A Link to the Past
Chapter Thirty Five: A Frozen Lake
Even with the power of the flipper, the current of this dark, murky river was too strong for Link to swim to shore, and as he thought, eventually the canal dumped the young man out in Lake Hylia. It was a relief to no longer be pushed down and spinned about by the current, and the first thing Link did was swim for shore, but that was the thing… instead of finding a gradual slope of sandy beaches around the lake as it was in Hyrule, all he found was steep cliffs and slimy rocks that were impossible to climb. There was no way that this could go on forever, so the young man began the slow process of swimming all the way around the perimeter, only to discover two things: That yes these rocks and cliffs might just go on forever, and that the water was getting really cold really fast.
Again, there was no risk of drowning thanks to the flipper, but with no visible ways up onto shore from where he was, and the water being too murky to see if there were any underwater ways out, he just… wait a second, what was that? There was something solid on top of the water not too far away from him, gray colored and shimmering in the dim sunset light, but not floating like a boat. Moving faster each time he dove underwater, the young man quickly made his way toward the object, and nearly bumping his head against what appeared to be a large rock that extended from about a foot above the surface, and extended straight down into the murky depths like a spire.
Cold, too, and so slippery that Link struggled to get on top of the rock, but it wasn't until he almost slipped right back off into the water that he realized it was completely frozen. A thick layer of ice coated the rock evenly both above and below the water, and once the young man was able to stand up and look around, he saw that this wasn't the only one. In fact, there were several of these large rocks, each one completely covered with ice, and explaining why the water in this part of Lake Hylia was so much colder. However, from there he couldn't see anything that could help, leaving no choice but to dive back into the water and swim over to one of the other frozen rocks.
Now so cold that he was starting to shiver a bit, Link looked around in hopes of finding something, an access beach, a dock, a boat, something that could help him find a way out of this lake. For once the young man's wish was granted, and he saw just that after traveling over to the next frozen rock, a small light, sort of like a candle or a lantern in the fog… yes, he had just noticed how foggy everything was getting the deeper into the field of frozen rocks he traveled. It wasn't enough to block out the sunset light, not completely, but it made the lantern over there visible, so Link dove into the now freezing water again, swimming toward the light source with all his strength, only to discover that the water was getting shallow.
The dirt and rocks underneath him were frozen solid just like the pillars farther out, but now the young man was able to climb his way completely out of the water and onto what might have been a really large rock or even a small island… it was hard to tell with how thick the fog was getting. Even though the terrain was slippery, it was still mostly flat, and as Link made his way over toward the lantern or whatever it was, he was starting to hear what sounded like muffled voices. Yes, there were definitely a few voices that could be heard, but they had to be far away or inside some kind of building, because even though there was a lot to be said, Link just couldn't make any of it out.
All he could do was keep walking toward the sound, discovering eventually that the light was coming from a lantern that was hanging one the first post of a frozen wooden dock. A wooden boat of fairly decent size was tied off to it, it's sails trimmed and anchor dropped while the crew was moving down the gangplank onto the dock and inland toward shore. They were made up of several different types of animal creatures, the young man noticing that even a few of the goat guards all walking in a straight line down the dock while others wearing dark cloaks and hoods stood along the path at set intervals like they were guarding them. The words they were saying were still muffled, and now there was a metal clattering sound that made Link gasp when he discovered the source of.
Chains… all of the different creatures walking single file down the dock from the boat had chains on their wrists and ankles, along with collars on their necks that were chained together so that no one could slip away from the group. Some kind of muzzle was strapped around their heads so that no one could speak, hence the muffled speech, but now one of the nearest hooded guards had noticed the young man, making him gasp again when the guard turned so that Link could see that his face was nothing but a white, grinning skull. That nearest guard drew his sword, moving the cloak to reveal that his whole body was nothing but bones, and this commotion had drawn the attention of everyone present by the time Link drew his own sword in response.
"Look… I don't know what's going on here?" The young man said as the skeleton approached. "But I'm not looking for any trouble."
The skeleton ignored his words as he approached, the whole line of prisoners walking down the dock stopping to watch as he swung his sword at Link, and some sparks flying when it was deflected with the blue blade. The skeleton attacked again, but with nowhere near the speed and skill level of Agahnim or Ganondorf, allowing the young man to easily knock his boney enemy off balance before making an attack of his own that neatly sliced the guard in half. When the skeleton fell down, he shattered into all the individual bones, and now some of the others were advancing toward him as well, drawing their swords while the others remained to keep control over their prisoners.
"We don't have to do this." Link said, almost tripping over one of the fallen bones as he backed away. "This is the Master Sword, you're no match for me, so just… let your prisoners go, show me how to get out of the lake, and no one else has to die."
Again, the skeletons didn't respond, three of them just continuing to advance while slowly encircling the young man, so this time he made the first move. Starting with an overhand swing that caught the one to his left side off guard, Link almost knocked the guard's weapon from his boney hand, before coming back up with a swing that took his head completely off. Apparently, the skeletons had to be just as careful about slipping on the frozen ground as he did, and he used that to his advantage since the Master Sword's attacks had enough force to stagger them each time. Ducking underneath the next one's attack, and coming back up with a slice that took off one of his boney legs, the young man picked up the skull when this one shattered into bones, throwing it at the third to distract him.
It wasn't much of a distraction, the third guard simply smacking the skull away so that it rolled across the frozen terrain, and then their swords clashed. On frozen ground, Link's boots gave him a slight advantage over bare-bones feet, so with a burst of power from the glove, the young man was able to shove his boney enemy back so hard that the skeleton tumbled right over the dock and into the freezing water, almost taking the first of the prisoners along with him if the goat creature hadn't moved out of the way at the last second. The rest of the bound and gagged prisoners were starting to look around hopefully, and the remaining four skeletons were a bit more hesitant while reaching for their own swords… but then everyone stopped moving.
"Have you reconsidered my offer?" Link asked, relieved that the fighting was over. "This is your last chance… free your prisoners, and show me how to get out of the lake, or I'll smash all of you into pieces and do it myself."
"Well, that's not very neighborly of you." An empty, rasping voice replied from behind. "Maybe they want to be here."
Readying his sword and spinning around to attack, Link was stopped when suddenly his vision was filled with something that was red and gold colored, feeling like metal and making his vision go white when he slammed into his face. Falling on his back and sliding across the ice, the young man's vision returned in time for him to see that it was a rounded shield that had bashed him… a shield that was being held by a skeleton that was much taller and larger than the others, armed with a sword like them, but wearing some kind of patchwork armor that… well, it was hard to tell where it came from. Now this big one was slowly walking toward him, so Link scrambled to his feet, still a bit dazed from that shield hit.
"Take that cattle inside." The big skeleton ordered to the others. "I will be along shortly with the straggler."
"Cattle?" Link asked, keeping his sword ready. "Hey, don't take those prisoners anywhere, not if you don't want to be smashed to pieces like your friends."
But the guards ignored them, prodding the prisoners with the tips of their swords, and now the march was resumed while the young man moved forward to meet his latest enemy, but instead of fighting, the big skeleton held his arms out to the side while taunting Link to take his best shot. The young man did so, making a powerful overhand swing that exploded this one's body into separate bones just like all the others, but instead of remaining as a pile, the bones simply rolled and stacked back onto each other until the big skeleton had been reformed like it had taken no damage at all. So Link attacked again, but this time his boney enemy parried with his own sword before bashing him again with that red and gold shield.
"You poor thing, you know not with whom you fight." The big skeleton said while the young man slid to a stop. "Allow me to introduce myself; I am Captain Stalfos, and you are cattle like all the others brought here. Drop your weapon and let my guards shackle you, or this is going to hurt."
"You're right, it will hurt." Link replied as he got up. "But not for me!"
Hoping to take Stalfos by surprise, the young man raised his sword and charged forward, but was stopped when the big skeleton turned his shield arm to reveal that there was some kind of silvery colored rod in his hand. At the tip of the rod was what looked like a blue diamond, and from that diamond erupted what Link thought was a plume of smoke, until he realized that the smoke was coming right at him. Moving fast and giving him no time to duck or get out of the way, the fast moving plume of smoke made contact with the young man's arm, giving him an intense stinging sensation that was almost like burning… as it flash-froze his arm just as solid as the rest of the land around them.
Now that his sword arm was coated with a thick layer of ice, he was unable to move it or defend himself no matter how much he tried, and it hurt so badly, the stinging burning cold sensation feeling like it wanted to spread to the rest of his body but was unable to, and… and now what remained of Stalfos's guards were encircling him, swords and chains at the ready. He tried to run, but one of the skeletons kicked his feet out from under him, and then the others tackled the young man, holding him down while Stalfos brought over another set of chains.
"See? As I thought." The big skeleton laughed. "Cattle like the rest."
