The Copper Promise - Part one: Ghosts of the Citadel
By: Wydrin Williams 178
10
His weight was heavy on her shoulders, and the stench of his blood thick in her nostrils. Every now and then she would gag, but Malon was determined not to vomit. She had seen many men bleed out, of course she had. More often than not she had been the cause of it too, but the blood of a friend was different from the blood of an enemy.
Rusl groaned. He wanted to lie down, he said, just for a quick rest. Once he was rested, he told them, he would feel much better and they would move more quickly.
"Here, hold this," she told him, pressing a bundle of fabric into the hand not resting against her shoulder. "Press it against your wound. You need to keep the pressure up."
He did as he was told, although sluggishly.
"How much further?" demanded Link. Two of the Kokiri were helping Malon carry Rusl while the other two walked in front, leading them down passageway after passageway. The flagstones and bricks of the room with the jars had disappeared some time ago, to be replaced with tunnels carved straight out of the living rock. The echoes were strange here, and twice Malon had been convinced that something was following them. Their way was lit by strange gatherings of luminescent moss that had colonised the ceiling, giving everything a yellowed, watery hue.
"Not far now," said the lead Kokiri. He'd told them that his name was Fado. "How is the knight?"
Malon glanced up at Rusl's face. He was staring down at the hilt of the dagger sticking out of his chest as though he didn't quite know what it was. His face was parchment white, and there were ominous dark circles under his eyes.
"How do you think he's doing? He's bleeding like a stuck pig!"
"He must not die," warned Fado. "His life-blood must not be shed on these stones."
"I'm not that keen on the idea myself," said Rusl, but so weakly only Malon could hear it. They walked on. Malon, more than a head shorter than Rusl, was soon sweating, her hair plastered to her forehead. So heavy, she thought. I should tell him to leave the sword behind, but he'll need that. If I let him lose it I'll never hear the last of it. Besides, she dare not stop, not even for a moment. If she did she wasn't sure she could get him up again, and then if what the Kokiri said was true, they would all die down here. Instead, she concentrated on the ragged sound of Rusl's breathing and the steady tap, tap, tap of Link's walking stick; it apparently took a lot to tire the lord of the Faron.
It was just as Malon could no longer feel her feet and her shoulders were screaming with agony, that the Kokiri in front gave a small cry of triumph. They stumbled out of the tunnels and onto a set of wide stone steps. At first Malon wanted to kick them; what were they so excited about? More steps to shuffle down, so what? But then she heard Link exclaim too, a hoarse bark of something that was almost laughter. Malon lifted her weary head, and for a brief second she forgot about the ache in her back and the blood soaking into her clothes.
They stood at the entrance of an enormous cavern, the biggest space she had ever seen. The ceiling was lost in darkness, the craggy walls to either side partially obscured by a rolling mist. And spreading out below them was the Mages' Lake.
"This is it!" cried Link. "I knew I would find it."
"The Kokiri found it," pointed out Malon, although in truth she barely knew what she was saying. She couldn't take her eyes off the lake. It was the bright blue of the Hylian Sea, shimmering under the hottest summer's day – no, brighter than that. It was lit from within with its own strange light, so that the surface fractured and glimmered like diamonds. After a few seconds she had to look away; the lake drew her eyes and seemed to feast on them, something that frightened her badly.
"Why is it moving?" she asked through numb lips. "Shouldn't it be still?"
"The magic contained within is as lively as ever," said Fado. "Which is all to the good. Quickly now, we must get the knight into the water."
They began to shuffle down the steps, but Link held up a hand.
"I will go first," he said. There was a hunger in his voice. "To test it. After all, we don't know how it might have changed over the last thousand years."
"Oh no," cried Fado. "The power is limited. Only one can bathe in its magic, only one every ten years. The mages made it so."
"Why would they do that?" The look on Link's face was a dangerous one. Instinctively, Malon put a hand on the pommel of her dagger.
"To ensure that no single mage became more powerful than the others. The effects of the lake are – extreme, addictive. It would be much too tempting to go back again and again, growing younger and more powerful with each exposure. The mages made it so that once one of them had taken of its gifts, they would all have to wait another ten years before they could do it again."
"That cannot be!"
"It doesn't matter," Malon dragged Rusl down another step, and another. The blue waters of the lake were lapping at the bottom of the steps, kissing them with jewelled lips. "Just give me a bloody hand, will you?"
The Kokiri rushed to her aid, but Link just stood very still. His blue eyes were wide. The light from the lake made them look full of tears.
"Help us, Link!"
Beneath their feet the rumbling had returned, and it was growing stronger. Rusl's eyes were closed now, and Malon feared she could no longer hear his breathing. I can't hear it over my own, that's all, she told herself. There's still time.
They were ten feet away from the waters when she saw Link reach within his cloak. She knew what he was doing before she even saw the greasy green ball in his hand.
"No!" she screamed, but it was too late. Link threw the bomb just in front of them and the explosion threw them all back. Malon fell awkwardly against the steps and whacked her arm so hard she lost all feeling in it, while Rusl rolled away from her. Of the Kokiri, only two remained; the others were a confusion of dust and splintered wood.
She lifted her head just in time to see Link walk into the shimmering waters.
A/N: Yet another du du duuuuuuu. Betrayal is EVERYWHERE! Thanks for reading!