Chapter 11: Escape
A single torch burned its light into Gannondorf's field of vision. He wanted more than anything else to just get up and put it out. Nothing in his cell had changed since he first woke up, and nothing was going to change. Unfortunately, the torch was on the other side of the iron bars. With nothing to do, he waited.
The sound of keys echoed throughout the dungeon, the jailer coming once again to hand over his daily bread. The man was horribly lazy, and assumed that Gannondorf was some kind of petty thief or such. Gannondorf wished more than anything for the chance to prove just how wrong the man was.
Like always, the jailer entered the dungeon with the food. Gannondorf remained motionless in his cell, sprawled across the floor as though he were asleep. When the guard came by, he looked into the cell and tossed the bread in.
"You there, get up!" he shouted. Gannondorf didn't respond. The man pulled out his key ring and opened the door. "I said get up!" he yelled. He took a step towards Gannondorf, then another.
On the third step, Gannondorf leapt up and looped the chain binding him to the wall around the jailer's neck. He pulled it tight and held it against the struggling man until the thrashing stopped. Once the man was dead, he grabbed the keys and freed himself. Within seconds, he was out of the cell and at the door to the dungeon.
Outside the door, a guard noticed him. "You there, stop!" he called out, leveling his spear at Gannondorf's chest. "What are you doing up here?" Gannondorf knocked the weapon aside, catching the soldier off guard by using more strength than he would expect. The guard kept hold of his weapon at first, but Gannondorf quickly grabbed the shaft of the spear and wrenched it out of his opponent's hands. The butt of the spear slammed into the guard's unprotected neck, collapsing him to the ground.
"Do you know how I got up here?" Gannondorf asked rhetorically. "I escaped because my jailor was arrogant enough to think that he had complete control over me. I suffer from no such illusions." He reversed the spear and thrust the tip of it into the downed guard's face. No enemy who was left alive could be trusted to not become a threat.
No amount of disguise could hide the fact that Gannondorf wasn't a Hylian, so he left the soldier's armor. He did, however, find a dagger and buckler, which he took for his own use. Footsteps around the corner alerted him to the arrival of more guards, probably alerted to his presence by the commotion. He rushed into them, killing the pair before they had time to react to him. For the moment, he couldn't hear anybody else approaching, so he also stopped to retrieve the weapons of his latest victims.
Cautiously, he proceeded in the direction the two soldiers had come from. There was no further resistance as he made his way through the corridors. He did his best to keep track of where he had been, but without any sort of idea as to where the dungeon was located relative to the exit, he might as well have been choosing passages at random.
By sheer accident, he found his way into an open courtyard of the castle. Unfortunately, it was occupied by a half-dozen guards. He managed to kill the closest one to him, but the second one he went after knocked his spear aside with a sword. The spear, weakened from the sword's strike, shattered on his opponent's shield on his next attempt to kill the man. Gannondorf tossed the useless weapon aside and pulled out his daggers. He fought and killed the soldier with the sword, but three others had surrounded him by that time.
Gannodorf attacked one of them, then dodged through a momentary gap in the barrier. He managed to secure himself in a corner, where he would be unable to run, but would only have to face one or two enemies at a time.
Taking a gamble, he took one of the daggers and threw it at the nearest soldier. The weapon was not well balanced for such an attack, and it missed completely. The second thrown dagger was adjusted accordingly, and it hit the man in the throat. He plunged his last dagger into the stomach of another guard. As he drew it out, he used his free hand to steal the man's sword. Finally equipped with a proper weapon, he finished off the remaining soldier in no time.
As he wiped the stolen blade clean on the grass, he counted the bodies of the dead soldiers. Six of them had been standing in the courtyard when he had arrived, but he had only defeated five of them. The entire castle would be alerted to his presence if he didn't get out quickly.
He dashed into another of the castle's hallways. At first there was no resistance, but he later encountered soldiers, singly and in pairs. When he could, he struck them down as he passed, but he couldn't afford to let himself get tied down to any one spot. He also began to encounter unarmed people. He paid them no attention, since they always stayed out of his way once they saw him approaching.
Finally, he found himself out in the open again. Unfortunately, it was only another courtyard. As he dashed across the field, soldiers began rushing into the room, armed with bows. Above them, a more soldiers lined up along the top of the walls, weapons aimed directly at him and not wavering for a second. They had set a trap for him, and he had blindly run right into it.
Gannondorf stood still in the middle of the room, weapons held limply at his sides. They hadn't shot him yet, which meant they probably didn't intend to do so anytime soon. It would be suicide for him to try to take even one step towards an exit. On the other hand, he might get another chance for escape if they captured him again. Maybe.
Deep down, Gannondorf doubted he would ever get another chance. The soldiers hadn't killed him because they were only soldiers, and as soldiers they took captives, rendering them completely harmless. That would change as soon as someone with rank arrived. One of their captains would immediately decide that he was too much of a risk to keep alive, and a single command would have Gannondorf pierced by a thousand arrows. In the unlikely event that he wasn't executed, they would never give him another opportunity.
"Drop your weapons!" one of them commanded. Gannondorf had no choice but to comply. He let the blades fall from his hands and stepped away. No fewer than six soldiers came up to him and shackled his arms together behind his back.
"Bring him to me." The voice was full of authority. The speaker, a man wearing elaborate armor, walked into the courtyard with an entire squad of guards flanking him. "I wish to speak with him."
