This is just in time for someone's birthday which always comes around this time of year. Here's hoping that you enjoy Link's little adventure in the graveyard!

The Hand That Holds Courage - by Pseudo Twili

Chapter 14: Graveyard Venture

As the thick shadows of the dark evergreen trees swallowed him, so too the sun was hidden behind a large cloud. Link shivered a bit, but his curiosity was not so dampened as to stay his resolve. He continued plodding on the path, until he caught his foot on something and found himself on slightly skinned knees.

"Oof," he said, wincing. He glanced up at his guardian. "Can you light the way? It's getting kinda dark here."

"I suppose so," she replied. She flitted in front of him, but then she looked down at him and folded her arms. "I still don't think this is a good idea Link. We have no idea what we're walking into." As any good fairy, she could sense something strange and tainted with evil before them.

With a careless movement of his hand and a shake of his head, he replied resolutely, "You heard what they said about not going in when it's dark. Well, we won't. We'll look for the boy and come back out before then."

He marched onward, with Navi floating ahead of him, however reluctant she was to proceed. She too saw a certain amount of prudence in checking the graveyard for the missing child, even though the other villagers had already searched the place. The fact alone that inexplicable things had been happening in that place might seem as a mighty curious thing to a boy who was accustomed to playing about the area, similar as to how Link, a newcomer to the area, was similarly affected.

The thick trees seemed to be doing their best to crowd in on the path, which was slightly overgrown with scraggly grass and littered with dry fir needles and cones. A chill breeze swept through the trees and accosted the green-clad boy like a slap to the cheek. He shivered again, wishing that he had a jacket or cloak or even a blanket to drape around his shoulders. His guardian noticed this and frowned, making a mental note that she needed to be sure that Link soon procured a warm garment for his travels.

Hardly a word escaped him as he traversed the path, his eyes roving around continually, his head jerking if he saw some small movement or heard a slight sound. He jumped mightily when a large crow evinced its displeasure of his presence, and even his fairy started a bit. The soot-black bird then took off from its tree with another caw and a noisy flap of its wings. Otherwise, the forest was still and quiet, rather unnervingly so. The animals seemed to either be in hiding or holding their collective breaths for something to happen. The only other sounds were of the wind buffeting the trees, of the branches thereof creaking and sighing in protest, and of Link's booted steps crunching on the dry needles.

Unlike the great forest which he'd known for the first ten years of his life, the wood in which he now traveled had much less growth around the trees, perhaps because they grew so thickly, almost ominously, and their branches all but blotted out the sky. There were a few short shrubs and some sun-starved grass, but none of the glorious, thick ferns and other verdant undergrowth which had all but covered the floor of the Kokiri Forest like a foot-thick carpet.

Gradually, the trees seemed to open up just slightly; Link soon came upon a fence about as tall as that of the ranch's corral had been. The wooden pilings which constituted the graveyard's boundary were worn but were still doing their job, for the time, in keeping the forest from creeping further into the burial grounds. Ahead of him was a gate of weathered, slightly rusty metal; he pressed first one hand against it and it failed to respond. However, when he pushed all of his weight upon it, it creaked and then complained with a metallic screech before it gave way to his determination.

Before the boy and his fairy spread the graveyard, a wide, irregularly shaped area more than a mile in each direction. With the forest crowding at its borders, the space seemed rather gloomy and foreboding. A bare few dark evergreen trees were situated throughout the grounds, casting their own dour shadows on the graves. The air carried with it a smell of damp earth, the sharp scent of the sap from the trees, and a slight, rotting, foul sort of odor.

"It's a little creepy, I guess," he said, trying to shake off a shudder. He turned his gaze all about, letting his breath out all at once when he couldn't see anything dangerous. "But it's not so bad."

"All the same, you must be careful," his guardian cautioned him as she tried to catch his eye. For the last couple of minutes she'd been wavering as to whether she should confide her fears in him. "Link…"

He finally ceased casting glances all around and settled on her. "What?" he asked, a touch of impatience in his tone as he shuffled his feet.

She hovered directly in front of his face. "Link, I can feel that something is not right here. The villagers were right to warn you."

The boy frowned. "Is that all? You worry too much, Navi. We're only going to look around and leave before dark. You can help me look and keep watch on the sky, okay?"

Rather than complying, she placed her tiny hands on her diminutive hips and leaned forward. "Listen to me, Link. There is something evil lurking here. I know not what it is but I feel it in the same way that you can feel my touch."

She flitted closer and placed her hand on his forehead. By that contact, it was as if the sense of foreboding that she felt leapt from her fingers, to his skin and into his mind. For a couple of moments he too was seized by a frightful sense of some impending danger; he trembled and bit nervously at his lip, but the feeling passed after she removed her hand. She kept his gaze firmly, resolute in holding back the apprehension which filled her.

"Do you know now what I mean?" she pressed further. "You must promise me you will be very careful here."

He nodded quickly. "Sure, I'll be careful. Come on, let's look around before it does get dark!"

As he darted forward to examine something that had captured his attention, Navi sighed to herself and lowered her hands. The wise and ancient Deku Tree had been like a father to the many Kokiri children, his patience seemingly without end, and here she was, a guardian fairy having difficulty with just one adventurous, headstrong charge. How she wished for some of those virtues of the great tree!

All of the space nearest the gate appeared to already be filled with graves, the headstones of which were placed as close to their neighbors and was possible. Link wandered amongst them, attempting to read out the names. The syllables were drawn out and somewhat difficult for him to pronounce. His companion helped him whenever he faltered, encouraging him to discern the whole of some of the gravestones.

"Here lies…Ru-fus…be-lov-ed grand-fat…her?"

Navi explained, "No, it's 'father', Link. It looks like 'fat' and 'her' put together, but the meaning and pronunciation are completely different. The Great Deku Tree is your father, is he not?"

"Oh, father!" the boy exclaimed as he recognized the word. His eyebrows still furrowed, he continued reading, "…Be-loved grand-father…gracee-ous hus-band…splen-did fa-ther—there it is again, Navi!—car-ing un-cle and…val-u-able fri-end. May he…rest in pieces."

"Rest in peace, not pieces, Link," his fairy corrected him.

He quickly wearied of that little game of reading the tombstones, as most of the words he did not comprehend. In addition, some of the letters were worn down with age and elements, giving him further trouble in deciphering their meaning. She enjoined him to try reading just one or two more for practice. He grudgingly complied, until he was about two-thirds of the way through an epitaph for a young woman who had died in an accident. After trying to sound out a particularly lengthy word containing five syllables, he shouted out the last one, clenched his fists together and turned around, refusing to look again at the aggravating stone. Navi knew that no cajoling on her part could persuade him to read further, and thus she wisely kept her own counsel.

Frowning peevishly and folding both arms tightly over his chest, he marched away from that particular grave, giving no attention to any others. However, his attention was soon captured by something else. Situated at one corner of the grounds against the fence was a small hut with slanting roof. The wood from which the small dwelling was made was warped by age; the walls had been painted white a time or two in the past, but all that remained were streaks of dirty gray that hadn't yet peeled off. The exposed wood was also gray with its age, or green with some moist growth.

His frustration with reading forgotten like a flock of birds suddenly taking to the skies, the boy drew closer to the shack. He approached cautiously, unsure whether anyone was nearby, but after looking around he saw no sign of anyone, save a small pile of firewood that someone had been chopping on the far side of the small dwelling. He noticed a single door, which was firmly shut; instead of a knob there hung was a strip of leather which would be used to fasten the door from the outside. However, instead of knocking, Link moved around to the one window of the hut; he stood on his tiptoes but couldn't quite get a glimpse of the inside.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" the fairy hissed near his ear.

He merely shook his head and pressed a finger to his lips as his eyes roved around, searching for something. His glance alighted on the woodpile and he marched toward it. He eyed the intact log which had been used as a base for the splitting; with some small difficulty he managed to tip it over and roll it toward the hut's window. Climbing onto it, he crouched and slowly raised his head to peek through the grimy glass.

Navi spoke right into his ear. "Link, stop that! You shouldn't be doing peeking into someone's home like that! Come away right now!"

He jumped a bit at the nearness of that quiet yet forceful tone, rubbing at his ear. "I just want to look," he protested in a whisper.

Placing a forefinger over his lips again, he rose higher on his convenient stepping stool. The interior was remarkably hard to make out, likely due to the film on glass and the dimness within. He used the palm of his hand to rub at the window, only somewhat improving its condition. After peering in for a few moments, he thought he could make out the indistinct shapes of some furniture but little else than that.

"Get down, Link! Stop spying!" his guardian admonished him further.

He tried to blot out her reprimands which were heightening somewhat in volume, but he was largely unsuccessful in so doing. He shifted his gaze partway toward her, his attention also diverted.

"Navi, shh! You're gonna give me away!"

The next moment he glimpsed something out of the corner of his eye and he turned back again to the window. There, just on the other side of the glass was a deformed, rather hideous thing that he could only guess was supposed to be someone's face. The head appeared to be completely bald. The eyes were deeply sunk into the skin, the lid of one of them sagging considerably. The chin was large and the mouth a lopsided frown. When the lips parted to shout something, this action revealed large, discolored teeth that set crookedly and amid gaps. The somewhat large but adequately proportioned nose was probably the least frightening thing about the face.

"Get 'way from there, scamp!" rasped the voice of the man, and that too send another chill all through the naughty boy.

In scrambling from his perch, Link fell to his knees, further scraping the one from before, yet he didn't even feel it. His eyes wide with fright in beholding that gruesome visage and not fully realizing that it did indeed belong to a human, he pelted headlong into the depths of the graveyard, hardly heeding the path he took. Navi flitted after him, calling to him to slow down; her words may have entered his ears but they didn't seem to reach his brain.

He slowed at last, after dashing through most of the width of the graveyard. His chest heaving as his throat rasped with each breath, he turned to look behind him, only mildly assuaged that he and his guardian were completely on their own. His lips parted as he tried to say something, but his words came out as an unintelligible wheeze. He leaned against a large, lichen-covered gravestone and hung his head over, trying to suck in more air.

"Wh-who was…that?" he managed to say.

Navi, hovering just above eye-level pressed her lips together for a moment. However, she refrained from scolding her charge any further. She knew he was fully aware how foolish his choice had been, and no amount of remonstration on her part would enable him to undo it.

"I think that was the keeper of the graveyard," she replied. "You remember Julina told us about him."

"Oh yeah…" he muttered.

He refused to look her in the eye and was too ashamed to comment on the man's grotesque appearance. His breathing nearer normal, he kicked absently at a rock imbedded partway in the ground. The stone jerked but did not come completely loose from the soil that held it in its grip. He raised his gaze suddenly to the sky, relieved again that the sun still shone through wisps of cloud. The light seemed to be diffused by the time it reached him, however, a result of the trees that tried to close in on the graveyard.

As he began wandering further amongst the graves, he began noticing that the stone markers thereof were more elaborate than the others at the other part of the burial grounds. Some graves were decorated even further with large etchings or statues. It became a game to him to count them, until he stopped short when he spotted a small, square-shaped building some distance from the border of the grounds.

Narrowing his eyes as he glared at the edifice, he folded his arms. "That's not another one of those…is it?"

"Another gravekeeper's cottage?" his fairy reiterated. "No, Link. That is a mausoleum."

"A mouser-what?" he questioned back, mangling the unfamiliar word. His eyebrows rose and he lost some of his disagreeable look at the prospect of something new and interesting.

"A mausoleum," she repeated. "Inside are tombs in which the dead are laid to rest, and no doubt there are still more of them in an underground crypt."

His brow furrowed again. "Dead? Do you mean…" He faltered and gulped something that had risen in his throat. "…Like the Great Deku Tree?"

The fairy turned to face him, addressing him in the gentlest of tones. "It's a bit different with people, Link. When a being with a soul dies, the spirit leaves its earthly covering, such as a body. That…well, that is similar to the Deku Tree. His…his spirit is no longer with us as it was… Without his spirit, the great tree which he inhabited…well, it will remain for a long time…slowly drying out and decaying." Just like…any other dead tree, she thought, but did not voice it for the sake of her charge.

It still hurt too much to dwell on the sudden passing of his guardian and father. The prickling tears made his eyes seem all the bluer. "…Where do they go?" he asked, sniffling.

"Those good souls who have done their best to serve the goddesses fly to that wonderful heavenly place where they might see the creators of our world, and where no suffering or trouble is known." She paused, giving him time to fully appreciate the depth of her words. "On the other hand, those who in life chose to serve their own selfish ends or enslaved themselves to the forces of darkness, if they go unrepented, they will never know peace after death. And still other souls have to make recompense for their faults, or have some great lingering regret, they might remain, half in our world and half in realm of spirits, but unable to rest in either."

"The Great Deku Tree… Navi…is he…is he?"

The diminutive guardian fluttered near her charge. She placed her alabaster hands on either side of his nose and tears coursed over her fingers like salty rivers.

"I believe with all my heart and soul that wherever the Deku Tree is, he is looking down on us even now, watching over your journey. And even though he has left us, a reminder of his life still flows through the very veins of the forest…and in a way, through you as well," she told him gently, all the while plying him with her purplish-gray eyes.

Rather than speech, muffled sobs parted his lips, the sounds of which were soon swallowed up by eerie expanse of the graveyard. His nose ran and Navi summoned his handkerchief, which he'd earlier delightfully relegated to his magical storage, and which dwarfed her as she handed its stained folds to the boy. He said nothing else, but only let his grief leave him. His fairy needed no words; she merely had to glimpse his eyes and know how grateful he was.

After a few minutes, he drew closer to the structure; through the remnants of his tears, he stared intently at the pillars, spires and many elaborate etchings. A gate of metal bars firmly blocked the entrance, and above that, on the gable of the roof, was depicted a detailed scene with several people, which included a man with a sword held up to the heavens and a lady with light shining from her. Emblazoned above this intricate scene was a large bird with unfurling wings and a Triforce beneath its talons. He remembered seeing that same emblem around the castle and on the armor and gear of the guards he'd encountered.

"It's the royal crest," Navi explained. "This must be where members of the royal family are buried. Who knows how many generations are sleeping here…"

"Sleeping? I thought you said they were dead?"

She shook her head minutely, an upward quirk coming to her lips. "Well, it's just another way of saying it, Link."

Wrinkling his nose as he peered into the darkness beyond the restricting gate of the mausoleum, the boy remarked, "It smells bad in there."

"Ah, yes…" she murmured as she fluttered just outside the bars. She realized that what she'd started out to explain earlier had been diverted by talk about the Deku Tree. "You see, Link…as I explained, when a person dies, his soul is separated from his body. Without that immortal spirit that keeps it alive, the body starts to…" She paused, searching for the right words to put it to him simply but to avoid giving him nightmares. "…It starts to decay."

Still making a face, he glanced up at her. "Oh, do you mean it starts to rot? Like meat or fish when you leave it sitting out in the sun for too long?"

He remembered that Saria had found need to lightly scold him a few times when he left fish heads and guts in a pile too near their homes, rather than disposing of them as he ought. After having to bury the slimy, revolting things over which the flies buzzed madly, each time he told himself he'd be much better off if he took care of them sooner.

"Well…yes, rather like that," the fairy replied, once more amused by the innocent knowledge her charge possessed.

He clenched at the bars with both hands, pressing his face almost through the gap between them. The odor was not so strong as to chase him away, and there was no scarily visaged gravekeeper to give him the shivers, thus his inquisitiveness ran like a river full of snowmelt. Just below his hands, he noticed, two of the bars were bent slightly away from each other to create a wider gap. He tried to slip through and got his arm and shoulder in just fine, but the equipment on his back prevented him from going further.

"You're not going in there?" his guardian demanded, her eyes widening with some alarm.

"Yeah. Why not?" he returned as he removed his sword and shield, both gifts from his beloved father. "Maybe that boy is hiding in here." He tugged at his baldric and belt. "And if I can fit through, maybe he did too."

Frowning, she hovered closer. "I still don't like it, Link. Something is not right here and I don't think we should go in there. Even if the missing boy is inside, why wouldn't he have come out after this time? Remember, he's been gone since last night."

He merely shrugged. Then, after he laid his equipment on the ground in front of the gate, he again tried to get through the bars. He has to squeeze and push and he had a couple more skinned spots afterward, but he made it to the other side. Rubbing those smarting areas, he reached back and grabbed for his gear. His fairy passed through with more ease than a thread through the eye of a needle; while he donned his sword and shield again, she intensified her glow and flitted several feet further into the mausoleum.

"Link, wait! Don't move yet," she called to him.

He turned to face her, his heartbeat quickening. "What?"

She floated a couple of feet above the ground, the light of her aura shimmering in all directions. Pointing to the dirt and bits of debris which invariably made their way through the bars, she said, "Look! Can you see them? There is a single set of footprints here!"

Expelling the air from his lungs in a great rush, he questioned, "What?"

"Yes, there are footprints here, and I'd say they are smaller than yours, to be sure." She frowned to herself as she realized his idea seemed to be entirely correct.

"Oh? Oh!" he exclaimed as he too caught on. He grinned and slung his baldric over his shoulder as he took a step forward.

The fairy floated back to him and gazed upon him, her eyebrows lowered. "Link, before we go any further, you must equip yourself properly. Put your baldric back on."

He stuck his bottom lip out slightly. "But I don't want to. I'll just have to take it off again when we go back out."

"We don't know what we'll be walking into here, Link. Before you go any further, you will put it back on." She leaned forward, placing her tiny hands on her hips.

He pouted and made a face, but he obeyed by slowly and purposefully painstakingly pulling the baldric into its proper place. Still scowling, he refused to look his guardian in the eye even after he'd finished; instead he tried to squint into the dank inkiness of the mausoleum.

Navi nodded, but her uneasy frown and the concerned tilt of her brows did not lessen. "Good," she said. "Now if we must, I suppose we'll look around in here. Promise me you will be careful, Link. Don't take any chances!"

"I already said I would," he returned grouchily, his arms folded in front of his chest in a manner much like Mido had been wont to employ.

Then, in the cold stillness of the air, he head a low, gurgling sound. A chill fear wrapped itself around his spine and every hair on his head seemed to stand up as his hand flew to the hilt of his blade. He glanced around frantically, pointing his sword outward as if to ward off an enemy he could not yet see. A couple of seconds passed by and nothing jumped out at him.

The guardian fairy danced some feet ahead again, her glow betraying nothing but the corridor. She floated back to her charge. "Nothing is there."

"A-are you sure?" he quavered, hardly daring to glance at her as he clutched at his sword.

"Positive," she said. "We're perfectly safe…for now at least."

His frightened expression eased somewhat, and his battle-ready stance gave way as he sagged a bit in relief. He waited several more moments, but still there was nothing threatening him. Hardly had he returned his blade to its scabbard when he heard the sound again.

"Oh, I know what it is," Navi declared. "It's your stomach growling, Link!"

He let his hand fall from the hilt of the Kokiri sword. His face growing warm and rosy, he was too embarrassed to say anything. He supposed he was a bit hungry, as it had been a few hours since he'd last eaten anything and he'd been running from one place to another, his heart pumping, his mind churning and the rest of his body trying to keep up. He turned and placed his hands on the inside of the bars again as he stared back out at the graveyard, almost like a prisoner. He thought of the scrumptious meat pies he'd eaten earlier; it was certainly a more comforting thought than delving into the unknown depths of the mausoleum. Navi noticed his hesitation and wished they could forget the whole thing…except that the child from the village would still be missing.

Finally he sat down on the ground, his back against the bars as he considered what food he had in his magical storage. He decided first of all to munch on an apple, as it was a comfort to taste the sweet and the tart and think of all the other apples he'd eaten with Saria and how much a certain chestnut filly loved them. This particular fruit had yellow-red skin and pale flesh, but he missed and wished he had one of the snow apples from home. He left the core on the ground and then proceeded to wolf down more bread and meat and follow that with a few gulps from his canteen.

Standing and shaking one foot that was beginning to fall asleep, he again attempted to scrutinize the blackness. "…Let's go," he said.

With her aura as bright as she could make it, the fairy floated near his head and just out of his line of sight so as to keep from compromising his vision. As Navi had told him just earlier, a few sarcophagi were situated in the building, ensconced with some grandeur. What caught his attention more was a set of steep, time-roughed steps that led further and deeper into the main of the royal's family's crypt. Link stared down for a heart-thumping moment. He put his hand to his sword as if he needed reassurance that it was still there, inhaled a tremulous breath and then began the descent.

The damp, dank air grew heavier as they proceeded, seeming to Link as if it was closing in on him. He moved slowly, wanting to be sure of each step before he made another. He wished he had a dozen more fairies, or even torches to light the place up with reckless abandon.

After about a minute of careful descent, they found themselves in a great, cavernous space which echoed dully at the slightest sound the boy made. Large pillars with elaborate swirls carved into them reached first upward and then in arcs so as to support the ceiling. Some of the lesser members of the royal family were laid out along the sides of the main crypt in granite or marble coffins which had been finely decorated with little concern for expense.

Branching off from the huge area were myriad smaller rooms where the beloved kings and queens of the land, and some of their most closely related family had been enshrined with much lavish affection. These small crypts were decorated with all manner of ornate carvings and statues; many of these royal sarcophagi, which were too elaborate to merely be called coffins, were further ornamented by a marble image depicting the sleeping individual entombed therein. Each of these was also accompanied by the royal crest and a lengthy inscription depicting lineage and merits of life.

"Many of these are centuries old," Navi told her charge, her voice filled with quiet respect. "Some of them are quite dusty!"

As if on cue, Link sneezed for about the tenth time since entering the crypt. He wrinkled his nose and swiped at it with his sleeve. He shivered, more from the damp in the air than anything else.

They still hadn't found the slightest sign of anyone living having been there recently. He was more than a little bored after seeing so many sarcophagi, which were beginning to all look alike to him, and because he was too impatient to fully appreciate the gorgeous intricacies of detail. The next little room they entered seemed just as the rest, but as he hastily made his way toward the exit, his fairy remained at the side of the sarcophagus decorated with most exquisite flowers carved into its sides.

"Link, wait. Take a look at this one," she said softly, beckoning him back with one pale, slender finger.

He opened his mouth to protest, but shut it again, quirked his lip and then marched over to her. "What?" he asked, not bothering to conceal the child-like irritation in his tone.

"This is not an old sarcophagus," she informed him. "Look at the date. It's only from about eight or nine years ago."

Scrunching his eyes as he looked at the feminine face etched onto the top of the marble and even though the light was limited, he thought there was something slightly familiar about the gentle features. He glanced at the writing nearby, frowning as he struggled to decipher it.

"'Queen…So-Soph-elia Gis-eld-ine Ak-kan Hy-rule'," he read, with the agonizing slowness with which he might also forgive Mido for some deed. "Queen?" he repeated, trying to remember what meaning, if any, Navi had ascribed to that word.

"You remember me telling you about the fairy queens?" she queried.

He nodded quickly.

"We fairies always have a queen who guides us. However, in the Hylian world it is different. The land more often has a man as their ruler, and the woman he takes as his wife is his queen. Their children are princes and princesses. Now, normally the eldest male child is heir to the throne and it is he who becomes the next king. But if there is no male among the children, and the king dies, the crown goes to the eldest girl, who then becomes the reigning queen. So in this case, Princess Zelda would eventually become the queen of Hyrule, since she is an only child. Do you understand, Link?"

"I guess." He gave a little toss of his shoulders. "Can you read the rest of this, Navi? Is she Zelda's mother?"

Her miniscule eyebrows rose at that last question. She hadn't expected such keen observation from her charge. "What makes you ask that?"

Shrugging again, he replied, "I dunno. I guess she looks a little like Zelda."

He didn't even realize the full truth, but the fact was that he was rather fascinated with the subject of mothers. Ever since he'd emerged from the forest and begun mingling with people, they had often asked him about his parents, and particularly his mother. Though not many people told him so, they seemed either surprised or concerned, or both, that he was wandering about by himself. At first the subject seemed quite foreign to him, and he still wouldn't be able to describe the concept, but he somehow knew just what it meant.

Malon had spoken of her mother fondly, though not without sadness; Sarelle and her mother had been through a lot, but they clearly leaned on each other for support. Orrick had told Link gleefully of all the nice things his mother would bake for him when he had a day off from his page duties. And then there was the mother in Kakariko who wept for her missing boy.

Link would never cease loving Saria with all of his little heart, even when he remembered the times when she had to scold him, and he already had a great fondness for his fairy beyond that of finally having a guardian companion. Even so, he had a feeling, which was more like an itch in the corner of his brain, that he was missing something for which neither a best friend nor a fairy could quite compensate. He'd been the recipient of some affectionate attention both from Sarelle's mother and from the plump Yerri, and he knew that mothers were supposed to be rather like that.

Since he'd already made the effort to read the first part of the queen's epitaph, Navi conceded to his request, pronouncing the inscription clearly. "'Queen Sophelia Giseldine Akkan Hyrule, Wife of King Horanus Viconwere Hyrule, Daughter of the Duke of Akkan, Granddaughter to the Earl of Makuda, Cherished Queen, Beloved by All.' Oh, and it says she died when she was only twenty-three years old. How sad!"

"What happened?" he questioned.

"I don't know, Link. That's all it says."

With nothing else in that room to hold his attention, the boy left and continued searching through the other small crypts. His mouth gradually deepened into a frown as he still found no sign of the missing child. He was thinking that their venture into that somewhat creepy but also slightly interesting place was a big fat waste of time.

"You don't think he'd be hiding in one of those sarphus…sargus…surcoa…those things?" he queried innocently, turning to his guardian.

"Oh, Link! No!" she exclaimed. "Goodness, what gave you such a horrible idea?" She gave him a look for a long moment. "Anyway, each sarcophagus is heavily sealed. A small boy certainly wouldn't have the strength or the tools to open one. And aside from that, I think he should be smart enough not to shut himself away like that."

The boy scowled. "Well then I guess he isn't here." And then he made a hmphing sound not unlike Mido.

Navi tried to keep her face from betraying her own dissatisfaction and disappointment. At the same time, she felt some relief, sparked by a hope that their search in the royal family's crypts was not completely fruitless if it would make Link leave the graveyard completely. The whole time she'd been trying to quash a foreboding feeling that made even her skin prickle.

"Perhaps we should go back to the village and see if anyone has found him by now," she suggested. "It might be nearing dark, too, so we really should leave."

He was stomping along the back wall of the main room, and when she said that he slowed to a stop. He was on the verge of agreeing with her sentiment, as the graveyard and all that it held had about lost its allure, and he was weary of the damp, stale air of the crypt. He opened his mouth, but the words never left his tongue.

There, in the shadows at the very edge of the sphere of light cast by his fairy, was something jagged and crumbling. He pointed to it and they both neared it, seeing a large hole in the wall. It almost looked as though the wall had been torn apart; its appearance could have been attributed to time slowly wearing away at the stones, or perhaps something far more sinister was at work. Both the boy and his fairy would sooner have expected to find naught but earth spilling through the uneven opening, but there was only complete blackness. As he drew closer and put his head forward in an attempt to see beyond the impaired wall, a nasty stench assailed his senses. He jerked backward, gagging as he tried to clear the smell that clung to his nostrils.

"Eeughh!" he cried. "Th-that's…awful!"

The fairy could discern the smell as well, but like most other things it did not affect her as it did him. Instead, she was struck, almost as with a physical blow, by that same awareness of something evil. While earlier it been to her mind and soul like a small itch, now it was like a great burning sensation gnawing and screaming at her.

"I do not like it here, Link!" she said. "The air is seeded with malevolence. I wonder if perhaps the boy is not here after all, as you said. We must leave with haste!" She felt almost like she was asking him to do the cowardly thing, and she hated it, but she also did not want to blurt out that she thought he would be in great danger if he stayed.

The boy found himself at a crossroads of decision as he stared into that hole of darkness, with he knew not what lying beyond it. He held his nose, the chill air from the opening causing him to shiver again. He was suddenly reminded of the time when he and a few other Kokiri had found a cave in the forest. As were the other boys, he'd been excited and eager to explore it, and because he had no fairy to light his way he'd run back to the little village to get a torch for himself. However, just after he returned, someone in the group whispered a worrying reminder that they were quite near the Lost Woods, and that there might be a scary monster or a ghost who dwelt in the cave. This considerably dampened the enthusiasm of the would-be explorers, who looked at their feet, and began to back away with small steps, making silly excuses for leaving suddenly. Link hadn't yet moved, his heart beating quicker as he was torn between his fear of the unknown and his intense desire to find out what was inside the cave.

Mido, in an attempt to mask his own apprehension and uncertainty, had faced everyone else and yelled, "You're all scared, aren't you?! You all have frog livers! Gutless cowards! Sissies!" His narrowed eyes alighted on Link as he finished his tirade.

"I am not!" the youngest boy had cried, indignantly refuting the slight which he felt Mido had intended solely for him. Then he had stormed into the cave, his torch nearly being extinguished in his haste. He repeated several times, "I am not afraid! I am not! I am not afraid!"

In the royal family's crypt, he muttered under his breath again, "I am not afraid!"

"What?" his fairy asked, considering her charge with puzzled expression.

He did not answer, but felt for the hilt of his sword and then clambered through the hole in the wall. Navi wished with all of her might that she did not have to go too, but it was her sworn duty to remain with him and guide him; if she left the boy now she would betray the Deku Tree and break the promise she'd made to him at his death. Link was a good boy, even if he was prone to being stubborn and reckless, and she was sure she cared for him even a little like a mother for her child. Thus, she fluttered after him, giving him and his endeavor light and comfort in hope.

They found themselves in a corridor which even at first glance seemed to be in considerably worse repair than the royal family's crypt. The putrid, rotting smell surrounded the boy and he had to gradually try and accustom himself to it, though it made his stomach churn. The walls were crumbling in places, unknown slimy things grew on many surfaces including the ceiling, and the floors were pitted and gouged out in places. Link stumbled over the uneven spots several times.

"I wish we had some string," Navi murmured.

"What would we need that for?"

"It would help you mark your way."

"Oh, well…I don't have any string."

As the fairy had feared, he soon found himself deep in the winding, maze-like corridors without any clear idea of how to return whence he'd come. Then he heard the low and eerie sound of someone or something moaning. The very marrow seemed to freeze in his bones and again he clutched at his hilt of his blade, his eyes darting around frantically. More moans joined the first one, as if in a chorus, and Link shuddered mightily. Though he covered his ears, he could not erase the horrifying, unearthly sounds from re-echoing in his mind.

"I want to go back!" he wailed to Navi. His widened eyes snapped to the corridor on his right and left. "Which way do we go?!"

She also glanced around. "Um… I'm not sure, but maybe it's this way…" she said, pointing to their left. "At least, I hope it is," she whispered under her breath, for all she wanted was to get him out of there.

He wasted not a moment in scuttling in the direction she had indicated, a shiver running through him each time he heard the moans. However, rather than drawing away from the sounds completely, sometimes they grew louder and sometimes only a little fainter. He was sprinting by that time, his breath coming in rapid spurts, his eyes wide with panic, and his tanned complexion considerably paler.

He came to an abrupt stop when he suddenly found himself in a room he'd never seen before. It had a few pillars holding up the ceiling as did the huge crypt of the royal family, but these were not decorated as the others had been. Navi almost cried out and she floated ever closer to her charge. Even Link could sense that something was not right in that place; his skin crawled and his breath caught in his throat.

Creeping forward with his sword at the ready and his heart pounding an erratic rhythm in his chest, he cast his eyes in every direction, trying to see further than his fairy's light could penetrate. Some simple caskets had been lined up in intervals along the walls, but they were empty and the lids looked as though they had been quite forcibly torn off and cast aside. The odor in the room was still more pronounced than it had been during his wanderings through the corridors.

They heard another of those courage-numbing moans and the boy all but jumped out of his skin when he realized how close it was. Then he saw the source of the sound. It was a figure tall enough to be of any of the adult Hylians he'd seen in Castle Town or Kakariko, except that this thing appeared to be nearly all skeleton, with only the barest amount of darkened, rotting flesh stretched over the bones. It stood with shoulders hunched and a strange rigidity to its limbs. Its head had a few disgusting, stringy hairs still attached to the skull, and the face was covered by a burial mask.

Link didn't know what to do; he wanted to run, but he was all but paralyzed at the appalling sight. The creature let out another low moan, and other like sounds drifted up from other parts of the room. A horrified gasp escaped the boy as he realized that more of those awful, human-shaped creatures were lurking in the darkness.

The one nearest him lifted its head slightly and from behind the holes in the mask, its eyes latched onto Link. It screeched terribly, a sound which was ten-times more bone-chilling and bloodcurdling than the moans had been. He found himself unable to move, as if he really had been frozen to the spot in terror, and he couldn't seem to drag his eyes from the creature. It was coming toward him with a slow, mindless sort of step, and he was sure it was going to kill him. He screamed, but it only echoed in his mind and no sound issued from his mouth.

Near his ear, Navi cried, "Don't look at it, Link! Don't look at it!"

She darted forward, dancing up and down, directly in the face of the slouching creature. It screeched again; she was unaffected, but her distraction broke the seeming trance in which it had held the boy. It lashed out at her with one gaunt hand, but she dodged easily and darted back to her charge.

"Run, Link! Run!" she screamed at him as she bobbed frantically before his eyes.

He found that he could make his legs work and so flee he did. He tripped a couple of times on the stones but hardly had he fallen than he was up again and pelting along the corridor again. His breath came in ragged gasps, his heart throbbed, and his legs ached, but still he didn't stop. His mind was completely taken over by stark, sheer terror, which permeated through his whole expression and especially his eyes. He felt cold all over, and yet the sweat poured from him; his eyes were wet and he didn't know whether it was from tears or perspiration. Navi had all she could do to keep up with his rapid pace and light his way.

Finally he had to halt after he again caught his foot on a rough, cracked part of the stone floor. His knees were skinned worse than before and were now oozing blood. He tried to pick himself up to dash onward again, but his head spun and he fell down again. His chest felt very tight and his breaths came in quick rasps that weren't enough to satisfy his craving for more air. He wanted to run and run but his body would not allow it; he desired desperately to get away from the horrible sights and sounds which he could remember so clearly as if they were right before him again.

His fairy put a hand to his heated forehead. "You must catch your breath, Link," she told him, trying to keep her tone as even a possible. "…They're…not following us as near as I can tell. Just catch your breath and then we'll go on."

He nodded, tears squeezing from his eyes. Had Navi been human-sized, he would have put his arms around her and clung to her as if with the grip of one who had seen the face of death and still lived. Instead, she alighted in his trembling hand and he pulled her against his tunic. Pressed against his heart, she could hear its rapid beat; her own heart palpitated at their close escape and in pity for the boy. She made her aura pulse in an attempt to comfort him, putting into it all the warmth she could muster.

When he could speak without gasping between each syllable, he pulled back his hands slightly and looked down at her, his eyes wide and moist. "How…how do we get out of here, Navi?" he asked, his lip quivering.

"Well, this place is like a maze, which I'm pretty sure is apart from the royal family's crypt. And since we didn't have any string, the best way to find our way out of a maze like this is to go along the outside until we find the exit." She inhaled quickly, knowing she needed to keep perfectly calm for his sake. She pointed up the corridor in the same direction they'd been traveling. "We'll go this way and keep turning in one direction until we reach the outer wall. Then we just continue until we find our way out."

His whole chin trembled. "A-are you s-sure?"

"It's the best chance we have to get out of here," she assured him evenly.

She glanced once more at their surroundings and spotted a sharp-edged stone that had cracked out from the rest of its surroundings. She bade him pick it up and drag its almost dagger-like edge against the wall. When it made a discernable mark, she smiled and encouraged him to have heart.

"You see?" she said. "It's just as good as having a ball of string to unwind. You just have to mark the walls like that and we'll know where we've been!"

He wiped one side of his face against his shoulder, looked down at the rough stone in his hand and took a firmer grip on it. He let a long, shaky breath leave him, and then drew in a new one. He started off at a quick trot, holding the useful piece of rubble to the wall almost constantly. A couple of times he traded his marking stone for a new one that Navi indicated to him.

His breaths still came in quick spurts, his eyes would frantically search their surroundings, and his ears twitch at the slightest sound. Occasionally they again heard the moans of the undead creatures, which caused Link to jerk, bite through his lip, let up on his marking on the walls, and a couple of times even to drop the sharp stone. Then he would scramble to pick it up again, and his hand would fly and make his marking with only that small break.

They had gone on this way for a little while, in which the boy pleaded with his fairy to lead them out of there, and she told him they would, only that they had to find the hole he'd so bravely—or recklessly—climbed through before. Her plan seemed to be working so far, as they had already been through what she was sure was one of the corners of the maze of corridors. Even if they had to traverse to the other three corners, she was determined to find their way to the outside again.

Another sound made Link jump and his heart pound. He stopped, holding the sharp piece of rubble outward and drawing his sword. Then, as he turned around, he saw in his fairy's glow a narrower opening in the corridor that he had passed by and yet hadn't noticed at first. Whatever being had made the sound was cloaked in the darkness of that space, and he had no desire to stay around and discern just what it was. He made an about-face and scuttled away a few steps before he had to stop. His guardian wasn't following him.

"Come on, Navi!" he called to her, his voice carrying more than a hint of panic.

"No, no, Link, wait," she returned, her tone urgent as she beckoned him back. "Someone is here but it isn't anyone evil. I am sure of that."

His left hand trembled as he held his sword, and he glanced around with narrowed eyes but he didn't dare go too far beyond his fairy's glow. "Are you sure?" he demanded, as if he hadn't heard her at all.

"I can feel it," she replied. She paused as an idea formed in her head. "Link, what if it's…" She glanced in the direction of the darkened area. "What if it's the missing boy? We've come all this way, so we can't let an opportunity like this slip by us! We have to look!"

His eyebrows went up and he took one step nearer her. "Y-you're sure it isn't o-one of those…th-things?"

"I'm positive," she assured him. She fluttered a little closer, shortening the distance between them. "But please, hurry before they do find us again!"

He swallowed thickly, tightened his grip both around his sword and the sharp stone, gazed upon his guardian fairy and nodded. With her hovering just over his head again, he poked slowly into the smaller corridor, holding his blade at the ready in case she was wrong in her feeling. The noise he'd heard before, a soft, whimpering, pitiful sort of sound, came again and not knowing what it was made him want to dart out of there like the time he'd fled a swarm of bees in the forest.

That new bit of corridor merely led him for a dozen or so yards and then come to a seemingly abrupt end at which was situated an ancient sarcophagus which was thankfully still sealed. Curled up on the floor at its foot was a small boy, dirty, quivering, whimpering and nearly comatose. His eyes were glassed over, his pale face was streaked with grime and dried tears, and he seemed to neither see nor hear Link's cautious approach. Nearby lay a torch which had long since burnt out and left the carrier thereof in complete darkness.

"You were right!" the little hero gasped. "It's him! It must be! The missing boy!"

"Yes, the poor thing! Has he been down here all this time?"

Crouching near the boy, Link laid his blade on the floor where it would be within easy reach and then touched one of the trembling shoulders. The child jerked and yelped, a sound which was more rasp than scream, as his throat was parched and spent with cries of terror. He squirmed, trying to press himself further back into the small space between the wall and the sarcophagus.

"Hey, don't be afraid! We're here to rescue you!" the green-clad child exclaimed. His tone was strained with urgency, as he knew it was his responsibility to take the other boy out of that horrible place. "Come on! Get up! We have to get out of here!" He shivered and his heart quaked as he remembered the undead creatures.

Flitting forward, his guardian said, "Let me try."

Link continued squatting before the boy, but made no further attempt to touch him as he watched the fairy. She landed on the hard floor, mere inches from the petrified child. If he was still aware enough to see anything, then she would all but fill his vision, her glow calmly pulsing and her warmth bathing his face.

"It's all right. We're here to help you," she murmured soothingly. "You're not alone anymore. Everything is going to be all right. Can you hear me?"

He whimpered, his eyes flickering as if he was trying to focus on her. Link observed the boy's reaction and urged her to persevere in her efforts.

"You're safe. We're here with you and we're going to take you back to your mother."

"M-m-m-muver…" the poor child rasped.

"Yes, that's right, your mother is waiting for you. Can you get up?" She turned around and motioned to her charge, whispering, "Link, get out your canteen, please. He could use a drink."

He obeyed quickly, extracting the requested item. The little hero proffered it to the other child, but the latter was still too shocked and dazed for his mind to properly process all that he was seeing. However, he allowed Link to pull him into a semi-upright position, and as soon as the water touched his parched tongue, he began guzzling at it until he spluttered and had to stop for coughing. As she fluttered over them, Navi cautioned her charge not to let the little boy have too much at once.

After his own recent fright, Link could well understand the state of the younger child at being alone and without a glimmer of light for so many hours. He considered if it had been him in the other boy's shoes and he shuddered mightily. His only desire was to be under the open skies again, and knew he had to bring the other boy with him.

"What's your name?" he asked, suddenly realizing he hadn't heard anyone mention it before.

The boy reached for the canteen again, gulping greedily and spilling some of its contents until Link took it away from him. The smaller child looked around frantically, as if he expected to see something leering at them from the darkness, and with a little cry he turned his head and tried to melt into the floor again.

"Link, give him a little of that potion the captain sent you. That should help him feel better," Navi suggested.

The little hero nodded and brought out a vessel of the deep red liquid. He lifted it to the other child's lips and encouraged him to drink a bit of it. The terror did not leave his features, but his eyes became a little clearer and his movements slightly less fatigued.

"Try talking to him again," the fairy murmured near Link's ear.

"Okay," he replied. He eyed the boy. "Say, what's your name?"

His eyes darting around before finally alighting on the elder child, the village boy licked his lips. "I-I-I'm…R-Ren."

"Hi, Ren. My name's Link. Boy, am I glad we found you! Can you get up? We need to get out of here before…those things find us…"

With Link's help, the other boy managed to rise to his feet, though his legs were quite shaky beneath him. He latched onto the arm of the elder child.

"I-I w-want my m-mama!"

"You just come with us and we'll take you to her," Navi told him. "Are you ready?"

Ren nodded, too exhausted and afraid to say anything else; he clung to the older boy with a grip that would rival that of a leech. Meanwhile, Link put away his canteen and the potion bottle, picked up his sword, and then continued progressing along the same corridor he'd left just minutes before. Ren was considerably jumpier than he whenever they heard another of those dreadful moans. Link was still shaking down to his boots but with someone whom he had to look out for and protect, he somehow felt a little more courageous. He set his lips together, even as his sword hand trembled, more determined than ever to make their escape from that dreadful place.

Shortly after passing by a second outer corner of the labyrinthine corridors, a most wondrous, welcome sight beckoned to them; it was, of course, that for which they'd been searching, the hole through which both boys had stepped on their separate exploratory missions. Link gave a shout, cast down the stone with which he'd been marking the walls, and grabbed at Ren's shoulder.

"There it is! We found it!" he exulted.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Navi breathed softly. Her relief was short-lived, as she was still uneasy with that same sense of foreboding evil. "We're not out of it yet, though. Be careful, Link!"

He was already scrambling through the opening, and partway through he reached back to help Ren, who was exhausted, his legs shaky and uncertain. Within moments they were both standing once again in the royal family's crypt, with the fairy fluttering over the head of her charge. Link started forward, his mind solely concentrated on reaching the other end of the great room and the stairs which would take them up to safety, but then he halted abruptly. Lingering through the crypt were ghostly lanterns held by wraith-like, translucent forms which floated over the floor.

"Oh, no, I was afraid of this!" the fairy murmured. She hovered near the elder boy's ear so only he could hear. "It must be dark outside. When the sun goes down, evil and restless spirits are wont to roam, like those stalchildren you encountered before. These are poes that you see here—they must wander through about and try to find their way to the surface when darkness falls."

"B-but how do we get through?" the green-clad child questioned quietly. He had to struggle to barely keep hold of his mounting panic and feeling of being trapped and hunted.

"Yes, well…" she mumbled, wringing her tiny hands. "…There are certainly too many for you to try and fight, and these poes are tricky. They are partly incorporeal already and can make themselves completely so. In such an instance I'm afraid you would be able to do little against them with your current skills. I think the best thing we can do it try to get by them quietly. If they do notice you…well, you must make a run for it."

"Are you sure?" he whispered back. His whole body was shaking, his eyes were bright with terror, and he had to clench his teeth and lips together to keep from letting loose with blubbering sobs.

"That's right. Do not stay and fight, Link. Avoid them as best you can and keep going. Do you understand?"

"Y-y-es."

He had to drag Ren along with him; when the younger boy pulled back, the fear evident in his features, and started to cry, Link put a hand over Ren's mouth and then a finger to his own lips. The green-clad child had a similar expression, but his motions were decisive and commanded obedience. The village boy wept silent tears that clouded his eyes as Link half dragged him through the crypt. They were about halfway through the great room when one of the poes noticed them and emitted a short, shrill shriek.

"Link, watch out!"

He ducked just in time, pulling Ren down with him as the ethereal being charged over their heads. As soon as it was past, the little hero scrambled up, leaving on the floor some smears of blood from his knees, grabbed the other boy's arm and pelted for the exit once more. They avoided any serious confrontation with the poes, but as they neared the dark passage which held the stairs, their hearts dropped out of their heels as they heard the chilling groans of the undead.

"No, no, no!" Link moaned, his breath catching.

That was all he could say with tongue and throat feeling like he'd swallowed a blanket, though a great many other thoughts ran through his head. Why were those horrible things there? Were they guarding the exit so he and his companions couldn't get out? He wanted to flee in the opposite direction, except that he had nowhere safe to go. He gradually realized that his fairy was saying something to him and he had to push through the terrible thoughts that besieged his mind before he could properly discern her meaning.

"Take a deep breath," she bade him. Once he had done so, she continued, hovering between the boys so they could both hear her. "We have to get through. It is the only way. Now, they seem to dislike light so I will fly at them to distract them. Link, you have your sword and shield ready in case they go after you. Ren, you stay behind Link, and as soon as you see an opening, run up the stairs. It will be dark, but just keep going! And whatever you do, don't look at them! They will likely scream at you, but if you do not look at them they will not be about to paralyze you. Remember that! Do not look directly at them! Are you ready?"

The green clad child nodded, not even daring to say anything, for both his heart and the contents of his stomach seemed to be in his mouth. He gulped, swallowing nothing but air. Clenching his blade in one hand and holding his shield in front of his face, he took first one tremulous step forward and then another. Ren captured a fistful of the back of the elder boy's tunic and whimpered. The fairy flew ahead, glancing back at her charge and making sure he kept moving.

They entered the passageway and Navi darted ahead, dancing in the masked faces of the undead creatures. They shrieked and groped through the air, trying to extinguish that which blinded them so. Link and Ren were for a moment frozen in terror of the prospect of slipping by the undead with little more than inches to spare.

"Go, now!" the guardian fairy commanded, not even pausing in her frantic bouncing in the air.

Her words were like a spark in Link's mind, kindling his resolve to get out of there alive. Raising his shield a little higher, he pressed through, with the younger boy trailing immediately behind him. Navi agitated the creatures in such a way that she pushed them all in one direction, leaving a space for the boys to pass. Link ducked and as he darted through the opening he was sure he couldn't even breathe for the terror that seized him. As soon as he realized they were between the creatures and safety, he shoved roughly at Ren.

"Run!" he hissed.

The poor village boy cried in fright at being loosed from the only physical connection he had, but as Link began pushing him up the stairs, his muscles took over and he scrambled up them on hands and knees. The little hero backed up the stairs, wishing he could run, but too afraid to turn his back on the horrific undead. Navi's attempts at distracting them were no longer holding them in place as first she had, and they slowly came toward the boy. He yelped and tried to mount the stairs all the faster, but it was awkward both hands occupied and one arm raised with his shield, and thus he fell against the steps. The fairy gave a cry of her own and flew to her charge.

"Keep…keep going, Link!" she besought him. "We're almost there! We're so close! Nearly there!" She wished she had a much larger body so she could pick him up and move him personally.

He struggled to his feet, lowering his shield just slightly in the effort. His feet feeling like they were encased in weighty blocks of ice, he continued backing up the stairs as quickly as he dared. He wanted to turn his back and thereby expedite his escape, yet he was seized with the fear that if he could not see them beneath his shield, then they could pounce on him and drag him down. When the undead creatures seemed to be gaining on him, his fairy would fly into their faces again to drive them back just slightly. With their evil sights set on their prey, however, she could not distract them completely. The climb upwards seemed to last an eternity of seconds, each permeated with numbing terror and enough perspiration to bathe in.

He could not see where he was going and reaching the top of the steps came as a surprise to him. Again he fell back, and at the same moment a bony hand, barely covered in disgusting, rotten flesh, grabbed the boy about the ankle. He lashed out with his other foot, connecting briefly with something before that limb too was captured in a grip stronger than death. As they began to pull him down, he was overcome by a dreadful, blinding fear. He imagined that they were dragging him to their lair, where he would die terribly and slowly.

With his blade he struck out at his assailants but could not reach them; he tried to take hold of something to arrest his unwilling descent, but his fingernails scraped at hard stone. His head hit the steps a couple of times and both his mind and vision muddied. Navi flung herself at the masked faces of the undead, screaming at them, but hardly succeeded in even slowing their progress.

"Goddesses, help us!" she cried out.

Link heard her plea as if from a long distance and added his own confused prayer. Then one of the creatures transferred its hold to his throat and he struggled weakly, nicking the thing with his blade. His lungs ached for lack of air and he could hardly see for the darkness that rapidly encroached on his vision. For a split second he thought he saw a glimmer of warm light and was perplexed because his fairy's glow was always a bluish white. Then the darkness closed over him completely and he knew nothing more.

Well, I was originally planning that I would be further along in the tale when ending this chapter. Alas! I was already close to 10,000 words and knew I needed to find a stopping point as speedily as possible. So now I have Link hanging off one of those cliffs, figuratively speaking. Sorry about that. I mean, you know he's going to be all right, right? It's not like I could or would kill him off here. He's the hero of the story and heroes don't die so soon in the adventure.

So as I mentioned in the previous chapter's note, I wanted to include at least one aspect from a short story I'd written a few years back, namely, how Link would acquire a great fear and dread of redeads. Is this something that resonates with you? Were you wary or perhaps scared of the redeads when you first played Ocarina of Time, perhaps when you were a child?

As for me, I don't recall being afraid of them, but I'd have to say that after I found out how much they could hurt Link, I tended to give them a wide berth and to use the Sun's Song without discretion. I guess I wasn't adept at button mashing to escape them at that point, and hadn't quite realized that you actually have to get fairly close to a redead to have its scream affect you. Now, however, I hardly pay them any mind and they can be quite useful when I want to get Link's health dangerously low for purposes of death-hole wrong warping. But I won't go down that worm hole here and now.

Just a quick note about mausoleums, tombs, crypts, coffins, sarcophagi and other words related to places where the dead are placed... I was trying to keep the different terms straight, as there are distinctions between say a mausoleum, which would be above ground, and a crypt, which is more typically underground. Hopefully none of this was confusing for anyone. And if you're interested in seeing some elaborate designs on sarcophagi, try looking up images for "ancient Roman sarcophagus". Those will give you a good idea of some of the detail that I imagined was invested in burying the members of the Hylian royal family.

Anyway, thanks for reading! And if you have any feedback to give me please do not hesitate to shoot me a PM or a review. Also, if you think this story might merit a slightly higher rating, please let me know your thoughts on this as well. Feedback is life and love to a writer!

Until we meet again...

09-27-2019 ~ Published