An Uphill Battle
Ganor was quiet as they climbed. He thought of that single tree that he destroyed. He remembered Ganondorf's destruction of the castle. Why did he ever joint him?
Marcus looked over at his friend. "Please," he said, "don't feel regret. No lives were lost by your hand."
Ganor shook his head. "Lives were lost because I did not stop him when I had the power to."
"You cannot make yourself responsible for that," Link told him. "Ganondorf is unstoppable unless with the Sword of Evil's Bane, which even now cannot kill him."
"That is why we have the Sage's sword," Marcus said to Link.
"But what do I have that will help you?" Ganor drew his sword. "All I have is the very darkness that gives him strength and fire that is nothing compared to his bolts."
"I have a feeling that your power will come in handy," Link looked ahead. "Heads up! We've got company!"
Indeed, several Moblins were up the mountain, them and Deku Babas. There were also giant Moblins that were throwing boulders and archer Moblins with fire arrows. Skulltulas also lined the path, and so did Stalfos. "When you said we had company, I expected at most a few Moblins!" Marcus groaned. "But this is ridiculous!"
"Look out! Mage!" Ganor called. A large magic blast landed by them.
"As if it wasn't bad enough…"
Link charged a spin attack and let it loose on five of the Moblins. Ganor slashed away the Deku Babas with his flaming sword. Marcus stabbed each Skulltula. This was all while dodging boulders, arrows, and magic blasts. It was difficult on the slope as well and soon grew tiresome. Many Moblins and Skulltulas remained still, and they still had not fought the Stalfos. "Marcus, above you!" Ganor called to his friend. By the time Marcus raised his eyes, it was too late. He was hit fully by a magic blast. "Marcus!" Ganor stood up, full of anger at his friend's injury. He ran, now with newfound energy, and jumped to slash the Mage. The Mage saw this attack coming and disappeared, but Ganor spun in the air and blasted the Mage with his own, dark fire magic. The Mage fell with that one attack.
"I told you it would come in handy," Link smiled.
"I'm just glad you're on our side now!" Marcus carefully got up.
"We still have many more enemies."
"Ganor, why don't you take care of those archers and boulder-throwers? You're the only one with long-distance magic."
Ganor nodded, and they continued the fight. Ganor aimed magic blasts up at the attackers above, and Link and Marcus finished off the Moblins, Skulltulas, and Stalfos at their level.
They were finally done. They sat down to catch their breath. They were exhausted, but more Stalfos and Moblins came down to them, as if they heard about their friends' failure.
"We don't have the strength for this…" Link huffed.
"What do we do?" Marcus looked to the approaching enemies. "They'll be here any minute!"
"Warp…" Link dug in his pocket for his orcarina. "We have to get out of here…"
"Right…"
"Heads up!" Ganor pointed to a large bird coming down from the summit.
"What is that?!"
"The one in charge of the darkness here."
The bird gave a long, harsh screech. The trio covered their ears, forgetting about the orcarinas. It dove down and grabbed them with its huge talons. They were taken up to the top of the mountain and thrown there. But they weren't alone.
"I would say that these guys were the babies…" Marcus started, "but they are way too big!"
"I think they are indeed the babies," Link looked up at one. "Who would've thought there'd be a giant nest right at the summit of Death Mountain?" Ganor drew his sword. "Wait, Ganor! If you attack the chicks, the mother is sure to come. We do not want to deal with an angry, giant bird."
"What are we supposed to do?!" Ganor asked.
"I have a plan," Marcus whispered. "The only way out is up. Does it look like these kids are ready to leave the nest?"
"You mean we fly out?"
"Exactly. The mother will be back soon to teach them how to fly. That's when we'll make our escape."
"And if they can't fly…?"
"Uh… never thought of that… I guess we get crushed!" Marcus laughed nervously.
"Great…"
The caw of the bird came, and it snatched the heroes up. "Now where are we going?" Link shouted.
Marcus winced, "I have a bad feeling…"
"Lava!" Ganor called. Sure enough, below them was a large, hot pool of lava. Out of it came a bird much like the one that held them. It was the Daddy.
"I knew it would be bad!"
"I can't grab my sword!" Link struggled.
"Me neither!" Marcus struggled beside him.
A large blast opened the other talon of the bird, and Ganor fell, blasting the talon that held the other two. They fell, but held on to the tail feathers of the female. Ganor continued to drop. "Ganor!" the others called. Soon, he splashed right into the lava. Again he had sacrificed himself for their sake. Only this time, they had no faery.
"You will pay!" Marcus drew his sword and stabbed the bird. With a screech, it began to fly around maniacly. Link let go to land on the male and stabbed his sword into its neck. The bird dropped quickly, and Link jumped up and hung on to the female again. He slashed it, and it screeched and fell.
"Now what?" Link asked as both fell.
"I didn't think it through…" Marcus admitted.
They plummeted towards the lava but landed on hardened magma. "What? I thought for sure there was lava there!" They began to hear a shout and the lava beside them splashed up. Ganor was shooting out of the pool. He looked as if he was a being of the mountain. Then, he absorbed the magma and lava and fell. Link caught him. "Handy powers… like I said."
Ganor struggled to get up. "If only I knew how to control that… But I got a sense of it now…" He breathed hard. "I'm fine. That was just quite a workout," he said upon seeing his friend's worried face.
Link smiled. "I think we're ready to face Ganondorf himself!"
Ganor nodded. "To Termina! That is his next target."
"Alright, then. To Termina."
"Um…" Marcus interrupted. "How do we get out of here?"
"The same way we were going to get off the mountain… before we were so rudely interrupted." Link pulled out his orcarina. "At least I wasn't the one in the lava."
The Prelude of Light rang out at the summit of Death Mountain.