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

“Seven. What is your name, by the way? I’m Anju.”

“Nice to meet you. My name is Link.”

“Well, Link, I’ll have a nice reward waiting for you when you’ve gotten them all back, and thank you so much!”

He’d noticed that at the top of another set of stairs on the left side of the village, a pathway led up to Death Mountain, and he had to admit he was in no hurry to get there. Maybe spending time in this village would help him build his courage, get him used to being near it.

Impa had also told him that the Gorons there had one of the Spiritual Stones, and it occurred to him that he should ask the people of Kakariko what these Gorons were like. In meantime, however… “You’re most welcome,” he told Anju, and set off find her birds.

The first one was only a few feet away, which surprised him. He hadn’t noticed it before. As he approached, the thing skittered and hopped out of reach, cackling at him. He tried again, but the fowl was too quick. “Navi, what am I doing wrong?”

“Try waiting until it has its back to you, Link!”

“Ah. Good idea – thanks.” A few seconds later, the bird seemed to forget about him and turned away to peck at something in the grass. Link crept up behind it, crouching, and – aha!

Holding on to the bird proved a bit of a challenge; as soon as he had it, it began flapping its wings wildly and squawking loudly enough to hurt his ears. He almost dropped it, but then grabbed it by the legs and ran to the enclosure where he flung it inside. The birded landed on what would be a chin in another kind of creature, but hopped quickly upright and grew calm.

“Excellent!” Anju exclaimed, coming to stand beside Link at the fence. “That’s one!” She gave him a wink.

“So it is. I’ll go look for the next one.” He smiled and left her there, peering around as he went. Where had they all gone?

The whole venture took him about an hour, but at last he was heading to the enclosure with the last cuckoo. As he’d caught them, he’d learned something incredible and wonderful – if he had to jump from a high spot while holding the thing, its frantic flapping would actually hold them both aloft for several feet as they drifted toward the ground. This was the most fun Link had had in a very long time, and he was almost sad when the final bird made itself comfortable amid its fellows in the enclosure.

“You’re a sweet little boy,” Anju told him, her smile wide. “And as promised, here’s your reward.” She held out a bottle. It was empty and had a swatch of leather over its top that was secured with a piece of thick twine. “It may not seem like much,” she added, “but it’s clean, and can hold all kinds of useful things for you.”

“Really?”

“Really. And I don’t just mean water or milk, or some such. I mean potions, and bugs, and, well, all kinds of things!”

Potions, eh? Not that bugs weren’t interesting, too. Hmm. He tied the bottle to his belt by its twine and thanked her kindly.

“Be sure to visit our Graveyard,” she called as he began to leave. “Our Gravekeeper, Dampe, gives a terrific tour of the place that I think you’ll really enjoy!”

“Thanks! I’ll, um, I’ll go there!” A graveyard…wow. Not exactly what he’d have put on a list of places he wanted to see.

“Let’s go, Link! Let’s see the graveyard!”

“What? Why? And why would anyone give a – a tour of someplace like that? I mean, what’s there besides a bunch of graves?” And ghosts, he added silently.

No such thing existed in the Kokiri Village, but he’d heard of a graveyard being somewhere deep in the forest. The old Kokiri who’d told him about it had made it sound horrifying.

“Oh, Link, there is so much about the world you don’t know. You do need to see it.”

“Terrific. Fine. Where is it?”

“Probably over by the sign that says, ‘Graveyard’.”

He nodded, unhappy. It had been getting late when he’d entered the village, but like Hyrule Town, something here was causing the sun to halt in its trip to the horizon. Before he could wonder about that out loud, his stomach gave a very noticeable grumble. “I still haven’t eaten anything, Navi.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Link. Please – sit here and have something.” She’d flown to a bench outside the town’s windmill.

“Thank you, Navi.” He climbed the steps leading to it and sat, taking out some bread. The sound of hammers, the creak of the windmill overhead, and the growing comfort of food filling his tummy almost caused Link to nod off. What a peaceful village this was! Busy, but peaceful.

He got up and went to the large well in front of the mill. A bucket sat on its edge attached by a rope, so he lowered it into the water, pulled it back up, and scooped out a mouthful in cupped hands. Cool and delicious, he drank several times more.

“Come on!” Navi urged as soon as he’d repositioned the bucket for the next person.

“Okay. Just tell me something – we’ve been here for at least two hours, yet the sun hasn’t moved. Why is that?”

Navi did something that he’d learned to identify as a kind of smug giggle. “Didn’t you wonder why you’d been told not to leave the Kokiri Forest?”

“Sort of.”

“Oh, Link, it’s about time!”

“It’s about time? About time what? That I figured it out or something?”

“No, no, no. Everything is about the question of time, silly boy! You see, as long as you stayed right where you were, days followed nights and you grew and got older. But as soon as you left, you abandoned the magic of continuity. So now, the only places where time moves for you are the everyone-places. Those places everyone can have in common that doesn’t define who they are or where they’re from! When you go into a town, you’re entering other people’s time, so it won’t move. Only they don’t realize that, because it does move for them, since that’s their place! And if you go back to the forest now, you’ll see that time has stopped moving there for you, too!”

He stared at her, which he could do because she’d left his shoulder and was bouncing about in front of him. He nodded, but said nothing for a long time. And then he told her, “I have a headache.”

“Oh, Link! Did I confuse you? I’m so sorry!”

“No, Navi, I understood perfectly. I have a headache because I can see that what you’ve told me is only the beginning of what I’m going to be learning about time, and other stuff, and if I ever get to be an adult without my head exploding, it will be magic for sure.” He readjusted his belt which was starting to slip down on one side from all the things he was carrying. “Okay – let’s go visit this Graveyard.”

At least he wasn’t hungry any more.

“You know, this time thing is getting to be a pain.” Link glared at the sign on the Gravekeeper’s door that informed him the “heart-pounding” tour started way later than the twilight hour he was currently experiencing. He’d have to come back after dark, but how? It seemed “later” wouldn’t be happening at all.

“Go out of the village, Link! If you wait for it to get dark out there, it will be late here, too.”

“Yeah, but you told me I shouldn’t be out there after dark, remember?”

Navi was silent, but she’d turned a strange shade of yellow. Apparently she was working this out.

“Okay, look, since I’m in this stupid graveyard now, I may as well do some exploring. You coming with me?”

“Always!” She turned blue again.

“Good.” He trudged away from the shack, discouraged, trying to make things out in the murk of near-sundown. The carved stone monuments were gravestones, Navi had explained, but while he recognized that part of what was on them was writing, he couldn’t read it very well. Ignoring the closest row of graves, he headed toward the back part of the area, trailing one hand along the top rail of the wrought-iron fence next to the flagstone path.

When he reached the end of the graveyard, he saw two identical headstones flanking a much larger monument. Curious, he walked to the first one on the left of the monument and peered closely at the carving. “Hmm,” he muttered, sounding out the words on it. “Roy..al..com…Royal? Comp…os…drat. Comp-oser, I think. Bros? What’s that? Sh-sha, uh, sharp. Oh. Sharp. The…know that one…the eld. Eld-er. Elder? Okay. Rip? What?”

A sudden chittering sound was followed by something that glowed, and Link jumped back, drawing his Sword, terrified. The thing seemed to have come right out of the stone, and was now taking shape in front of him.

Whatever it was, it was holding a lantern, which it began to swing in circles as it floated closer to the boy.

“Ouch! Hey!” The lantern had struck him, so he swung the Sword defensively, startled and smarting.

The creature, which was only semi-corporeal, squeaked at him and froze in its tracks as the Sword struck home. Fear fueling his momentum, Link whacked at it again. It changed colors momentarily, then unfroze and floated away, finally disappearing into the solid stone wall behind the monument.

“A-and…and don’t come back!” Link shouted at it, completely disconcerted. He moved away to his right, but it wasn’t until he was in front of the other headstone that he realized his mistake.

Another what-the-heck emerged (or was it the same one – he couldn’t tell) and began swinging its lantern at him. Once more he defended himself against it, and same reaction followed.

“Navi, what are these things?”

“Poes.”

“What? No one is drawing me – what are you talking about?”

“No, Link! They’re called poes! They’re a kind of spirit, or ghost!”

“Oh, great. I’m being attacked by – ouch! Where did you come from? I – ouch! Stop it!” One of them had returned, although he certainly couldn’t tell which, and now he was angry as well as hurt and frightened. The result was a wild flurry of thrusts, parries, and slashes that reduced the poe to a single flame, its lantern and shape gone.

Link was staring wildly at the thing in front of him, baffled beyond coherent thought. Navi told him to look down, and after a few crazy moments during which he finally remembered his name, he saw he was standing on something familiar – it was a gigantic rendition of the Triforce. What was that doing there?

Before he could decide what question to ask first, a voice came from the formless flame. “Gyaaah! You killed me! Unbelievable!”

Link gaped, totally speechless again.

“Oh, wait,” the thing continued. “You’re not one of Ganondorf’s men, are you?”

Startled further, Link shook his head. “N-no.” How did this thing know about the man he’d seen in the Castle?

“Ah. Sorry. Because of my role as a ghost, I