A Link to the Past
Chapter Twenty Nine: Lost Woods
Not that Link was a shallow person or anything, but he was enjoying holding Maple's hand a lot more as they walked through the lush green forest, now that she was a beautiful brunette instead of a red monster with claws and horns. Turns out that rescuing that fire-breathing creature back in the dungeons under the Village of Outcasts was a real lucky break for the young man, and right now no matter how much danger Hyrule was in, it was nice to find himself distracted by her even if it was just for a little while until the Master Sword was located. Then Link would have to get the young woman safely back to her grandmother's shop before resuming the hunt for Princess Zelda and the other captive girls.
The funniest part of all of this was that locating the remaining crystals seemed like the easy part from his point of view, since honestly the young man didn't know how he was going to defeat creatures like Agahnim and Ganondorf even with the legendary weapon his grandfather once held. If only there was some way to turn the two of them against each other, but that wasn't going to work, especially since Link didn't really understand the motivations behind what the two of them were doing. The wizard seemed at first to want revenge against his uncle, but was actively working to find a way to bring Ganondorf from the Dark World into Hyrule, but the young man had no idea why. Agahnim was free of that place, and could travel back and forth at will, so why not just forget about it?
Ganondorf seemed to hate Link's grandfather, and was now trying to get into Hyrule as well, but so what? Even if that large creature managed to get free of the Dark World, couldn't he be defeated in either world with the same difficulty? Not that he imagined the task to be an easy one in either case, and… and none of this would matter at all if he wasn't able to find the Master Sword in the first place. Yes, it was a lot easier to see with real daylight and bright green foliage, but the rain constantly dripping in his eyes and the fact that there were hardly any paths at all in this part of the Lost Woods… not that he imagined its hiding place would be found at the end of a well-traveled path.
"You're really quiet." Maple said, him still not used to her higher, softer voice. "Is something wrong?"
"No, I just… have no idea at all what I'm doing." Link replied, wiping the water from his face with his other hand. "Wizards, other worlds, girls trapped in crystals… can you believe I used to think my life was boring? Right up until my uncle told me to stay in bed while he went out."
For a moment the young man wished that he had followed his uncle's orders and stayed in bed, as if that would somehow cause everything to stay the way it was, but then the young woman next to him moved closer so that she was holding onto his arm as they ducked underneath a low hanging branch, kissing him on the cheek when they stood back up, and changing his thoughts completely. Yes, finding someone like her was worth it… all of it… but where in the hell was the Master Sword. Maybe the girls trapped in the crystals knew that, too… nope… no vibrations when he pointed the two diamond shaped objects in all directions, meaning that they must only be able to find the other trapped girls. That was a good thing to have, just not right now.
"Well, it sounds to me that you were meant to find this weapon and save Hyrule." Maple said, almost tripping over some roots. "So, if we just keep going, then you're bound to find it one way or the other, right?"
It was a nice thought, but that was the thing, the young man had no idea whether or not his role in this was something destined or if he was just blundering his way from one bad situation to the next, all of them with the chance of getting him killed at any time. But hey, maybe she was right, maybe all Link had to do was stop over-thinking this and just continue straight forward through the trees. The strategy of actually trying to find paths and moving around in search patterns wasn't working so far, so he stopped doing it all together and began walking forward… worst case he came out on the far side of the forest and just had to walk back in and keep going back and forth until they had to come across… wherever the sword was hidden.
Link wished that he had been able to get more out of Princess Zelda than just it's hidden in the Lost Woods before they were ambushed by Agahnim inside the temple, since the forest was one of the largest places in this part of Hyrule, but onward he and Maple walked for… I don't know, hours? It was hard to tell how much time was passing aside from the light coming through the trees getting brighter for a while and now starting to soften. The young man didn't want to be caught in the forest after dark, even though it wasn't nearly as dangerous there as it had been in the dark forest with those mummies and… and why could he see clear gray sky up ahead?
As hard to believe as it was, a few seconds later he and Maple stepped through the tree line and into a small clearing, with Link having to put his hand over his eyes to block the water since there was no canopy of leaves above him to stop the now pouring rain. Thunder and lightning crackled as the wind picked up, thankfully the latter blocked partly by the trees all around them, and at the center of the clearing was some kind of stone statue. No, not really a statue, but some kind of alter in a similar shape to the ones he had seen up at the Temple of Hera in the mountains, just all stone instead of wood and cloths… except for the metal object at the top.
"Link, is that it?" The young woman asked cautiously as they stopped walking. "Is that the sword you're looking for?"
"I certainly hope so." He replied, unable to keep from feeling anxious, himself. "Stay here, I'm going to see if it is."
Letting go of her hand and stepping forward, the young man was trying not to get his hopes up in case it wasn't the legendary weapon, but as he approached the alter there were no plaques or carved inscriptions, just the hilt and blueish colored blade of a sword sticking down into the top of the stone as if it had been driven into the rock by force and just left there for the next person to find. For a moment Link imagined his grandfather and the first King Façade coming to this place after the defeat of Ganondorf all those years ago, promising to keep the weapon's location a secret until such time as it was needed again, and then… and then the young man realized that he was no longer alone.
"A beautiful weapon, is it not?" Agahnim asked as he stepped out from behind the altar. "I tried to remove it, myself, a few times, but I suppose I'm just not worthy."
"Maple, get out of here!" The young man yelled. "Run!"
Having seen the wizard during her time in captivity, the young woman knew that the best thing for her to do right now was to escape, so she turned away to start running just in time for Agahnim to vanish and reappear right in front of her. Without hesitation he backhanded Maple across the face, laughingly asking her where she thought she was going while watching her collapse to the ground, and then he vanished again. Before Link could think or react, the wizard appeared in front of him again with a kick to his side, knocking the wind out of the young man as he stumbled sideways before falling into the dirt as well.
"It took me a while to find this place, but I knew the effort would pay off." Agahnim said, leaning back on the altar while the young man struggled to get up. "See, I've known your family a long time, and I thought to myself; if this boy is anything like his uncle and grandfather, then not only will he escape the village dungeon and get back to Hyrule on his own, but then he will go right for the Master Sword… it took you a bit longer than I thought, but here we are."
Instead of replying or trying to run away, Link hoped to surprise the wizard by charging right toward him as soon as he got to his feet. However, Agahnim simply released a ball of flame from his hand, disbursing in all directions when it struck the young man in the chest, unable to burn him because of the rain but still knocking him back down. With a pulse of strength from his glove, Link sprang toward the wizard before he had even gotten up, flying like a toad much faster than he should have been able to move, and this time he actually managed to hit him. Colliding with Agahnim before he could react, the wizard grunted when his back struck the altar, allowing the young man to give his enemy a well deserved punch in the face.
He tried to punch again, but Agahnim caught his fist with one hand while giving Link's inner elbow a chop with the other, resulting in the wizard making the young man essentially punch himself in the face when he pushed the fist toward him. Keeping a grip on the stunned Link's arm, Agahnim pulled him forward so that his face hit the stone altar, before twisting his arm around so violently that the young man was lifted off his feet by the momentum, falling face down into the wet dirt once again. He tried to get up, only to fall again when the wizard punched him in the center of the back, and then out of desperation Link rolled sideways back toward the altar just as the wizard punched again, making his enemy's fist hit the mud instead.
No matter what he had to get the Master Sword. Agahnim was a much better fighter than the young man was, even if he didn't use magic, and unless some kind of miraculous strength was given to him by the legendary weapon Link was probably going to die. Whack! Wincing for a second as he expected to feel pain, the young man realized that it wasn't him that got hit, but the wizard when Maple came up from behind with a large tree branch, striking him in the upper back two times, hard enough so that Agahnim was actually dropped to his hands and knees. Her advantage was gone a second later, when the wizard vanished again, reappearing behind her in the same position so that he could kick the young woman's legs out from under her, and with another kick to the face with his other leg, Maple was down.
Agahnim probably expected to finish Link off right after this brief interruption, but against every instinct that he had, the young man had not gone to help the young woman, instead grabbing onto the altar and pulling himself up to his feet while Agahnim was beating on her. As much as he wanted to help Maple, they were both going to die for certain if he didn't get the Master Sword… reaching out just as the gasping wizard turned around… and grabbing onto the legendary weapon's hilt.