cuts into the dented metal chassis of Link's arm. He pauses in the cutting after a while to break open Link's arm. He examines Link's arm for a moment and then says, "You're lucky that deku babba only busted the metal, but I see someone else finished the job. Your arm was working after the babba bite?"
"Yeah," Link grunts.
The professor opens up Link's hand as well and then puts away the saw.
The metal skeleton of Link's arm is now completely exposed, and when the professor moves to go digging through his toolbox again, I lean over to examine it. "This is what you look like on the inside?" I ask, surprised, and Link's soft laughter drifts into my ear. It's no wonder Link has such a lithe frame. Up towards his elbow, I can see the large cogs that act as a joint, and down his forearm is a long metal tube to make up the bulk of it. Many smaller wires twist down to his wrist and through his palm to his fingers. A series of thin cylinders line the main tube, but they cover smaller rods.
"Those are the hydraulics," Link tells me
I shake my head. "I don't understand any of your machine mumbo-jumbo."
This sets Link off in laughter, and Professor Mizuumi swats at his head. "Quit it, will you? Or do you not want me to fix your arm?"
"Fine, fine," Link concedes.
"Is there some place I can lay down?" I ask the professor. "I haven't really slept."
"Take the sofa upstairs," Mizuumi tells me. "There's a blanket in the closet up there too."
I glance at Link, and when he only shrugs, I turn and head up the circular staircase by the door. When I emerge on the second floor, I see the full extent the professor has set aside for his living quarters. More chalkboards litter about the room. By the half wall concealing the stairs is a small sitting area with a radio, a couple of chairs and a sofa. In the far corner are the professor's untouched bed and dresser and a small bathroom in the opposite corner. Right in front of the stairs is the small linen closet the professor mention, and I open it to see a rack of coats and shoes. Above on the small shelf are some blankets, and I pull one down. I shut the door, the professor's grumbling and Link's snickering floating up the stairway.
Exhausted, I throw myself down onto the sofa and snuggle under the blanket, dreaming about the pending fates of the carnies. I can only hope that Darunia and Ilia made it out okay, and that Marin, where ever she wandered off to, is doing alright as well. Most of all though, I wonder of Fanadi's fate, and I shiver at the thought.
…
I'm shaken awake, and Link's face beams down on me. "Hey, sleepyhead. Let's go for a walk for a while, maybe get you some food. The professor wants to get some shut eye, so he wants us out for a while." I throw the blanket of off me and sit up. I pause momentarily, feeling the world spin around me and then follow Link outside the house, stumbling and shaking as I go.
"What time is it?" I ask, looking out on the lake. I stuff my hands under my arms to keep them from shaking. The sky is a light grey, stretching over the trees and lake.
"Early morning," Link says. "The sun rose not long ago."
"And your arm?" I ask. "Did the professor get everything fixed?"
"Almost," he chuckles, and lifts up his arm. The arm is all patched with a new chassis, but no skin covering. "Now I can tell everybody I lost my real arm in the war," he says with a sloppy grin on his face.
"Can we go down to the bank for a bit first?" I ask.
"Sure!" Link chirps, and leads the way down a beaten dirt path. The path winds around Professor Mizuumi's house on the cliff and into a patch of trees. "I threw all your money into the field, though, right?" he asks me over his shoulder as he leads me through the thicket of woods along the lake.
"You did," I groan, remember the events surrounding the takkuri. "I really wasn't thinking; it was everything I had."
"It's alright," Link assures me. "We'll just have to make some money of our own. If you hadn't thought for me to throw those coins though, right now we probably would be somewhere where we don't want to be." He stops suddenly. "Are you alright?"
"I'm a little dizzy," I admit, stopping as well. "Or something."
"Maybe you should eat first."
"I want answers." Link smiles at me, and I watch as it twists. Maybe I should reconsider. "No money, remember?"
"When I said we'd have to make our own money, I didn't mention that Mizuumi loaned me some. He's a peculiar guy," Link tells me, walking back up the slight incline to me, "so if he asks for you to pay him back by trying some of his concoctions, don't do it. We'll send him some cash when we make some. Somehow.
"Let's just go into town. There ought to be some place open by now."
I shake my head, airy emptiness filling my brain, and I plop myself down on a rock along the path. Drawing my legs up, I lean my head down on my knees, and the dizziness and lightheadedness is alleviated for the time being.
Link sighs and kicks at the dirt. "What is it you want to know so bad?"
"Where'd you go after you took the coin from me?"
He scratches at his head and studies me. "I followed the takkuri for a while, and I almost ran straight into the squads." His hand drops to his side, and he fiddles with the waistband of his slacks. "So I had to hang back for a while."
"You saw those weird magnifying glasses they had, right?"
"I did," he says simply. "That's why I really have to avoid them."
"So what are they?" I demand, looking back up.
Link's glass eyes slide around for a brief moment before he answers. "It's called a Lens of Truth. It's a magically altered item that allows the person using it to see through magical tricks. It was originally used by Sheikah warriors, and it dates back to at least the Unification War.
"Remember how Ruto was talking about them running a magnifying glass type object over them? They're using those Lenses to easily pick out magical objects to confiscate. I'm not sure what the effects are on people with magical cores."
"So you don't know if they went after Fanadi for her magic?"
"No," he says with a shake of his head. Then he clarifies, stooping to pick up a small rock, "I don't know if you're able to see somebody's magic through a Lens."
"It's been around for at least say… a millennia," I say, putting my head back down on my knees, "and you don't know?"
Link laughs harshly at this, and I peek up at him. "I'm old, but not that old," he reminds me, turning away. "The Unification War was centuries before I was born." He throws the rock further into the patch of woods.
"That makes you how old then?"
He spins around give me an incredulous look. "Excuse me?" he sputters. "Lady, never have I asked your age."
"Because you obviously know better than to ask a woman's age."
"Because you're all forever twenty-nine anyway."
"I'm not that old!" I holler, and Link howls with laughter.
Still cackling with laughter, Link tells me, "I was born about two hundred years after the Shadow Era. I actually don't even really remember."
"How'd you end up without a body?"
Link sits down next to me on the rock. "Well, here's the rundown: I was born during one of Hyrule's golden ages. The country was making money, the people were happy, our foreign affairs were all in good hands and the military was strong and proud.
"I'd joined the ranks as a page, of course, and when I'd finally reached knighthood was when things started to go awry. My particular squad was stationed down in Ordona Province."
I ask him, "Are you still dreaming during your off times?"
He nods.
"Ordon?"
"Not the town. When I was there it was a growing village, not the little hubbub it is today. Most of my duties had me stationed in the outer woods surrounding the village. It's my memories of the woods as they were that I've been dreaming about most of all."
"Then maybe you should consider going back to Ordona Province."
"Maybe," he muses, and then falls silent.
I wait a bit, before prompting him back to my original question. "Well, while I was stationed there, I was in possession of a very powerful artifact, a sword thought to be blessed by the Golden Goddesses themselves. It was effective against the queer unrest that was beginning to worm its way into Hyrule. I had the misfortune of encountering the source. It was a mage by the name of Malladus, who was in search of a new vessel.
"He'd sold his soul to darkness for immortality, but found that he'd bene given the short end of the deal. See, he's just like me in a sense. I don't know what his true form is, but he's forced to take new hosts to avoid revealing it. My understanding is that when he takes control of a new host, the spirit he pushes out is effectively destroyed in the process."
"Then why did you survive?"
"I can't really tell you the whole story about that, because in part, I don't have a full understanding of it myself. But I used to have the ability to use magic, and that's essentially why I was able to escape, albeit in a much weakened state. When Malladus saw that I could exist without a vessel of my own, he trapped me in my first host, a rag doll. It took me a while to figure out how to get out of that mess.
"Then I spent some time stuck as a scarecrow."
I snort with laughter, burying my head in my knees.
We sit in a companionable silence for a while, both of us thinking about our separate issues. The trees rustle above us in the wind, and the early morning birds sing and caw out. I take the time to look inwards and see that my magical core is back to normal. There are no strange golden vines guarding me, and the black wings stemming from the gold magic have once again receded.
"Hey, Link. What exactly is this gold magic?"
"Hm?"
"You know something about it."
"You think this why?"
"You knew what to do to get it under control."
"It's no different from other wild magic."
"But it's not. This is something different. Something special. During the fire, when I looked inside, I saw these vines covering my core to protect me. And it sets of warnings to me when danger is near or something is amiss." I sniff and chew my bottom lip. "It's how I knew somebody had been into my flat."
"I see." Link shoots up from the rock. "Come on, let's get you some food," he says. "Piggyback?"
"Link."
He flashes me a grin. "You dragged me about twenty-five miles to the ranch. I can carry you to town for some breakfast, then we can go down to the lake."
I frown at him.
"You know, some days, I really wish I could try flapjacks…" he rambles, pulling me up from the rock and onto his back. "What does syrup taste like anyway?"
I don't know if you guys have every forgotten to eat for a day or two, but I have. My sister calls me sometimes to remind me. Don't ask me how, but I do; I get so caught up working on my writing and doing my other work, I guess. It's like being drunk with a lot of shaking almost, and I don't realize it until I get up and it hits. Oh gosh, I sound anorexic or something. I SWEAR I'M NOT!
I have been waiting since I thought up the concept for this story to burn the carnival down. Once I got here though, holy crap. There's a lot more going on than I ever thought would be. I didn't even get everything I wanted in here; I'm not totally satisfied. I may go back, because I see some faults. I don't know. I'll see how it rolls. What're your thoughts? I'm fairly tied on this one.
Auuuugh. I'll see you all in Zombie Cake next if you're following that! I really owe that an update. Hurk! And I want to thank all of you who have added this to your favorites and put it on alert; I'm really surprised at the numbers for it! And thanks to you guys who've been PMing me!
:x