Chapter 25
Tog's Reappearance
Sand mingled with the air, coating everything with white powder, and flying into our lungs with every breath. My eyes stung, and I began to choke. Even His Majesty gave a few coughs before he stared down at where the doomknocker once stood. "Wow," He exclaimed. "Do you think he's still conscious down there?"
I had just started to keep my coughing in control, and I cleared my throat before replying. "Most likely not." But the prince seemed to ignore my response. He held onto his sword tighter, and lightly kicked the dune like he was expecting the doomknocker to explode right out of it. But seconds turned into minutes, and still nothing happened. His Highness, now satisfied the battle was done, sheathed his weapon and turned his back.
There, he stood before the last important thing in the room, the lever. I stared back, first at the switch, then to His Highness. His stubbornness came to mind. Most likely, he won't allow me to pull it, and I was in no mood to fight. "You know we have to take this risk." I started. "That doomknocker was guarding this for a reason."
"What are you waiting for then?"
Again, shock sailed through me from his response! I didn't even know what to say about that! He nodded knowingly like he saw my reaction. "You already warned me of the risks in this place. True, I'd rather not take them, but I know we have to."
Still, I didn't know how to react. Out of all the years I've known him, he's always been so stubborn! Now all of a sudden, for the last few days, he's been following my lead without one question or remark! He's changed, I wonder why?
"Well, are you going to pull that lever or not?"
"Um, of course." I answered, dropping my train of thought. I reached over and grasped the handle. "Are you ready?" I asked. He gestured hurriedly, like he's been waiting this whole time. So, without wasting another second, I pulled it down. It was heavy and fell with a loud clank. I held my breath.
Then the earthquake followed.
It felt like the entire building was collapsing, but there was no way we would be able to leave in time! I fell back against the wall, before losing my footing and falling down. I saw the prince tripped forward, reaching for anything stable, his eyes wide with horror. There was nothing more that I could do than to pray for the goddesses to stop the ceiling from crashing down on our heads.
But just as quick as it started, it stopped. What happened? What was the point of that? It was like it never even happened. My heart was still continuing to race, but somehow, the palace was still intact. The two last standing pillars however were affected, and as soon as the quaking stopped, one of them toppled and fell against the nearest wall.
"What was that?" The prince breathed, leaning heavily on the wall next to me.
I had no answer to that question. Was the lever doing that? Or was that just a weird coincidence? I shrugged and pushed off the wall, trying to stand back up. But it felt like the earthquake kept my body shaking and it was hard to stand still. But I was determined not to fall again. Finally, I spoke. "I don't know, but we should continue on before the ceiling collapses further."
"Agreed." Once more, he made a hopeless attempt to brush off the sand coating him and waited for me to take the lead. I nodded and tried not to look like a swaying fool as I walked for the elevator.
I stepped atop it and casted "life" to heal the wounds from the battle. At the same time, the prince joined me on the platform and it began to move at once. He stood straight, staring ahead but casting me a single glance. "Are you all right?" He asked.
"I'm fine." I answered. "Just taking a minute to heal myself for the next fight."
He blinked and said nothing more. For a long time, we stood in silence and waited for the elevator to take us back to the floor above. The elevator itself was silent, but the edged scraped past sand covered walls, making a soft grating sound.
But finally, he spoke again. "You frightened me. When the mace struck you, I thought you were seriously injured."
I couldn't help but chuckle at his honesty. "No, I would have been if I didn't cast 'shield' before that."
But he kept his seriousness. "I know, and I'm glad the spell protected you from that. But, I suppose it's instinct, I just saw you were hit, and I feared the worst."
Then the thought struck me, just like that. For many years, I traveled alone, protecting myself and fearing few enemies. It never occurred to me how many times I was really in danger. In this battle, I had one of those encounters, but something about it was different. This time, I knew how close I was. This time, I wasn't invincible. And this time, I was thankful for Zelda's brother being there. This whole time, I've been envious of his abilities, and I denied it by trying to show off my best skills. But here, I couldn't deny he saved my life. "You did the best you could." I replied. "And back there, that meant keeping the doomknocker off me. I really can't thank you enough for that."
"Not a problem. I'm just relieved you weren't really hurt." He scoffed. "Just try to be more careful next time."
I was thinking to argue that I was always careful, but I knew that not to be all true. "I'll try." I answered instead.
Once the elevator stopped again at the top in the hallway, I saw that the pile of sand at the end, now collapsed in the room below, was indeed blocking a door. Luckily, we will be able to explore it now, but this also meant that there's a good possibility of more hidden doors in this palace.
I was just about to find footing to safely cross the broken floor to the door just a few feet away when the prince shoved an elbow in me. I froze and looked to him, he pointed up above the door. I followed his gaze. There in the ceiling was what looked like a trap door. It was already open, revealing nothing now, but I'm sure I knew what it held. The sand blocking this door was a trap? But who triggered it? The sand was there from the beginning we stepped in this room.
"I know you said the protectors won't fall for their own traps, but something here did." The prince said, thinking the same thing I was. "Whatever it was, there's a chance it's trapped in that room. We need to enter with caution."
I agreed and focused again on crossing the hole in the floor. As I neared the door, I unsheathed my sword quietly. His Highness did the same, and I reached for the door knob. The door creaked slowly open, and I peered in with my sword up by my side. The lone moblin stood at the end of the room, holding a short spear horizontally in front of him. He stared at the door like he was expecting a fight, but as soon as he saw us, his expression softened and he sighed. It was Tog!
"Tog? What are you doing here?" I exclaimed, breaking in with a smile and sliding my sword away.
He laughed, still stunned. "I'm so glad you two are here! I've been stuck in this room for hours! I tripped on that," He took his spear and pointed it at our feet, where a snapped tripwire lie. "when I came in. After that, I heard the sand outside, and then I couldn't move the door! I thought I'd be stuck here for days!"
"You didn't answer Link's question." His Majesty said, sliding into the room from behind me. He sounded more suspicious than friendly. "Why are you here? How did you find this place when the island is impossible to reach?"
Either Tog didn't know where to start, or he took the hint of hostility in the prince's voice. "Like I said in our last meeting, you guys are almost constantly being watched. They know of all the palaces Link's been in so far. Once I learned you two were heading for Mido, it occurred to me what you were doing. I knew you were trying to reach the island. It was easy to reach the town first, then I had to find where that grave was. That wasn't so easy, it took me all night."
"How did you know it was a grave?" The prince continued to interrogate. "We had to find secrets and clues by talking with the townsfolk. That's something you would have been unable to do! You will be chased out if they saw a moblin in town!" He approached Tog and held his sword before him. "You're lying. I'd bet you knew where this was all along! I think you even know where that troublesome group of moblins is too."
I could barely move past my shock from his response. "Your Highness, please don't do this! Tog is my friend." I begged.
Then Tog answered. "No one's seen them since that rock slide blocking Mido! I swear I'm telling the truth! And I didn't have to go into town, I did know the entrance was a grave. After all these years since the palaces existed, you don't think the monsters of Hyrule would have found that entrance by now? They storm and pillage and came by that grave by accident a long time ago. I just didn't know which one it was!"
Saying nothing, the prince slid the rapier back in its sheath, but he still held that untrusting gaze. Once the sword was away and he gave the moblin some space, he spoke again. "Very well, but here's my second question; why are you here?"
"I figured you two might need me here." Tog answered honestly, chuckling. "Once I knew what you were up to, I wanted to help."
That's why it looked like someone's been setting off traps! Like when we came in and had to cross the hole in the floor, sucking up all the sand. Tog came this way before us. "You already helped us enough." His Highness called, still unconvinced he could trust the moblin. "You didn't have to come here." With that, he broke his stare from Tog and glanced quickly over the room. This room, unlike any we have seen here so far, was very small and tight. It felt more like a prisoner's cell than a palace chamber. Maybe it is a cell, after all, once the trap outside has been triggered, the sand stops anyone from leaving here. "There's nothing here." His Majesty concluded, turning back to the door. " Let's go."
"Wait, there is something I've found." Tog called, making the prince spin back around. Tog stepped closer to the center of the room, and rested his foot on a near invisible pressure plate. I immediately tensed, but he knew what he was doing. A loud shuffle of stone and sand made me jump and caught my attention to the far wall to the right. A piece of the wall shook, then slid back, revealing a small box in the crevice. "No matter what I tried, I just couldn't reach that box. Because as soon as I leave this plate, the wall will slide back."
I was already making my way over there before he finished speaking. I picked the key from the small chest and placed it safely in my pouch. When I turned back to the prince and moblin, they were quiet. Neither of them have said a thing since I turned and went for the chest. They watched to see what was in it, but I could tell they were intentionally avoiding eye contact from each other. I sighed inwardly. It'll be very difficult for these two to work together when there's so much lack of trust, now on both sides if the moblin's going to echo the prince's resentment. But who am I kidding? I struggled with the same problems when His Highness wanted to join. Still, I didn't understand why the prince reacted to Tog the way he did. He knew I trusted Tog, I explained to him already how he helped me six years ago, and Tog even saved his life from the moblins who held him captive just a few weeks before.
I tried to show no sign of the discomfort in the air when I spoke next. "We could always use more help, Tog. You're welcome to join us."
With his eyes shining once more, he nodded his thanks and marched ahead for the door. I heard the prince scoff when he passed before he picked up his feet and followed. But I came up beside him and stopped. "Hey, what's the matter?" I asked him in hushed tones to not alarm Tog. "Why do you seem so aggressive to Tog? He has given you no reason to despise him."
He answered with a scowl. "He's a moblin, and nothing good has ever come from those creatures. They make up most of Ganon's army! Has it ever occurred to you that he's just trying to raise your trust before he leads us into a trap?" He poked a finger in my chest. "He just wants to use you to revive his long dead master!"
But I wasn't going to back down. "No. If that was the case, why did he help me those six years ago? He risked his life back then! What do you think his kin will do to him if they knew of his treachery? And Ganon was still living in that time, so he has no motive to trick me."
But the prince, ever so stubborn, shook his head. "No matter what you say, I won't be fooled. I know the nature of moblins. They're selfish creatures who do nothing but pillage and hurt people."
I was about to object once again, but Tog called from ahead and interrupted me. "Are you two coming or not?"
Letting my last train of thought go, I took a step forward, ready to drop the conversation and pretend I didn't hear any of it. But His Highness grasped onto my arm, making me face him once more. "I only pray for you to be careful and prepared if Tog turns on you." He said, just above a whisper. This time, he sounded different. He spoke with seriousness instead of the bitter anger he used just a moment ago, and I thought I saw a flicker of fear in his eyes.
Maybe one day he'll see Tog's honesty? I can't be sure if he ever will.
One thing's for sure though, I wasn't going to stand there and make that be today. I left His Highness behind and jogged ahead, trying to catch up with the leading moblin. He was already past the holes the sand fell through, facing us with his arms crossed. His spear was leaning between them and his chest, like he was hugging it. "What's keeping you? We've got a guardian to find!" Not waiting for a response, he turned once I caught up and marched down the hall. His hastiness betrayed disappointment, and I couldn't say I blamed him.
