A Link to the Past

Chapter Twenty Six: A Dark Forest

Turns out that getting out of the dungeons and back into the Village of Outcasts was easy now that all of the prisoners had been freed, staging a riot and then charging out into the streets during the time that Link was confronting Daira. As a result the village was disorganized, with some of the inhabitants running away while a few of them, mostly more alligator creatures, attempted to recapture the escaped prisoners. Since the two of them had left the dungeon so much later than the others, the young man and, uh… Maple as the crystal now identified the red monster were able to sneak through the chaos, steadily heading north while escapees and guards battled through the buildings and streets around them.

"Some of them might get taken back." The red monster said quietly as two alligator creatures dragged a different animal out of a partially destroyed house. "Isn't there any way you can help them?"

"No, not without getting captured again, ourselves." Link replied, pushing it, er… her back behind the wall just as some of Ganondorf's goat guards arrived and ran past. "The best thing we can do is find a way back to Hyrule, and then… maybe if I can find the Master Sword…

His words were interrupted by the reappearance of some of the alligator guards, running back from where they had vanished into the darkened tree line ahead, but now instead of being angry the guards looked more scared than anything. A couple of them managed to return with some prisoners in chains, but many of the guards were unaccounted for, going double for the prisoners. The recently arrived goat guards began preparations to enter the forest in pursuit, having entered the village in response to all the commotion when they were patrolling on by, but the alligators stopped them.

"You can't go in there!" An alligator creature warned. "It's too dangerous; if the others aren't back by now, they aren't coming, but don't worry the prisoners won't get far."

While the different animal creatures were arguing about what should be done, Link used this distraction to keep moving toward the north end of the village, where that same darkened tree line awaited. Maple was following close behind, almost tripping over her own two feet because of how often she was looking backwards to make sure they hadn't been spotted, but the young man was more concerned with the fact that no one else had come back out of the forest yet, neither by capture or retreating from whatever dangers the alligator creatures had been warning the goats about. Taking cover behind a large rock formation in order to look around one more time before entering, Link knew that this was probably their only chance to escape, so they had to move right now.

Staying low and moving forward, it was easier than expected to reach the line of darkened trees, and suddenly the world was a lot darker, like significantly so that the orange sunset of this Dark World now appeared more like twilight while the two of them crept through that first line of trees. Now it was much harder to see, not as bad as inside the darkened dungeons, but aside from the outline of trees against the dimmed sky and the edges of some well-traveled trails… he really wished that he was able to keep one of those torches from the dungeons. Suddenly Link gasped, jumping a bit when something wrapped around his hand, but then he realized that it was just Maple… she was holding his hand.

"I'm scared of the dark." The red monster said, her deep voice and growling making that hard to believe. "You won't leave me alone in here, will you?"

"You think I wanna be alone in here?" The young man replied. "I mean… don't worry, we'll get through this, I just… I just don't know how we're going to find the way out or where Ganondorf hid that crystal."

With everything he had seen so far from this Dark World, Link knew that pretty much every part of it was dangerous, and that anything, even the trees, could have once been a person, but so far these ones weren't reacting to him like the one in the dark grove south of the village. Once the two of them were completely concealed by the darkness of the trees, the young man whispered for the red monster to stop moving so that he could listen for anyone else, guards or escaped prisoners, who might still be around. However, aside from a soft wind and rustling of what sounded like it might have been small animals, there was nothing.

"I think we're safe for now, so let's catch our breath." Link said quietly, sitting down against one of the nearest trees. "Maple, is it? Can you remember anything else about how you got from the Lost Woods to… here?"

"No, I wasn't really paying attention, and I… I didn't really have a plan." She replied, trying to keep that deep voice quiet. "I heard that there were hidden treasures in the forest, the kind that Blind the Thief would've hidden back in her day, and I thought if I could find them that maybe I could be a hero like her. My life in Hyrule was boring, or… at least I thought it was… I was so stupid for not listening to my grandmother."

Even though the red monster couldn't tell him anything beyond one moment being in the green forests of Hyrule and the next walking out into the Village of Outcasts, the details about Maple's personal life were a welcome distraction from everything that was happening around them. Apparently, her grandmother was the witch that ran a small potion shop north of the old Lord's castle, and the old woman was always warning her against exploring places with names like The Lost Woods or Death Mountain, instead wanting her to stay home and master the art of potion making. Even though he had accepted that everyone in this place had once been a person, it was still hard to see that in the creatures Link had met so far, Maple and even himself included every time the young man was reminded of his own rabbit-like features.

"I wonder why people transform in this world." He said, looking at the furry paws he once called hands. "Why are some animals and trees, while others become more, uh… unique creatures like you?"

"I don't know, but I think the wizard might." Maple replied. "When I was first captured, Ganondorf came to the dungeon, and he had a wizard with him who was still a person, but I didn't get to hear much about that. They were looking for volunteers to lord over parts of the world, and they left after Daira stepped forward… and killed the three others that did."

That wizard must've been Agahnim, the young man figured, perhaps the wizard's magic being powerful enough for him to resist… whatever was going on to make the people there change. Not only that, but he also seemed to be the only one that could move back and forth between there and Hyrule at will, not that this knowledge helped Link at all right now. Hopefully, the next girl that he rescued in her crystal form would be able to tell him some more about this place, and… and wait a second, maybe the one he already had could tell him where to go, or at least point him in the right direction. So he took the gem out of his pocket, and although the sleeping girl inside didn't respond like last time, the crystal itself did vibrate when he pointed it in a certain direction.

"All right, that way it is." He declared, putting away the crystal and standing up. "Stay close to me, Maple, we don't know what's waiting for us in here, and the last thing we want is to get lost or separated."

Instead of saying anything, the red monster took his hand again after standing up, and was actually standing so close to him as they started walking that he almost lost his balance. Now keeping a little ahead of her but not letting go of the red monster's clawed hand, they had to duck under low hanging branches and even step over some protruding roots, but still it appeared to only be them in the whole of the dark forest. No, that couldn't be right, there had to be dozens of creatures that ran into the forest, either escaping or hunting, and the head start they had on the young man and Maple wasn't enough for the whole group to reach the other side of the trees before they entered.

Clink, there was a kind of metallic shaking sound the next time Link took a step, prompting him to look down and find a set of keys laying in the middle of this sort of path… the same kind that the guards carried in the dungeon. A short distance later there was a damaged wooden club like some of the alligator guards had been seen carrying, so the young man picked it up since he didn't have any other weapons at the moment, not that it seemed to have done the owner much good. But where there had been nothing only minutes before, now the ground was littered with broken weapons and torn clothing as if… as if something really bad happened to the group that came before them… because a lot of these items didn't look very old at all.

"Link… maybe we should get out of here." The red monster whispered. "What if whatever did this is still around?"

"Then they probably have the next crystal." The young man whispered back. "Daira was the strongest in the Village of Outcasts, right? And he had the crystal, so the strongest thing in the forest here must have one also… I would guess."

Suddenly Maple stopped walking, letting out a startled scream that made Link jump… or at least it would have if something wasn't holding his foot down. Looking down to see what it was, maybe a root or something that his boot got tangled inside, but instead what he saw was a hand… a boney, white colored hand that was partially wrapped in rags while another one was attempting to keep a hold of Maple. Reflexively bringing up the wooden club and swinging it down onto the hand, the one holding him let go for a second, and that would have been enough time to get away if another boney hand hadn't grabbed onto his other foot just as he was trying to move.

Caught completely off balance, there was no way for Link to stop himself from falling down, and then several more pairs of boney hands sprang from the dirt, grabbing onto his arms and clothes so that he couldn't move, while others did the same to the red monster. The hands didn't just hold him, though, they kept rising up with arm bones followed by the rest of their dirty, boney, rag covered bodies that were all wrapped up like mummies. Now instead of holding the two captives on the ground, these bandaged monsters were holding Link and Maple above their heads as they started marching their way deeper into the dark forest.