Chapter 9

"Link....Link!" yelled a voice. "Uhhhh...." groaned Link, stretching, immediately wincing and attempting to clutch his arm, and hold his back and front, serving to make even more pain. Aaron shoved him onto the ground and started to rub his back, causing a howl of pain from Link. "A little softer, huh?" he said angrily. "I'm not one for finesse." replied Aaron. Link noticed a couple of people out of the corner of his eye. But...were they people? "I'm doing this because you're going to need it, Link...we're being escorted by a couple of the Wingdi-er...Morguls here." Link looked out of the corner of his eye again, this time turning his head ever so slightly to get a better view. He saw the red, scaly, creatures, four of them, and all with pointed bows at him. They all had swords, too. "Oh...hello, fellows..." said Link, making forced conversation. The Morguls uttered something utterly gibberish, and then grunted. "They're saying to shut up." said Aaron lightly. "Oh...well...that's nice..." said Link, rolling his eyes and pushing Aaron off of him. Aaron pushed him back down. "Buying you time..." he said. But the Morguls had had enough of Aaron's massaging and bandaging Link, and so they picked them up, took their equipment and deposited it in a large bag, then herded them along. The castle looked a little different. No, different is not the word. Transformed would be the word here. Although it still had the general shape of the castle, it was quite different-looking. Red and black flags flew, creating a sinister backdrop for the new battlements that stood, blending in with the black-cloud sky. Link recognized the sky very well. Even Aaron did. "So, where exactly are they taking us?" Aaron said. "I was about to ask you the same question," replied Link, feeling a bit nervous. "I would think you of all people would know!" exclaimed Aaron. "Aaron, basically the only place I've ever been in the castle is my bedchamber with Zelda, you expect me to know?" Link joked. One of the guards jabbed Link with his staff to make him be quiet. Aaron glared. Link motioned for him to keep quiet with his head. They were led into the castle, where things were even more changed. Instead of the familiar decorations that had been meticulously put up by the castle decorators, (Zelda and Impa helped) there were ugly statues of Ganondorf planted in every hall, room, and tower. The carpets were a dirty shade of blackish-red, there were quite smelly and dangerous torches about, and there were quite a lot of drunken folk flying about. (I use the term relatively, there is no possible way a Moblin loaded down with ale could even raise his arms to attempt to pretend to fly) Link and Aaron were eyed by a couple of sober guards guarding an entrance. "I think we're going into a jail..." whispered Aaron to Link. "Where else?" groaned Link. They saw plenty of jail cells, and then they saw Rauru and Ruto. Mallard was up but not running by this time, and lay on some sort of hard wooden cot, very uncomfortable, especially for the wounded. His wounds were nearly healed, but they still hurt a lot. Paul was on another wooden cot, very uncomfortable, especially for the wounded, and his wounds were nearly healed too. "Paul?" he asked. "Yeah?" came the reply. "I've had just about enough of this country," Mallard said. "So have I." Paul said in a tone of agreement. He heard Zelda and Impa arguing about something or other, probably pointless. Zelda had been known to do that, Mallard chuckled. He heard Impa yell, and Zelda's voice fell silent. But ten seconds later, she was at it again. Mallard knew that they usually came out of it the best of friends, like they always had been. He was right. He heard Impa and Zelda laugh, and then he heard Zelda's quiet but distinctive step coming towards the door. She opened it. "Zelda....I'm.....dying....." Mallard immediately rasped, probably to scare her. It didn't work, though. "Mallard, none of that. I think you've healed enough to walk. Impa and I have been talking, and we've decided to go down to the waterfront and find some people that would be willing to take us to Hyrule. Non-Velattians, I mean." Zelda said. Mallard's eyes widened. "There's not going to be anyone like that down at the waterfront! No one like that is down by the waterfront! By Din, there isn't a waterfront!" he shouted. "Oh, there's not a waterfront. THERE'S NOT A WATERFRONT?!" bellowed Zelda, shaking the house. A wood chunk fell beside her. "Actually, no. We're in the middle of Velattiane." Mallard said, a bit surprised. "That ruins everything!" Zelda moaned, stamping her foot in frustration. "Planning helps, Zelda!" he said. Zelda glared and folded her arms, walking angrily out of the room. "Well, there's a classic example of how getting your facts straight really does help, Mallard," chuckled Paul. Mallard sighed. "Sad really." he grinned. "I've found the perfect plan! We steal a wagon, then ride it to a waterfront city, then find someone to take us to Hyrule!" Zelda said. Mallard (who was now strong enough to walk with crutches, and what was extremely more important, punch people if he could balance well enough) stamped his foot. "No one in misk mona would help a Hylian!" he yelled. Two chunks of wood fell, one onto Zelda's foot. "Ack!" she yelled, throwing the wood off and falling onto one of the cots, holding her foot. "Er, sorry about that, Princess." Mallard said in all honesty and seriousness. "Humph," growled Zelda. Suddenly Impa came into the room. "How're we doing?" she asked. "Not dang good enough!" Paul shouted. Impa winced as the sound reverberated through the room. "That's nice. I've got the wagon set up, you wouldn't believe how!" she said. "We would!" countered Mallard. Impa glared at him and faced Paul and Zelda. "Through telepathy, I've found someone who can help us. An old couple a little out of town has a wagon and they don't really care if we're Hylian or not." Impa said. "That's good, let's get going!" Zelda exclaimed. "For once, something goes right...." sighed Mallard. At the loss of her magic powers for the next few minutes, Impa teleported them all to the house. The old man and woman were sitting in separate rocking chairs, talking together. They were extremely surprised when two Hylians, a Sheikah, a Kokiri and a Velattian on crutches came bursting in. "Hyegh gtou!" exclaimed the man. Mallard started talking in rapid Velattian, telling them the situation and why they needed the wagon. The old woman didn't look convinced. The old man narrowed his eyes and shot out another stream of words. Mallard glared and shook his crutch. This action caused him to fall on the floor and howl in pain. The old woman softened a bit. She got up and haltingly helped Mallard up. He had an expression of pain on his face. Exaggerated, true, but it was hurting. She asked him a question. Mallard simply nodded. The old woman smiled and said something to Impa and Paul, which Mallard translated. Impa and Paul exited the house. Suddenly the old man's eyes opened in shock. "Yunit Hylina!" [Blasted Hylian!] The old woman looked at him. "Tye gothay hutt poyk!" [You must be kidding!] "Not leyuogh va em, vomna! Ahe wonh Hylina lunga, na htey era Hylina!" [Don't argue with me, woman! I know Hylian language, and they are Hylian!" Suddenly Zelda burst out laughing. "Kada! Vit era golona, not woryr!" [Ha! We are kidding, don't worry!] They looked at her as Mallard joined in. "Samlon." [Fishy.] said the man to his wife. "Tye'ku surrah..." [You're paranoid...] replied the old lady. The man sniffed. "Vog wona." [Go now.] he said. "Tansk tye oyia ghumh!" [Thank you very much!] said Zelda. The man growled and they scuttled out. "So what do we do now?" said Mallard. "Head out on the wagon to the waterfront!" said Zelda, running towards the wagon and climbing onto it. "Well, you know what, the waterfront is a hundred and fifty miles away!" Mallard said. Impa overheard. "Thank you for informing us, Mr. Optimist. Now get a move on!" said Impa to the horses, after they had helped Mallard onto the wagon. The horses broke into a gallop, sending Zelda flying into Mallard, who flew into back of the wagon. "What are you trying to do, Impa?" said an angry Paul. "She's plotting to sever my leg and send it to a museum!" thundered Mallard. "Like heck I am! Slow down, horses!" shouted Impa, but it was to no avail. As they rumbled down the country road, the old man and old woman looked out from their lawn. As soon as the wagon was out of sight, the man removed his mask, as did the woman. "Vhat I do for your stupid intelligence service, Adolian," said the "old lady" Birnkmenn angrily. "It vas vorth it. Ve know they're heading for the vaterfront, vhere ve can cut them off!" Moriartis said. "You plan too much." said Birnkmenn. "Ah, who cares? Oh, by the vay, you vere great as a woman. I might like to marry you." said Moriartis jokingly. "Don't get splooshka." sighed Birnkmenn. "I'm not, I'm not." said his comrade, chuckling. The next day, five disheveled travelers and four angry horses arrived in Keilling Faghort, a major coastal port where many foreigners came to trade and barter. Mallard knew the town well, as he had visited many times with his family to buy food and supplies. "So where do we go?" said Zelda, looking around at the many shops and buildings, as well as the plentiful supply of buildings. "There'll be a dock that says 'Foreign Traders', I believe. Isn't that what we want?" said Mallard. "Seems like our best bet." said Impa. They walked along the waterfront, looking around for the particular dock. "There it is!" yelled Paul. "Shhh," whispered Impa, who saw it also. "'Foreign Traders!'" said Mallard, running up to the sign and ponting it out, though there was no need. The others ran up. "Hey, cool, let's find-" "HEY YOU BLOKES!" shouted someone. They looked around to see who it was. They saw a man waving to them from the end of the dock. He was grinning wildly at them. And he had a ship behind him. "I think we just found our man," said Zelda. They walked over. "Hello there!" said Mallard. "You chaps looked like you were looking for something! Could it be the one and only Klobber Cardwell's famous ship shop?" he said. "Well, no, we're looking for travel back to Hyrule." Mallard said. The man, whose name was, of course, Cardwell, looked at them. "Never heard of five Velattians wanting travel back to-well, blimey, hold the horses back! If it ain't the Princess of Hyrule!" he said, coming up and bowing before Zelda. "Shush! That's exactly why we need to get the Princess out of here! If the Velattians catch us on our sp-er, well, let's just say we need to get out of here fast." Mallard said. Cardwell caught on fast. "Good gravy! I love espionage! You just climb aboard the ship and we'll have ourselves over to Hyrule in no time!" he said, letting out a whoop. Suddenly Velattian police and army troops stormed into the area, the army troops on horses. "Where are they?" shouted one. "Right here, Gov'nah!" shouted Cardwell, who didn't know the trouble he would cause for the world with that sentence. The men looked towards the ship and saw the four fugitives, who looked at Cardwell in astonishment. "Get going!" shouted Cardwell. They didn't know what to make of him, but they did go anyhow. Suddenly four men with two swords each jumped over their heads and landed by Cardwell, who was given two swords. "C'mon and get us now, codfish!" shouted one of them, taunting the troops. Two of them jumped forward, ready for a battle. Moments later they were sprawled on the dock, lifeless. The army troops roared and charged forward with their horses. Cardwell and his men didn't move until the last second, when the horses were upon them. They rolled out of the way and swung their swords at the same time. Three-legged horses and their riders fell into the sea, at which point Cardwell ordered everyone on board and raised the gangplank and anchor. They cast off, and finally they were going home! "Hello, Link, Aaron." said Rauru, smiling. Ruto looked dejected, despondent, and dull. "What brings you into these parts?" said Aaron. "We thought we'd imprison ourselves for a while to see what the prison food is like." said Ruto sarcastically. "Gee, is it really that bad?" Link said to Rauru, sitting down with Aaron by the two. Now the cell was quite cramped, and Ruto decided to lie down on the floor, in spite of its filthiness. "I'm afraid so. You see, Nakil got out, and then Ganon attacked, and we were quite powerless to do anything, I'm afraid." Rauru replied. "How come you couldn't defeat them with your Sage magic, Rauru?" said Aaron. "Two of us can't beat Ganon!" Ruto snapped. Rauru gave her a glare. Link sighed. "We need to get out of here!" he replied just as angrily. "Heck yeah! Malon needs me!" Aaron shouted. "Always Malon...." sighed Ruto. "She is his wife! What do you expect, Ruto? I know the feeling!" said Rauru. "You do?" said Ruto. Rauru nodded. "That means you have a-" "Listen, Ruto, you and I both love having these enlightening conversations, and I'm sure you do too, Rauru. But now is not the time for enlightening conversations! Now is the time for destroying Ganon and his army!" said Aaron. "Quite." added Link impatiently. "So what do we do?" said Ruto. "I have an idea!" replied Link. "This one Aaron helped with!" he added, grinning. Aaron looked at him, mystified. Link crept up to the cell door and then poked the guard with his sword. "Psssst! Hey, you! Yeah, you! The idiot in the hat!" he hissed. An angry guard in a truly stupid hat turned around and looked at him. "I bet you're so stupid you don't even know how to unlock a cell door!" he said. The guard roared. "Fool! I am smart enough to do anything!" he said. "Then unlock this one!" Link taunted. "Fine!" said the guard. The other guards gasped and yelled and tried to stop him, but the guard pushed them all out of the way and unlocked Link's cell door. Link grinned. "Thank you, guard!" he said, taking his sword out. Too late, the guard realized his error, but fell to the ground, his mouth open in a mixture of horror and pain. The other guards quickly surrendered. "We're going to have to put you to sleep for a while," said Rauru, "Just to let you know!" he said. The guards nodded readily. Ruto and Rauru pointed at them and they slowly fell to their knees, mouths curling up into a peaceful smile. "Idiots...." sighed Aaron, taking his sword and walking up to the jail entrance. They heard a scuffle, then a bellow. Silence. "Maybe we'd better check on the old guy, huh?" said Link. "You show a total lack of concern, I see." Rauru said. "He can take care of himself. Usually." said Link in reply. They got to the jail entrance and found Aaron standing by the door, with a dead Moblin underfoot. "Let's get going!" he said. "Ugh..." groaned Ruto, looking at the Moblin. "So what's your real name?" Mallard boomed to Cardwell over the smell of the refreshing sea and the roar of the waves. Cardwell chuckled as he spun the steering wheel to the right. "Well, y'see, my real name is Clive Cardwell, but I used to get in a lot of fights with kids back 'ome in Sosaria, so they called me Klobber with a capital K! Never wanted to hurt any of 'em, though. Just thought they needed to be taught a less'n for bein' mean to the other kids, my friends." Cardwell said. Mallard grinned. "I know the feeling. Except I got into fights with army troops who were being mean to my friends!" he said. Cardwell chuckled. "No offense or anything, but those Velatt'ns are a strange bunch. Very war-like. Bad for your health to go there! No tou'ists should go!" he said, growing serious. "No offense taken, Klobber. They are indeed." Mallard agreed. "So what's your name?" asked Cardwell. "My name is Mallard Duckman. Now please, don't laugh!" said Mallard, grinning. Cardwell roared wildly. "That's the oddest name I've ever heard in my travels! What's the name of your companions here?" he asked. "Well, first, we've got someone named Paul Gorman along, and my...um....daughter, Saria, then there's Impa, the protector of the Princess of Hyrule, and we've got the Princess of Hyrule herself here." Mallard said. Cardwell's face darkened. "Why has the Princess come all the way over to Velattiane?" he asked. Mallard sighed. "She's on a spying mission for Hyrule." he said. "What fool sent her over on a mission?!" Cardwell yelled. Zelda looked at him warily. "Uh, that's a little confidential." Mallard said. Cardwell sighed. "Well, I tell you, we'd never send our princess out on a mission like that! Princess Ariadne is just too good to kill that early in her life!" he said. Mallard nodded. "Our king is.....very unconventional. He puts great faith in the people." he said. "It sounds like it. How old is your king?" Cardwell asked. "Around forty-one." said Mallard. "Hmm...." muttered Cardwell. Then he looked at Mallard again. "How do you explain bringing your daughter along on a trip?" he said. Mallard sighed and grinned. "All right, she isn't really my daughter. Let's just say that, if she were a normal person, she would be old enough to be your mother." he chuckled. Cardwell looked surprised. "I'm going to have to visit Hyrule sometime." he said. "Oh, you should, you should!" Mallard said. He heard a very audible growl from somewhere around the deck. "Hey, Klobb?" came a shout. Cardwell turned around. "Yeah, Bren?" he said. "It's going to be a couple of weeks till we get to Hyrule, so maybe we need to break out our pumpernickel band for them!" Bren said. Cardwell brightened. "That's a great idea, old chap! Grab the accordion! Hail the jabberwalkie! Get the snorklepoger!" he shouted. "The what?" said Saria loudly. "Oh, we invented two new instruments called the jabberwalkie and the snorklepoger! And we've got an accordion, a violin and a horn too! We're really good!" Bren said, grinning and yelling for the crew to help him get the instruments. Mallard chuckled. "Well, everybody, I suppose it can't hurt to have a little music in our lives at the moment!" he said. "Yeah, let's get the music going!" Saria said, grinning. "Should be great." said Zelda sarcastically. Bren and Klobber brought out two very weird looking instruments and the others got the violin, accordion, and horn. They set them upright and in a way so everyone could see them. "Okay, I play the accordion, Bren plays the snorklepoger, Nev plays the violin, Shawn the horn, and Jon the jabberwalkie! Ready, all?" he said. Everyone nodded. "Okay, we call this first one 'Arien Town'. A one, a two, a threeeee!" They broke out into a lively tune that, to the spectators, didn't seem much like a town song, but they listened anyway. "I left my heart in Arien Towwwwn!" Shawn belted. The other four yelled for quiet and kept playing. "Arrrrien Town!" Shawn yelled. "QUIET!" said the other four. "Okay, our next tune....er.....Jon here will keep you entranced with a twenty-second piece while we decide our next one!" Klobber announced. Jon started playing while the rest of them had a huddle. Then they started playing again. "We call this one 'Doorway to the Sacred Realm'." he said. Zelda narrowed her eyes, as did Saria and Impa. "Interesting.....very.....interesting....." Saria muttered. "No kidding." whispered Zelda. They played for about two more minutes and then stopped. "Hey, we have an extra set of drums. Would any of you like to come up and play?" Klobber said. Saria's hand shot up like a rocket. "Everyone, we have our drums player," a surprised Klobber said, "So get the-heh heh, er, uh-drums." Saria giggled. "When did you learn to play the drums?" Zelda said. "Um.....Kokiri will do strange things to dispel boredom!" Saria said, grinning and walking up by Nev, who was a little sheepish. They got the drums up there and then started to explain to Saria-who, incidentally, was a fast learner-what the beat she was supposed to play was. "Now!" exclaimed Klobber and they broke out into what, on a different world, would be a jazzy tune. Suddenly Saria started pounding on the drums furiously, though it was only part of the song, and not a case of total insanity. The song eased off into a more mellow part, but then suddenly heated up with Saria beating on the drums again. "What's the song called?" Impa asked. "This one is called 'Ship sinking in the Gold Sea'. No, just kidding! It's called 'The Song of the New Ages'." Klobber said. "Er....very interesting..." Zelda said. Saria walked back over. "That was fun." she said. Everyone clapped heartily, and the instrument players took a bow. "Saria, thanks for playing the drums! And that's our show for today-good night, everybody!" Klobber yelled. The instruments were gone in a few seconds and everyone was back at their stations. "That was also quick." Saria said. "Well, we might run into a storm if we lollygag any longer, you know," snapped Bren. "Aw, g'wan and hurt the poor little sweetie, why don't you, Bren?" Nev called out. "'Sides, I thought you liked women!" Jon added. A loud roar rose up from Nev, Klobber, Shawn, and Jon. Bren turned red. "You can all joke, chaps, but I'm going t' get th' last laugh!" he said. He began to sing. Everyone covered their ears. "All righ', all righ', you win!" Klobber barked, turning to the wheel once more. Bren roared with laughter. "Told ya I'd get th' last laugh!" he said. "Where to from here?" said Aaron. "Don't ask me. He's the know-it-all." said Ruto snippily, pointing to Link. "You don't have to be so snippy about it!" Aaron replied haughtily. "Hey! I'll thank you to take that back!" Ruto said. "Shut up, fish-girl. Any louder and you'll get us all killed!" Aaron hissed. Link waved his sword threateningly and told them they should go down the corridor. "Which corridor?" said Rauru, very wisely-and slyly-pointing out there were six halls to choose from. "Er....this one, I think." Link said, leading them down the one he had chosen. "So where are we going?" Ruto asked. "Probably to the ranch to get help, then we'll send a boat to Sosaria for help." Link said. "Hey, I just asked that!" Aaron complained. "We know you did. Now what about the king?" said Ruto. Link stopped and sighed. "We're going to have to leave the king." he said. "He's your father-in-law." Rauru said. "He'll be fine, if I know Zelda correctly." Link remarked wryly. "I'm not so sure. What if Ganon kills him?" said Aaron. "Look, he'll be fine. Now let's go." said Link. "You can't just go off and leave him like that! What will Zelda think?" Aaron said. "Now you leave Link alone!" said Ruto, coming to his defense. "Aaron, we don't have time for this!" Link said. "What's worth more? Getting out-" Aaron was cut off. "There's an old proverb that goes 'The good of the many is worth more than the good of the one'. That applies here." Link said. "The one we're talking about is the King of Hyrule! Your father-in-law! If we lose him we lose Hyrule! There is no one to succeed him!" he said. "Zelda will succeed him!" Link countered. "Exactly what I said. There's no one to succeed him." Aaron said. Link's eyes bulged, but he calmed himself down. "There's me." he said. "You? You're too busy being the Hero of Time to-" Link bellowed and chopped at an incoming Moblin, sending him to the ground. "We need to get out of here, Aaron." he said. Aaron sighed. "All right." he said. Rauru and Ruto looked at each other. Link then led them down the corridor. Just as they got to the end of it, and to the castle door, a scream rent the air. A man's scream. A king's scream.

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