Previously, on “The Legend of Zelda: The Sacred Gems”…
“I think I may have an idea as to what that piece of fairy lore about the Garnet of Hours means.” Link replied. “‘The gem that holds your darkest hour’ is the Garnet of Hours….”
“Very good…you learn quickly.” Thani smiled as she followed Link up to a path leading into the mountains nearby the village entrance. “But, I don’t remember an entrance to the mountains being here…”
“There’s another one at the village’s edge, but that one leads to Death Mountain, whch is off course for us. Besides, I doubt the Gorons would be of any help finding a garnet in a part of the mountains they don’t know.” Link explained as he started up the path, being careful to walk softly in case he triggered an avalanche.
“That’s true, although we may be visiting them when we request their ruby later on.” Thani assured Link. “So what else have you concluded about the old lore?”
“The part about ‘lies deep below’ means that it is underground, or inside a cave…” Link continued, being careful to whisper so as not to also alert any monsters to their presence. “and ‘in a temple of power’ is just that, it’s in a temple someplace.
Just then, Thani noticed what looked like an entrance looming off to the west at a fork in the path. “Look!” she called, but gasped as she heard a low rumble headed in their direction. “Uh oh…”
Link turned and gasped at the large rocks heading straight for them. “I have a bad feeling about this…”
Episode 5: The Hour At Hand
“Run for it!” Thani screamed as the rocks tumbled and bounced down the hill. Link nodded and followed the light green fairy into the entrance just off the pathway. He heard the rocks rumble by for a few brief seconds before all was quiet again.
Once he regained his bearings, he gasped in shock at how large the room they were in appeared. From the small hallway he and Thani had entered from, there were three other doors inside the back wall, each one leading in three different directions.
“Are these the ruins Zelda told us about?” Thani asked. “Yet, this place seems familiar…
“I don’t know, but is this…the Temple of Time?” Link asked as he glanced around the large room he and Thani had entered. Of course, the Temple of Time was nowhere near the mountains, but the decor looked very similar to designs he had seen in the Temple of Time.
“No, I remember now–this is the Temple of Hours, where the Garnet of Hours is said to lie.” Thani explained. “If we defeat the evil leaking inside from Arthan’s prison, the Garnet will be safe.”
Link nodded–he had been through many temples before, so he knew that this one would also be filled with monsters and traps. But with Thani by his side, he would have help.
He sighed and started down the left pathway. Thani hovered close by, ready to help her companion in case he discovered a foe he wasn’t sure how to defeat. For a while, the two friends wound through a hallway covered in glyphs that vaguely resembled Hylian and crude pictures of what was likely the Garnet of Hours.
Suddenly, Thani spotted a slab with glyphs that looked silver compared to the gold color on the rest of the walls. “Hey, Link?”
“Hm?” Link asked as he approached a door.
“Over here.” Thani whispered, motioning for Link to join her by the silver colored wall. “I think these runes are a form of ancient fairy language…”
“Really? What do they say?” Link begged, excited at the prospect of a hint.
“It says ‘The true path will open at the proper time’” Thani replied. “It may have something to do with that room we were about to enter…”
“Let’s go in and see.” Link suggested as he made his way for the door and opened it, where he saw a large circle with runes arranged in such a way that it looked much like a clock face. A silver rock lay by the northernmost rune, and a blue rock lay by the easternmost rune. Aside from two barred exits leading west and east and a few torches, there was nothing else in the room.
“No wonder, the runed circle in here represents a clock face, and the ‘time’ it is set to is three o’clock. The question is, which hour do we need the blue rock pointing at to open both ways out?” Thani mused.
Link calmly walked over to the runed circle, gripped the blue rock, and heaved it with all his might until it was lying by the rune representing four o’clock. He thought he heard some rumbling, but was surprised as a swarm of bats came flying into the room! He slashed at some, and felled five more, but more bats came flying into the room faster than he could slay them.
“Sometimes the best offense is a good defense!” Thani suggested over the screeching bats.
The best offense is a good defense…that’s it! Link thought–what if he were to curl himself into a ball and let the bats hit his shield?
He dropped to his knees and leaned foward into a prone position, wincing as each bat hit his shield with a thunk. After a few tense minutes, he stood up and looked around–bat corpses dotted the room, and what bats were still living had retreated to a few holes in the ceiling.
“Are you okay?” Thani asked as she flew down to Link’s side and looked him over for any injuries.
“Yeah–those bats surprised me!” Link gasped as he walked back to the waiting rock. “At least we know the hour is not four.” With that, he began heaving the blue rock again…
To Be Continued…
o^-^o: Will Link and Thani escape this room? What other secrets does the Temple of Hours have in store for them? Don’t miss Episode 6 on this Web site next week!
