~Chapter Six- Under the Castle and Through the Sewers~
“Great Din, what happened?” Zelda asked, astonished at the state of Link’s tunic. It had various rips and tears, but, as usual, his hat was unscathed. Nobody would ever dare touch Link’s hat. If one did damage it, he would probably snap and blow up all of Hyrule in an accidental explosion. Zelda’s arms were crossed under her chest, and Link could not help but stare. He had never really noticed it until now. “Ahem.”
“Link,” Impa said, elbowing Link in the rib, surprisingly rough. “Explain to Zelda.” As Link explained what had occurred, leaving out the bit of Impa reviving him, on her request, Impa shook her head with a sigh. He’s still a lad, but even if Zelda’s his best friend, he still should show some respect, thought she.
“So, you say none of your attacks were able to and, and its speed was nearly blinding?” Zelda asked. “Nothing worked at all?” As he was right now, Link could not use his untapped magic supply. “Impa, do you think Magic could kill it? Perhaps I should fi—“
“Don’t be foolish, Princess,” Impa cut off. “This Dark Link is made of dark matter. No normal blade or magic would be able to pierce it unless it was the same magic, or the Master Sword.” Impa founded her fist into her hand. “That’s it! Princess, we should collect the Spiritual Stones! You shall not be safe as long as this dark matter entity is chasing you. I believe your father will have no objections to you leaving with Link and I to protect you.”
“That is a wonderful idea,” Zelda said. “So, where did you hide the Kokiri’s Emerald?” Zelda had a feeling in her gut that Impa would give an answer one Link would enjoy. When it came to important stuff, everyone seemed to hide it in extremely dangerous places, even to the hider.
“I hid it in the sewers,” Impa answered. “It’s in a treasure chest chained to the bottom of one of the channels.” Impa closed her eyes, crossed her arms, and nodded as she said this. “No thief would dare enter there, because of all the Ropes and Keese.”
“Impa, how did you get down there anyways?” Zelda groaned out of frustration. Link had told her how much he had gone through to retrieve the Stone from inside the Deku Tree, and she felt horrible that Link had to go through this again.
“There’s a special entrance underneath the castle. Look around down there as well for a Dungeon Map.” As soon as “dungeon” was said, Link’s eyes lit up and he clenched his fist in front of him with a cocky grin. He had retrieved his sword and shield from a guard at the entrance to the castle, so he was more than ready to take on the snake-like Ropes, and bat-like Keese. “A compass should be inside the Sewers somewhere.”
“Great…” Zelda sighed. “I can’t believe I’m escaping through the sewers.”
“It’s either stink of sewage, or stink of blood, Zelda,” Impa said, heading for the door. “The choice is yours. I’ll be heading out to inform your father, now.”
“Well, Link, let’s get going,” Zelda said, heading out of the room and making her way to the nearest stairwell. She stood waiting for Link to accompany her, but he did not come right away, so she promptly said, “Come on, Link!”
Nodding, Link walked out of the door and ran to Zelda; then making their wake down to the basement of the castle. There, Link realized that getting the map to the sewers would be no easy task. It was always like this when he had to find something. It was always puzzles, puzzles, more puzzles, and maybe an enemy to fight. Why could it not be easy for once?
“It’s so cold down here,” Zelda said with her arms close to her, shivering. She was still dressed as a princess should. Link could hardly believe she did not care that she would ruin that dress in the sewers. “Just find the map and let’s just get into the sewers and get out of there.” She grimaced at the thought of the sewers, and added, “If you get hurt, come to me. My offensive magic is exhausting. I can at least heal you,” She quickly rushed to Link and grabbed his hand, adding, “and give you a little boost when you’re lacking the heart for the job.” Link looked away, slightly pink as Zelda giggled, letting his hand go. “So, I’ll leave this puzzle to you. You’re the master at them, right?”
The puzzle was relatively simple. There were three switches on the ground, and from experience, Link knew they had to be all stepped upon at once. One was a little rusted, despite it not looking so at first glance. He hoped that it would still go down and activate. Link turned to Zelda and pointed at the rusty switch.
“Okay.” Zelda took her time walking to the switch. Link sighed at how slow the dress made her. He had never thought bringing her into a “dungeon” would be so troublesome. The switch clinked, but it did not go down all the way. “Well, that’s good.”
Link brought a palm to his face, pointing to and switch without rust. Zelda sighed and stepped on the other switch, groaning.
“I can’t believe I’m that heavy…”
Another palm to his face, and away Link went, searching for a block to place upon the rusty switch. With only torches as his light, Link spotted a large block in the corner of the room. He approached it and looked for something to give him a firm grip of it. Ever since he was a child, he found that a little muscle did great things when it came to moving blocks, but in combat, it seemed all his fists could do was make monsters angrier. The block moved easily along the ground and over the switched which was smashed down under the weight and activated. A secret door disguised as a wall quickly sank into the ground and revealed the location of the Dungeon Map. Link motioned Zelda to step off the switch and follow him into the newly revealed area. He ran to the large, wooden chest and opened it. Inside, Link found it rather hard to pick the map up from off the floor of the chest. Zelda came up from behind him and noticed his struggle and sighed.
“Such a waste of a large chest…” As she said this, Link turned around and nodded. Zelda could have taken this the wrong way, considering that Link would forever be staring at hers because of her height over him. “Now, let’s get into the sewers.” She took the map from Link and said, “I’ll read it. We can’t have you being distracted, right?” As she read, she looked up periodically to get an idea of where they were on the map. “There’s a door—“
Link had already found the door and shut it.
“…before us. Link, wait for me!” Zelda said, folding the map up neatly, picking up her dress, and hurrying after him. As she came through the door, a rank smell entered her nostrils, making her faint upon entering.
Water…? She thought. She was cold, and her body felt soaked. Something warm was wrapped around her and something splashed into her face. Her eyes opened quickly, and she found that she was in the water of the sewers. The smell was horrible, but she did not pass out, instead she felt more like puking. If someone’s… she thought, ...leftovers touch me, I really will die… She looked to see what was wrapped around her, and saw Link. His arm was wrapped around her; under her chest. She smiled and then noticed that he was bleeding from the cheek. It was going to be alright. “Link!” she managed to say, narrowly avoiding getting the dirty water in her mouth. A grunt was all that was needed from Link to know that she was acknowledged. Anything was good for her, when it was him. But… why are we in… Her foot touched something solid. It was shallow her. She slowly rose and stood upright as Link reached for his sword. Zelda now noticed his wounds, and looked around to see what could have caused them. Bites, scratches… The Ropes and Keese were attacking him as he carried her. I’m such a burden… thought Zelda, looking down and approaching Link. She placed a hand on his cheek and healed the wound there instantly. “Link, let me heal you before we continue,” Zelda said. They stood together for a moment, her hand on his cheek, and a bright blue aura underneath them both, undoing the wounds that were covering Link. He had protected her for who knows how long; it was the least she could do, but the urge to learn in was strong. He had risked his life to protect her, and he was right next to her the whole time, fighting with her in plain sight. He had never fought the assassins sent to kill her in the past, but was credited, for he tipped the guards off. She owed him her life a thousand times over. She fell to her knees as his wounds completely healed.
Link placed a hand on her shoulder and handed her the Dungeon Map, holding up a golden key to her face. He moved his head back to the door behind him. It had splendid golden chains in an X formation, and a large padlock. Impa was going all out to protect the Spiritual Stone. Zelda failed to recall if Impa had told her if she put a magic seal to summon a monster to protect the stone or not. She nodded and stood up saying,
“I’ll come with you.”
Link shook his head and helped her to a dryer place (if one could call a sewer dry) to sit. He wanted to face the monster alone, and Zelda understood why. She was holding him back.
“Fine…” she sighed. “Just be careful, alright?”
Link smiled. He was a person of few words, but Zelda could read his expression. To her is said,
“When haven’t I?”
Link took the golden key and stuck it into the padlock. It disappeared as the chains retracted into the padlock, before dropping to the ground. The door opened and Link ran through. In the room, there were six pillars in two columns. He walked down between them and saw a suit of armor in the center. It held a great axe, but it remained motionless. He walked up to the armor and felt around on it. There had to be something like a switch on it, if there was nothing to fight. At the sign of no way to get what he came for, he gave the armor a swift kick, and then the unexpected happened.
“UUUUAGH!” the armor groaned, lifting the axe; swinging it at Link, who narrowly evades it by back-flipping. Link backed up as the armor came towards him. He could tell it was hollow, because each step it made echoed from inside it. Link backed up and removed his sword and shield from his back. He charged towards the suit of armor and slashed. Just as his sword connected, the armor extended its arm and punched him square in the face.
“Gah-ha!” Link sputtered as he heard his nose crack from the blow that sent him flying half way across the room. Link did hear the armor grunt in pain from the attack he had landed on it as well, though. It was a weakness; it was good enough for him. His nose was bleeding, and his face burned. It wouldn’t surprise him if his face would have been broken by the attack. If it was, Zelda would have been most displeased, for sure. Now, how to avoid the fist and axe of that armor…
The armor was blue and on the breastplate was the Royal Family’s crest, the Triforce with a red phoenix behind it, just like the patter on his Hylian Shield. Link groaned at the sight of this enemy. If only that fairy Navi was still with him, he would not have a broken nose right now. It did not matter, though. He found a weakness and is going to exploit it! He charged toward the armor again and jumped to the left as the axe’s blade came down. Chunks of the floor shot up as Link jumped forward and slashed at the armor, who was punching the air. Jumping back a few times, Link let the armor take a few steps near him before repeating the process. This time the hit loosened the plate armor, revealing the soft chain mail underneath. There was still nothing inside, but this time the armor swung its axe side ways. Link felt lucky that it was not the blade, but the haft that connected with his ribs. It had a similar effect to the punch; he was thrown sidelong into one of the pillars. He coughed in pain and rose to his feet, as the armor chased after him with increased speed. The axe blade came down and he rolled out of the way just in time to make a stab at the armor, whom staged back as the sword connected, and proceeded with a quick kick to Link’s stomach, sending him back into another pillar.
He was almost out of it. Link struggled to keep his eyes open, and keep his vision in focus as he hid behind the pillar. He panted as he put away his sword and shield. He reached behind him, and took a weapon he retrieved from inside the sewers: a bow. He had good enough fortune to have found a quiver with arrows in it, to complete the set. He took one arrow out, but was forced to make a break for it, as the top of the pillar was obliterated from the blow from the armor’s axe. He rolled on the ground and recovered with an arrow readied. He had no prior training with a bow before, much like a sword, so he had to rely on his unusual good amount of luck for his shot to be true. He released and the arrow pierced the armor’s helm and it began to burn up in a green fire, crying out in pain, before disappearing, leaving behind a gem in the shape of a heart behind. Link had seen this gem before. Navi had called it a “Heart Container.” It healed all of one’s wounds, and made them even stronger in the process. It was a rare thing to find, for anywhere else, Heart Containers are split into four pieces. He picked it up, and felt the numbness in his face and soreness of his body fade with new strength from within. Panting, he saw a small treasure chest appear in swirling light. He approached the chest, kicked it, and looked inside. An emerald gold partially around it was inside. The chain that was connected to it was still there, from when Link was ten. He smiled as he picked it up. He called for Zelda and waited.
“Link, thank the goddesses you are alright,” Zelda said, rushing to him. She smelled bad, but it really did not make a difference. Link smelled just as bad, or maybe worse. Her dress had a hue of brown about it from the water, and her hair was soaked. “I suggest we head to Kakariko, next. The Goron’s Ruby, the Spiritual Stone of Fire lies there. We can wait for Impa in the meantime.”
Link nodded as a blue light shined from underneath them, and lifted them up. In a blinding light, the two appeared in Hyrule Field. The sun was setting, and the drawbridge was going up.
“Oh, no…” Zelda muttered. “What about Impa?” Link was too busy tooking to the east, where Kakariko Village was. He grabbed Zelda’s hand and ran with her, before the monsters of the night would rise from the ground.
