After a lot of sleep, finally got enough energy to tackle this chapter. And watching a walkthrough of the Arbiter’s Grounds helped too, because it’s been a while since I played that one.
– Franz finally has development! In fact, he’s almost oversaturated in development! And maybe it happens in an unrealistically short timeframe, but he’s on a timer, so we’ve gotta deal. : P
– I hope the altered dungeon is interesting and full of good surprises. Also Link seems to be a bit of a derp in this chapter.
– Nabooru was kind of the most undeveloped/boring Sage in OoT next to Rauru, but hey! She is a lot more interesting in my head! I wonder how that happened… First she revealed stuff way too early, stuff that I thought was coming at the end of the chapter, and then she insisted on coming along with the boys. That’s fine. She can do exposition. She’s very willful.
– not sure I would include the Spinner in future rewrites. It’s just too ridiculous, you know? It’s kind of awesome in the game, but it’s really limited from a narrative point of view.
All right, here’s this massive thing. Didn’t even edit, tonight. If there are problems… let me know. : P
I feel like drawing Franz. I probably should.
Chapter 11: Evil’s Bane in Hand
Chapter 12: Cuccoos Coming Home to Roost
Epona did not like the desert sand, he was sure of that. She trotted along gamely enough, but the way it shifted under her hooves couldn’t have been comfortable. Both he and Franz had dismounted from their horses and were leading them by the bridle. Link wondered if he would do better as a wolf than a human, but wasn’t about to transform to avoid spooking Franz’s horse.
The sun beat down on them, and both men had improvised head coverings to protect them from the light and from the irritating blowing sand. Midna was hiding in Link’s shadow, safely incorporeal, and Navi was impervious to it all. There wasn’t much talking. It was hard to do and wasted energy.
“We’ll have to leave the horses somewhere,” Navi said. “Epona we can trust to take care of herself, but I’m not sure about Pwin. Can’t we find a cave somewhere safe?”
“Sounds good,” Link said shortly. “Want to go find one?”
“Okay! Don’t wander off your course, or I’ll never find you again!” She zoomed away into the desert.
Their other problem was water. Link had learned how to keep hydrated in the desert long ago, and how to ration his water. They weren’t beginning to run out, not yet, but there was only so much before they would be at the halfway point, and they would need some for the trip back. He couldn’t rely on finding a spring, not when he didn’t know the place.
Franz, completely out of his depth, followed his lead.
In half an hour, Navi returned. “I found a place! And you’ll never guess what’s inside!”
“Great Fairy?”
“Noooo… maybe. This way! I’ll show you.”
It took them an hour to cover the same ground, but at the end of it, they stood in front of a dark crevice in the side of a cliff. Link was the first to move, leading Epona up to the opening.
He couldn’t see much inside at first. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he pulled his head covering off and took a deep breath. There was a torch in the far corner, and bales and rolls scattered around… someone was obviously living here.
A wild screech of a warcry erupted behind him, and he duck, whirled, and drew his sword.
Nabooru skidded to a halt just in front of him, hands on hips, cackling at the look on his face. “Ha! Startled you good, didn’t I!”
“Hello,” Link said. “It’s good to see you again.”
“Likewise, handsome.” She stepped forward and hugged him, heedless of the fact he hadn’t sheathed his sword yet. He awkwardly hugged her back with one arm. “So, what have you been up to these last three years? You should have been back ages ago! The whole place has gone to ruin again!”
“Not completely,” Link protested. “I’m working on it. Although, what are you doing all the way out here?” Gerudo women were beginning to come out of hiding around the cave. “Navi, did you have anything to do with this?”
She giggled, and that was his answer.
He smirked chidingly at Nabooru, who was completely unfazed. “Oh, you uptight Hylians. It was a joke! A good one, too. I like the way your fairy friend thinks. But to answer your question, no, we’re not out in the desert because of that stupid invasion that popped up a couple weeks ago. More because of what Ganondork did to our reputation. We’re supposed to be nomads and hunters, not bandits and call girls. So we abandoned our fortress and came out here. It’s been good for us.”
“I see,” Link said. “One minute. I have a companion outside, and he’s probably wondering what’s going on.”
He went to the cave entrance and called Franz in. “There’s an old friend of mine in here. Have you met any Gerudo before?”
“I haven’t had the pleasure,” Franz said hesitantly as he, too, pulled off his head covering and looked around at the red-haired women with an expression of curiosity. “I’ve read about them, of course, how Gerudo, the daughter of one of the Hyrulean Sages, rebelled against her father and came to live her life free in the desert… and naturally I know about the troubles Hyrule had with Ganondorf recently.”
Nabooru was looking at Franz with undisguised interest. “He’s cute. And a red-head, to boot. Do you think we’re related?”
“I think it’s somewhat unlikely that the Prince of Labrynna is anything more than distantly related to… Gerudo, daughter of a Sage,” Link answered. “Franz, this is Nabooru, the Sage of Spirit. Nabooru, this is Prince Franz. He’s come a long way to offer his aid to Hyrule. I have another introduction to make, if she’s interested…”
Midna popped out of the ground. “Greetings. I am Midna.”
“You’re funny,” Nabooru said bluntly. “So what brings you out here, handsome?”
“We’re looking for a place called the Arbiter’s Grounds,” Link said. “But I was hoping to leave our horses somewhere safe before we go there.”
“And so you sent Navi looking for a place.”
“Yes.”
Nabooru looked at him oddly. “What business do you have in the Arbiter’s Grounds? Don’t you know how haunted that place is?”
“I have no idea how haunted it is,” Link protested. “I never heard of it before.” Somewhere behind him, Franz was having to fend off curious Gerudo women, who all seemed obsessed with his long red hair.
“It’s very haunted,” Nabooru said. “I haven’t been in the Shadow Temple, but I’d wager this place could give that one a run for its money. Except being hot instead of cold.”
“You’ve been in the Arbiter’s Grounds?” Link asked.
The Sage hesitated. “Yes.”
“It wasn’t good?”
“No. But I’m not going to dissuade you. I know you’re the kind of man who goes and does whatever he feels he has to, even if it’s stupid.”
“What do you know about the Mirror of Twilight?” Midna asked.
“Is that what you’re after?” Nabooru asked, evading the question. “I see. I’ll tell you a bit about the place. Let’s go sit down.”
She led them to an alcove with silk curtains and fluffy pillows. Link hooked an arm around Franz and dragged him more than willingly away from his new admirers.
Nabooru sat cross-legged on the ground. “Deep in the mists of time, it is said that there was a beautiful oasis where the Arbiter’s Grounds now stand. Originally, it was a tourist resort. But the water began to dry up, and the place changed irrevocably when some king used it as a prison for a bunch of evil sorcerers that just couldn’t be contained anywhere else” Midna stirred, looking irritably down on Nabooru. “A brief line of wicked kings used it as a prison and a weapon of fear after that. When my ancestor, Gerudo, ran away to the desert, one of the first things she did was to free its inmates. That put a stop to its use for a while. As the years passed, a few of the better kings used it again as a prison, only they put the truly wicked in there this time. The years passed uneventfully, until vengeful spirits of the executed began to cause trouble. It ultimately ended in an undead outbreak, and the prison has stood empty but haunted for centuries. Except for that time when we went in.”
“I see,” Link said. “The undead are still around, I assume.”
“Is that going to be a problem?” Franz asked.
“How many dead people have you seen?” Link asked in return.
Franz looked uncertain, but chased the expression from his face with determination. “I know hunting is not the same. Killing monsters is not the same. But I won’t falter.”
“Don’t let pride get in your way,” Link said gravely. “I don’t want you to feel coerced by your own will.”
“You don’t need to warn me,” Franz said. “I chose this. My pride is…”
“A huge stick up your butt,” Nabooru interjected. “You’ve never seen real combat. You’ve never seen a reanimated skeleton, or a zombie. If Link thinks you’re good to go, I’m not gonna stop you. But he’s right. You might not be ready for this.”
Franz flushed angrily. “My lady, I will see this through.”
“Ooh,” Nabooru said, and fluttered her eyelashes at Link. “Despite the stick up his butt, he’s cute when he’s mad. And he’s polite, too.”
Link got up. “So, the place is filled with undead, and the Mirror of Twilight is on top?”
“Yeah. And it still works.”
“How do you know that?”
She averted her eyes. “I don’t want to talk about it. I suppose I have to. We… we found Ganondorf still alive, even after all you did to him. We took him there. It was my idea; I knew the history of the place. So did Rauru. We chained him up to the big block of stone that’s up top there, and Rauru produced some kind of light sword to kill him with. Except… it didn’t work.”
“It didn’t?” Link exclaimed. “He’s still alive?”
“I don’t know,” Nabooru said flatly. “He… he pulled free, pulled the sword out of his own gut, and… he killed Ruto.”
“No!” Navi cried. “I mean, she was annoying, but… she can’t be dead! What happened to the Sage of Water?”
“I don’t know that either,” Nabooru said. “Rauru was the one who used the Mirror. Ganondorf was caught in the beam, just as Beardy intended, and sent off… somewhere. Anywhere but here. But of course it can’t bring Ruto back.”
“Why didn’t anyone say anything about this before?” Link demanded.
“No one knows except the remaining Sages,” Nabooru said. “And Ruto’s boyfriend. Darunia thought we should tell him. Since then… well, I don’t know.”
“I guess it never came up,” Link said, sitting down again heavily and scrubbing his hands over his face. “Zelda was in a hurry the brief times I saw her… and Saria… well, it just never came up. Ruto… I can’t… I can’t process that.”
“Wait,” Midna said. “You sent this evil, powerful man to my world?”
“Well, I didn’t, but if your world is what’s on the other side of that mirror, then yeah, we did.”
Navi fluttered up in distress. “That must be how Zant got so much power!”
Link scrambled to his feet. “We have to stop him. We have to get there, right now. I have the Master Sword. I can defeat him again. And make sure he never comes back.”
Nabooru looked up at him, then got to her feet as well. “You’re right. This whole thing has been a huge mess. I’ll come with you, help you put it right.”
“Thank you,” Link said. “And we can leave our horses here?”
“You certainly can. That Epona beast of your is still a beautiful creature… wish we had horses like her! I’ll just need a few moments to give some orders, and then we’ll be off.”
They arrived at Arbiter’s Grounds around midday and found their way blocked.
“What is all this?” Nabooru exclaimed in a rage, looking down at the ramshackle wooden structures that had sprung up in front of the ancient stone structure. The Arbiter’s Grounds did look like a coliseum, with six massive pillars set in a circle around a ring-shaped wall of arches.
“Moblins, looks like,” Navi answered, hovering far above them. “You haven’t been here in a while?”
“No. These animals! This is not a place they should be, defiling it with their filth.”
“You’re not going to attack them head on with only… five of us,” Midna said. “At least, you better not.”
Nabooru smirked over her shoulder at the imp girl. “I’m not the Sage of Spirit for nothing. The desert wind is mine to command. But… here’s the plan. You four go on ahead inside, I fight them, and join you later.”
“First we have to get inside,” pointed out Franz. Nabooru had given him a Gerudo bow and he was toying with it, adjusting the tension.
“Not a problem,” Link said. “I can find a path. Midna?”
She turned him into a wolf, and Nabooru jumped. Then she laughed. “I always knew you were a wolf at heart, handsome. Lead on.”
They got about halfway across the Moblin camp when Link turned a corner and came face-to-face with a boar. He froze. “Easy there,” he said to it. “Just passing through.”
“Huh? What’s that? Who’s there?” the boar demanded. “Where are you? What are you?” It was getting very worked up, squinting all around, and Link would have put his paw to his head if his joints worked that way. Instead, he shook his head backed up around the corner again. Franz put a hand on his head.
“We’re not going that way?” he whispered.
The boar bellowed and charged, knocking down a wall and running over an unlucky Bokoblin.
“Looks like we are now,” Midna said from her perch on Link’s back. “If that didn’t bring the whole camp down on us.”
But the camp stayed quiet. Link supposed their boars were normally skittish.
No, the real trouble came when they had successfully stealthed their way to the other side of the camp and found a large, locked gate in their way. It was too high to climb.
Midna looked around. “I could rip it off its hinges… Maybe… But that would bring every monster in the place running, and I wouldn’t have enough energy to fight for a while after that.”
Link glanced at Navi and turned back into a human. “Why not get one of the boars to knock it down for us? After all, that’s how this whole thing started for me.”
Navi snorted. “You after poetic justice?”
“Just taking inspiration where I can find it.”
“All right,” Nabooru said. “I like this idea. How do we implement it?”
“Well, first we find a boar… then I coax it over here in my wolf form, make it mad, and run like a Keese on fire.”
“Simple enough,” Navi said. “I’ll help you find a boar. Let’s go!”
“You are all crazy,” Franz said.
Nabooru put a hand on his shoulder. “You and me are gonna wait right here, kiddo.”
Link, again a wolf, padded forward among the shabby huts. The sand scrunched softly under his feet.
Navi came back. “There’s a potential target just this way. It might be a challenge to get to if it only charges in a straight line. But we can…”
“Turn around,” Midna hissed at her, as Link jumped for the shadows to hide.
The chief Moblin, on his boar, had appeared from behind a hut. He looked rather worse for wear. It was too late to silence her, and he turned in their direction. Link could see the astonishment on his face.
“Well,” Midna said, with a sly grin. “This will do just as well, hmmm?”
Link did not grin, but stepped out of the shadows into the full sight of the Moblin. He had to induce him to charge.
It wasn’t necessary to induce anything. The Moblin growled and spurred his boar. Link turned and sprinted for the gate. The Moblin roared at his retreat. The ground shook under the boar’s hooves.
He glanced around, and saw the boar was closer than he had thought. Navi was screaming at him, but he couldn’t hear her, and Midna was grimly silent. He felt the boar right on his heels…
He tried to leap sideways out of the boar’s path, and ended up sprawled full on its snout as it picked him up and they all tumbled into the gate together. It collapsed with a splintering crash.
Link was back in his human form before they hit the ground, but then he and the Moblin were tumbling off the boar together, rolling across the hot sand. Luckily for him, he ended up on top of the Moblin, and not underneath. He punched the Moblin twice in the face and rolled away. Nothing seemed to be broken, but he was bruised and breathless nonetheless.
He drew his sword and shield as the Moblin pulled his bulk to standing. The boar had run up towards the temple, losing steam the closer it got.
Link jumped at the Moblin and heard Navi screech again. “Arrows!” Instead of continuing his attack, he rolled to the side and came up in a crouch. Two arrows were embedded in the sand where he had just been. He looked up and saw Bokoblin archers on crude watchtowers at the far end of the camp, fitting more arrows to their bows.
The Moblin was stomping towards him.
“Forget him!” Nabooru cried, stepping in front of him and drawing the twin scimitars strapped to her back. “You four get into the prison! Just like we planned!”
“Can you beat this guy?” Link yelled back, retreating slowly with Franz at his side.
Nabooru grinned and clashed her scimitars together, the blue glow of Nayru’s Love appearing around her. “I don’t even have to. Get going, morons!”
Link turned and ran for the temple as the wind began to pick up.
The two men and the fairy made it inside just as the wind began to screech among the stones. The sand was so dense Link couldn’t see more than a foot through it.
Franz was panting. “What a brave lady.”
“She certainly is,” Link agreed. “Drink?”
“Yes.”
Midna showed herself. “She’s gonna be okay, right?”
“I trust her,” Link said. “She’s the Desert Sage. I think this wind is of her making, which means she’ll be fine in the middle of it. For now, we have to press on.”
“You’re concerned?” Navi teased Midna.
Midna glanced sidelong at the fairy. “She intrigues me. Her history seems… familiar, from how you described it.”
“What, a natural leader forced to sit by while the official jumpstart makes a mess of her people? And then coming in to pick up the pieces afterwards and return the people to their proper state?”
Midna made a smug face and disappeared.
Link had only been half paying attention. Instead, he was looking around at the worn walls and the magic torches that still lit the dark entrance hall. It was a lot cooler inside, for which he was thankful. He was already soaked in several days worth of sweat, and his clothes were starting to stick to him. Franz followed him as he slowly walked down its length to the corridor at the far end. “Be on your guard.”
“Right,” Franz said, drawing his sword. Link could tell he was nervous, and he didn’t blame him. For all his brave words, this was Franz’s first dungeon crawl, and if there were undead around, it would probably be one of the spookier ones he could have picked. The symbol of the Royal Family of Hyrule being engraved everywhere was no comfort.
The next room had a floor made of deep, soft sand. “Careful,” Link said. “It’s possible to sink until you suffocate in sand like this.”
“Just keep moving?” Franz asked, and Link nodded.
Then Franz screamed. Link whirled, and saw him hacking frantically at the sand that was now up to his shins. Bony arms stretched out of it, grabbing at him.
“Stay calm!” Link shouted. “Just try to get back to solid ground! I’m on my way.” He waded as fast as he could through the loose sand as Franz’s flailing only got him stuck deeper in it. “Midna, can you grab him?”
“Here goes,” she grunted, and wrapped her hair around Franz, yanking him backwards. He stumbled and sat down hard on flagstones as Link came to the little knot of skeletons and began slicing at them. “Hey, Link, maybe that was a bad idea.”
Link dispatched the last of the skeletons and looked up. “What was? Ooooooh drat.”
Franz was facing down twenty Stalfos with spears. Link saw his shoulders trembling. “Get me over there, Midna!” She obliged, pulling Link to stand beside Franz.
The sight of Link appearing beside him galvanized Franz into action and he brought his sword up, still shaking, but defiant.
“Stay low,” Link advised him. “They’ll only attack one or two at a time, but it’s much easier to dodge when you don’t know which one’s going to attack next.”
“I’m not a novice,” Franz grumbled.
“Can I borrow these?” Midna asked. “Thanks.”
“Borrow – gah – what?” Link demanded, taking a cut on his right arm in favour of stabbing a Stalfos in the head.
A few seconds later, something in front of him exploded, and Stalfos bits flew past him. He and Franz were knocked backwards, off their feet. “Midna! What was that?”
“Oh, just a bomb. Don’t get excited.”
Link rolled, twisted, and got back to his feet, snapping a spear that was trying to poke at Franz. “We’re going to have a talk about communication and strategy later. I’ll let Navi give it to you.” But most of the skeletons had been cleared out, their old fragile bones disintegrating in the blast of the bomb, so he couldn’t complain too much.
Franz had finally got a hold of himself and was putting his sword to good use. Link felt for his rhythm and joined in. It wasn’t smooth, not yet, but they got the job done.
When the last Stalfos had fallen, Link turned to Franz. “You all right?”
He nodded, but his eyes were still wide and his pupils were dialated.
“You want to sit down?”
“I’m good,” Franz snapped. “I can handle it.”
“I know. But you’re allowed to take a moment anyway.”
Franz sighed and his head dropped. “Skeletons aren’t supposed to move,” he muttered.
“Nope,” Navi said. “I hate that. You come into a room, and at first there’s nothing there, and then…”
“All right, Navi,” Link said. “That is the opposite of helping.”
And Franz took another breath and looked at the ceiling. “And you didn’t even blink.”
“I’ve been doing this for a very long time,” Link said. “I’ve faced down several armies’ worth of these things. When you have, you won’t blink either.”
“Consider this your crash course in tempering the steel of your nerves,” Navi said. “And that was a horribly mixed metaphor. I’m sorry.”
Franz managed a smile. “I won’t be taken unawares next time. Let’s continue.”
They made it past a few minor traps to a large room with a huge gate at the back, leading into a dark narrow corridor. Four blue torches glowed at the four corners of the room.
At least, they did, until four Poes gathered them up and scattered. The gate slammed shut, raising a cloud of dust.
Link frowned. “Oh, come on,” he called to the Poes vanishing through the walls. “I’ve done this once in my life already, and we’re doing it again?”
“There’s ghosts, too?” Franz asked.
“Nabooru did say it was haunted,” Navi said. “But yeah, do you think it’s the same ghosts as last time?”
“I have no idea and I don’t care. Let’s go this way first and see if we can find any.”
They reached the end of the first corridor. Two Stalfos attacked them, but were taken care of without any problem.
Then something rose up before them, from a pile of sand, and before Link could swing at it, it gave a hideous, soul-chilling screech. Franz shrieked in unabashed fear and fell back, and even Link felt the hair on the back of his neck rise and hesitated to strike.
The desiccated Redead he faced raised a large square sword to attack, and he slashed its body from bottom to top before it could bring the heavy thing down on him. It hadn’t been expecting him to attack so soon, or so quickly, and gave another ghastly shriek before he cut off its head.
“You better come quick!” Navi called, and Link turned and hurried to where Franz lay huddled in a corner, hyperventilating.
“It’s okay,” Link said, helping him sit up. “It’s all right. Breathe.”
Franz clung to his shirtfront with a deathgrip. “M-m-maybe I sh-should g-go back. N-Nabooru was right.”
“No, we can’t,” Link told him, hand on his shoulder. “You can’t go back now. You can do this. The dead aren’t any more of a threat than the living as long as you stab them enough times.”
Franz managed a short laugh and made an effort to calm his breathing.
“Link?” he asked very softly. “Please don’t… don’t tell Nabooru…”
“I won’t tell anyone,” Link promised. “And neither will Navi or Midna. But you have to get up and keep going. When you’re ready.”
Franz nodded violently. “I thank you.” He let go of Link’s collar, finally, and straightened up a bit, slowing his breathing even more. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right.”
The prince huffed one last deep breath, and then began to climb shakily to his feet. “I am ashamed. Sh-she was right. My pride drove me here. But if I see it through, I’ll certainly be s-stronger for it.” Link nodded, smiled, and turned to lead them onwards.
And Franz disappeared through the floor with another scream.
Link spun, but a stone panel was already sliding closed. He set his jaw. “Oh, they did not.” He glared at the stone. “First priority now: rescue Franz before he has a seizure. Come on.”
“Wait,” Midna said. “Where’s Navi?”
“Wasn’t she here a minute ago?”
“I didn’t see her…”
Link sighed. “They can’t hurt her. Maybe she had better reflexes than both of us, and got to him before the door closed. Let’s hurry.” He turned and began to run down the dimly lit corridor.
It took him an hour to get down a level, down to the actual cells of the prison where he suspected the prince to be held. And the first thing he ran into was a Poe.
He had turned into his wolf form to slip more easily into holes in the walls, and found the Poe much easier to fight than he had in the Forest Temple when he was trying to rescue Saria. Of course, the Poe couldn’t understand him either, when he told it to “get out of here”.
He had miscalculated one thing. If he couldn’t find Navi at some point, he was going to be stuck as a wolf for a while. And the Stalfos were easier to fight as a human.
The Poe evaporated under his jaws, leaving behind a peculiar scent.
Of course! He could track Franz with his nose. He wasn’t really sure what he smelled like, but he could just follow the scent that resembled a living being. There was only one other creature in the dungeon that was alive, and that was Franz. Even the rats were ghosts.
He found traces of a scuffle, and a pile of old bones, and a strong scent of human sweat. Franz would be easier to track than he had thought, and evidently he had been fighting. That was a good sign.
He trotted quickly down the very dark hall, following his nose, uttering a bark every few seconds.
“You smell something?” Midna asked, finally catching on. “Is it Franz? Or Navi?”
He barked affirmatively, and she raised her own shrill voice. “Fraaaanz! Naviiiii!”
Only silence greeted her call. “On second thought, that may not have been the smartest thing. Now all the ghosts will come running to us.”
If that was the case, then they had to get to Franz before the ghosts did.
He galloped forward, stubbing his toes in the dark, growling at his clumsiness.
He heard something, a scuff, and turned to see another Redead shuffling up on him from the side. Before it could shriek at him, he jumped at it, smooth as water, and ripped its throat out. It wheezed and kept coming. He circled, and jumped away from its sword blow, one that would have cut him in half if it connected. The sword became embedded in the stone floor, and he jumped on its back and broke its spine.
He heard something else from up ahead, the harsh scrape of steel on stone, and bounded forward. There was a light, and he rounded the corner to see Franz and Navi standing together against several Stalfos. One already lay in pieces on the floor.
Link barked, and Navi turned to him. “Link! You found us!”
“Change me back!” he said, though she couldn’t understand him. She got the hint anyway, and in a moment he was standing beside Franz, Master Sword in hand. “Good to see you still in one piece.”
“Likewise,” Franz said, his hand steadier than it had been in some time.
“Midna!” Link called. “We could use a bomb up here!”
“Heehee,” was the reply he received. “I thought you’d never ask.”
There was an explosion, followed by a rumble. “Oooh drat,” Navi said. “I think that might have shaken something bad.” A stone block fell to the ground behind them.
Link pushed Franz. “Go go go!” They dashed past the crumbling skeletons, ahead of the wave of sand that was flooding the corridor behind them.
They passed into the next room and slammed the stone door shut behind them.
Franz panted. “That was the way out, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, but don’t worry about it,” Link said. “I find there’s always another way out.”
“In this case, I can get you out if absolutely necessary,” said Midna, not even bothering to pop out of the ground. “But I’d prefer to save my strength, and I know you want to poke around every corner you can get, don’t you.”
“Indeed,” said Navi. “He’s so obsessive.”
“Well, look at this place,” Link said. “I don’t understand this room yet. Why is there a sword covered in bits of paper and string?” He walked forward, towards the seven-foot-long black sword embedded tip-first in the floor, and poked at one of the strings that anchored it to the floor.
“Don’t touch…! that…” Franz offered too late, as the string disintegrated into dust. Red runes flashed on the sword and the other strings and papers also crumbled. Link jumped backwards as the sword rose from the floor and swung horizontally at him.
If he squinted, he could see a giant black-robed figure with a head like the skull of a bull, swinging the sword around like it weighed nothing. The black sword whizzed through the air with a huge meaty whoosh.
“Stay back!” Link called to Franz. “I don’t know how to beat this thing yet!”
“Stab it enough times?” Franz called back, and Link smiled.
“Yes, but where? And how do I get close enough…” he ducked another blow. “Franz! Get your bow out!”
“What do I aim at?”
“Anything! See what makes it flinch!”
Arrows began to fly past Link’s head while he kept the monster ghost occupied. It was strange having arrows not targeted at him.
An arrow struck it in the head, and another in the chest, and it roared, tumbling out of the air and landing in front of Link. He slashed at it with the Master Sword, once, twice, three times, and it reeled back, seizing the black sword and swinging at him. He barely parried in time, standing his ground as firmly as he could, though he was still sent staggering back a couple paces.
“Do that again!” he shouted. “I think that worked!”
Franz did it again, but now he had the monster’s attention. It was all Link could do to physically block the creature from hurtling past him and attacking the prince.
“Maybe trade places?” Navi suggested.
“No, I don’t think his sword will work on this thing. Get back, thing!”
Franz’s next arrow finally hit it in the eye again, and again it howled and fell at his feet.
He hacked at it until it evaporated into a puff of smoke. The sword fell to the ground, broken.
Franz slowly lowered his bow. “Did we get it?”
“I think so,” Link said, breathing heavily and looking around. “Navi, opinion?”
“It’s gone,” she said. “Pretty sure.”
“Why would they seal it away when you could defeat it with arrows and a sword?” Link asked.
“Well, like you said, it probably can’t be defeated by an ordinary sword. So you’re very lucky you came here now, and not a week ago,” Navi told him.
“Right.”
He glanced left and right one more time. “You all right?”
“I’m fine,” Franz said, and he seemed to mean it this time. “What’s that over there?”
Link glanced at it. “It’s a treasure chest. Sometimes people leave fun things in those.” He jogged over and opened it. “I have no idea what this is.”
“It’s a Spinner,” Franz said, coming up behind him. “In my country, children use them as toys. This one looks big enough to ride on.”
Navi bounced up and down. “Oh, please tell me that’s what we’re going to do!”
Link looked at her and sighed. “Only to make you happy.” He lifted it out of the chest and set it down on the floor, where it began to hum and spin. He jumped on it, expecting to fall off, and was surprised when it held steady under his feet. He leaned forward and it began to glide in that direction. It went faster and faster, until spikes popped out around the rim. He stopped it in a hurry. “Well that was interesting.”
“I guess that makes it pretty dangerous for anyone not riding it,” Franz said.
“Navi, can you take care of this until we find a use for it? Thanks.”
They found a use for it very soon, when they found a tall shaft that looked like it ought to have had stairs but had a strange jagged groove running in a spiral up the wall. Link fitted it into the groove and it ran away from him. He managed to grab it before it went too far, and on the next try, rode it all the way to the top. He threw it back down so Franz could come up, and then together set off.
They were soon joined by a smug-looking Nabooru, who helped them fight the rest of the Poes as Link tracked them down with his nose. Then she led them through the now-open gate and into the next room, which was filled with confusing pieces of Spinner track. Nabooru turned into an orange sphere of light and teleported to the great door at the back of the room, which Link thought was cheating, rather. But he got on the broken track as Franz told him where to go next from his vantage point on the ground. The Spinner was confusing to ride, and without Franz and Navi yelling at him where to go next, Link would have had a hard time making it up to the door.
Then he threw it down to Franz again, and the prince managed to make it up relatively safely, although it was clear he liked riding it even less than Link. Then Nabooru opened the big door for them, and they headed through.
“We didn’t even come this way last time,” Nabooru said. “We just flew up the outside.”
Link mock-glared at her. “Well, not all of us have magical Sage powers. How did you know it’s haunted, then?”
“I poked around a bit since then, trying to determine if there was a way to bring back Ruto. No dice.”
“I wonder if that’s the quest Darunia is on? I’ve been told he told everyone he was on a quest, and then disappeared.”
“Wouldn’t be surprised. The sentimental old rock.”
They reached the end of the corridor, and came into yet another great circular chamber. The door ground shut behind them, and Link loosened his sword in its sheath.
“That looks like it could be trouble,” Franz said, keeping his voice under control with an effort. He pointed at the skull of some massive beast that was the size of a small house.
“You’re catching on,” Navi said proudly.
Nabooru looked approvingly at him. “You’re holding up better than I thought you would, kiddo. Congratulations.”
A fizzing teleportation noise distracted them from their banter. Link drew his sword and started forward as Zant appeared, standing on the skull.
“You’re still alive!” Zant said, his helmet distorting his voice. “How astonishing. No wonder some call you ‘Hero’. But this is a bittersweet reunion, truly. For I fear this is the last time I will see you alive.”
“You know, if it’s that sad for you, you don’t have to try to kill us,” Navi snarked. “Just saying.”
“Oh, but I must,” Zant said. “I cannot conquer this land until this boy is dead. If I were to raise Twilight in any part of it, he would undo all my work before I could take my just revenge for your Princess’s betrayal. But I have preparations to see to, and so I will have to let the Stallord deal with you rather than destroy you myself. Say farewell to Midna for me.” He plunged a large black sword, different from the one that had been sealed in the dungeons, into the centre of the skull, and teleported away again.
“I hate him so much,” Midna grumbled.
Silence fell as Link waited for the skull to do something.
He was not disappointed. A red flame lit in its eyes, and it began to move. Bony arms sprouted from the same and heaved, and the skull became the head of a strange humanoid figure buried to its waist in sand. It roared in Link’s face, spraying sand over him, and he raised his shield to block it.
Skeletal warriors began to rise from the sand around it.
“I’m not sure how to beat this one either!” Link called back to the other two. “Keep the skeletons busy while I have a look at it!”
“Got it!” Franz called, an arrow already on the string.
“If you need more arrows,” Navi told him, “just ask me. I carry extra quivers for Link all the time.”
“Thank you.”
Link hopped on the Spinner – it seemed like a good idea – and launched himself into the arena, right beneath the monster. It roared again – how could a skeleton roar? – and swiped at him with massive, three-clawed hands. He ducked, but he was moving too fast for it to hit him.
A person-sized skeleton rose in his path, and he kicked the spikes out, taking it out at the knees. He bounced off into a different direction, and straight into a blow from the Stallord. He went flying, and crashed hard into the side of the arena. Nabooru ran to him from where she was decapitating skeletons. “You all right?”
“I think so,” he said groggily. “Where… where’s the Spinner? I have an idea.”
“It’s still out in the middle of those guys,” Nabooru said. “I’ll help you get it back.” She brandished her swords and leaped acrobatically into combat, with Link slicing with the Master Sword in her wake.
He reached the Spinner, still hovering, and climbed on. “Thanks. Now you better get out of the way. I’m not very good at controlling this thing yet.” And he didn’t have enough concentration to ride it and swing his sword at the same time, or use his shield with any kind of efficacy.
“Got it.”
He turned and targeted the creature’s spine. It rotated a hundred and eighty degrees to keep an eye on him, and as he dodged under its rib cage, skeletons rose in a shield before him, as if it knew what his plan was.
“I see,” Franz shouted. “One moment, I think we can co-ordinate this.”
Link dodged between two skeletons by sheer luck, bounced off a third, and managed to circle around to where he had a clear shot again. “All right, you ready? Because I’m going.”
This time, Franz took down two of the skeletons before he reached them, giving him enough of a gap to slip through and jam the spikes of the Spinner into the spine of the giant. It was enough, and it cracked and fell backwards, flailing, into the sand.
Link retreated up the slope, and found Franz still shooting, and Nabooru defending him against a steady tide of skeletons. He hopped off the Spinner and did a spin attack, taking down several that didn’t see him coming. Nabooru did an interesting hop-skip-flip thing and decapitated the rest of them.
“That’s not it, is it?” he said. “That seemed too easy.”
“Only you could say that,” Navi said, and Franz laughed.
“Well, turn around,” Nabooru said, pointing with a scimitar.
Link did, and found that the sand had drained from a large ring-shaped pit behind him, and the skull of the Stallord was watching him. Before he could react, it lunged forward, seized him in its jaws, and sent him flying to the bottom of the pit.
“Link!” shouted Franz. “Are you all right?”
He rolled as he hit the bottom and managed to stand up, a bit disoriented, but unhurt. “I’m fine. Gah!” It had snuck up on him again, and he swung the Master Sword desperately to ward it off. It went flying backwards, striking the edge of the pit, and he followed it. It opened its jaws and shot a ball of energy at him, and he dodged it just in time. He chased it until he got the idea that chasing it on the Spinner would be faster. There was a groove in the wall beside him, too.
He latched on to the groove and began to spin very quickly up the wall. It followed him, keeping pace as it retreated before him. He wondered how ridiculous it looked from above.
It opened its jaws and shot energy at him, and he swatted it back with his sword. At least, he tried to. Instead, it blasted him off the Spinner and back to the ground. “Ow.” So it didn’t work like Ganondorf’s magic.
The Spinner fell down a few metres away, and he raced to grab it before he could get attacked again.
This time, he managed to get level with the skull, and kicked the spikes out, jumping it away from the wall and into the jaw of the skeleton. Its rough surface scraped his shield as they all fell together to the ground. Link miraculously managed to keep his balance on the Spinner, though he jumped from it as soon as they hit the ground, and swung at the skull. His sword, the evil-defying Master Sword bounced off, tracing red lines all over the surface of the skull, and so he clambered onto the nose, attacking the black sword. The red lines flashed again and again, but the sword was chipping away.
The skull was shuddering under his feet when he cracked the black sword in half. The skull slipped from under his feet and flew away, roaring, and hit the side of the pit, shattering into hundreds of pieces.
Link sagged and lay down on the ground, right there.
“Link!” shouted Franz, who had been watching, his bow ready but useless. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” he called back. “Don’t want to get up, though.”
Nabooru clucked. “You get up right now, boy, before I come down there and whip you up.”
He rolled over and got to his feet. “Yes, ma’am.”
Navi bumped into his face. “Well done. That was a crazy fight.”
“Yeah, it was.”
On the Spinner, undistracted, it only took him a minute or two to get to the top. Nabooru was already waiting at the far door as Franz gave Link a hand up.
Through the door, and up some more stairs, and into a wide courtyard that spanned the entire roof of the prison. A statue of a woman with a snake wrapped around her stood at the back, and in front…
“Here we are,” Nabooru said. “There’s the rock we chained him, to, and there’s… wait.”
Midna appeared from under Link’s feet and flew up. Her eyes widened in disbelieving horror.
The Mirror of Twilight was broken.