The Eight Diamonds by Greg Gandenberger (ggandenberger@hotmail.com) Aghan's Story Tell us another story!" shouted a child. "I'm tired," said Aghan. "But I think there's time for one more story before you kids go to bed." It was a warm spring day. In a corner of the inn a tall man named Aghan was seated in a large rocking chair. He was known throughout Hyrule for his wonderful stories. There were many children sitting on the wooden floor listening to his stories. He began his story. " 'Whoosh!' Another arrow came whizzing past Bartoll's hooded head. "Come back here you thief!" said a voice from behind him. Bartoll was running hard, with the Eight Diamonds jingling from the insides of his pockets. ' 'Garret will be so happy with me,' he thought. 'With these diamonds he'll be able to conquer all Hyrule. Who knows, after that he may conquer Calatia, too.' He knew nothing of the Diamonds' powers. All he knew was that his master had sent him to get them. 'His plan was simple: lose his pursuers in the forest and return to his master. His short stubby legs made him a slow runner but he knew the forest better than anyone did. Running full speed for even a few minutes is tiring, but he had been running this way for about five minutes. 'One of the men following him tripped and sprained his ankle. That slowed down his pursuers enough for Bartoll to lose them. He made a sharp turn to the right and ran into a small cave. ' "Good work," said a voice behind him. He knew at once that the voice was Garret's. "You make a good apprentice." He then laughed an evil laugh that made Bartoll very nervous. ' "At last," he said, "At last I have the Eight Diamonds! If only you knew their power!" They heard voices outside of the cave. A man ran into the cave. Garret muttered a strange incantation. ' "What happened!?" exclaimed Bartoll, "He stopped moving!" ' "He's been turned to stone," replied Garret. ' "B-by you?" stammered Bartoll. ' "Yes." ' "W-with the d-diamonds?!" ' "Yes," came the reply. ' 'Whoosh!' an arrow had been fired into the cave. Bartoll heard a low groan. Garret had been shot. ' "I was afraid something like this would happen," said Garret in a weak voice. "Bartoll, take the d-dia..." he slumped over. He was dead. 'Bartoll grabbed the diamonds and ran toward an opening in the back of the cave. This lead deeper into the cave, but going through the front entrance would be suicide. He was never heard from again. 'Men have different ideas about what happened to old Bartoll. Some say he escaped and lived a normal life, disposing of the diamonds. Others say he escaped but had to live in hiding. Still others say he was lost in the cave and died. "Now, It's high time you kids ran along home." This statement was met with groans but eventually the children were all gone. "Great story." Said a voice from the back of the inn. Aghan turned around and his face lit up. "Link!" he shouted. "What are you doing here?" "Ah, you know," Link replied, "I was in the area and it was getting late so I decided to stay the night." "How about coming with me tomorrow to do a little hunting?" Aghan said. "Sure," Link replied. "I don't have anything else to do." Aghan's Secret Link awoke with a start early the next morning. He was sure had heard a crash. He jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs. He saw a weak looking man in the doorway. "Help," he said. "We need help we're being attacked. Thousands of moblins... help..." He fell over. Everyone knew at once that he was dead and why. He had an arrow sticking out of his back. Several men gasped. A woman screamed. Some of the larger men picked up the man and were removing the arrow. That was when Link spotted Aghan. "Ho!" cried Link. "Aghan!" Aghan heard him and turned around. "Link!" he said. "I think we now have a more important job than hunting." They left together several minutes later. Link had the magic sword, a few bombs, the magic shield, his boomerang and his bow and arrow. Aghan had a sword, a knife, a bow and arrow, and a shield. They set out northwards, toward Kakariko village. They hoped to learn more once they got there. After about five minutes, they came to a large forest. "Let's go through the forest," suggested Aghan. "It's much quicker than going around." "All right," Link replied. It started out easy enough. It wasn't a very thick wood, but they still weren't very far in. Several minutes later, the wood became much thicker. It became thicker and thicker until they were forced to draw their swords and hack their way through the forest. "What's that?" asked Aghan. "What?" asked Link. "That squealing." replied Aghan. "Listen, there it is again. It's coming from our left." There was no mistaking it this time. "Moblins," whispered Link. They stood perfectly still for about five minutes. "It stopped," said Aghan. "Let's continue on." They walked for another five minutes in silence. "The trees are getting farther apar-WHOAH! Watch out, Link!" Aghan exclaimed. He shouted like that because a large moblin burst out of the trees and was running toward them. Link was just about to kill it when another one jumped down from above and landed right on his head. He got this one of him just in time to see another moblin appear. And another. And another. They just kept coming. Link and Aghan were fighting them off but it didn't seem to be doing much good. Just when it looked like Link and Aghan were going to win, one of the larger moblins jumped on Aghan and knocked him down. "Aghan!" Link shouted. He tried to run over to him but it was hard with all of the moblins running about. In the end, all of the moblins had either been killed or had run away. Aghan was barely breathing. Link rushed over to him. "Link," he said. "Listen to me carefully. Retrieve the eight diamonds. They are not a myth. I was one of the men chasing Bartoll. The cave is in these woods but it's hidden by magic. Go west from here to reach the c-cave..." His stopped breathing. "Aghan!" shouted Link. But it was too late. He was dead. "He said to go west," said Link to himself. It took him a minute, but he finally found the sun. It was about 10 o'clock in the morning, so the sun was in the east. He found a small cliff after a few minutes, but no cave. He was just about to go on when he tripped on a large rock. He stretched out his arms to catch himself against the cliff, but found that he went right through the rock. Link got up and looked around him. For a minute he couldn't see anything because it was very dark. Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he found he was in a small cave. It seemed to have no opening. "I wonder if this is the cave from Aghan's story," Link said to himself. He saw a small passage at the back of the cave and went through it. It was a small damp cave, and Link was surprised to find that there didn't seem to be any bats, insects, or other things you would expect to find in a cave. The only way to go was through a narrow slanting passageway in the back of the cave. He was planning to walk down it, but it was covered with loose stones. He slipped and fell on his back. He was sliding very rapidly, dislodging hundreds of stones along the way. When the slide finally ended, Link landed with a jolt. Luckily, except for a few bruises, he was unhurt. He had been thrown forward when the slope ended, so he was now lying on his face. There seemed to be a pile of stones beneath him. He stood up and looked around. He saw that what he had landed on wasn't a pile of stones. It was a skeleton. The Eight Diamonds Link examined the skeleton. He saw that when it died, it had been holding a number of small objects in its arms. Link took a closer look. It was holding eight small diamonds in its arms. "Could it be?" wondered Link. He took the diamonds and put them in the pack on his back. He noticed that there was a small piece of paper next to the skeleton. The cave was totally black except for a strange greenish glow coming from the walls. This light made it possible to see, but reading was out of the question. Link began walking again. He saw daylight just a little bit ahead. He ran toward it, and on the way he tripped on a small rock. It was very strangely shaped. Link took a closer look. It was a stone bat. "It appears that Bartoll could use the diamonds," thought Link. Then suddenly, it dawned on him why the cave was so quiet. He looked up at the roof of the cave just to be sure. It was covered with thousands of stone bats. Link shuddered. It was strangely cold in the cavern that he was in. He once again ran toward the light. Once outside, Link was dazzled by the brightness of the sun. Several minutes later, he took out the piece of paper and began reading. "Pickaray (pick-are-a)," Link read. The Moblin King Pickaray," thought Link. "I wonder what that means." From where he sat he could see Kakariko village. He decided to go there and ask an elder what the diamonds and the note meant. Link reached Kakariko Village at about noon. He wasn't sure where the elders were, so he asked for directions. "Where can I find an elder?" Link inquired. "Clear on the other end of the village, in a small red hut," a tall man replied. "Thank you," said Link. Kakariko Village was quite busy around noon, so it took Link a while to get to the other end. He finally reached the other side of the village at about 1 o'clock. There was a red hut to the left, which Link entered. "Hello!" Shouted an old man from inside the hut. "How can I help you?" Link told him the whole story. "This is grave news," said the old man once Link had finished. "Aghan was a good friend. He came to me often for advice. But now! Let me see those diamonds." Link handed him the diamonds and the piece of paper. The old man looked them over carefully. "Pickaray!" the elder shouted suddenly. "Look at this," He said moment later. He handed Link a small stone. "It's a rock," said Link. "Not just any rock," said the old man. "Look how it's shaped." "It's a stone fly," said Link after a long silence. "Aye," replied the elder. "I turned it to stone. It appears that if you have the Eight Diamonds all you have to do is focus your thoughts on something and say pickaray to turn it to stone! These must be the Eight Diamonds in the prophecy!" "I'm not familiar with any prophecies involving these," replied Link. "I thought not," replied the elder. "It's a prophecy that's not very well known outside of us elders. I tell it to you if you like." "Yes," replied Link, "Please do." The Eight Diamonds will turn to stone What used to be flesh and bone. When the Eight Diamonds come this way, All of the moblins will scurry away. "There's more to it, but that's all I can recall at this time. I remember it mentioning a moblin king arising and taking control over thousands of moblins and sending them to attack." "A moblin king?!" gasped Link. "I guess that's where all those moblins came from." "Yes, and Kakariko Village will soon be attacked. We need your help, Link. Without the Eight Diamonds, we can't win." Link nodded. " I'd better go now." "Good," replied the Elder. "Now where do I go?" wondered Link as he left the hut. "I wonder where this moblin king is." He didn't have to wait long for an answer. Suddenly, the sky grew black. Link heard shrieking cries all around him. "Moblins," he thought to himself. Suddenly, Link felt something jump on him. It was so dark that he couldn't see anything. He concentrated on the moblin on top of him. "Pickaray!" he shouted. Actually, his mouth was covered and it sounded more like "Pifaway," but it worked anyway. Link could fell the cold hard stone on top of him. He threw it off. "It works!" he said to himself, "It really works!" There was no time to marvel however. The moblin that had jumped on Link was covering his eyes, but now that it was gone he found that the darkness was less complete. At least now he could see. "Pickaray!" he shouted, there was now a small stone moblin a few feet away. "Pickaray!" he shouted again. Again and again he shouted, while all the while more and more statues were appearing. "Help!" someone shouted. Link turned to where the sound was coming from and saw a man being attacked by a moblin. "Pickaray!" he shouted. The moblin lay still. Some time later, almost all of the moblins were either gone, dead, or turned to stone. Suddenly Link heard a shout. A large moblin grabbed the sack hanging Link's waist and ran off with it. "The diamonds!" Link thought franticly. "He stole the diamonds!" Link ran after it. All of a sudden, a huge moblin steeped out in Link's path. Link knew at once that it was the moblin king. For one thing, it was about 8 feet tall. Also, it carried a large sword and had a helmet upon its head. Link had no choice. Diamonds or no diamonds he would have to fight the moblin king. Link pulled out his sword and charged. He landed a blow on the king's leg, but that was it. The moblin king struck back. Link expected him to use his sword, but instead it took Link and threw him several feet away. Link hit a wall with a bang. He was dizzy and could hardly see anything. There was a pain in his chest. There was no time to sit however, because the moblin king was walking right toward him. Link tried to grab his sword but couldn't find it. Suddenly he saw it. It had flown several feet away. There was no way he could get at it. The moblin king was only a few feet away. All hope had left him. The moblin king held his sword high in the air and aimed a blow right at Link's head. Link shut his eyes, preparing for the blow. It never came. Link opened his eyes. A few inches away from his face a statue stood. Link laughed weakly. The pains from when he had been thrown had left him. He stood up. "Hello," someone shouted behind him. Link turned. It was the elder. He was holding up a small brown sack. "I think you dropped this!" he shouted. Link ran toward him. "So you were the one who turned the king to stone!" he said. "Yes, that was I," the elder replied. "But look in the bag! I think you will find something strange!" Link looked. He saw the Eight Diamonds, but something was wrong. "They're fading away!" Link exclaimed. "Yes," replied the elder. "The Eight Diamonds are fading. They have done their purpose." So Link saved Hyrule once again. Hyrule is safe... for now.