Chapter 32
A Chance for escape?
The chief glared at Tog, still dripping with anger. "Well?" Tog asked patiently, crossing his arms and waiting for an answer. "Are we going to tell the whizzrobes he's here or not?"
"Fine," Said the chief, still dripping with anger. Then he turned and pointed to the end of the table. "You all, run along and tell them to prepare and we'll bring Ganon's murderer with us shortly." The lizalfos stood from the table, slouching and upset as they left past the stone walls, leaving just a few others here at the camp. Then, the scaly finger rounded back to Tog. "And for you, stay out of my way. The next time you tell me what to do, I'll send you into exile myself!"
Tog nodded and moved back, not returning to his group by the campfire, but just standing by the table. Then, the lizalfos chief picked up a set of keys and marched toward the cell door. I still half expected Tog to do or say something to stop him, or at the very least, give me some sort of hint of what I was supposed to do next. But he didn't. He just stood there, staring at me.
The chief was at the door now, unlocking it with the keys, and still, Tog never flinched. The door swung open with a high screech, and I allowed my arms to fall limp by their sides. I caught a small glimpse of a few of the kids running to the back of the cell, probably huddling together, but in this time, I didn't think too much of it.
He held his sword pointed to me, and beckoned me to step out. But I didn't move, I would rather die right here than meet with the whizzrobes. "Come on," The chief remarked. "They're waiting for us."
"No," I said back, my voice showing more of a tremble than I wanted it to. "You're going to have to kill me right here."
He barked and edged the sword in closer, threatening at first. This was it, my last stand. I tried not to tremble, as I wanted to bring my dignity to the grave with me. I'm sorry I wasn't quite the hero you thought me to be, Zelda. "Suppose it doesn't matter." The chief answered finally. "We can make that work!" Then he lunged.
But he flinched before the sword reached my chest. His eyes were nearly popping out of his head, and his long mouth was fully open as he silently screamed. I was confused when he dropped to his knees before burying his head in the dirt in front of my feet. He had been stabbed, blood pooled from a nasty hole in his back, and Tog stood with the bloody dagger behind him.
Before I could even process what was happening, all of Ganon's minions were yelling and racing for Tog. He reacted immediately, grabbing my sword from the table and tossing it to me. My confusion slowed me, and I managed to catch the sheath before letting it drop clumsily to the floor. By the time I was retrieving it, a lizalfos was approaching with his arm pulled back before a swing of his mace. I had to duck past the first swing, then, with my sword back in my grip, I returned the attack. It came dangerously close to his elbow before it smacked against his shield. He jumped safely back, but I didn't follow, instead, I shot at him, grazing him by the neck before he blocked the rest.
I wished I could reach my shield next, but right now it was impossible. I tried to glance quickly at Tog, but I only saw a flurry of action before I needed to turn back to the lizalfos. He lashed his tongue at me before leaping back in with a low horizontal strike. I had no choice but to parry. The mace was heavy and hard to stop, but I did so without injury, then was my turn to counter. I dug the edge of the blade near his shoulder before kicking him in the stomach, pushing him back again. And before I could strike again, a rain of rocks and pebbles started to fall over him. I turned and saw it was the children picking up and throwing whatever they could find near the entrance to the cell. The lizalfos flinched and I took the chance and dropped him to the ground.
Now I had a clear shot for the table, I dashed and took up my shield and aimed to help Tog with the horde crowded around him. I pummeled the first monster I was closest to, this one a daira, and the stubborn creature only filled with rage from the hit and returned with a heavy axe. I leapt back, and the axe continued its swing until it stuck in the back of another lizalfos. Then I danced around to the other side and pushed in my own weapon into the daira's side.
With those two gone, I could now fight side by side with Tog. "Are you all right?" He asked, sliding his spear forward into the gut of another moblin.
"I'm fine now, thanks." I answered. The last word buried under a loud hiss from a lizalfos. I pushed my shield forward, knocking his mace away.
"Good, I was worried there for a minute when you gave up to the chief." He countered the lizalfos I blocked. "You could've given me more time!"
I had nothing to give but an apology. I was too embarrassed to tell him that I was buying his act. Not only that, but after our years of friendship, I didn't want to hurt him by telling him the truth, that I was giving up, that I didn't think he was there to save me.
He didn't say anything after that, He just parried and stabbed away, and I helped. Dancing along with his attacks, doing the best I could to block his openings and strike when he's blocking mine. I jabbed at the last daira in this corner, then spun. I saw there were only a few enemies left, just a few more moblins and one more lizalfos. They weren't too hard to take down, and even the children came back to help. I saw the older ones bringing by some pots that were by the table, and they crept slowly up. The lizalfos never saw it coming, as it was too busy fighting with me. The pot flew and cracked into a billion pieces as it collided with the beast's head. Then the children scouted for their next target. As I turned, some of the remaining monsters were fleeing the scene, while Tog was already finishing up his fight with the one who stayed.
"Quick, grab your things!" He called as his last opponent fell and others were scampering out of sight. "We need to get out of here before the alarm is sounded!"
I reacted immediately, rushing to the table and strapping on my stolen equipment. As I was working on that, I saw a ladder leaning against the wall I haven't really noticed before. It occurred to me that this was how the lizalfos climbed on top of the maze's walls. It looks like this place has been their hideout for a while.
But right now, none of that mattered. I spun toward the children and called to them, beckoning them to follow, then I reached for Zelda's pendent now safely around my neck again. "Take us out of this place." And right as I finished the command, the silver beam obeyed, racing out ahead of us. "I'll take the lead now." I called to Tog, and he fell behind the children without question.
I raced ahead with a light jog and followed every path the beam took. And with every turn, I expected monsters waiting for us, to take us all back to the beginning. But so far, every corner was empty. The maze returned to its normal silence. Still, we took no chances and we didn't slow down.
Even before the monsters more likely dragged me deeper in here, I was walking down this maze for a good long time. This place was huge, and if we didn't have the pendent to help us out here, we might not have stood a chance of escaping. Our efforts would be useless.
Like before, the silence began to eat me alive, and I grew nervous. I wanted to hide somewhere, because while we were in a gigantic maze, I felt like we were sitting in the open, like they were already watching us. It was only a matter of time before they find us, besides, this was territory they were familiar with. I stared up at the walls, maybe they were already up there, just trying to find the best angle to shoot at us.
But still, nothing came. Were we safe now? I continued to jog as I looked back. All the children were running close behind, and Tog behind them, watching them carefully. Good, everyone was still here.
Time passed uneventfully. We had passed the boiling pool of acid bubbles, so we all had painful burns, but I knew this place. I've been here before, so we must be close to the exit! The children were growing tired, so we slowed our pace a little, to my dismay. All I wanted was to place as much space between me and those whizzrobes as possible. To think, once the children are back home, I would need to return to this cursed place. Even if the maze was entirely empty, I'm not sure if I would want to, not after my near failure here. After a while, I felt like I was walking in slow motion. The rock walls on either side of us moved at a snail's pace, even though I continued to march one foot in front the other. The ground was sliding under my feet, like it was pulling me backwards to the whizzrobes' ceremony.
"Listen," Tog spoke from behind us, making me jump just from the sound of his voice. I turned to him. He was stopped, and staring upward at the sky. "It's the ocean, we're almost to the bridge." He was right, I could hear the waves splashing up against the island. We're almost free!
Then suddenly, at a single sound, I was frozen, stiff with fear and growing sick. It was the billowing rumble of a horn. At once, the children began screaming and Tog was crying orders for us to run. My heart began racing, and as I leaned forward and scrambled as quickly as I could, I saw the lizalfos. He was standing way ahead of the path, up on the wall, of course.
It took no time at all for a following charge coming up behind us. They were the lizalfos who were sent for the whizzrobes before the battle broke out, and they were followed by the few monsters that fled. And of course, more monsters were scrambling up on the walls, keeping up and throwing rocks at us. As I ran, I healed my wounds so I could return fire. Now that I wasn't surrounded by monsters at every angle, I could keep running and just focus on the attackers on the wall. I held my shield close, bouncing off rocks thrown in front of me.
But that wasn't the only threat, as a robed form suddenly appeared ahead. My stomach flipped again, it was a whizzrobe! It began to cast its magic, twisting its arms around a few times before throwing something invisible down the path. I had hesitated too long. The energy exploded in a rush of fire, and I called a warning to my friends behind me as I brought up my shield. Any other shield would have smoldered to a pile of ash instantly, and while the shield held, the wave of energy was great, and it overtook me.
Like a rock in the middle of a rushing stream, the fire energy exploded all around me, then caved in and hugged the sides. I remember intense heat, and a burning pain that sent me tumbling down. But luckily, the fire didn't stay once I hit the floor. Something grabbed me, and I turned, moving to punch them as I had dropped my sword. It wasn't the whizzrobe, but Tog, and he was quickly pulling me to my feet.
I took the sword and half ran, half stumbled down the hall again. The children were ahead now, but I was catching up with them, trying to protect them from the thrown stones. The whizzrobe was now gone, but I knew it was just a matter of seconds for it to appear somewhere else.
But finally, the turn after this hall was the bridge leading out! We just need to run away a little while longer. "To the woods! We can lose them there!" Tog cried, hurrying the children along. It's a good thing too that we were so close, because there were a few whizzrobes appearing around us now. At least there were no more walls for the monsters to stand on now.
I had been running in front so far, so I didn't have to fight with those who were catching up, but I was looking back and helping Tog where I could, but now, my sword didn't shoot anymore beams. Instead of healing myself again, I had an idea. I brought out the scroll for the fire spell. I haven't used this yet, and now was a good time to.
I read what was on the scroll again and again, tuning myself into focus. Even the reappearing whizzrobes couldn't distract me, not anymore. I dodged their attacks and continue to read the scroll until I grew very familiar with it, then, I rolled it back up in the pouch and recited it from memory, pulling myself into an even deeper level of focus.
Honestly, I was surprised I eventually casted it. New spells were always difficult for me, and I didn't expect for it to work this time. But I knew it did. The hilt of my sword became warm, like it keeping the power of fire encased in its blade. Time to test it out. I pointed to the nearest whizzrobe, and imagined the trapped fire setting free. The tip of the sword glowed hot red for just a second before the burst shot straight out with a roar. The whizzrobe panicked as the robe it wore instantly exploded in flames. It made a short attempt to pat it out before it decided to teleport away. Then I turned and shot for the group of monsters chasing us.
"Quick, to the trees!" Tog yelled again as we stepped off the bridge back into the grass. Still in the lead, I darted for the safety of the woods, twisting and turning past trees and bushes, making my own path as I go along.
Finally, once we were in the thick of the woods, I crouched down behind a wide tree and the others did the same. The group of monsters were splitting up, looking for us. The plan worked! We were safe, for now anyway.
