Chapter 6
The dark clouds that circled the peak of Death Mountain looked the same as they always had. It was one of the only things that still looked the same after Hyrule had been so drastically changed. However, the mountain only looked unchanged. The Gorons, who used to make this mountain their home, had left long ago. This place was mostly devoid of life now, save for the very occasional Tektite or Lizalfos scouring the dusty paths for something to eat.
Today, that changed for a brief moment. Two tiny balls of light no bigger than insects zipped past the rocks and skeletal bushes.
One of them yelled out, “Come on! Come on!”
“I’m going as fast as I can!” the other one yelled back.
“Then go as fast as you can faster! We have to tell her Highness what we found!”
“I know, I’m trying!” The second fairy’s tiny translucent wings were beating so fast that they practically disappeared.
The two fairies cut through what remained of Kakariko Village and flew south, toward the forest region. Behind them, something rumbled softly at the mountain’s peak.
------
Lydia felt herself slowly becoming conscious, but she kept her eyes closed for the time being. She was a little afraid to open them. Despite her brother’s little pinch attack, she still worried that it had all been a dream… a wonderful dream. She worried that when she opened her eyes, she would see the bedroom wall of her apartment. That drab, white wall that she hadn’t been allowed to paint. The wall that had random little cracks and flaws that weren’t bad enough to warrant repairs, but stole away the smooth appearance it had probably once had. The wall that had a dark smudge on it from when Gordon had accidentally knocked the dresser into it while helping her move in.
The wall that reminded her each and every morning that she had lost much of what she cared about in the world.
Gathering up her courage, she cracked one eye open, and a wave of relief washed over her when she saw the inside of a tent.
She rolled over slowly and stretched, trying to wake her joints up. She was wrapped up in a blanket that was surprisingly warm, considering how thin it was. Once she found her glasses and put them on, she saw her brother curled up in a similar blanket nearby. She reached out with her foot and nudged him awake.
He grumbled and started to unfold. “Oh, boy, it is morning already?”
“Barely,” Lydia replied with a yawn. She looked around the rest of the sizable tent and saw that they were the only people in it. “Oh, for heaven’s sake… Don’t tell me those guys were at the training fields all night.”
Gordon slowly sat up and cracked his back loudly. “No, I think they came back at some point. I don’t remember when, though. I was half asleep.”
Lydia looked again. There were four more blankets on the floor of the other side of the tent. Three of them were neatly folded, and the fourth was discarded carelessly to the side. Red’s, probably.
“They sure didn’t stay long.”
Gordon shrugged and said, “They’re probably pretty restless, especially since we’re making them stay here today while we go outside. The training fields probably make them feel useful.”
“Yeah… Link has never been an idle sort of person, that’s for sure.” She kicked her blanket off and stretched again. “Well, let’s go check in with them before we go.”
As she ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to make it look a little less slept-on, Lydia shouldered her way out of the tent and into the daylight. It was not long after dawn, but without the chill in the air that one might expect. She yawned again. She was definitely not a morning person. If she had been back home, she surely would have preferred to sleep another few hours at the very least, but not today. Today, they had work to do.
Lydia waved for her brother to follow her, and they started to walk toward where the training fields were supposed to be. The town around them was still very quiet. All the people who weren’t looking to save the world today were still sleeping.
Once they were outside of the city proper, they came across some kind of a grazing field. At the far side of the field stood a modest wooden house. That was probably occupied by whomever was caring for the animals in this field. Various kinds of cattle were lazily standing about. Cuccos were bouncing around, occasionally pecking at some feed that had been scattered around there. Several horses were idling around, chewing on the grass.
One of the horses, a big, brown mare with a white mane, poked her head up and looked straight at them over the backs of the other horses around her. She whinnied and stamped on the ground a couple of times, then charged toward them. The sorcerers dodged to either side as the horse skidded to a stop, then playfully rammed her head into Gordon so roughly that he completely lost his balance and ended up spread-eagle in the dirt.
Lydia ran her hands through the horse’s mane. “Nice one, Epona.”
Somebody whistled from the general direction of where the horses were grazing. Waving, her long red hair flying, Malon was jogging over toward them. “I wondered what had Epona so excited all of a sudden!” she said breathlessly when she got close. “I was hoping I’d be seeing you two soon! I was so happy to hear you’d made it back.
“Good to see you too,” Lydia said with a smile as Malon helped her brother stand.
“Is your father well?” Gordon asked as he brushed the dirt off of his clothes.
“Oh yes,” Malon answered. “He and Mister Ingo are still sleeping. I was just doing the morning chores. We may have lost the ranch, but we’re keeping busy.”
“I’m sorry to hear about that.”
“Oh, that’s all right!” Malon’s cheerfulness was overflowing. “Now that you all are back, I’m sure we’ll be able to rebuild.”
“Have you seen Link already?” Lydia asked her.
Malon’s eyebrow raised steeply. “You mean all four of him?” she said with a giggle. “Yes, I did. Princess Zelda explained that one to me. That was definitely not what I expected.” She reached up and started stroking Epona’s neck. “So, you two are heading out today?”
“You knew about that?”
“How could I not?” Malon laughed. “Fairy boy and his twins have been completely twitchy all morning. Leaving them behind, huh?”
Lydia rolled her eyes. “We won’t be gone long. Seriously.”
“Well, you’d better head on down to the training fields and tell them that for what I’m sure will be the hundredth time.”
The sorceress laughed. “Pretty much.”
“I’ll get back to my chores, then. See you soon.” With a smile and a nod, Malon gently turned Epona and started leading her back to where the other horses were still grazing.
The siblings continued on through the field and came to another hill. Once they reached the top of it, they could see what was clearly the training fields beyond. All of the grass had been cleared away, and scattered all over it was all kinds of training equipment, mostly constructed from wood from the surrounding trees. They even had an obstacle course.
They spotted the four Links over by a long row of human-sized wooden training dummies. All of them had their swords out and were practicing. They stood and watched them for a moment as they all performed different sword swings and thrusts, and even were adding dexterous turns and kick moves to their technique.
Lydia smiled. It had been a long time since she had seen Link fight. It felt very nostalgic, and even after so many years of fighting by his side, she never ceased to be impressed by his skill.
Finally, they descended the hill and started toward the training area. They walked around the long way so that they would approach them from the front, where they would be easily seen. They knew that sneaking up on any of them from behind while they were in fighting mode was just asking for injury. Of course, sneaking up on Link was not easily done, so maybe it wouldn’t have mattered.
“Morning, guys!” Lydia called when they got close. “Please tell me you got some sleep.”
Green lowered his sword and rubbed some soreness out of his arm. “As much as we could manage, I swear,” he answered with an apologetic grin.
“I sure as hell didn’t sleep,” Red grunted, still bouncing up and down in place, as if an opponent stood before him ready to strike. He never took his eyes off of the dummy. “I’m too wound up to sleep. I can’t believe you two are leaving us here!” He raised the sword high and brought it down hard on the dummy with an animalistic growl. It snapped right in half under the force of the blow. The upper half of it was now face-down in the dirt.
“Oops,” he groaned through his teeth.
“Hey, I don’t like the fact that they’re going out there without us, either,” Blue said to him with a shrug. “But it doesn’t make sense for all six of us to go. This way, they can stay in the air, and they’ll be back in a few hours. It’s really not a big deal.”
“Whatever. I just want to hurry up and kill something.”
“Are you heading out now, then?” Vio asked, examining some feature of his sword’s blade.
“We’re going to go through town on our way out and grab some food first,” Lydia said. “After that we’re going out.”
Green stabbed his sword into the ground far enough that it would stand on its own and approached them. He shook Gordon’s hand and clapped him on the shoulder. He turned to Lydia and said, “Be careful, okay? Don’t be a hero.”
She raised an eyebrow. “…Because that’s your job?”
“Exactly,” he said, smiling from ear to ear.
A pair of arms playfully wrapped around her shoulders from behind. “Hurry back!” Blue’s happy voice said in her ear, and he planted a quick kiss on her cheek before bounding back to where they had all been training. As he passed one of the training dummies, he spun around quickly and landed a really nasty-looking kick to the dummy’s chest. The force of the blow caused the dummy to wobble back and forth so far that Lydia was surprised when it didn’t snap in half like Red’s target had. Blue’s innocence and playful personality made it really easy to forget that he was just as formidable a fighter as the original Link was.
Link…
She hoped he would be back his old self soon.
At first, the thought surprised her. Link hadn’t gone anywhere, and she knew that. He was still here with them. Four of him were here with them, in fact. It should have been the coolest thing that had ever happened.
But if she was completely honest with herself, she knew that none of these guys were Link. They were only part of him. They all acted more or less like him, fought like him, seemed to care about her like he did… But none of them were really him.
And she missed him.
Her brother’s voice cut into her thoughts. “Are you okay?”
Lydia almost jumped. “O-Oh, yeah, sorry. The brain train derailed for a minute there.”
“Let’s get going. They’re just going to get more and more fidgety the longer we stand here. Let’s go so we can come back.” He turned and started back toward town.
She took one last glance at them. Green and Vio had gone back to their sword training. Blue stood triumphantly before the dummy he had kicked, and then started trying other hand-to-hand moves on it. Red was crouched over the dummy he had broken, mumbling something about having to fix it.
Sure, none of these guys were really the true Link… but they would be great company for now. She smiled, then turned to follow her brother back to town.
------
About half an hour later, the Links spotted Princess Zelda approaching the training fields. They all relaxed their stances and sheathed their swords.
“Not bad for a morning’s work,” Red said, mostly to himself, as he flexed the muscles in his arms.
Zelda was not dressed in her normal royal gown today. She was dressed in lightweight battle armor made mostly of leather, and her hair was tied back in a low ponytail. She had a thin sword strapped to her back, and a dagger strapped to each thigh. The hilt of her sword looked to be made of pearl.
Vio pointed at it. “Say… isn’t that…?”
“No way,” Blue said, astonished.
Zelda smiled. “Yes, Lydia’s old sword. I was on my way to the Gerudo Desert a couple of years ago and I found it half-buried in the dirt. Rather, I tripped over it and went flying.” She laughed as she recalled the memory. “I’ve been training with it ever since. I forgot to show it to her before she and Gordon left this morning.”
The four warriors all looked at each other as they all remembered the scene at the same time. When Ganondorf had control over Lydia’s mind, she had attacked them with that sword in the valley between Gerudo Fortress and Hyrule Field. She must have dropped it there.
“Are they gone, then?” Green asked.
“Yes, some people in town told me that they left a little while ago, after gathering a few light supplies from the shops. I didn’t see them, myself. I guess they were in a hurry.” She turned her attention away from town and back to them. “So, I suppose you have some free time while you wait for them. I was hoping maybe you could teach me a few sword moves before everyone comes down here for the morning drills.”
Red stepped forward, looking smug. “Leave this to me, gentlemen.” He drew his sword again, as Zelda drew hers. Red playfully tapped his blade against the blade of the other sword.
Taking advantage of his apparent underestimation of her newly acquired skill, Zelda moved the sword quickly in a way that caught Red off-guard, and he quickly readjusted his stance and parried the move with his own blade.
“Where did you learn that?” he asked.
The princess smirked back at him. “Sheik isn’t the only one that’s been busy.”
“Very nice,” he half-growled through a mischievous grin. “Let’s see what else you can do.”
Their sparring match continued for a while this way. They exchanged sword blows over and over again. Red would occasionally pause to show her a way to improve her footwork, or recommend approaching the opponent a different way, but overall Zelda was holding her own very well. Occasionally one of the three spectators would shout encouragement, a technique suggestion, or the fact that he was making a bet against Red.
As Red suggested that they try a little hand-to-hand combat, since you never knew when you were going to be disarmed, a tiny but forceful voice cut the training short.
“Your Highness! Your Highness!”
Navi was shooting across the meadow toward them, and she wasn’t alone. She was accompanied by two other fairies.
“Your Highness!” Navi shouted again. “They’ve found another one!”
“Another piece of the Ocarina of Time?” Red asked forcefully, sheathing his sword again.”
“Where?” Zelda asked.
“At the peak of Death Mountain,” one of Navi’s friends answered. “Not in the mountain’s caverns, but up at the very top peak. There’s a small plateau up there.”
“And it’s guarded?”
“Yes, your Highness. The guardian didn’t reveal itself to us, but we could sense its presence.”
Red looked in the general direction where he remembered the exit to the forest to be, and took a step in that direction.
“Forget it,” Vio’s voice came from behind him. “They would have taken to the air the second they got out of the forest. We’ll never catch them.”
“We can’t wait for them to return,” Green added, his arms crossed in thought. “We can’t let Ganondorf get to it first.”
“Maybe he doesn’t know it’s there,” Blue suggested. “Wouldn’t he have gotten it already?”
“We can’t take that risk. The four of us are going to have to go there by ourselves.”
“Then, I’ll go too,” Zelda offered.
Red turned to face her. “With all due respect, princess, absolutely not. You’ve already risked yourself several times to get back the pieces we have. It’s up to us now.”
“He’s right, you know,” Blue said with a friendly smile. “You’re needed here. You can count on us.”
Sighing lightly, Zelda surrendered. “…All right. I’ll wait here for Lydia and Gordon to return. I’ll send them right after you.”
Navi’s other friend spoke up for the first time. “We can show you a short cut through the forest that leads to Kakariko Village!” he said.
“I didn’t know there was such a shortcut,” Vio said with a raised eyebrow.
“There wasn’t,” Zelda answered, tilting her head toward him. “The landscape has changed quite a bit in some places.”
“I see.”
“Well, let’s not waste time standing here flapping our jaws,” Red said forcefully, already walking back toward town. He gestured toward the little fairy with the knowledge of the shortcut, beckoning him to follow.
As the others followed, Zelda silently said a prayer for their safety, then turned back toward the training fields to prepare them for the morning drills.
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Vaati stopped dead in his tracks. The ruins of a town stretched out around him, and the entire central plaza that he found himself in was littered by some kind of creature. They were human-like, but had the appearance of being dead and half-decomposed. They barely moved. They simply stood where they were, swaying back and forth ever so slightly.
The young man swallowed hard, trying to get his stomach to stop churning. He knew nothing of these creatures, but one probably didn’t have to know much about them to know they were dangerous. Although, they seemed oddly familiar to something he had read about a long time ago…
Pushing the thought aside for now, his eyes scanned the plaza. Remaining as still as the creatures that surrounded him, he carefully planned a route between them that would leave a comfortable distance between them and him. It would involve a little back-and-forth, and if he tripped, his day would go from bad to worse in a hurry. But if he was careful…
Keeping his eyes on the route he had planned out, he broke into a run. He went straight ahead at first, then planted his foot and jumped several feet to the right, ran a little more, then jumped to the left, and so on. At one point, he accidentally stepped what he thought to be too close to one of the creatures, but thankfully, it had its back turned and didn’t seem to notice him.
When he finally broke through the far side of the plaza, he didn’t stop running. Whatever it was in this direction that had tempted him this far north, it was very close. He was running through a valley with tall walls. He could feel a rush of heat coming from ahead.
When he rounded a corner, the valley suddenly opened up. Before him stood a tall, forbidding castle keep. The keep was built upon a thick rock slab that floated above a pool of lava in a pit below. Magic was at work, no doubt. Was that what he had felt?
What is this place?, he wondered.
Vaati started to walk slowly forward, taking a path to his right that wound around the side of the lava pit. As he got closer to the keep, the entrance appeared before him. Getting to it would require leaping an inhuman distance over the pool of lava, but with the aid of his magic, he could make it.
That is, if there weren’t a very large man blocking his way.
A dark-skinned, red haired man dressed in armor stood on the path, on Vaati’s side of the lava pit, with his arms crossed. He stood there, staring at Vaati, as if he were accessing him somehow. This man absolutely reeked of dark magic. This man was what had lured him here.
Vaati’s heart leapt into his throat and beat ferociously there. That magic! This feeling! He finally recognized it! The rest of his lost memories came flooding back in an instant.
He had never seen him in a human form before, but it was definitely him! Vaati’s lips curled over his teeth as he seethed with the anger that welled up when he realized who was standing before him.
The man opened his mouth to speak, but Vaati cut him short.
“You!!” He shrieked angrily.
Ganondorf closed his mouth again and raised one of his thick, red eyebrows as the long-haired boy in front of him continued to yell.
“How dare you show yourself in front of me, Ganon!” he growled. “You used me for your own ends and then discarded me like trash when I was no longer useful! You used me, and I got sealed away because of you!”
Finally, Ganondorf spoke. There was a dark laugh in his voice. “Kid, I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t give me that!” Vaati yelled back. With an animalistic roar, he charged straight at Ganondorf, his hands crackling with magic as he brought his power to bear.
A hint of surprise flashed across Ganondorf’s face, then was gone just as quickly. The next couple of seconds seemed to happen in slow motion. The Evil King spun to the side, his dark cape billowing dramatically behind him. He caught the young boy by the throat, and in an impressive feat of magically-aided strength, swung him into the air and slammed him down into the dirt. He lay stunned on his back, and the magic in his hands slowly faded away. Not ready to let his guard down, Ganondorf kept him pinned on the ground with the grip he still had on his neck.
Vaati opened his eyes as panicked thoughts crossed his mind. As Ganon knelt over him, his body radiated much more magical power than he remembered him ever having. His mind raced. Where is this power coming from?!
“Like I said,” Ganondorf growled through his teeth. “I have no idea who you are or what you’re talking about.” His lips pulled upward and he started grinning down at his helpless opponent. If he didn’t know this kid… maybe no one else did, either. Maybe, with some convincing, he could get close to a certain someone without being suspected of anything…
Maybe he could be the weapon he needed to get the upper hand in this whole mess.
“I’ve never seen you before, but I like the feel of your power. You have potential, kid. Maybe we can help each other.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Vaati demanded, squirming futilely under Ganondorf’s grip.
“You seem to have some kind of a grudge against me for some reason. Maybe you’d give that up if I helped you improve your skill? Maybe gave you some extra power? Hmm?
“Tch! It’s not like you to help others. And what, pray tell, would you want in exchange for that?”
“I need somebody killed.”
“Hah! Somebody you can’t kill yourself? I thought such a person didn’t exist!”
Ganondorf angrily tightened his grip on the boy’s throat, then took a breath and loosened it up again. “It’s a person that will be well protected. I can’t get close enough without meeting a lot of resistance. It has to be quick. It needs to be done by somebody that can get close without raising the alarms, so to say.”
Vaati squirmed again. “So… I kill somebody that’s a thorn in your side, and you grant me all kinds of power?”
“I see we have an understanding.”
The boy suddenly started to laugh mockingly. “Are you kidding?! Any enemy of yours is a friend of mine! You can forget it, Ganon! I will not let you use me again!”
Ganondorf’s eyes narrowed into dark slits, and he growled back, “Well, you see, with power like yours, I can’t allow you to be a friend to my enemy, as you say. I’m outnumbered as it is. If you aren’t going to help me—“ His big arm slowly raised up, swirling with dark magic, prepared to strike. “—then I’m just going to have to kill you. Nothing personal.”
So quickly that the move could barely be seen with an unaided eye, Vaati’s arm suddenly rose and he clawed his magic-coated fingers across Ganondorf’s unprotected face, cutting deep. Blood sprayed everywhere as Ganondorf leaned back, howling in angry pain, releasing his grip in Vaati’s throat. The boy squirmed out from under the big man, scrambled to his feet, and took off in the direction from which he had come. He had no idea where he was expecting to go, only that he had to run. Mindlessly, his heart racing, he sprinted back toward the market that was littered with zombie creatures.
Somehow managing to ignore his mangled face, Ganondorf was right behind him, throwing everything he had at him. Magic exploded into the walls on both sides, sending large bits of debris flying everywhere. He dodged the flying rocks to the best of his ability, but a particularly large rock came a him from a blind spot and slammed into his left shoulder. Vaati screamed as pain seared through him, but was too filled with adrenaline to stop running. He never broke his stride as he dashed back into the town plaza.
As he grew tired and was being increasingly blinded by the pain in his shoulder, he had a moment of carelessness, and got a little too close to one of the zombies. Suddenly, all his muscles seized up and he stopped dead in his tracks. To his horror, the zombie leapt up onto his back and bit hard into his good arm.
Not wanting to die today, Vaati allowed his magic to momentarily run wild, and it exploded from him, sending the zombie flying. It slammed into the wall of an abandoned building and slumped to the ground.
Taking just a second to regain control of his magic, because he knew that was all he had before Ganondorf would catch up to him, Vaati continued his flight out of the plaza and back toward the vast field it had taken him all night to cross. He still had no idea where he was going to go. Since Ganon was here, this had to be Hyrule, but he didn’t recognize anything. What was going on?!
He was almost back to the field now… He just had to jump over the moat.
As he prepared to make the leap, Ganondorf’s magic slammed into his back, and he was sent flying. He disappeared into the river below.
Ganondorf stood at the edge of the moat, which was actually a shallow part of the Zora River that flowed past Hyrule Market. These days, the current was much stronger, even here. The river had become a death trap, full of jagged rocks and other debris.
His chest heaved as he stared down into the water where the boy had disappeared. If he wasn’t dead already, he would be once he got washed into the Gerudo Valley. Nobody could survive the waterfalls there.
He swore as he raised a hand and touched his bleeding face. He had underestimated that kid. It was a good thing he was gone now. If he really weren’t willing to do what he asked of him, he could have been a real pain. He had enough stacked against him already, and didn’t want to risk more problems being added to the equation.
“What a waste,” he growled to himself.
With a grunt, he turned around and started back toward his keep. The only sound left in the area now was the rush of the dangerous river waters.
------
“Oooh, this feels fantastic!” Lydia yelled over the wind rushing past her ears. “Sure has been a while!”
She and Gordon were sailing high in the air over Hyrule Field. She had always enjoyed flying free like this, and hadn’t been able to do this for a long time. This kind of thing just didn’t happen back in their world, so she had always had to settle for using a car like everyone else. And even back when they did this kind of thing all the time, one of them would have been carrying Link, which slowed them down somewhat. Lydia was so enjoying the freedom that she spent the first several minutes of today’s journey doing dives and loops. When she almost smacked right into a tree, she decided she was done goofing around.
There was no way to go through all of Hyrule with a fine-tooth comb, at least not from the air like this. This was a general looking-around mission, to see if, by some unlikely miracle, they could catch some sort of sign of an Ocarina piece. The plan was for them to fly across Hyrule Field from north to south, then turn west at whatever remained of Lake Hylia, and more or less follow the river up and around the rest of the kingdom before ending up back at the forest. Once they got back there, they’d have to land and go through the forest on foot. They’d never find the entrance to the hideaway from the air.
The remains of Lon-Lon Ranch were now visible below them. The farmhouse was reduced to rubble, and the walls had mostly collapsed. They swallowed their silent rage and refocused their attention toward the south. Everyone who had occupied that ranch was safe, they reminded themselves.
They flew in silence, save for Lydia’s soft humming to herself. It was pretty interesting getting a birds-eye view of Hyrule Field. From up here they could see just how different it really looked now. There were all sorts of new valleys and hills. They were starting to fly close to the only other landmark they could easily pick out – Lydia’s Dragon Slave crater from so many years ago. It was partially eroded, but was pretty much still a huge hole in the ground.
Lydia felt a sudden jolt of a familiar energy shoot through her body and she stopped in midair. Gordon flew right past her, not expecting the sudden stop.
“What’s going on?” he asked when he got back to where she had stopped and was now hovering motionless.
“It… It may be crazy, but I think I can feel it.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah, I can’t really explain it. It’s almost like it’s calling to me.”
“Well, like you said before, you’d be the one it would call to. It would be calling Maya, anyway, and you’re the closest we have. Where?”
Lydia pointed down toward the huge crater that spread out on the ground below them. “I think it’s down there somewhere.”
“Down in the crater? Are you sure? That’s so… so obvious and out in the open.”
His sister just shrugged.
“Well,” he said, “I’m not too sure about us doing this by ourselves, but if you’re right, we can’t ignore it. Let’s check it out.”
They landed at the edge of the large crater. The loose dirt shifted under their feet as they deactivated their flight spells and their weight settled on it. Lydia tried to concentrate on what she was feeling. Down in the crater, certainly… but where, exactly?
“Hm, you’re right,” her brother said. “I wouldn’t have noticed it from the air, but now that we’re on the ground, I can feel something. Not the Ocarina of Time, but there’s definitely something here.”
“I felt the Ocarina itself,” Lydia said.
“So… the guardian?”
“Probably…”
They looked at each other. Both had uncertainly in their eyes. Lydia broke the silence and said, “Come on. We can do this.”
Without further words, they started carefully down into the crater. The dirt kept giving way beneath their feet, and they lost their balance several times, until finally the ground leveled out. Not sure where exactly to go, they started to walk toward the center. It was a long walk. The Dragon Slave, the most powerful black magic spell at their disposal, had quite a range of destruction.
As they approached the center, Lydia felt the jolt of energy again and stopped. It was stronger this time. They were close.
There was a rumbling sound coming from somewhere. They looked around them, trying to find the source of the sound, but all they saw was more dirt. The ground underneath them started to shake.
“Move!” Gordon screamed.
Both sorcerers took magically-aided leaps dozens of feet backward and the ground where they had been standing cracked open. The crack spread and the surrounding dirt fell away. A mass of dirt started to rise from the center of the crater. Dirt and sand surrounding the area started to move toward the center, as if pulled by a magnet, and added to the mound in the center until it was over fifty feet tall.
Then the mound of dirt started to take shape. Loose dirt fell all around them like rain as teeth and claws started to form. A large snout poked out from the pile, closely followed by big, menacing eyes that glowed red. It stretched its long neck up toward the sky. On the ground, masses of sand came together to form a long, snaking tail.
A gigantic sand dragon now stood before them, reared up on its hind legs. The wings that jutted out from its back stretched to their full span. It inhaled sharply and let out a roar so forceful that the sorcerers had to brace themselves to keep from being blown over.
“Oh, geez,” Lydia snarled through her clenched teeth. “I know I said I wanted to let loose on something, but this is ridiculous!”
They took cautious steps back as the dragon’s head lowered so it could look at them. It started to take slow steps toward them. Each step caused the ground to rumble, and the sound of it echoed off of the nearby trees.
The sorcerers continued their slow retreat. “What do you think?” Gordon asked. “Ice magic? It might break him apart.”
“U-Um…” Lydia stammered.
“Here it comes!”
The dragon suddenly picked up speed and was almost on top of them in an instant. Neither sorcerer was quick enough to act to save themselves from the sudden attack. With a swing of the dragon’s tail, Gordon was knocked clear. The dragon used its clawed hand to sweep Lydia’s legs out from under her. She hit the ground so hard that the air rushed out of her lungs. She struggled to stand, gasping for air.
The same clawed hand pushed her back into the dirt. It opened its mouth, showing dozens of jagged teeth. From the corner of her eye, she saw her brother sprinting back onto the scene, some kind of magic already gathered in his right hand.
Suddenly, the dragon stopped. It just stood where it was, keeping Lydia pinned to the ground with one hand, and stared at her. She noticed something in its eyes now. It looked confused.
On a hunch, Lydia raised her hand in a gesture to her brother, telling him to stop.
He skidded to a stop and yelled, “What?! Why?!”
“J-Just wait a second!” she hollered back. “Something’s… something’s strange here!”
A few very, very tense seconds went by. That dragon could easily squish her with the hand it was using to hold her in place, but it didn’t. It merely held her there while it continued to stare. The eyes moved very slightly as it looked her up and down. Over to the side, Gordon looked twitchy, waiting for any excuse to strike.
Finally, the dragon lifted its massive clawed hand, releasing her from its grip. It reared up and sat on its haunches, and drew its tail back close to its body. It lowered its head submissively.
Then it spoke.
“Mistress.”
Gordon’s mouth dropped open, and the magic he was holding slowly faded away.
Shakily, Lydia slowly stood up and looked the large dragon in the eye. Holy…, she thought. It thinks I’m Maya!
She stood there like a statue for a moment, then remembered that she probably should say something to it, but she had no idea what she was supposed to say to a dragon!
“W-What are you doing here?” she finally asked it.
The dragon’s deep voice replied, “Guarding the artifact, as you ordered, Mistress.”
The Ocarina of Time piece! “U-um, what is your name?”
“I am afraid your tongue would be unable to pronounce my name, Mistress. My apologies.”
“Okay… Can I call you Goldie?” She thought of that because the dense sand his body seemed to be made of took on a golden color in the dull sunlight.
“As you wish, Mistress,” Goldie replied.
Lydia’s heart fluttered with excitement. She had a dragon at her command. This was what everybody wished for when they were kids! Heck, forget that – even as an adult, this was the coolest thing that had ever happened.
“Goldie, do you have the artifact with you?”
The dragon’s head lowered and raised in a nod. “Yes, Mistress. I have protected it for four of your years.”
Lydia smiled triumphantly. “Well, you have done very well. I am very pleased. I’ll take care of it from now on.”
“I understand, Mistress.” Goldie shifted his weight slightly, and stretched his long neck down so that his enormous head was so low that Lydia could have reached out and touched his nose.
A small ball of light appeared out of thin air in front of Goldie’s outstretched nose. It glowed brilliantly for a moment. When it dimmed and disappeared, Lydia heard something small land in the dirt at her feet.
At first, she couldn’t see it. Goldie was so huge that he cast a shadow for many paces in all directions. When he finally raised his head again and let some of the dull morning sunlight hit the ground, she saw a piece of blue clay at her feet.
With a wide smile on her face, she leaned down to pick up the piece of the Ocarina of Time that Goldie had been the guardian for.
She looked up at the dragon again. He was so tall that she had to crane her neck way back to look him in the face. “Thank you. Good job.”
“I live to serve you, Mistress. I will go now and await your next orders.”
Lydia’s eyebrows came together in confusion. “M-My next orders?”
Goldie’s large wings stretched out and started to beat hard. Sand flew in all directions and Lydia had to shield her face to keep it from getting in her eyes. With a leap that shook the ground again, Goldie shot straight up into the air. With grace that was completely unbelievable for a creature of his size, he continued higher and higher until he disappeared up into the dark clouds.
The sorceress stood where she was, staring at the sky with her mouth open. When someone poked her, she jumped almost a foot in the air. She had forgotten that she wasn’t alone.
“Mistress?!” Gordon repeated in disbelief.
“What can I say?” Lydia laughed. “I guess he thought I was Maya… I just ran with it.”
Her brother bent over with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. “Woman, you almost gave me a heart attack!”
The sorceress laughed again. “You almost had a heart attack?! How on earth did Maya get dragon minions?!” She looked at the piece of the Ocarina she held and added, “Though, I sure am glad she did!”
“So these guardians are actually magical creatures that Maya had command over?” Gordon wondered aloud. “Maya wasn’t here to tell them to guard those pieces, so those orders must have already been in place just in case the Ocarina was broken.” He looked off into the distance, and added, “So, if Zelda has three pieces and Ganondorf has one, and your new dragon friend gave his up willingly, that means there’s only one left. Hopefully we’ll get as lucky with that one as we did with Goldie.”
After smiling at it one more time, Lydia carefully tucked Goldie’s piece of the Ocarina of Time into the pocket of her jeans. “I hope so. A full fight with a creature like that would be nasty. Where are we going next?”
Her brother turned to look south. “Well, we were on our way to the lake, and then we were going to work our way up the river. I say we still do that.”
“Yeah. Maybe we’ll have another stroke of absurd, incredibly unlikely luck like this. Wouldn’t it be crazy if we came back with both of the missing pieces?”
Gordon smiled and said, “So much for ‘just looking around’.”
With quick words of magic, both sorcerers kicked up the dirt around them as they took to the air again, and started flying due south toward Lake Hylia.