Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction ❯ The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess ❯ Scent of Ilia ( Chapter 15 )

A.N.- 15 chapters! Whoo-hoo! I didn’t think I’d ever make it through the Goron Mines (writing about it not playing the game) without wanting to rip my hair out in frustration! GAH! Anyway…thanks for sticking with me even though reading through the dungeons can get really boring…Review! Review! I want to know what people think! And don’t you dare try and tell me that you’re not out there reading this. I see that there are people visiting on the little visitations marker thing… Just a forewarning Ch. 16 is going to be long as all heck.
I don’t own these characters in any way shape or form. They are all the property of Nintendo and Nintendo alone despite how much I wish it wasn’t so….Link! Why can’t you be mine!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Link opened his eyes at the shores of Eldin’s spring with the spirit’s voice echoing in his head.
“Heroic Link. Norht of here, across the plain and past the great stone bridge, in the lands guarded by the spirit Lanaryu…You shall find the one you seek…”
Link thought on that for a moment before the sound of the door to Renado’s home drew his attention. Colin was standing shakily in the doorframes, supported by the others.
“Link…” he said, stumbling over to where he stood.
Link rushed forward and caught the boy just before he fell. With Link down on one knee supporting him Colin gathered his strength to tell him something importatnt.
“Ilia…” he said, looking up at him.
Link felt a sharp pain in his heart at the mention of her name. Noticing this in his expression Colin averted his eyes and continued.
“You’ve got to save Ilia,” he said, “Thos monsters left me with the other kids, but they must have taken her somewhere else!”
“Ilia…” Link whispered, his expression pained.
“Whenver I thought I couln’t go on, I would think of you and Ilia and hold on Link…” Colin said, standing and looking down at Link, smiling as he did so, “See? I…I’m fine now.”
“You sure are,” Link said, smiling encouragement and standing up as well.
“Remember what I told you back in Ordon,Link?” he said, bashfully, “How someday I was gonna grow up to be strong like you?”
“Of course I remember.”
“So, you don’t have to worry about me anymore!” he declared proudly, “Go help Ilia!”
Link felt his heart warm at Colin’s faith in him. Renado walked over at that time with a look of utmost respect upon his face.
“Leave the children to me,” he said, “I willwatch over them, I swear it. Do not let their fates trouble you. Go to those who need you.”
Talo, Beth, and Luda walked over as well to stand beside Renado as he spoke to Link.
“In Hyrule countless tales are told of the ancient hero…and your deeds bring them al to mind. May the graces of the great goddesses who shaped Hyrule bear you on your way,” he said as both he and his daughter bowed respectivly to Link.
Link’s eyes opened wide in embarresssed shock. Beth and Talo looked from eath other to Renado and Luda before following their example as well. He stood there until they turned to walk away, unable to find the words to express the way he fel, and it wasn’t until they were safely back in Renado’s home again did Link move.
He walked around to the back of REnado’s home and untied Epona from the post they had hitched her to. Leaning his face into her neck and closing his eyes wearily he slowly stroked her mane.
Sensing his exauhstion she held perfectly still and waited for him to finish.
“Come on girl,” he said, climbing up into the saddle, “Let’s get going. Ilia needs help.”
He road Epona slowly out of the village, tired and in desperate need of rest, but refusing to do so until he found Ilia.
As he was heading past Barnes’ Bomb Shop Barnes stuck his head out of the door and called to him.
“Hey, c’mere! I got somethin’ for you!”
Sighing Link dismounted and led Epona to the front of Barnes’ shop and tied her to a post before heading inside.
“What is it Barnes?” he asked.
“How ‘bout this now?” he said, leaning over the counter excitedly.
“You finally got some bombs in haven’t you?” Link said, looking at the stacks lining the shelves and the floor.
“Yep, I finally managed to get my numbers together and open up shop again,” he said, pretending like Link’s guess didn’t steal his thunder, “Well, sort of…I guess I’ve only got one type of bomb, but her, that’s one more than none, right? If only my storehouse had survived…” Link winced slightly at the mention of it drawing a puzzled look from Barnes.
“But hey, ain’t so bad as all that…” Barnes said, misreading Link’s wince, “I’ll add more types as we go. For now have yourself a look- see what I’ve got so far!”
“I appreciate you showing me what you’ve done,” Link said, surpressing the urge to yawn, “But I really don’t have anything to carry bombs in…”
“What’s this now?” Barnes demanded, “You ain’t got a bomb bag for carryin’ bombs, huh? Well I’ve got a special offer goin’ right now: my bomb bag premium kit, which comes with bag and bombs, just 120 rupees! How ‘bout that?”
Link did a momentary tally of the rupees in his wallet and, after finding that he had enough, handed the money over to Barnes. Who in turn handed him the bag filled with bombs.
“Oh…and you can combine bombs with arrows to make bomb-arrows for when you need ranged esplosions. I’ll send you a letter with the details later so you can read about it at your leisure.”
“Thanks Barnes,” Link said, taking his purchase and leaving.
Outside he tied the bag to Epona’s saddle and mounted up again, leaving for sure this time.

The field north of Kakariko was peaceful enough in appearance, but, like most other things, apperances were decieving. And indeed, as soon as he rode Epona out into the field Kagaroks came swooping down at him from the rocks above. One of them ended up getting a little too close and Link removed its wing with one swing of his sword. The others backed away after that and Link had a fairly peaceful ride.
When he came to the stone bridge where he and King Bulbin had fought he found that the burnt ashes of the barricades still remained and a few drops of blood from himself and his opponent still stained the stones. He only gave these things a passing glance howeer and continued on in his crossing.
Suddenly, as soon as he cleared the bridge, a portal appeared above the mid-section of the bridge. Dark ripples of magic appeared on either end of the section and the entire thing was lifted into the air where it was then dissolved and sucked into the portal. Last the portal spit out three shadow beasts.
Pulling back on Epona’s riegns he wheeled her around and charged at the beasts. Epona however would not go near them so Link was forced to dismount and leave her behind as he ran towards the creatures with his sword drawn.
It was surprisingly more difficult to defeat the creatures when he was not a wolf. Link hadn’t taken into acount the increased speed he possesed as a wolf and was therefore pushed around a bit before he regained his balance. Once he had though the monsters didn’t stand a chance.
The portal no longer red but blue Link gathered up the hearts and trudged back to Epona; exhaustion threatening to claim him again. Regardless of how much he may wish to find Ilia again before resting it was starting to look like that wouldn’t be feasible.
Link rode Epona further at an easy trot so that he might have a chance to react properly since he could feel sleep creeping in on him.
A few bulbin’s barred his path forward, but it wasn’t anything that he couldn’t handle, even when he was half-asleep. He rode through a steep rocky cavern with the shadows ever deepening around him. Soon he was facing the wall of twilight, but Midna’s phantom did not appear out of his shadow.
Sliding out of Epona’s saddle he removed her gear and gently stroked her as she whinnied happily. Blinking like she too was sleepy Epona laid down on the hard ground.
“That’s right…” Link mumbled, kneeling down and leaning against Epona’s stomach, “You haven’t had much time to rest either have you…?”
She snorted and tossed her head in reply.
“S’allright…”he said, closing his eyes, “You can rest now…”

When Link opened his eyes again he was sore all over from sleeping in a kneeling position on the hard ground, but he felt rested and ready to continue. Epona seemed to share his feelings as well, though a little diminished when he put her saddle and gear back on.
Untying the bomb bag from her saddle in case he needed it Link patted Epona’s neck for the last time until their next meeting. He felt uneasy about leaving her stranded here, but he really didn’t have much choice. The bridge to the south of them was destroyed for the time being and twilight blocked the path to the north. But Epona was a smart horse and he’d gotten rid of the monsters in the area; she would be allright.
“Stay safe,” he whispered anyway and stepped towards the wall of twilight.
He could feel his heart pounding inside his chest as he steped closer to it. His body insticivly telling him to run away. But this was something that he had to do. Besides, Ilia was somewhere beyond that darkness.
“Ah, we’re finally here,” Midna said, gazing at the darkness fondly, “There’s only one Fused Shadow left…So this is the last of the twilight you’ll see, I guess.”
“You guess?”
“Whether or not you accomplish your final task and survive is up to you…Eee hee! So what will you do?”
Link took another firm step towards the twilight causing Midna to grin.
“Want me to let you into the twilight?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said, preparing himself for the transformation into a wolf.
Just like before Midna entered before him and pulled him in with her hair hand.

Link opened his eyes and stood up stiffly on the other side of the wall before quickly changing into a wolf. Shaking his head as Midna took her seat on his back he thought momentarily of how strange of a sensation if was to suddenly change your form like that.
“All right then,” Midna said, “I guess I’ll have to help you! But what a shame that this is the last of the twilight…I had become so fond of seeing it covering this world…Or…”
“Or what?” Link asked, tipping his head to the side.
“Is it really the last you’ll see? Eee hee!” she giggled, once again acting like she knew more than what she was letting on, “So, shall we get going?”
Link nodded and headed forward at an easy run, his feet hardly making a sound on the soft ground. Nothing disturbed him as he ran and he was grateful for that since the last few times he’d been in the twilight realm monsters from the darkness had attacked him at every turn.
Suddenly he stopped. He’d found something lying in the road. A small pouch of somekind that he could’ve swore he’d seen before. Link pawed at it and flipped it open by accident, sniffing at the inside. That’s when it hit him.
In a sudden flash of memory he saw Ilia the way she had been just before King Bulbin had attacked. In his mind she turned and spoke to him.
“But Link,” she said, “Can you at least promise me this? Just come home safely.”
“Ilia…” he said, wimpering as he nudged at her pouch with his nose.
“You smell the girl, don’t you?” Midna said, narrowing her eyes for some reason, “I can tell by the look on your face. Well, good. It’s another clue, then. But the scent could be quite old…I wonder if she is still all right? Eee hee!”
“Don’t ever say things like that!” he growled, turning his head to glare at her.
Her semi-smug look vanished and she almost looked ashamed that she had said that in the first place. Link couldn’t know for sure since she refused to speak.
Regardless Link followed the scent trail until he reached the end of the gorge they were in. There Midna tugged on his ears and ordered him to stop for a moment while she pointed out the structure looming in the distance.
“Hey, haven’t we seen this castle before?” she said, as Link gaped at the silouette of Hyrule Castle in the distance, “Eee hee! So, we finally made it back here! Well, only a little farther, so hang in there! Or so I’d like to say, but…”
“Have I ever told you how much I hate it when you say that?”
“The going’s a lot harder from here on out….Ee hee hee! All right, then…Let’s get started.”
Shaking his head yet again at the cryptic nature of what Midna was always saying Link picked up Ilia’s scent again and followed it. The trail led them across the field and to a small bridge spanning a trickling excuse for a river.
There was a monster waiting for him there with an arrow notched to its bow. So preocupied was Link with following Ilia’s trail that he didn’t move out of the way fast enough. The arrow lodged itself firmly in his shoulder and stayed there until the creature was defeated. With it gone Link laid down on the bridge and forced himself to keep perfectly still as Midna pulled the arrow out with a gentleness he would not have expected from her.
“Don’t run so fast,” she said, “You’ll need to give it time to heal.”
“Thank you,” he said, tipping his head quizzically as he got up and continued to follow the trail.
For the most part is stuck to the worn road, but every so often when there was a large grouping of trees it would wander off. But it always came back to the road. Link could only assume that these wanders was Ilia trying to get away from or avaoid something.
Soon the trail led to the stone bridge just outside of the Hyrule Castle town where it crossed and headed into the large woden doors. Without hesitation Link ran acrossthe bridge and pushed to door far enough open so that he could get in.

Entering the town Link was nearly overwhealmed by the number of voices he heard, all of them from the spirits of the town’s inhabitants. And they were all talking about the same thing; a water shortage. Link only half-listened to them though, he had to keep focused.
Passing by the goat pens a particularily loud couple caught his attention as he passed by.
“Hey,so did you hear? They say that a Zora child collapsed near here!”
“I thought Zoras were typicaly found up north, right? I wonder why one came down here?”
“Well…I heard he was taken to the bar on the other side of the southern road.”
“The bar? You mean Telma’s bar? Um…She’s got it rough.”
The trail wound in front of the fountain where a trio of young men were discussing why they couldn’t take baths.
“The fact that we can’t take a bath because of the water outage…That’s a big deal!”
“I think it’s fine. It’s not like you smell. It doesn’t bother me.”
“Well maybe it doesn’t bother YOU, but YOU’RE the one that stinks!”
Link snorted at their vanity. Back in Ordan during the harvest he’d only get to bathe once a week if he was lucky. These boys should consider themselves fortunate they got to scrub themselves clean every day normally.
Around the rest of the fountain he went passing close by a brother and sister discussing the problems at Lake Hylia.
“The water level of Lake Hylia has gone down and you can’t cross to the spirit’s cave!”
“If the people who came to worship from far away heard that, they’d be very dissapointed…”
“It must be hard on Grandma, too because she can’t do her tours.”
Link slowed and took what he had just heard into consideration. If the water level was indeed so low that it was impossible to reach the spirit then he could have a bit of a problem on his hands, or paws at the moment. Nonetheless he carried on with the task at hand.
Apparently Ilia had come and stayed at a building for quite some time because her scent was heavily pooled around the area in front of the door. Then it took off down a side ally. And into a few narrow spaces between buildings. He followed it to the main road and then south, right and down a set of stairs to a bar with the door hanging slightly adjar. Pushing it open the rest of the way, he went inside.

A Zora boy was laid out on a makeshift bed breathing heavily as if he was injured with a heavyset woman watching over him. And sitting on a crate next to that woman, wringing her hands in anxiety, was Ilia.
“This boy…Can you save him?!” she asked desperatly.
“All right, little lady, try to settle down, OK?!” the woman huffed, placing her hands on her hips, her jewelry clinking together as she did so, “I just now sent for the doctor!” She let her hands fall to her sides and watched the boy closely. “But this is strange…A child of the Zoras…I wonder if this is at all related to the incident the soldiers were talking about in back…”
Ilia wrung her hands, never taking her eyes off the boy sleeping fitfully in front of her.
“Aw, what an emotional reunion! Yes, a girl and her wolf!” Midna said, cutting into Link’s moment of heartache, “Eee hee! Sorry, but you know how it goes! These folks can’t see you either…Eee hee hee!”
Link didn’t hardly pay her comment any mind as Ilia had begun to speak again.
“This boy is still so young, so innocent…To see him suffering like this…”
“He’ll be all right, little lady. Someone’s allready gone for the doctor. I’ll tell you, though, from what those soldiers in back were talking about…to everything else…Therre sure has been a rash of trouble lately…”
Link hurridly trotted to the back room of the bar where a group of Hylian soldiers were gathered together around a map.
“We’ve had a ton of complaints from citizens who can’t send prayers to the spring spirit of Lake Hylia,” their commanding officer barked, “Go there! The location is the one I showed you on the map earlier! Got it?!”
Link stood still for a moment while Midna glanced at the map on the table and made the same mark on theirs.
“Right,” she said, rolling it up and tapping him on the head with it, “Let’s go.”
She didn’t need to tell him twice. After all the sooner he freed the light spirit, the sooner he could speak with Ilia.