Chapter 7
We stepped into Kakariko Village three days after getting the pendant of Wisdom. Feeling beaten, Link and I stumbled around for a few steps before the villagers came running to meet us, ready to offer up their houses for rest.
"Good gracious, are you two all right?" A pretty woman said as she led us to her house, her fingers twitching and fretting like a mother bird. I recognized her from my last visit to Kakariko, but I had never learned her name.
We stepped inside, knees shaking, eyes half closed. It was just an act, though. Link and I had earlier decided to put on a show, taking advantage of the peoples' kind personality. Actually, I had forced Link to, and Link had pouted saying that it wasn't nice. I ignored his argument, because I usually find his innocent and amazingly sweet nature amusing and irritating at the same time.
"Here, take some water." She fretted, rushing over to us and handing over a bottle of water. "Is there anything else I can get you?"
"No, thank y-ow!" I kicked Link under the table where we were sitting at. "Actually," I said, widening my eyes like a six-year-old, "Do you have red potion?"
"Absolutely! Of course, of course..." She headed over to her kitchen, lifting her skirts from the ground. I was relieved that she didn't ask about Link's sudden outburst.
"What did you kick me for?!" Link whispered under his breath to me. "We don't need red potion!"
"Link, I don't think you get it." I breathed back, mentally rolling my eyes. "These people are willing to do anything to make us feel welcome. We may as well indulge while we can. Besides, we're saving their happy butts. Don't you think we deserve a little reward?"
"It's still not very nice..." He murmured back. A minute later, the lady came back, with bottles of red potion and cups of steaming cider. I raised my eyebrows at Link, a smirk on my face. He scowled.
"So, tell me your name." The woman said, looking at Link. We had all sat down at her table and were chatting over cider and potion. She seemed to have calmed down by now.
"I know who you are, young lady." She said, turning to me with a grin on her cheeks. I feebly smiled back.
"My name is Link." Link proclaimed after a gulp of cider.
"What's your name?" I asked.
"My name is Kastrya. I'm originally from Castle Town, but I grew bored of the city life." She smiled. "Now. What were you two doing to have become so tired in Hyrule field?" She asked, her eyes darting over us, examining our expressions. Her thin fingers lifted the cup to her lips, allowing a sip of drink.
"We're on a quest you see." I said, wondering if I really should be telling her this.
Kastrya blinked. "I see. What are you doing?"
"Link's friend was kidnapped." I explained, studying her expression. "We're trying to gather three pendants that will help us defeat the kidnapper."
"I see." She said, resting her cup on the glass table. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Apparently, the pendants are hidden in abandoned master temples around Hyrule. Do you have any of those around here?"
"Well..." She looked up thoughtfully. "We do have one underground temple in the center of Kakariko, but it was abandoned years ago because of reports of demons haunting the place." She shuddered. "We tried every priest and priestess in Hyrule, even a few witches who were kind enough to help, but nothing worked."
"Are you serious?!" I cried, jumping up. "It's really this close?! This is wonderful! Let's go now!"
"B-but the demons!" She replied, her hands beginning to quiver. "You're not scared?"
I almost laughed. Me, scared? That was downright hilarious. I had faced terrible monsters without a faltering step. Demons didn't sound so bad.
"Of course I'm not scared!" I said, popping my eyebrows quickly. "I've faced much worse than what you're describing."
She looked at me, then glanced at Link, who seemed to be about as terrified as herself. "All right." She said, her voice small. "I'll lead you there."
Outside The House
As we were walking, Link became curious and asked Kastrya a question.
"So...you said this place was underground, right? How's that possible?"
She shrugged. "When Hylians first came to Kakariko Village, they quickly learned that it was overrun by monsters. They were forced to dig a hole, and hide there underground. Of course, they knew the monsters would follow them, so they created an elaborate maze. From there, they worshipped their goddess, Farore, until the monsters found their way through the labyrinth. They fought a little, then, with Farore's blessing, they quickly made their way out. The hole was then turned into a well, and the monsters were drowned out. That's why we named this place Kakariko, though. It means salvation in ancient Hyrulain. Now we all think that the demons are the souls of the monsters that have returned to haunt us, so, y'know. If they begin to speak in unknown languages, now you know why."
Link and I chuckled at her poor attempt of humor. Well, I did. Link was still too terrified to do anything but whimper.
"Here we are." She said, stopping at a pile of stones." I'll lead you to the door, but after that, you're on your own."
With that we began to climb down. I actually had to push Link down a little, since he wasn't moving.
"What kind of hero are you anyway?" I snapped at him as I stepped down the last few rungs into the well.
"The kind that doesn't like creepy wells full of monsters that want to eat me." He replied.
"Suck it up. You're here to save Hyrule, not bleat like a sheep." I hissed back. That shut him up.
The main room was entirely made of stone, save for the metal entrance door. It was about the size of a house's first level, with an occasional bug scuttling across the ruined floor. Only a small part of the room had light shining in from the entrance to the well. The rest of the room had a curving stone roof above it. Sometimes, a drop of water would fall from ceiling.
"Okay, I won't take you any farther." Kastrya said. "The door doesn't have a lock, so just open it, and make sure you close it behind you, since we don't want evil ghouls running around in the Village. Good luck." And with that, she departed, climbing up the ladder to the light of day.
I turned to Link. "Shall we?"
"No." He muttered, looking up longingly to the entrance.
"C'mon." I said, dragging him over by his collar while I opened the door. "You could at least pretend to be brave..."
With small tep tep teps of our feet, we stepped into a dark room, barely lit by firelight. I heard a moan, and a scuttling sound. Evil faces stared at us from a prison of cracked walls. I had a feeling that whispering would be the best way to talk.
"Link," I breathed, keeping my eyes on the room. "I know you're scared, but something tells me that we shouldn't goof off here. Try to keep your courage up, 'kay?" Link nodded, he understood.
We stepped into an L-shaped room filled with doors. A painting of a skull rested on each one.
I turned to Link. "Which one?"
Link shrugged, looking as puzzled as I felt. I decided to choose a random door on the opposite wall of the door we came in through.
Slowly, we stepped into the odd room leading from the door. White plants grew in a ring, with a stone in the center. I studied the scene curiously.
"What do you think this is, some kind of alter?" I asked Link. He shrugged. "Maybe. I was thinking it looked more like someone's bedroom. So, they could sleep on the rock, with the fancy plants around them." I rolled my eyes. "This is a temple, not a house!" Link scowled at me. "Excuse me for being imaginative!"
I looked back at the rock. "Are you sure that's even a rock?" Link shook his head. "Go check it out, then." I ordered.
With slow steps, Link walked into the center of the room. As he stepped through the plants, I swear I saw one move.
"I don't know if this is rock, Shadow. I think you were right." Link murmured matter-of-factly as he crept over to the rock-like...thing.
That's when it happened.
It was the most awful, terrifying, shriek that you could imagine. As the thing Link was inspecting rose up, a shrill scream broke from its parted lips, as it loped over to him with odd, shuffling steps. I found myself frozen, my feet melted with the ground, as everything but the monster was caught in Father Time's web.
Only my eyes could dart around crazily, and I took advantage of that. My pupils rested on a humanoid figure, with startlingly black eyes, deep as the pits of hell, and dark brown skin. The face was dropping chunks of muck, and it was so dirty I couldn't tell if it was mud or rotting flesh.
After about five infuriatingly slow seconds, I took control of my body, and put feeling back in my limbs. My eyes opened wide and my long ears pulled back as I shook myself into reality. The redead was closing in onto Link, and for a second, I doubted my abilities. I doubted the skills I had that could save him, but I mentally slapped myself in the face, because I knew what had to be done. I knew that if I didn't act, no one would, and besides, that was Link that was in danger. I tightened my eyes.
My friend.
And all sense of control flew from my body. I charged at the beast like a wild animal, not faltering once to consider the consequences. My instincts kicked in like a mother's, and my dainty fingers clenched into a fist. The speed of my body guaranteed a killing blow.
The fist hit the redead in the face with so much force it was knocked to the ground, its dirty mask crumbling to expose a shrieking head, with brown blood seeping in all over it from a ruined hole in the center of the nose. It then collapsed to the ground, giving me two seconds to rejoice before I hit the wall with a dull thud.
"Sh-Shadow!" Link ran over, his blue irises the size of marbles. His boots hit the gravel with echoing chak chak chaks that brought the stars in my eyes back down to Earth. My lids fluttered open, exposing a blurred-out vision of Link standing in front of me. My head pounded in time with my heart, like a soft metronome.
"Shadow, are you all right?!" I could sense the panic in his voice, the fear. I blinked a few more times to sharpen the feathery edges I saw in the corners of the room.
Link was right in front of me. I could see the fear for me swirling in his bright blue eyes. I could taste the scent of his breath, vanilla and cherry, probably from the potion and cider. I could see the way his hair swung around his face, the way his light blonde lashes brushed the soft area under his eye, every little detail came to me, and the sudden beauty I saw caught me off guard, sweeping away any breath that had gathered in my lungs.
"Shadow, can you hear me?" Link said, his voice somewhat calmer. That was what woke me from the trance.
I stood up suddenly, knocking link away from me with a sudden oof!, much to my amusment.
"Of course I'm fine, you buffoon! Why would you think wouldn't I be?!" I exclaimed as Link, who had become used to my rants, picked himself up off the ground.
"I don't know, you were just kind of, staring at me, like you were zoned out. I couldn't tell if you had come to yet."
I tilted my head up a bit higher, and flipped my long black hair behind my shoulder, where I could easily tuck it behind my ear. "Whatever. We need to get out of here, before another one of those...those...things come back or something."
I strode quickly out of the room. I think Link might have said something under his breath, but I didn't stop to listen.
Back to Part 6
