Chapter 4

"During the course of my voyage I came upon a large island called Odnetnin," Link paused looking around the banquet hall. He had everyone's attention. In a way Link enjoyed this. "This island was inhabited by a fierce tribe of warriors. They called themselves the Stags. Almost immediately after seeing us they took me prisoner along with the rest of the knights. When we tried to speak to them to tell them who we were and why we where there they didn't understand. Our guards must have been able to figure out that I was the leader of our group, because one day they released me. They brought me to Nark the elder who was actually a lost sailor from Hyrule. He told me that he had actually spent most of his life on the island. He had come to see the foreigners that had been captured and heard us talking and recognized our language. He then convinced the king that we were not dangerous to his kingdom and he was now taking me to see the king.

Nark then brought me before Ardak king of the Stags and acted as my translator. I told the king my story and why the knights had come. After he heard what I had to say he began to tell me the history of the island. The Stags had been fighting their enemies the Quains for centuries. Long ago the Stags and Quains were one kingdom, but after a terrible civil war they had separated. Ardak told me that long ago when the country was still one, there was born to the kingdom identical twin princes. Although these princes looked the same only one possessed the power of magic. The brothers Zon and Zang lived happily for many years each developing their won skills. Zon became a powerful warrior while Zang became mighty wizard. When their father, the king, died suddenly without naming either of them as his heir the twins began to fight. Their battle divided the nation into two. Both brothers were equally powerful so neither of them were ever victorious over the other. Zon's and Zang's descendants were still fighting each other even then. I began to realize that I was being thrown into the middle of a fierce war. Ardak then told me how things were at that time. He told me that while the Stags lived all around the base of the singular mountain on the island, the Quians lived on top of the mountain with their king Kalzar. I then told Ardak more about myself and how I was a warrior but I also knew some magic. Immediately after having said this Nark and Ardak began to converse wildly in the native tongue. I asked Nark what was going on and told me that the king had said that I was the prophesied hero from across the sea who would stop the fighting of the nations. Ardak suggested that I should be a neutral arbitrator between the Stags and the Quains.

I then began my journey to the top of the mountain with Nark, in search of the Quains. When we reached the plateau of the peak I found their village. All of the Quains were dressed in long white robes. The people would talk to me, so I headed towards their giant metal castle. I entered the gate of the castle.."

"What do you mean a metal castle?" asked Lance from farther down the table. Lance had come to Hyrule in search of adventure from the far land of Marlock. When he first met Link he was battling a giant dragon. Ever since Lance had gone to help Link in that battle they had been friends.

"Well, Lance, it was a strangely deigned castle made of metal. I found out later that the Quains have spells that allow them to build with metal very easily. I was just about to that part of my story before you interrupted me!" said Link in mock anger, playing along with his friend.

"I'm soooooo sorry. You may proceed," Lance said in a bizarre voice oozing with sarcasm.

As Link surveyed the faces in the room it seemed to him that someone was missing, someone important. He tried to think about it more but he just couldn't put his finger on it. He put this thought aside for the time being and resumed his story, only this time he was a little more distracted.

"Uh, where was I?" asked Link semi-rhetorically not really looking for an answer.

"You were about to go into the Quains castle," said Zelda in a serious tone.

"Anyway, I headed to the middle of the castle and towards the throne. There was a red robbed figure sitting on a gigantic jewel-encrusted throne. On either side of the throne were two huge torches. The figure spoke to me in a flowing rhythmical dialect of Odnetninian. Nark told me that he said 'I am Kalzar king of the Quians. What do you want with us?' I told him that I was a hero from a far off land and that I had come on the behalf of Ardak to seek peace. He didn't believe me and screamed something which Nark later translated as 'Ardak only wants to continue the war. You'll make a fine statue, boy.'" Link said as he jumped onto the table to act out this segment of the story. "Then he shot a ray of magic at me, but I cast it away with my shield like this." Link shouted as he overacted the motions of his battle for the crowd to see. "His magic bounced off and hit one of the torches and turned it to stone. Kalzar saw what I had done with my most awesome, wonderful, fantastic, marvelous..."

"Ok ok, Link we get the picture," yelled Lance. The banquet hall erupted with laughter.

"Good thing we have Lance around or you might never have stopped!" said Michael the good king of Hyrule.

"Hey, that's what I'm here for your highness." Lance shot back.

"Oh yeah Lance, you've always been the voice of reason," said Link reverting the attention back to himself. "Anyway as I was saying, Kalzar realized that I was telling him the truth once he saw that I was able to control magic weapons. The next day I lead the Quains down the mountain. Ardak and Kalzar talked in private for many hours. Finally they came outside to the address the crowd. The two kings touched their crowns together and raised them up. Everybody started cheering. The celebrations lasted the whole rest of the day. The people had come to realize that they were never really that different to begin with. During all the festivities I spoke with Ardak and he gave us our ship back, which until now we had all forgotten about. I decided to stay there a while longer. During that time I trained in combat with the Stags and learned new spells from the Quains. After about five months of this I got back aboard my trusty old ship the "Destiny" and set sail for Hyrule..." Link hesitated. The question that had been percolating in the back of his mind was about to explode. He could feel it. "Holy Din! Where is my uncle Baylen?" said Link interrupting his own speech a little more loudly than he had intended.

"He is still gone on a voyage to find you and the lost knights. After the first your he felt something had gone horribly wrong on your journey, so he banded together a crew of villagers and went out searching for you. He should be back and day now," explained the king.

"Oh...okay....back to my story. Like I said I left Odnetnin with the other nine knights and we sailed off in the direction of Hyrule. After almost a week of sailing we headed into trouble. As we sailed I could see a huge black thunder-head moving our way. It came towards us fast, faster than I ever knew a storm could move. Soon we were in an intensely dark storm. The winds were so powerful...and I could tell then something bad would happen...I did everything I could to save the other nine...but, but the storm threw them from the boat...I could hear them scream as they drowned...all I could do was just hang on..." Link stopped overwhelmed by emotion. He was so wrapped up in this one memory that he could almost see and feel and hear everything that had happened that night all over again. Everyone in the room was silent, listening intently for the continuation of his speech. No one dared to crack a joke now, for the look on Link's face, the words that he spoke, and the way in which he spoke them set a mood so starkly serious that most of the audience hesitated to breathe lest they miss even one word. They were bewitched by their hero's tale earlier on, but now they were even more affixed on him. In his eyes there was a profound expression of utterly truthful recollection. It was as if they could see him live it again in his mind.

"After that I...I must have just drifted back to Hyrule on a piece of the 'Destiny'. The storm was just too much for me," Link said in a hallow voice as if he were somewhere else.

Zelda looked at Link as he was finishing his speech. All throughout the speech she had stared at him. Now he had a far off look in his eyes and in some ways he seemed to be a little confused. She had a subtle gnawing concern that something was wrong.

"I am sorry everyone but that's all I can remember right now. It just seems as if there is something more..." Link resumed his position at the head of the banquet table.

The crowd in general was baffled by Link's behavior at the end of his speech. This wasn't the way any of the speeches they had ever heard had ended. An awkward silence permeated the room, they weren't sure if they were supposed to clap. The King decided to set the example and end the silence, so he began clapping. Eventually the whole room was applauding Link. Lance however decided to take it a step further and stood up. Soon the ovation transformed into a standing ovation. Not to be outdone by Lance or her father Zelda spoke up.

"Three cheers for Link, the hero of Hyrule!" she shouted.

"Hip, Hip, Hooray!" offered up the crowd in unison.

Zelda watched Link return a weak smile and then sink back into his chair.

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