Chapter 9 - chapter 8: an odd alliance

Chapter eight: an odd alliance



Link awoke to find two creatures staring down at him. One he recognized as Pterai, but the other… he didn't know.

“Wha-wha,” stuttered Link, “what happened?”

“You saved me,” said Glysconia, her eyes a-sparkle, “you saved my life!”

“Actually,” Link tried to remember. It made his head hurt, “I think Pterai here did.”

The kargaroc bowed, but then he turned to Link, “you deserve all the credit, Link. I couldn't have done it if you hadn't told me what to do.”

“Okay,” said Link, “so we both deserve a little credit. The real question, though, is how am I alive? I got blasted by that sword. It killed me.”

“You can thank the mothula for that. She gave up one of her wings to save you.”

Link looked, and saw the bloody stump where the wing had once been, “you did this… for me?”

“Gladly,” said Glysconia, “You are a treasure to us.”

“What do you mean?”

“We love you… all of us. We think you might be the sacred key.”

“Sacred key? To what?”

“Peace, Link, peace. We are looking to live among the humans, and we are sick of the humans killing us unreasonably. We know that you have killed a few of us in your voyage, but that was an order. You had to do it. Link, and we can't blame you for doing what you had to do, but truly, you are our only hope.”

“I'd be glad to help,” said Link, “I can help both of you!”

“Perhaps, but there is one more thing…”

“What?”

“The queen of our society is not in her right mind. In the last few years, she has killed a total of five princesses, all because they were not exactly like her! She has never been like this before, and we are worried that something has gotten into her mind. We need you to either get her out of power, kill her, or stop whatever is wreaking havoc in her mind. We would prefer that she not die, but if that's the only way, then do what must be done.”

“I'll try,” said Link, “but you must also recognize that I'm trying to save the kargarocs as well.”

“The question still remains,” stated Pterai, “where did that knight come from? There have never been knights in these parts.”

“Perhaps my arch-rival Ganon has come back.”

“But,” said Pterai, “He couldn't have. Not this soon… it must be something else.”

“I suppose we will find out on our journey,” said Link, “trouble always seems to come to me.”

“I still want to know,” said Glysconia, “why you saved me? It makes no sense. My race has always hated yours and you…”

“Have never hated you.” Finished Pterai, “We needed to survive, so we took some of your kind, but never the young ones, because they still had their whole life ahead of them.”

“I don't think that's why the rest of my race hates you, though. It's because you brought weapons to humanity, and they used them to make war, with themselves and other species.”

“The knives were not meant to be weapons,” said Pterai, “they were meant for art. Knives create beautiful wooden masterpieces. Come, and I will show you.”

Pterai led them up a path. It was not as steep as the path he had led Link on, but it was just as long. They arrived at Pterai's house in about ten minutes.

“Firstly,” said Pterai, “let's get that wound taken care of.”

He opened a beautifully carved oak drawer, and pulled out what appeared to be a large feather, and wrapped it so that it covered the gaping hole where the wing had been.

“Now,” cautioned Pterai, “do not take this off until I tell you. You may feel your wing growing back, but the bandage must not come off until the wound is fully healed. The bandage is covered in the nutrient that gives plants the power of photo-synthesis, which means they are perfect for healing wounds, or regrowing body parts.”

“Okay,” said Glysconia, “I get the message.”

“Wow,” said Link, “this IS beautiful!”

He was holding in his hand a mirror, carved out of mahogany and pine, and gilded with gold.

“My own mother helped make that mirror,” said Pterai proudly, but then his face darkened, “but that was before she was gunned down.”

“I'm sorry,” said Link, “it must be hard to think about her.”

“She died when I was young, and my sister was watching over me. She would always tell me that I would never be alone…”

“And you never will,” said Link, and he put his hand on the bird's chest, “they'll always be with you… right here. Their blood is in you. Can't you feel them? They are there, and you will never be truly alone.”

“Well,” said Glysconia, “I suppose we should be leaving, but I wanted to ask you, Link, if you remembered me?”

“What do you mean?” asked Link.

“Do you remember me,” she repeated, “I remember you. You saw me when I was very young… you took aim at me… but you couldn't do it… you couldn't fire.”

Link gasped, for he did remember her. It had been the only time that he had disobeyed orders. He had been ordered to destroy all of the mothulas that were in that area of the forest, but he had seen something in her. He had wanted so badly to let the arrow fly, to shoot her down, for that was what he had to do, but when he aimed at her, he couldn't do it, for the look in her eyes was so pure… so innocent. He could never have killed her.

“Yes,” said Link, placing a hand on Glysconia's back, “I remember. I remember.”

The memory brought him to tears, and he collapsed on Pterai's wing, “I didn't want to do it, I really didn't!”

“And you didn't,” said Glysconia, “You spared me, and I'm thankful.”

“That's not it,” said Link, “I didn't want to do anything. I didn't want to kill the other ones either. I didn't want to kill the kargarocs, or anything else. Even now, when I go to sleep, I wonder if I am going to have nightmares about the ones I've killed. I scream at myself in my head until I fall asleep. I've done horrible things, and neither one of you should forgive me!”

“But we have, and that's the grace of love. We know you didn't want to. It's okay, it's done now.”

“Is it okay for them,” Link screamed, “No! I took their life away, and there's no way of giving it back! I'm a killer and a fiend, and I don't deserve to live!”

“Yes,” pushed Glysconia, “yes you do! We've forgiven you, so why can't you forgive yourself?”

“It's not you who hears the screams of the ones you love every single night. It's not you that's scared to turn off a light, because you never know if there's someone out there, waiting for vengeance. It's not you that walks every step, knowing that they are living a stolen life. You don't understand what it's like to be a killer. You just don't, and hopefully you never will, because it's not pleasant.”

“Well,” said Glysconia, “what about the missions you're working on right now, and all the people who trust you. What if you have to kill something? Are you just going to sit back and let us all die?”

“No,” said Link, I love you, and I'm willing to kill for you, even if it means having to face the consequences, never sleeping again, I don't care. I love you, and I will help you in whatever way I can.”

“That's the spirit,” said Glysconia, “Sometimes you have to do things for the ones you love, and that was the case before. There's nothing you could have done. There's nothing you could have said, and nothing you could have thought, I know it hurts to kill, but sometimes you find yourself in situations beyond your control, and you just have to… deal with them, and after this is all over, you won't ever have to kill us again… no one will… we'll be free… forever. Don't you see, it doesn't matter what happened before… only what will come after.”

“I see what you mean,” said Link, “but I don't think I'll ever forgive myself.”

“If you have to,” said Pterai, “you can consider this as repayment, but we don't hold it against you, and you shouldn't hold it against yourself.”

“This conversation's going nowhere, so why don't we head out.

So they trekked back down to the base of the island, and Link led them to his boat.

“I can fly,” said Pterai, “so I don't have to get in the boat. I'll just follow in the air.”

“Are you sure,” asked Link, “the air currents can get kind of nasty up

There.”

“I think I'll be fine,” said Pterai.

“'Do it,” said Glysconia.

“I'm sorry?”

“I said do it. Your safety is only part of the issue here. I cansense that Link is lonely, and he could use your company, as well as mine.

“Oh,' said Pterai, `Why didn't you just ask?”

“I was embarrassed,” said link, “I was embarrassed that I needed help.”

“we all do sometimes,” said Glysconia, “we all need help, love, comfort.”

“Yes, but when you're me, you have to look brave and fearless, and you can never ask for help, or else the morale of the people around you goes down.”

“that's what you do in human society, but we're different. You don't have to prove anything to us. We'd love you even if you hadn't killed Ganon, or if you hadn't saved the gorons from volvagia, or anything else, because we will always know that even if you aren't a hero in your muscle and brutality, you are always a hero in your heart and mind.”

But something Pterai had said had triggered a reaction, had brought back a memory that Link would have longed to forget.

`I may have saved the gorons, but I'll never forget that night,” said Link, “I'll never forget when I fought Volvagia. I really don't think… she was all that bad… she just needed to survive… I don't think she truly was an evil creature.”

“No,” said Glysconia, “she probably wasn't… she was just… misunderstood.”

“I remember the night she went to live atop death mountain,” said Pterai, “I remember it well.”

“The walls of the volcano had shaken, as if pushed by some unknown force, gigantic and strong, fire erupted from it, and there was a roar, but it was not a battle ccry. It was a roar of pain, then Volvagia flew out of the volcanic mountain, and went to death mountain, and that was where you came in.”

“It makes me sad,” said Link, “to know that I destroyed such a n innocent and beautiful creature when I did not have to.”

“But you did have to,” said Pterai, “the king goron, Darunia, had the stone you needed. You had no other bargaining chips.”

“I suppose you're right. I just hope that wherever she has gone to Volvagia has forgiven me, along with all of your kind that I have murdered viciously, and for no other reason then to obtain some kind of treasure that wouls help with the journey I didn't even want to ttake.”

“You've beaten yourself up enough over this,” said Glysconia, “it's time to forget about the past and move on. How long do we have left, Pterai?”

“About a week,” said Pterai, “and we'll be in the fortress of fortune.”

“Fortress of fortune,” asked Link, “what is it like there?”

“Oh,” said Pterai, “it's just where we keep the flute of life. It does live up to its name, though. The walls are all golden, and there are golden pictureframes that house paintings created from the most expensive paint in the world. It is made by grinding down precious jewels, such as ruby for red, sapphire for blue, emerald for green, aand all sorts of others, then the ground up jewels are mixed with a pasty substance that makes it paint.”

“wow,” said Link, “Is it heavily guarded?”

“By none but the best of our kind. Getting in there without one of us would be almost impossible, and it would be even more impossible to take the flute, for only one who is blessed by the king may touch the flute of life. That is true for the tablet of truth as well.”



“Will we have any trouble,” asked Link

“We shouldn't. You have the king's blessing, and me, so we should be able to get the flute of life with little or no problems.”

“Do you think,” questioned Link, that there might be a way to use these artifacts that we're going to fetch to… possibly… resurrect your dad?”

No one knows all the secrets that the flute holds, or the tablet… anything could be possible.”

“You know,” said Link, “I think we need to get you a rather high amount of esteem once you attain your standing with humanity. I mean… you have so much mercy. Even after what I did… how horrible I was, you still wanted me to help you, and you don't hate me. Do you realize that if that happened to any other human being, he would have gone insane… killed everything… but not you… you're a miracle.”

“We've never thought of ourselves that way, said Pterai, “but we do have mercy for all creatures. .

“I see it,” said Glysconia, “Do you see it? It's out aways, but we should be there by the end of the day.”

And indeed, the fortress of fortune lay ahead, not 100 miles away. They would reach it by the end of the day… but they had no clue what would be looming there.

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