Chapter 13

Link hadn't slept in two days. Whenever he thought rest might come, either some Moblin or the mage itself would come in to hurt him further. The Moblins made a game of batting him about with the ends of their spears. The magical energy that suspended him allowed him to swing freely like a pendulum as the Moblins passed him back and forth, laughing as he cringed and winced.

The mage was crueler. It rarely did anything but talk, but that was enough. It had known Hyrule in its glory, had perhaps fought beside Link once, before the magic had grown tainted, and the hidden sorcerers turned to Wizzrobes, minions of Ganon. It taunted him as it probed at his hand, filling his ears with the names of traitors who had joined with Ganon, what it had done to the royal guards, and most disturbingly, Zelda's most dearly-held personal secrets. Bound as he was, Link could not cry out. He could only try to focus on the incessant burning on his hand and hope it would be enough to subsume the other senses.

Now he hung alone, blood dripping from cuts in a dozen places. It had been some hours since he'd had company, by his estimation. Part of him wished they'd hurry up. Moblins were not known for being meticulous, especially in their fun. A misplaced strike was all it would take to kill him and end his captivity.

That was when he noticed a soft blue light emanating from the hallway. He squinted and turned his head as it grew brighter. After days in the darkness, its dim glow was already overwhelming and growing brighter by the second.

The source of the glow revealed itself as a blue-haired woman stepped into the room. She bore a hefty spear, thick as Link's arm and tall as a Moblin. A diadem, set with a brilliant sapphire, adorned her head. Her robes appeared simple and at the same time diaphanous, as though the glow filtered through them.

She walked in with an easy gait, as though she were unaware of the Moblins that filled the cave and the pile of corpses outside. She stopped before Link, leaned on her spear, and looked up at him, clucking.

"Not your best work, is it?"

Link opened his mouth and found he could speak. "Water…" he rasped.

The woman tilted her head. "If you are thirsty, then drink."

Link lowered, and when his feet touched the ground he fell under his weight. His arms reached out to catch his fall, and he realized he could move again. He scrambled for his water skin and poured it into his mouth.

He stoppered it when he was done, panting for air, then looked up at the woman. She still stood as she had been, leaning on her spear and looking at him with a cool measuring gaze.

"Who are you?" he said.

She smiled. "I think you know."

"Nayru," he said. The Goddess of Wisdom. It must be. Who else could so casually break the Wizzrobe's power? Which made her spear the Spear of Wisdom. When this was all over he would have to tell Zelda that it was, in fact, a spear, and not a metaphor.

"Missing some gear though," he said. "Don't see your scales."

"A common misconception," Nayru said. "I created physical laws, not human. Don't tell anyone though. I do not need another schism over minutia right now. But that is irrelevant for my purposes. I'm here because you are broken in a very bad way for the Hero of Hyrule."

Link stood up. "I'm fine now, I think. The water helped. Thank you." He took a few halting steps toward the door.

"If you leave now, there is no hope for Hyrule."

Link froze.

"Boros tried to heal you, but it didn't quite work, did it?"

"It worked well enough. I remember my sister. I remember what was lost. I remember opening the lock to the Triforce and granting Ganon the power of the heavens."

"You never sealed your memories, Link. That was a side effect." Nayru placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled him around to face her. He turned helplessly under the firm pressure. "You sealed your heart. I am going to open it now."

"If you're trying to flirt with me, I prefer mortal women."

Nayru scowled, and the room darkened. Link nearly fell back, but quickly regained his composure. He was not about to let this goddess bully him.

"You know, human morality is so fascinating," she said. Her face relaxed a little, but the room stayed dark, and Link felt a taste of fear he did not think was natural. "There are some sages who claim that morality has some divine source. If we follow this argument, then whatever I do is, by definition, ethical. In fact, some would go so far as to claim that, were I to thread this spear through your intestinal tract, for example, then that action results in the best of all possible worlds, simply by virtue of me having done it. Isn't that a fascinating idea?"

Link sighed. "Look, I guess neither of us wants to be here right now. Just open my heart, whatever that means, and get on with it."

Nayru scrunched up her face but seemed to be content to let it drop. She took a step forward to stand toe-to-toe with him, then placed the fingers of each hand at the center of his ribcage, palms facing out. "I don't know why she puts up with you," she muttered to herself.

"Opening my heart... That's a metaphor, right?" Link said, beginning to get nervous.

"You don't understand metaphors, so we're doing it this way," Nayru said. "This is going to hurt quite a lot, but this is a metaphysical encounter, so you'll be fine." She began to pry open his ribs.

Link screamed.

When Link next opened his eyes, he was still in a good deal of pain. The pain seemed less important, somehow. It was almost a constant in his life, anyway. And against that… he had been visited by a goddess if the memories were real. And surely they were, for how else could he be lying on the ground, rather than suspended in the air?

So his heart was opened now. He did not feel that different. But then matters of the heart would of course pale next to being starved, dehydrated, and injured in enemy custody. She could have at least done something about that, while she was at it. If she really cared she could have just up and slain Ganon too.

But she had apparently not deemed that worth her time, so it was still up to him. The first step would be to not die. He picked himself up and started to stretch enough to feel a little lithe.

Sword in hand, Link moved silently from the room. With any luck, the Wizzrobe wouldn't know he was loose, giving him an advantage. He certainly didn't mean to leave here with such an enemy at his back.

He made his way up the passageway, leaning against the wall for support. Every few steps he had to pause and rest before continuing, and he held his sword low, the tip almost dragging on the ground. How could he kill the Wizzrobe in this state? He would struggle to kill a sleeping Moblin. But he could not believe Nayru would take the time to free him, just to let him die. He continued on.

The passage opened up into a smaller room. The Wizzrobe hovered in the middle, back to Link, arms lazily extended down. Link held himself up with his right hand against the wall as he raised the wooden sword. It felt far heavier than just wood.

Link charged. He closed the distance and made the best leap he could. The Wizzrobe simply drifted out of the path of his sword, and Link landed, unsteady.

His other hand already held the magical rod, spewing an arc of blue fire across the room. As soon as the Wizzrobe gained time to breathe, Link would be lost. He yelled and charged again, lashing about with both sword and rod, hoping to overwhelm the Wizzrobe in the onslaught. The Wizzrobe floated up out of range, and again Link felt the magical cords binding him.

"I should have known you would cause trouble," it said. "Anyone who could collect so many shards must be dangerous." An invisible force rammed his stomach, knocking the wind from him. "I don't know what will happen if I kill you. I'll just have to hurt you until you don't want to move."

Another blow struck him behind the elbow, and Link's arm bent backward.

"You won't be needing your weapons anymore," the Wizzrobe continued. It reached up and grabbed the end of the magical rod, still clutched in Link's hand. Then it froze. An arrowhead emerged from its torso, and it staggered backward. Another arrow slammed into it. The creature fell, howling. Seconds later, the magical cords evaporated, and Link fell to the ground beside it.

Blinking back tears, he looked up to see Sophia approaching, shouldering her bow as she walked. "Let's get out of here," she said. "Can you walk?"

Her voice was oddly still. Even after killing a Wizzrobe, she remained centered and clear. Always had, but he'd somehow never really noticed it.

"Hold on," he grunted. He forced himself to his knees and grabbed the dead Wizzrobe's hand. It still glowed with the Triforce fragments. "How do I-" he began, but then they started to protrude from the hand. He watched as two tiny triangles emerged completely, and then pierced into his own hand. He grunted in pain at the piercing and burning sensation, then forced the pain back and staggered the rest of the way up.

"Need to find Boros," he said. "Old knight, red robes, stubborn." He didn't have the energy to bother with full sentences.

Sophia nodded. She closed her eyes, and her brows pinched together. She muttered a bit to herself, "Over… there, probably?" She straightened. "Come on, then," she said, and threw his uninjured arm around her shoulders, supporting him.

"Defenseless, like this," Link said.

"You're right," she said. She paused, then squatted down and Link was forced to squat with her. She picked up the magical rod and held it lightly in her fingertips. She considered it for a time, then extended it out toward a wall sconce. A jet of flame shot out. "I think this will suffice," she said.

"If all else fails, use fire," Link said between shallow breaths.

"Hush. This way."

They moved together through the cave. When Link had come in, there had been a Moblin at every turn, but now the cave seemed nearly deserted. He doubted they could have made it otherwise. Even with Sophia's support, Link could not make himself move very fast. They shuffled along, taking minutes between forks in the passage.

Then Sophia froze. "Listen!" she hissed. In the distance, Link could hear a rumbling. Then the roaring of Moblins.

"We're almost there," Sophia said. "You need to run."

Link tried. He staggered forward and stumbled. Sophia caught him. She knelt, threaded an arm between his legs, lifting him onto her shoulders. Link attempted to shield his head with his working arm as she made her way forward. Behind them, the roars got louder, and then came the rumbling of heavy running feet.

An arrow whizzed past. Another lodged in Link's arm. He screamed, and Sophia staggered under the impact. Then she leaped forward, and both of them tumbled through a doorway into a small candle-lit chamber.

Sophia aimed a burst of flame down the hall behind them and slammed the door closed. She then grabbed the end of a metal crate and began pushing it in front of the door.

Link flopped onto his back and looked around. Boros sat lashed to a chair with thick ropes. More ropes pulled his arms up and to the side. His nose had been smashed, and blood ran down his face and chest.

Link crawled over to check on him. The man was unconscious, but still breathing. Barely. Link ran his hands across Boros's belt, feeling for the supplies he had prepared. The Moblins had left the leather pouch! He unfastened it and dug inside until his fingers closed around a bottle. He worked out the stopper with his teeth and drank half of it in one gulp.

Instantly, the pain began to fade, and his elbow realigned. The potion forced the arrow out from his bicep, and he screamed as it again tore through his flesh, but the skin quickly knitted itself back together.

As soon as he trusted himself to be steady, he poured the remaining contents into Boros' mouth. His eyes snapped open.

"Took you long enough," he grumbled. "You could have at least untied me first. Do you realize how uncomfortable this is?"

Link grinned. "Good to see you too." He picked up Boros's white sword from the ground and severed the cords tying his hands. "If you hadn't gone and gotten captured, the ordering wouldn't matter, would it?" He sliced open the remaining cords and helped the old knight to his feet.

"Cheeky bastard." He scowled at Link. "It's just like-" he cut himself off and shook his head. "Bah, no matter. Who's this, eh?"

Sophia had finished moving the crate, but already the Moblins were battering at the door. "Is this the most important question right now?" she said.

Boros grunted. "Why'd you go and get yourselves trapped in a dead-end like this?" he said. He massaged his wrists and grimaced. "You know the importance of maneuver."

"Well, excuse me for rescuing you," Link said. "Let's just figure out how to win, yeah? Moblins are dumb. If they're not expecting a charge-"

"I will not condone any plan that gambles your life," Boros said. "Not unless you find a successor to bear the Triforce shards."

The door thudded again, and a speartip broke through. Sophia jerked back, then pressed the magical rod against the hole and released a spurt of flame.

"Good, that buys us time," Boros said. He bent down and rummaged through his pack, emerging with a crumpled parchment. "Brought this, just in case. Give it to that old woman, when you get out."

Link blinked, taken aback by the sudden change in topic. "You mean Impa? But-"

"Yes, her. She'll be able to interpret it, make more potions. Din knows you need all you can get."

Link took the paper. "You've decided on something stupid."

Boros walked to the corner and pried the lid off another crate. "I saw where they put my stuff," he said. "Arrogant fools didn't think it would matter."

"Boros, what are you doing?" Link said.

"Whatever it is, hurry up!" Sophia yelled. She had removed the rod and was now sending a barrage of arrows through the small opening in the door.

With a grunt, Boros hefted one of his bombs out of the box. "Reckon they know what this is?"

"What? If you set that off here, the blast would kill us."

"Right. That's why I'm setting it off, hm… the fuse is about two feet… if it burns two inches a second… about 300 yards that way, around the bend."

Link's heart sunk, but he nodded.

"I'll need a light," Boros said. "That'll do." He nodded to the magical rod.

"What about the taint?"

Boros grimaced. "Don't reckon it matters much now."

Link picked it up. "Sophia,-"

"What are we doing?"

"-get ready to open the door."

She looked back, and her eyes widened. "No wait, that's-"

Link touched the rod to the end of the fuse and ignited it.

"Now!"

Sophia cursed and flung open the door. The Moblins had retreated several paces but instantly began to charge. Boros advanced, the bomb held high, and the Moblins froze.

"You know this, you bastards? Yes, that's it. Run from your doom. Flee the fires of justice!"

The Moblins fled, and Sir Boros, the last of Knights of Hyrule, barreled after them, allowed to die at last.

A/N: Sorry for the slow updates recently. I wrote the rest of the fic this month, and the remaining chapters will be released as they are edited. No more waiting forever.