The walk across Hyrule Field towards Kakariko Village was not nearly as long as one would think; the sky had only begun to tinge orange by the time that Link reached the path up. The narrow path upwards, however slowed his progress, walking along winding dirt paths and climbing up stone ramps and stairways.
Despite Navi's suggestions to keep their sound low, lest they attract the attention of unwelcome company or some dangerous beast, Link had taken to playing music along the way, cheerful little tunes on his flute that attempted to his spirits in spite of the task ahead of him. But as the path seemed to continue for far too long, his mind wandered back to his conversation with the princess as one of his songs drew to a close. His fingers faltered, and his stride slowed to a stop.
Navi, who had been following a short distance behind, fluttered in front of Link and hovered in place.
"Is everything okay?" The fairy asked. "Do you need sleep? We can find some place quiet to rest once we get to the village."
Link shook his head. "No, I'm fine. It's just…" He turned his head away.
"You're worried about what you've agreed to, aren't you?"
A moment of hesitation, then he nodded. "I don't know anything about what might be ahead! Death Mountan sounds… deadly. I don't know what a goron is. What if they're not friendly? What if I get hurt? What if… What if I can't keep my promise to Skully? What did I get myself into?"
Navi paused for a moment. "You're right," she responded curtly. "It's not fair. Neither you nor Zelda should be having to do something like this; it's an adult's responsibility. But… What do you do when adults are refusing to do anything?"
The boy sighed and nodded again. "But I made a promise to Zelda too, I can't just quit and go home… I don't know what to do!" He threw his hands up in the air, letting out a cry of frustration before plopping down on the side of the road, arms crossed, and shoulders hunched.
Navi was quiet for a moment, turning to look back towards the way they had come for just a moment. Slowly, she fluttered down to land on one of Link's hands. He looked up.
"Hey," she suggested quietly. "What if… Why don't we contact Saria and talk to her? Maybe she could have some advice for you. Even if she doesn't, maybe it will make you feel better at least?"
Link considered the suggestion. On one hand, Saria always seemed to have good advice. On the other… talking to her might just make him feel more homesick than he already was. He reached into his pocket to swap his flute for the Fairy Ocarina. Wooden fingers rubbed over the surface, admiring the smooth handiwork.
Slowly, curiosity and worry for his friends got the better of him. Link brought the ocarina up to his mouth, began to blow the notes to Saria's song, getting the notes right after a couple attempts. He closed his eyes, and let his mind focus on the Kokiri girl, imagining that he was sitting beside her back in the Sacred Grove. He played the song once, twice, three times for good measure. Then he finally brought the instrument down from his mouth, and without opening his mouth, let out one hesitant word.
"Hello?"
For a moment, there was nothing. Then suddenly, a voice echoed in the back of his head loud and clear.
"Link?"
"Saria?" He asked out loud. "Can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear," the familiar voice responded. There was a pause. "Yes, I'm talking to Link." Another pause. "Here, put your hand on the ocarina and keep it there, that's how we can communicate."
Link opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted when a third voice cut in.
"Like this?" Skull Kid's voice rang in his head. "I don't hear nothin. Are you sure this works?"
"Skull Kid!"
Link heard a yelp that was cut short, followed shortly by Saria's laughter. "It's okay Skull Kid, the magic works by speaking directly into your head."
More silence. Navi fluttered down curiously to rest on the ocarina too. Skull Kid was the next to speak. "It's about time you checked in. How's it going. Did you find the princess yet?"
"Well, yeah-"
"Awesome! How did it go? Will you be back soon?"
"About that…"
"Is everything okay? Did something go wrong?" Saria cut in.
"It's kind of a long story," Navi responded. "But the long story short is that the princess asked Link to go get the other spiritual stones. So… it might be awhile before we can come back."
"...I see…" Skull Kid's voice came out in monotone.
"I had to agree. Someone has to do it. I mean, yeah it shouldn't really be my job-"
"That's right, so you should just come home so we can hang out again," Skull Kid cut in again. "You shouldn't be held responsible for something that adults won't take care of!"
Link was silent for several minutes, only finally responding when Saria gave a worried "...Link? Are you still there?"
"I want to come back…" He started in an almost silent whisper. "But… I don't think I can. Not until I'm done. Because if I don't do this, we'll all be in danger, won't we?"
"I wish I had a better Answer for you…" Saria responded. "But I don't really know much outside of the forest, other than things that I've been told by others. But… I think you need to follow your heart. If you think it is something you need to do, do it. What do you think, Skull Kid?"
Skull Kid was silent for a long time, long enough that Link was worried he might have stormed off again like before. But finally, he heard the boy sigh. "I guess you're right. Just… hurry back okay? You have no idea how boring it is hanging out with Saria all day waiting to hear from you. She wouldn't let me put spiders in Mido's soup, even though they are absolutely delicious!"
"Not everyone enjoys a spider sandwich, Skull Kid," Saria's voice responded. Link laughed in response.
"So where are you right now?" Skull Kid asked.
"We're on our way to this place Death Mountain to meet with the gorons," Navi responded.
"Oh, they're very friendly most of the time," Skull Kid interjected before mumbling afterwards, "Maybe a little too friendly…"
"Skully, you know something about gorons?" Link asked.
"Oh!" Skull Kid responded a little too quickly. "Oh, you know. More people then Hylians pass through the woods. I've seen a goron or two before."
Link nodded, accepting the explanation. "Okay."
"Link, it's getting late. We should keep walking, even if you talk while we go. We don't want to get locked outside again."
"Oh, that wasn't so bad," Link responded, though he still nodded and pushed himself back to his feet, keeping one hand on the ocarina. He began to walk once again.
"So, what was the castle like? And the town. You gotta tell us everything!"
Link laughed, surprised by his friend's interest. "Well, where do I begin…"
The sun had only just dipped below the horizon by the time Link reached the quaint little town. A bright, nearly full moon filtered behind storm clouds beginning to roll in, illuminating the rooftops of several houses of varying sizes. Light from inside the buildings poured out onto the grassy common areas. The village seemed mostly devoid of life outside, save for one emaciated man resting under a tree past the village gates
Link had ended his conversation with Saria and Skull Kid some time ago, choosing to make the last of his trip in silence, only the sound of wildlife, his footsteps, and the jingling of Navi following behind.
The skull kid carefully approached the gates, taking refuge in their shadows as he cautiously eyed the villager. Navi fluttered to a rest on his shoulder.
"Hey," she urged quietly. "We should ask for directions, don't you think?"
Link's gaze shifted to the fairy for a moment, then returned to the man. He shook his head.
"Let's just… sneak by and find it ourselves. What if he doesn't like-" He cut himself off uncertain about the using the word that popped up in his head. "…me."
"Nonsense!" The fairy replied with a jingle, lifting up from his shoulder. "It will be fine. Here, come on, I'll even ask for you!"
Without a second thought, the fairy took off, making a beeline for the man. Link shot a hand out to try and stop her, but it stretched into empty air. As he heard her begin to speak though, he finally slowly, ever so hesitantly, began to creep out of the shadows, his eyes trained on the stranger.
"Hey, excuse me?"
The man was slow to look up, not acknowledging Navi at first. When the man made little motion, crept even closer, standing hunched and tense behind Navi
"Excuse me," she tried again. "We were hoping maybe you could give us directions?"
The man mumbled something.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you, could you please speak louder?" Navi asked.
"I said to get out of my face. People are disgusting. Licking the boots of people in power, caring about no one but themselves. Even my own father and mother are disgusting."
"I'm…. sorry?"
He tilted his head up to stare at Link through baggy, narrowed eyes.
"I bet you're disgusting too!"
Link stiffened, wide eyes locking with the man's. For a moment, he was frozen in place.
"Didn't anyone ever tell you it's rude to stare?" The man growled. "Go ahead. Laugh if you want. Laugh at the village freak."
Whether through anxiety or through courage, Link finally found the courage to dart away, taking off at a dash past the man.
"What's wrong with you?!" Navi quipped at the man. When he did not respond, she huffed before fluttering past to catch up with Link.
The boy did not stop until he reached a well near the center of the village. Besides the creepy guy at the entrance, the town appeared deserted; everyone seemed to have taken shelter at dusk. He took a seat along the side and took a moment to calm himself.
Navi fluttered to a rest on Link's shoulder. "Are you okay?" She asked quietly.
Link gave the fairy a tiny nod. "I'll be fine."
Navi seemed unconvinced but chose not to press the matter. Instead she gave him a reassuring pat. "Hey, we should find someplace to sleep, don't you think?"
Link turned his head. "I'm not really tired."
A drop of water splattered onto the boy's forehead, then another onto his ear. Navi fluttered down to gently tap against his forehead where the water had splattered. "Nonsense," She chided. "You may not be tired now, but you will be when you have to climb a mountain tomorrow. Come on, let's look around a little. Even if you don't want to try asking anyone for help, I'm sure there's someplace safe you can shelter around here."
The skull kid lowered his head, then finally gave in, giving Navi a "mmhm," of consent, and then stood, taking another look around the village. Most of the houses were well lit. Normally, he did not feel all that bad about sneaking into places. But adults were a much bigger wild card than kokiri, who at worst might chase him around with a stick. Lifting his head back up, he spotted a dark path out of the corner of his eye, leading away from the village under a stone wall. There, that seemed like the perfect place to go for some peace and quiet. Quietly, he rose to his feet and patterned towards the archway.
The area beyond the arch was elevated in levels, odd wedge-shaped stones lining the cobblestone path. A stone gateway and tall wooden fence heralded the entrance to the enclosed area, a small little shack to the right just inside. A smaller, rickety wooden fence separated the shack and entrance from the stones.
Link carefully crept further into the area, uncertain of what to expect. A few more drops of water splattered on his face. Never that he could remember had he seen anything like this. He'd seen circles of stone made by the kokiri in their games. But each stone was irregular and messy. These were all uniform, with a set design and set a specific distance away from each other.
The boy approached the nearest stone, running a hand on the engravings. Some of it was a design; three triangles together making a bigger triangle, a bird, and other markings adorned the stone. But there was also text that Link could not decipher the meaning of.
"What does it mean?" Link asked.
"These are gravestones," Navi explained. "They mark where people are buried after they die."
He stared at the fairy for a moment as his hand brushed over the stone again, then lifted it as something else caught his eye.
"Hey look, over there!" He dashed off up the hill to the far end of the graveyard, coming to a stop in front of what had grabbed his attention. Although he could not see all of it well in the dark, he had made out a larger stone at the very end.
"This one seems special, what does it say?"
The fairy was silent for a moment, flying closer to illuminate the words. "... It says it is the tomb of the royal family."
"So dead royal people are buried here?"
"It seems like it. We probably should not be snooping around here, Link, let's try to find someplace else to sleep."
Link started to agree, but a glimmer below his feet caught his eye in the moonlight. He took a step back, revealing a golden triangle mark at his feet, the same design as on the other gravestones. The more he thought about it, the more it reminded him of the stories that Zelda and the Deku Tree had told him.
"Hey," he started, an idea coming to his mind. "Do you think anything would happen if I were to play that song Impa taught me here?"
Navi turned back to Link, watching him fiddle around in the darkness for the ocarina. "I don't think it's a good idea Link…" But before the words were out of her mouth, the boy had already started to play the little song.
At first nothing seemed to happen. Disappointed, Link began to turn away. But a distant rumbling, like thunder, stopped him in his tracks. Suddenly, the earth beneath his feet seemed to tremble. Another roll of thunder. And then it all seemed to stop. Link slowly crept back towards the gravestone, curious.
A flash of light. Before Link could react, there was an ear-splitting crack and explosion. The boy went flying into the air, dust and rock raining around him. He hit the ground with a hard thud, the breath knocked out of him. He tried to get up, but his entire body felt dull and distant. His head swam.
The last thing he heard before slipping away to unconsciousness was Navi calling out his name.
He felt tired, and weak. His legs seemed to just barely function, only allowing him forward with stumbling and staggering steps. He felt a pang in his stomach but did his best to ignore it. The forest around him was dim, only the sound of the wildlife and his own footsteps accompanied him. Everything was filtered through weary eyes. He had to find… something. His brain was so fuzzy, he could not remember what.
He stumbled. He tried to push himself to his feet, arms shaking, but he couldn't find the strength. Maybe a rest was in order.
…
He had never felt so exhausted. He had never felt so alive.
He was cold and frightened. He felt brave and rejuvenated.
He was… Link? Yes. His name was Link. He was… He did not remember what he was doing. But he was Link! That much, he could be certain of.
He looked down to his hands. They were small, so small, made of shrunken, skeletal wood and bark with little whisps of darkness peeking out around his joints. His arms too, were of the same ashy wood. He brought a hand up to his face. It too seemed to have the same texture, and he had a feeling that, if he were to look in a mirror, it too would have the same wooden look.
He pushed - no, he sprang to his feet with an excited hop.
He did not know what he was, or where he was, but he knew that he was Link, and he knew that he did not have to be scared of the forest. The forest would keep him safe.
He ran.
Link startled awake with a gasp, sitting up suddenly. Immediately his head swam and his vision blurred. Nothing was very painful, per say, but everything ached.
At first, his mind tried to grasp out and hold onto the dream, but the mundane memory quickly slipped away as he finally focused well enough to check his surroundings.
He was in a small wooden shack, resting under old, tattered, ratty looking blankets on an equally old-looking bed. Sunlight filtered through a small, slatted window onto his face. He blinked once, squinting in the light, and then turned his head, letting out a surprised cry when he realized that he was not alone.
To his side was a small wooden desk, Navi sitting on top and staring at him with worry etched into her features. But it was not Navi that caught him off guard.
To the side of the desk sat a man, staring at him intently. The human appeared old and lumpy, the beginnings of wrinkles clinging to his skin. His chin jutted out into an oversized underbite. The man's beady eyes peered out under a balding head. His clothes were an old, muddy, sleeveless shirt, and and equally dirty trousers and boots. His skin was a clammy white.
Despite his off putting appearance, the man seemed non-threatening, a goofy smile on his face.
Navi was the first to break the silence. "Link?" She asked. "Are you okay? You've been asleep for a long time. I was worried maybe some of the debris hit your head…"
Link blinked a couple more times, trying to grasp at what had happened. That was right, he had played the royal song. And then lightning had struck nearby and…
"I'm fine," he finally responded, shaking his head. "Just… sore."
Navi broke out into a smile.
"Oh thank the goddesses. When you didn't get up - even as it started pouring rain - I worried you were in worse shape. You're fortunate Dampe, the gravekeeper here, happened to help you out."
Link turned his attention to the bald man beside Navi. The man laughed.
"It's-all good," he slurred in a friendly voice. "It's not often I get a visitor as unusual as yourself! Yer little friend here happened to see me leave my shack and came to me in a tizzy beggin for help. 'Course I was happy to."
"Link," Navi led on when he said nothing and instead stared, "what do you say when people help you?"
"Oh, um, thank you," The boy responded quickly with a bow of his head.
Dampe let out a hearty laugh. "Ha ha! No need to thank me little fella! Just think of it as a favor."
Link gave the man a nod and opened his mouth to say something else but was interrupted by the sound of his growling stomach. The last time he had eaten had been his snack before sneaking into the castle the day before - if it was actually only yesterday.
He reached his hand down for his bag, and found it gone.
"Your bag is over there by the door." The man gestured a meaty finger towards the exit. "I don't have any food ready for you, sorry. I wouldn't know what a, uh… a skull… kid…?" He shot an aside glance to Navi, and when she nodded, he continued. "I wouldn't know what you would'a ate."
"It's okay," Link responded quietly before kicking the covers off and pushing himself to the side of the bed. "I have plenty in my bag."
For a moment, as he climbed to his feet, he was unsteady, body still aching. But he quickly spread his arms out and caught his balance. He shuffled over to where his bags - and boots apparently - were stored. First, he slipped the boots back onto his feet. Then he pulled the drawstring bag open, opting for one of the sweet pastries he had bought in Castle Town, and took a bite before reattaching the bag to his belt.
"Leaving so soon?" Dampe asked.
Link nodded. Navi stretched before lifting into the air, coming to a rest on Link's shoulder. "We have a long journey ahead of us," she responded for Link. "We have to head up the mountain at Princess Zelda's request to meet with the gorons."
The man chuckled. "Oh ho now, well, if you go back into the village main, there's a path across the way with a guard stationed outside. That's your path up the mountain, can't miss it."
Link gave Dampe a nod before taking hold of the handle of the door.
Dampe waved. "Come back and visit sometime! If yeh come at night, I might even give yeh a discounted rate to my grave tour service!"
The boy paused, halfway out the door? "Grave… tour?"
The man laughed, giving his knee a light slap. "Ol' Dampe's heart pounding gravedigging tour! Come back some evening and I'll tell ya all about it."
Link nodded slowly, still not really understanding what the man was talking about. "O...kay. Maybe I'll see you again sometime. Thank you, Dampe."
"Anytime kiddo, don't be a stranger!"
Link closed the door behind him. The graveyard was much less gloomy in the daylight. The sun shone hight overhead; it must have been close to noon now. Link fidgeted with his belt nervously. The sooner he got up the mountain, the sooner he could get the stones to Zelda and go home.
He began to walk back towards the path leading towards the village, but a thought caught in his mind, and he instead found himself making his way towards the place he had been knocked unconscious the night before.
Navi continued a bit of a ways down the path, but as soon as she realized link had turned the other way, dashed after him to catch back up with the boy.
"Hey," she called out. "We need to go this way!"
"I know, I know," Link responded, holding a hand up. "But I want to check something first." He followed the cobblestone path back up and around the side of the graveyard until he came to a stop at the marker he had stood in front of the night before.
Or at least, where it had been. Now, however, the stone was scattered in chunks around the area, leaving a gaping hole where the entrance once was. Link inched forward to peer into the hole. With the sun directly overhead, he could just barely see the bottom. A ladder allowed access below. He could only assume that several people were buried in the hole, and that the ladder would allow access to bring more into the grave when they were ready to join the bodies below.
He turned and began to scale down the ladder.
"Link, what do you think you're doing?" Navi hissed, keeping her voice low as she zipped around his head.
"I'm going to check it out. I want to know what's down here."
"No you don't, there are dead bodies down here, and that's it! It's impolite to go messing with people's graves!"
But Link did not listen to the fairy, instead continuing his decent until he felt comfortable enough to hop down the rest of the fall. Navi let out a frustrated sigh and followed behind, not daring to leave the mischievous little child alone.
As Link's eyes adjusted in the darkness, he could make out a pathway ahead of him. Slowly, he inched his way forward in the darkness, keeping one hand to the wall as guidance. Before long, the path opened to a small, stone room.
He let his hand fall to his side, then carefully crept forward further into the room. The light from the hole had left him behind, leaving only the dim glow from his eyes and the brighter glow from Navi to guide him.
His leg kicked something, sending it clattering across the room. He paused, waiting to see if something would happen, and when nothing did, he crouched to feel for whatever he had hit. His hands clasped around something, and he picked it up to get a better look.
Bone.
He tossed the bone away quickly, taking a better look around. As Navi flew forward in front of him to see what he had dropped, he could now see several bones scattered around the room, skeletons that had fallen to pieces and been scattered over time.
"Probably the remains of grave robbers," Navi reported, flying closer to Link. "Are you satisfied? Can we go now?"
Link shook his head, edging further into the room until he found himself at the far side of it. In front of him was some sort of ledge that reached just over his head. He reached up and pulled himself to the top. A second ledge followed this one, and a third one after that. He scaled each of these too. When he reached the top, he found himself face to face with a door.
Slowly, he reached a hand forward and pushed. The door swung open with ease. He scurried on past it to see what might be ahead.
A small hall led to the next room. An unnatural glow illuminated the walls. From where he was, Link could see that the glow came to a pool of odd liquid just inside the room.
Feeling brave after the previous room, Link rushed forward. But as he reached the pools edge a high pitched shriek filled the air. For one long, horrifying moment, Link found himself frozen in place, unable to move anything but his eyes. They darted to the side. A horrible, rotting, shrunken creature had begun to shamble towards him. Navi zipped under his hood and spoke in a harsh, hushed whisper.
"That's a redead, Link. As soon as you can move, walk back towards the exit. Slowly. It will lose interest if you don't run."
Link's eyes instead darted to the pathway at the other end of the room. Several other redeads blocked the way. But none of them had begun to move.
He felt power return to his muscles. But instead of beginning to inch back towards the exit, he began to creep the other way. His eyes darted back to the side. Sure enough, as Navi had said, the redead had slowed to a stop, only staring.
"Link, what are you doing?" Navi hissed.
Link didn't answer, instead continuing his painstakingly slow journey across the room, keeping an eye on the nearest redead. But finally, after what felt like forever, he reached the hall at the other end, leaving the creatures behind him.
Still, he had not a clue what lay on the other side, so he continued to move slowly. The same unnatural glow as before came from the next room. As he entered it though, he found it only had the water, and not the redeads as before.
The boy let out a sigh of relief and dashed on into the final room.
The walls of this room were covered in writing, ending with a wall adorned with the triforce symbol he had seen outside. Two unlit torches stood at either side.
The boy came to a stop in front of the shrine of sorts, looking over the odd etching he could not understand.
"Navi," he asked quietly. "What does it say?"
"If I tell you, will you go back afterwards?"
He considered it for a moment. This was the end of the path. There was nowhere else to go but back. He nodded.
The fairy let out a small, relieved sigh. "Okay."
She flew up to illuminate the words in front of her and spoke the words in a soft voice. "This poem is dedicated to the memory of the dearly departed members of the Royal Family. The rising sun will eventually set. A newborn's life will fade. From sun to moon, moon to sun… Give peaceful rest to the living dead."
As the final verse came to a close, she was quiet for a moment. "Well, that was an interesting poem… huh?" Her attention was drawn to something etched into the corner of the stone. "There's something carved here… it's a song! Can you read sheet music?"
Link tilted his head, then shook it. "I don't know what sheet music is."
"It's music written down… oh nevermind I'll hum it for you. Who knows, maybe it will come in handy?"
Link brandished the ocarina as Navi began to hum. He carefully fingered the notes he knew from memory, matching them to the notes Navi was playing, then followed the notes she played behind, repeating the simple melody a couple times. Once he was certain he had the notes down, he returned the ocarina to his pouch.
"Are you done?"
"Mhmm."
"Good, let's get out of here!"
Link spun around and began the cautious journey back, through the tomb, taking great care to avoid disturbing the redeads as he passed through the middle room. As he passed through the final room, he kicked something again. This time, it did not give way like the bone before had. Instead, it held fast.
Link let out a startled cry and too late reached his arms out to catch himself. He hit the ground hard with an oomph, the item that tripped him clattering behind him.
After a second of recovery, he reached back to see just what could have tripped him up. His fingers came in contact with metal, and as he sat up, he found himself looking down at an old battered shield, its surface a brilliant blue and silver even in the dim light made by his eyes.
"Navi!" He called out to the fairy as she looped back to check and make sure he had not hurt himself. "Navi, I like this. I'm taking it with me."
Navi let out a slow breath. "Link, taking something out of someone's grave is what we call grave robbing. It is very, very bad."
The boy tilted his head, staring without blinking. "Why? They're not using it!"
"It's disrespectful!"
"Oh… I'm taking it anyway."
"Link!"
Link ignored her protests, instead taking the time to latch the shield - which was as big as his torso - around his tiny arm. It was certainly too big to use like this, but he could find a use for it later, after he got out of this murky hole. At the minimum, it would make a neat trophy. With his new treasure in tow, he headed back to the ladder and scrambled back out into the fresh, afternoon air.
This time, he wandered back to the village, stretching in the warm sunlight. It was much busier in the daytime than it had been the night before, the sound of people chatting, cuccos clucking, and hammers pounding away at wood filling the air. A few people stopped to give him curious, wary stares, but otherwise he was unbothered as he made his way back towards the well.
"Over there."
Navi fluttered off to the side. Link turned his head and, spotting the barred inclined path ahead, dashed off after her.
In front of the gate, it was grassy. But it quickly gave way red dirt and stone beyond. A single, extremely bored looking guard stood beside the gate, leaning against the wall with a spear in hand.
Remembering his experience back at the castle, Link approached with hesitance in his step. Navi, however, was not waiting around and flew forward until she was in the man's line of sight.
As soon as the man noticed the child approaching him, he stood up straight, holding out a hand to stop Link. "Hold it," he started. "This area is not safe for children. Er…" He paused, taking note of the oversized shield and the sword on his back. "Even so, the road is closed except to official business only. Can't you read."
Link's eyes flickered out for a second. "No. I can't." He paused, turning his head to Navi. "But… the princess sent us. That makes this official right?"
The guard stared them down quietly for a moment, then let out a snort, covering his mouth. "O-oh, did she now?"
Navi narrowed her eyes but did not comment. For a moment she was quiet, then, a memory of the day before sparked in her brain. She bobbed up and down for a moment. "Oh! the note, show him the note, Link!
Link made a tiny noise of realization. Immediately, he slid the shield off of his arm and reached into his bag, fishing around for the parchment Zelda had given him the day before. As soon as it came in contact with his fingers, he pulled it out, all but shoving it into the guard's face.
The man blinked a couple times, then slowly leaned his spear to the side to take the parchment in both hands, turning it over once before opening it up to read the note contained inside. His straight face quickly gave way to an attempt to hide a grin. By the time he finished, he was snickering.
"This is Link...He is under my orders to save Hyrule." The guard barely withheld his laughter. "W-well, I can verify this really is the princesses' signature. What kind of funny game has she come up with now? I guess I have no choice." He finally contained his snickers. "Are you sure about this kid? I really do mean it is dangerous up there. Tektites are all over the path. Not to mention the dodongos that sometimes come up from the depths of the mountain."
Link simply nodded in response, eyes set in determination.
The man let out a small sigh and shrugged. "Alright, hold on." He turned to walk to the far side of the gate where an iron wheel was set into the stone. Taking the wheel in both hands, he pulled down. Slowly, the gate began to open, creaking back to allow passage.
Impatient, as soon as the gap was wide enough to slip through, Link picked up his oversized shield again and slipped right on through, waving goodbye to the man as he took off up the path.
The already halfway over; perhaps it would have been better to stay in Kakariko another night. But he could not bring himself to wait any longer. Already, he was one more step closer to the second spiritual stone.
