Key Quest: Air and Fire by Judy Colella (first color ebook reader TXT) 📕

In his frantic pursuit of this new enemy, Link had been forced to go through a series of turns, and realized now that he was in a kind of maze. Well, he’d be much more cautious when he turned corners from that point on. And it was a good thing he’d decided this, since another of the fiery Scrubs was waiting around the next wall.

Finally, after having to swim through one of the deep pools and fight of several more Scrubs, he found a stairway built into a slope that ran between precisely-cut stone walls. At the top of this was another path and two more Scrubs.

Now that he’d had more practice fighting their kind, he was able to dispatch them without getting injured, and once they were gone, he made it unchallenged to the next set of stairs. Before going up, he ate one of the heart fruits to take care of the few minor wounds he’d gotten from the deku nuts he’d been unable to avoid.

“Any idea what’s up there, Navi?”

“I hear the song even more loudly there, Link.”

She hadn’t answered his question, but nothing in her tone suggested there was a problem, so he headed up the steps. When he got to the top of these, he stopped and stared – no question. This was the Sacred Meadow, the half-crumbled ruin of a once-magnificent temple at its far end pretty much confirming this.

And near the Temple, sitting on an old tree stump and playing the now-familiar tune on her ocarina, sat Saria.

Between where he stood and where Saria sat was a huge, flat, circular stone on which had been etched and painted the Triforce symbol. He skirted this and went to her slowly, not wanting to disturb her playing.

The ocarina she had was almost identical to the one she’d given him, and he wondered where she got it. And then he recalled that she’d told Frega she was going to buy one from him “some day” with the rupee she’d won. He supposed that giving him her old one had brought “some day” a lot closer.

He stopped a few feet away, watching her play, impressed with how quickly her fingers fluttered over the instrument. She stopped a moment later, brought it down to her lap, and smiled.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Link.”

“How did you know I’d be back so soon?”

She shrugged. “I…know things, is all. Not that I could really explain that.” She giggled. “So – this is the Sacred Forest Meadow, my secret place that I told you about.”

Link raised an eyebrow. “If it’s your secret, why would you tell me about it, much less lead me here?” He had no doubt that her music had been meant to do exactly that, and had to admit she would have needed to employ magic of some sort to do this. Three days ago, he would have scoffed at such a possibility. Not now.

“Why?” She put a hand on his arm. “This place – this place will be important for us both some day. That’s what I feel, anyhow.”

Ah. “Some day” again. He sincerely hoped this one wouldn’t happen as quickly as the other. The Temple behind her, for all it’s having fallen into ruin, was intimidating. As for the fat, flaming Deku Scrubs, that Wolfos, and who knew what else…

“You look confused,” she added. “I don’t really know how or why I know some of the things I do, or how I’m able to do certain things, but when the time is right, I’m sure I will. In the meantime, I follow what my heart and senses tell me.”

“And what are they telling you?”

She grinned. “They’re telling me you’ve become rather good at playing that ocarina I gave you.”

That startled him. Was she guessing, or did she honestly know somehow?

“I’m right!”

Link had never been good at hiding his expressions. “I’ve, um, figured out a few things on it. I’m nowhere near as good as you, though.”

She blushed, the pink of her cheeks making a pleasant contrast with her green hair. “Thank you, Link. All right, here’s what else my heart and senses are telling me – you should play the ocarina with me so I can teach you to talk with the spirits in the forest. What do you think?”

Why would I want to talk with forest spirits? “Are they anything like ghosts?”

She gave him an odd look. “How would you know about ghosts? Oh! You met some when you were gone, yes?”

Reluctant, he nodded. “Two. They were a little insane, I think.” And deadly with a lantern.

“Oh, my! Well, no, forest spirits aren’t the same at all. In fact, if you’re from here and you’re a good person, they’re extremely kind and helpful. So…will you play along with me on the ocarina?”

How could he disappoint her? She looked so hopeful… “Sure.”

“Great! Now, listen carefully and try to follow along with the melody. Are you ready?”

In reply, he took out the ocarina and held it to his lips.

The melody was the same that had drawn him to this place, to her. She played it slowly so he could repeat it with ease, and once he had it, they both played it at a much quicker pace. He found himself able to keep up, and grinned hugely at her when they finished.

“Great, Link! Great! I knew you had music in you!”

Was that what it was? Well, it certainly explained his long-standing desire to learn to play. “That was fun – it…it felt really good to play like that, too.”

“I know what you mean. Now promise me you won’t forget that song, and here’s why. After this, you’ll be leaving the Forest again, won’t you. And there will be times when you might need help or advice or some such. When that happens, if you play that song, you’ll be able to talk with me!”

“How?”

“I’m not certain – it’s another one of those things I just know. Guess we’ll both find out, yes?”

He nodded and looked with renewed respect at the ocarina. “Wow.”

Saria giggled again, raised her ocarina, and went back to her playing. At first, Link found this a rather abrupt way to say good-bye, but then he remembered his own retreat across the bridge a few days earlier. Saria had figured out that he wasn’t good at farewells, he surmised, and was giving him the chance to leave with his dignity intact.

She was, indeed, a good friend. He whispered “good-bye” and turned away, thereby missing the smile that crinkled the corners of her eyes.

Not sure what to do next – other than climb that stupid mountain, an action he was still trying to pretend wasn’t necessary – he headed back down the double flight of stairs. When he got to the bottom he noticed something he’d missed on his way up, probably because he’d had his back to it.

A ladder. It led up the side of the wall facing the stairs. “Are there any enemies up there, Navi?” he asked, his voice low.

She zoomed up and over the top, returning a few seconds later. “Nope.”

Making sure his things were properly secured to and in his belt, he climbed the ladder, only to find a hole in the ground with another ladder leading into it. This wasn’t very deep, actually, so he didn’t bother with this second ladder, but jumped in, landing lightly on his feet. In the center of this hole was another hole. A deeper one. In fact, it looked similar to the ones in the graveyard.

“Er, Navi? What’s down there?”

“Jump in and find out, Link!”

Sure. And if I land on a bunch of sharp sticks or into a nest of rabid deku scrubs, so what, right? “Jump in, you say.”

“Yes. Jump in.”

Awesome. He jumped in.

At the bottom, he was facing a tunnel that glowed blue at its end. The closer he got, the nicer it smelled. This was good. And then he saw something pink – a lot of pink somethings, in fact, and when he emerged from the tunnel, he entered what looked like a circular underground stone gazebo of sorts. It had slender double pillars spaced widely apart that held up a carved stone roof. The floor was made of small tiles that sat under clear blue water. A single step led into this, and when he entered, realized it wasn’t very deep, only up to his shins, in fact.

“What is this place?” he wondered aloud, staring around at the pink objects flying and flitting about overhead.

“It’s a Fairy Fountain.”

“A what?”

“A Fairy Fountain. They’re good fairies, Link, and will heal and restore you if you’re hurt.”

“Huh.”

Just then, two of the itty-bitty creatures flew down for a closer look, or so it seemed. They circled him quickly, zooming around his body too fast for him to note any details. As they flew, they left a trail of dazzling sparkles in their wake, some of which brushed the boy’s face. It felt like the hand of Life itself had touched his skin and he sighed. What a wonderful place!

The fairies suddenly shot upward, and the rest ignored him after that.

“You aren’t in need of their help right now,” Navi told him. “Hey, let’s go – we have to get to Death Mountain!”

He winced. In this place, speaking the mountain’s name almost felt sacrilegious. He turned and left the water, heading back into the tunnel with obvious reluctance.

Like the holes in the graveyard, this one had a small platform directly under the opening, and with the same seamless spatial shift, he found himself back on the surface. He climbed the short ladder and gazed around to get his bearings. If he wasn’t totally mistaken about what he was looking at, it seemed he’d be able to run across this upper level to return to the entrance of the area, and get back into the pathways of the Lost Woods.

Looking at it that way proved somewhat deceptive. The ground wasn’t a solid stretch as he’d first imagined. He found himself needing to jump over several gaps before reaching the end, but fortunately, he’d seen the first one early enough to avoid falling into it.

Once at the entrance, he looked around quickly, hoping no more Wolfos would show up. To his relief, all remained quiet, so he headed out…

“Hoot! Hoot!”

“Ack!” A really strong desire to zap the owl with a deku seed shook Link to his core. Not that he hated the massive bird or anything, but this habit of showing up out of nowhere and startling the daylights out of the boy was getting to him in a big way.

Apparently, the owl had no clue that he was being irritating, sounding more like they’d arranged to meet when Link left the Meadow. “Did you learn an ocarina song from Saria?”

A suspicion grew in the boy’s mind that this owl was following him around. “Yes.”

The owl shook his feathers as if getting comfortable. “That melody seems to have some mysterious power. In fact, there may be some other mysterious songs like this that you can learn in Hyrule.”

Mysterious. Was that everyone’s favorite word? Impa had used