Showdown with the Shadow
'Sheik!'
Link sat up in the bed with a jerk. The riders' shriek still echoed in her head as she panted, trying to calm herself down.
'Just a dream…' she said to herself, 'Just a dream.'
Finding that she could no longer sleep, she pulled off the quilt and went on bare feet to the door. She found her boots by the door.
Sheik must have pulled them off. Sheik. She smiled, as the soft kiss still tingled on her lips. What an awful moment to pick and fall asleep in!
She decided to go and find him, when she suddenly realized that there was a chill in the air and a small mist appeared as she exhaled. A sudden worry began to take form in her heart.
On quick feet she ran down the great stairs, to the great hall, burst through the big doors and out on the courtyard. Everything seemed all right, except for the chill and the… silence. Not a bird could be sound, or the wind in the grass, not even the snort of the horses from the great stable could be heard.
As her bare feet walked upon the soft grass, she felt a sudden difference in the ground. She looked down and found to her disturbance that is was the tracks of hooves. It could just have been some rider that had been by the castle, but in her heart she knew that this was not the case. She followed the tracks and found to her horror Sheik's chain and… a piece of a black robe.
Link fell to her knees in despair. The Shadow Riders had been there. It hadn't been a dream. They had taken Zelda and Sheik. Suddenly Link looked up to the mountains in the east, eyes full of black rage.
---
The horses in the stable was still a bit nervous, as they had felt the presence of the Shadow Riders. Some of them had in bare terror tried to kick themselves out from their boxes. Epone was the only one that had his mind clear of fear, instead thinking of the one he held dear; Link.
Then suddenly, the doors to the stable burst open and the moonlight flooded in as they could see the silhouette of a girl standing in the doorway. She made her way on firm steps towards Epone, who whinnied, relieved to see her. Without a word, Link stepped forth to his box, were her weapons also lay. She fastened the quiver of arrows around her chest, pulled the white bow over her shoulder, fastened the sword scabbard over her hip, and stuck two knives into the belt along with Sheik's chain. She had a feeling she was going to need it. Finally, she picked up the Master Sword and its blade flickered a bit as she turned it around in her hand. A flash of light emerged from the blade as she shoved it into the scabbard on her hip.
Then she walked forth to Epone and stroke his forehead and he pushed her on the chest with his muzzle.
'I know, boy,' she said softly, 'Power or not, I'm going to Ganondorf's land.' Then she took his bridle and quickly pulled it over his head and fastened it under his cheek. As she led him out in the hall she heard Tzadek whinny behind them.
'I'm sorry, girl,' Link said sadly and turned to her, 'but I'm afraid Sheik can't ride you for the moment.' Then she led Epone out on the courtyard, where he stopped, ears pointed.
'You still feel the fear here, don't you?' Link asked as she pulled the reins over his neck. Then she swung herself up on his back. Amon suddenly dived down from the sky and settled upon her shoulder.
'We'll just have to do it without the Triforce,' she said and they all turned their eyes out over Hyrule and then followed to the east, where the dark mountains stood brooding and tall.
'Yah!' With a shout she drove on Epone who leapt into gallop, leapt down the hill and then raced on the path.
As they reached the city Link held in Epone, who snorted and backed a few nervous steps. The whole town lay empty. As they trotted through the streets Link couldn't see a soul. The same thing had happened in the castle. There hadn't been a guard to find in the whole area.
Epone shook his head and advanced to gallop, as he was eager to come out from the quiet city. When they got out on the field Link drove him on and he raced over the grass.
Then suddenly Amon left her shoulder. Link came to a halt, since she had learnt to listen to the bird, as he seemed cautious. He flew over the hill in front of them and then disappeared. Then a shriek could be heard and several barking and howling from hounds as he flew back again with a warning flap with his wings. Epone came to a pace and as they reached the hilltop Link could see what Amon warned her about.
Wolves, great wolves, with riding Ugluks upon them. Link gave a gasp, but then realized that they hadn't noticed her. They seemed guard the great gate that led through the wall of mountain and into the gate of Ganondorf's land. A sudden cry caught Link's attention. One of the Ugluks had spotted her. The seven wolves began barking as the Ugluks kicked on their sides to make them run forth. Link quickly dragged out her bow and slay two wolves, and they fell upon their riders, crushing them. Yet, the wolves were fast, approaching too quick for her to use her bow, so she unsheathed her sword, shimmering in the rising sun that made its way through the dark clouds of the land of Ganondorf. Epone reared and dashed into gallop as Link drove him on down the slope. The first wolf leaped at her, but Epone dodged to the side and Link cut the head of the wolf with ease. She looked impressed at the sword before she was forced into battle with the riding Ugluk.
Amon helped Link what he can; he dove down, picking the eyes of the foes or ripping the flesh of them. Yet however, soon it happened that a riderless wolf leaped over Epone's back and bashed into Link, causing her to fall of the horse. Yet the wolf soon found himself slain by Link's sword, and she quickly rose to her feet. Two Ugluks attacked her but she managed to kill them both. Yet soon three more appeared, one grabbing Link's arms, and the two others attacking her. She swallowed. She was losing, and she knew it. One punched her in the face and the other was about to cut her throat off when another Ugluk appeared. He said something in their own wicked tongue and they stopped attacking her. She struggled to get loose but they had a firm grip around her arms. The Ugluk looked at her and smiled viciously.
Link sighed as she sat upon a wolf, her hands tied behind her back. She looked back and saw an Ugluk holding the reins of Epone, who whinnied wildly and struggled to get loose. Amon had disappeared behind the mountains when they had caught Link.
The great gate opened as they approached and Link felt a small victory. After all, this was were she was trying to get to…
---
'Harz-nashg!'
Link was pushed into a cell and she fell to the ground. She looked up at the Ugluk who sealed the door behind her.
'Some rescue plan,' she sighed and brushed the dirt off her skirt. The cave she was in had a rocky dark structure, as she examined her chances of getting out. She sighed and leaned her head against the small window that faced out to the land of Ganondorf. The ground was black and dark, with pits leading down to infinity in some places. Link's eyes followed a trail where several Ugluks were walking and her eyes suddenly fell upon a great black tower. Thunder could be heard from the top of it. Then suddenly Link saw something and her heart rose again in her chest.
A bird, a falcon, soared down the sky and past the window. Not far later, she could hear the guard outside her door screaming and then the head of Amon popped up.
'Good work, Amon!' Link exclaimed as he had the keys to her cell in his beak. Seconds later, the door to her cell creaked open. Link slowly stepped out, with the Master Sword resting in her palm.
The chamber she entered seemed empty and she quickly advanced to the next door.
'Rashgu, fetch the irons!' An Ugluk was sitting with her back to Link, clearly thinking she was someone else.
'Oh, I'm sorry,' Link said, and as he spun around Link cut his head off, 'But we're out of prisoners!'
In the next cavern, Link spotted four Ugluks walking through the corridor, talking to each other in their own tongue. She quickly hid behind a wall and as they walked past, she leaped out and with a cry she slay three of them and the fourth she pinned to the wall.
'Where's Zelda and Sheik!?' The Ugluk looked terrified at her.
'Who?'
'The new prisoners!' She grew angrier.
'I- I don't know! The Shadow Riders came and…and…'
'And what!?' Link's eyes pierced into the Ugluk.
'They- they went to the west of this cavern… but I don't know anymore!'
Link let go off him and turned to run off to the west, but then she was attacked from behind of the Ugluk, but she jammed her sword through his stomach and he fell dead to the ground as Link ran off. She raced through the door but stopped dead as she stood before a great cliff in the ground. She lost her balance and fell over the edge. Her hand grabbed hold to the edge as her legs dangled free down into the emptiness.
She exhaled slowly.
'Alright… now think.'
She looked up and saw the bridge that led over the cliff. She noticed a rock, piercing out from the wall on the other side. Sheik's chain dangled on her hip. As she grabbed an image of Sheik ran through her head and she sighed.
You have to be alive, Sheik!
She swung the chain to get a good grip of it and then she swung it and it wrapped itself around the rock. Then she let go of the edge and she swung over to the other side. Yet too late she realized that she was falling towards the wall under the bridge, and she bashed into the rocky surface and lost her grip, slipping over the iron, but managed to grab hold to it again in the end. She sighed relieved and started to climb up the chain and heaved over the edge.
Several caves and slain Ugluks later, Link ended up on a cliff, outside the caves. It appeared that she had been inside the mountain.
'What!? He escaped?!'
Link gasped and pulled herself back against the wall by the sound of the powerful voice. As she looked down she saw to her great shock that the voice belonged Ganondorf. He was standing below, clad in black armor and a red cape dancing round his feet. He looked exactly like he did the day Link had last seen him. His skin was dark, his hair and eyes burning red.
'B-but Lord… we don't know that he's the Hero!' The evil king was talking to a Ugluk who obviously had made some kind of mistake. Link listened more intent to hear the conversation.
'I will not take any chances!' He pinned the Ugluk he was with to the wall.
'B-b-but….'
'He was with the Princess! You tell me who else it is!'
The Ugluk did a last attempt to protest but a sudden shriek from him confirmed that Ganondorf had killed him. But Link didn't pay attention to the rest after what she had heard. The one with the Princess had escaped. Sheik! And Ganondorf believes that he was the Hero. He still thinks the Hero is a he!
When Ganondorf had disappeared Link dared to exhale. Then she sunk to the ground and tried to clear her mind.
All right, Sheik had escaped, but Zelda is still there. Ganondorf wants the Triforce of Wisdom. But where is she? The Shadow Riders! I have to find them!
After assuring that no one would see her she jumped down the cliff and started to sprint towards the next entrance to a cave. She ducked behind a rock as an Ugluk ran out, followed by two others, clearly on order to look for the escaped prisoner.
She sneaked inside and found that this cave was a lot darker than the first one she had been in. She gasped startled as she felt something on her shoulder but realized that it was only Amon. There was only one or two torches that lit up the way, and the small chill air confirmed that it was the lair of the Shadow Riders. But as proof that they were far away was the absence of fear. Link grasped harder around her sword as she slowly paced through the dark corridor, looking cautiously around her as she did.
After two empty rooms, Link dared to relax a bit. But then suddenly, something gripped around her foot and pulled her of her feet and she dropped her sword in surprise. Link strained her eyes and saw that it was a hand that was sticking up from a black hole. She quickly took one of the knives and jammed it through the bony hand. It shrieked and disappeared in the hole again. Link exhaled. Then suddenly four more hands shot out from the hole and grabbed both her feet and one took hold of her right arm. She gasped for air as the fourth arm grabbed her throat and began strangling her.
Then someone suddenly jumped down to the ground, having hidden himself in the ceiling, took hold of one of the arms around her feet and slacked it into the other one holding her feet. The arm gripping around her hand tried to catch the swift shadow that had appeared but it resulted in that it was kicked in its palm and under many shrieks, faded away into the hole.
The last hand, which Link struggled to get off, with no luck, lifted her up in the air and tightened its grip around her throat. But the shadow grabbed Link's knife from the ground and cut it off by the wrist. Link fell to the ground, the cut-off hand still around her throat since it had frozen in a hard grip in its death. The limp of the arm soon disappeared in the hole, which soon also vanished.
Link gasped for air as she tried to get the dead hand from her throat.
'Take it easy, I'll help you,' a soft voice whispered. Link's eyes widened in surprise as she saw who it was as the light from the torch fell upon his face.
'Sheik!' she gasped, still breathless. He pulled her into his arms.
'I thought I'd never see you again,' she said, her voice muffled against his chest.
'What are you doing here?' he asked as he looked at her face.
'What? You just think I would let Ganondorf kill you?' Sheik smiled by her sarcasm, clearly not affected by the resent accidents.
'We have to find Zelda,' Link suddenly said and snapped back to reality. She looked up at Sheik. 'Do you know where she is?'
'We entered together into this land but then four of the Riders took her and the rest took me to a cell and then I managed to escape.'
Link's heart sunk in her chest when she heard the news.
'However, ' Sheik continued, 'I did see that they were riding towards the buildings before the tower.'
Link lit up.
'By the way,' she said and pulled out the chain, which hung around her hip, 'here you go.'
Sheik grabbed the chain and their fingers touched. Link looked up and smiled. He leaned in and gave her a light kiss before helping her to her feet.
'Alright, let's go!'
They both ran off and after a while they found the tracks of the riders before the entrance to the tower. Amon flapped his wings, leaving her shoulder and soared high up in the sky, vanishing into the clouds. Link and Sheik looked at each other and then Link stepped forward and opened the heavy door.
They entered a large dark chamber. As they took a few steps into the room, where the floor was covered in a chilly mist, the doors closed with a bang behind them…
'There is something in here,' Sheik said to quietly to her, afraid to disturb if he spoke louder.
Link took a firm step out on the floor, and the mist whirled around her feet.
'Alright,' she said, and her voice echoed through the large chamber, ' I'm tired of this game! Show yourself! We've gone through water, sand and field, battled with beasts and dragons! Sure you can't be worse than that!'
Sheik looked at her from the wall as she rose her arms in the middle of the chamber, trying to summon whatever beast was waiting for them.
Suddenly the temperature dropped to freezing and a hissing laughter could be heard from the shadow.
'Oh no…' Link looked up, 'not that.'
Sheik lifted his head with a jerk, as he saw a flash of a shadow moving beside the wall. By a coincidence his eyes fell upon a door a bit further ahead. Then he saw Link drawing her sword and he started the run towards her, but suddenly a shadow appeared in front of him with a sword. He stopped dead, and a flash of a moment later the shadow swung his sword, hit Sheik, and sent him flying over the chamber, crashing into the wall and then down to the floor. He lifted his head with great effort, since his body seemed frozen by the hit.
'Link!' he gasped as he saw the seven shadow riders closing around her, her face pale and her sword lifted.
'Sheik! Find Zelda! I'll take care of this!' she said with a voice of surprising power. He paused, hesitating.
'Go!'
Sheik took support from the wall and heaved his weakened body up to standing position and with a last look on Link, who was barely visible in the middle of the large robes of the riders, he went through the door.
Link swallowed hard. She had to concentrate all her power to stand firm; all her legs wanted to do was to race home to Creel Village and hide under her bed. But she couldn't. Not anymore. Her thoughts were interrupt as one of the shadows suddenly attacked her with her sword, but she managed to block it with the Master Sword, which stood firm against the swords of her enemies, and didn't pulverize as the other weapons. She did a back flip and caused the two riders that attacked her to jam their swords into each other. She smiled triumphing, but then realized it was as if the sword went through a mist of shadow, to then take form again as the riders. Link's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, but then a rider behind her interrupted her and she did a quick roll to the side and he missed. She came to her feet again and looked up again, to see the riders turn their headless hoods to her.
The chill in Sheik's body began to wear off as he ran up the stairs in the tower. He wondered how Link was doing with the riders. What if they…
He stopped dead as he heard voices ahead. He sneaked closer to an entrance to a room where he could see Ganondorf talking to… -he moved closer- Zelda.
'As you see, the Triforce of Power is in my possession.' Ganondorf held up his right hand and in his palm something, glowing in gold, was circling. 'And you…' Ganondorf held out his left hand and suddenly Zelda was lift in the air, and as he closed his palm Zelda gasped for air, '… have the Triforce of Wisdom.'
'Unfortunately,' he let his hand fall to his side and Zelda fell to the ground, 'I cannot do anything until the Triforce of Courage is here.'
'And,' he turned from Zelda, 'I do not know where the Triforce of courage is!' He fell silent. 'Until now.'
'The Hero was with you, no?' he turned to Zelda well again. She remained silent.
'Very well,' Ganondorf said, 'until the Hero comes here, I'll send you down to my shadow riders.'
Zelda's eyes widened in despair as Ganondorf grinned and with a wave of his hand a bolt of light surrounded her and she disappeared screaming.
'Zelda!' Sheik couldn't help himself but rushed forth in the moment she disappeared. Zelda looked surprised at him and then she was gone.
'Well, well, well…' Ganondorf turned grinning at him. 'So the Hero is here.' He sighed. 'Now I have to bring Zelda all the way up here again. Or,' he threw aside the red cape, which was hanging from his black armor, 'I could have the pleasure to destroy you first!' Suddenly Sheik found himself surrounded by a light…
---
Link dodged under the sword of a rider and appeared behind him. The battle was wearing her out, and the fear was getting hold of her again. Suddenly she was caught unaware and one of the shadows hit her with his sword and she was sent flying over the chamber, right into the wall. Darkness tried to overwhelm her but she shook her head and looked up as the riders approached her.
She couldn't feel her left arm, since it had died off in the chill from the sword, as she limped forth.
'Alright, this is enough,' she panted, 'I haven't come all this way to die before you!'
The leader of the riders hissed forth a laughter.
'I'd say the odds are against you.'
Suddenly Link smiled.
'Now that's were you're wrong.' She suddenly rose the Master Sword, and it glowed with a sudden strength. Behind Link a light suddenly appeared and the ancient Six Sages appeared.
'Say goodbye,' Link grinned before she shot up the sword to the ceiling, and the Sages rose their hands, as the ground started to shake.
Outside the tower, lightning ruled the sky and suddenly lighting hit the tower, enshrouding it with pure light for a flash of a second and then vanished into the tower. The Master Sword absorbed the light and it shone with a white light, blinding the shadows.
Then, with a scream, Link swung the sword around her, causing the chamber to lit up in a bright light. The riders shrieked and as the light vanished no one would ever see the Shadow Riders again.
Link dropped to her knee, panting. A hand was stretched out to her, and she looked up to see Impa there. She gave a smile.
'If you see Sheik, say hello to him.' Link looked puzzled at her. 'Long ago, I was the caretaker of the princess Zelda.' Link looked surprised at her, realizing something.
'So you were sister to the real Sheik? His forefather!'
Impa nodded.
'Now our task is fourfold,' the priest said behind her. 'I believe we dare leave the job to the new Sages now.'
A light surrounded the Sages.
'We know you will make it…'
A bright light filled the chamber, and with that, the old Sages were gone. Link sighed and was about to pull her sword back into the scabbard when a new bolt of energy appeared. She backed a few steps, preparing for battle. Yet as the bolt vanished, left was Zelda. She fell down to the ground, but Link ran forth in time to catch her.
'Link?'
Link helped her sit up. Zelda looked at her.
'Sheik is up there! We have to help him!' Link looked at the door.
'I have to summon the Sages,' Zelda said. Link looked at her. Zelda smiled.
'Yes, I am a Sage, and have always been. My task in this quest is to with my power seal the Evil King Ganondorf to never return.'
A crash suddenly caught their attention.
Zelda looked at Link with an alarming expression in her face.
'We must hurry! Find Ganondorf! Go!'
Link rose and ran off to the door. Zelda looked after her and then she went out the door to the open land.
Every Ugluk that dared to approach her found themselves killed by her magic, which she used with much skill. Looking up to the tower she saw, at the top, a small lighting as proof that a battle was going on.
Alrighty guys, there you have it! Not much left of the story now! Hope you'll stick with me till the end! Anyhow, please review if you have any questions or comments!
