Zarij drew out chains and bound Karzad's hands and feet. He looked very tense and antsy, Nayru bit her lip and grabbed compulsively at the seams of her pants in nerves, and Zarij, though she looked cool and collected, had half formed thoughts and frightened what-ifs whizzing through her mind. They came up out of the hole and Zarij covered it quickly. "Now we must hurry." She said. "It is seven forty-five, the time when shifts are changed, most posts will be unmanned and those guards at their posts will either have just gotten there or are getting ready to leave, they will be distracted and will probably not give us a second glance, alright, now we go!" She said, and they walked down the corridor at a brisk pace, quickly leaving the guard's housing area.
****
They entered a long, wide corridor and Zarij drew out her saber and held it to Karzad's back. "For show," She muttered. They reached the end of the hall and disappeared down a back hall. Zarij relaxed a bit and began to talk in a low quick voice. "These halls are rarely used so we are safe to speak if we are very quiet. If we are approached, Nayru, your name is Malez, and you are new to the fortress. You came from camp R-7." Nayru nodded, memorizing the facts quickly. "We are taking this prisoner to a higher security dungeon because he was getting rowdy and tried to escape." Karzad and Nayru nodded. They walked down the hall and saw that it would soon open to a different corridor. "In this hallway there are many guards and it will be rather crowded. Try to act completely natural." They strode out into the wide hall and walked quickly toward a set of stairs going down. The hall was crowded and noisy. Many guards were milling about, either then being relieved of duty or being put on job.
****
Then Nayru saw something that made her blood freeze in her veins. There was a huge doorway at the end of the hall. It was barred with huge tall doors of black iron, crusted with orange rust. They were chained and bolted and from behind them seemed to leak a dark shadow. The guards all seemed to skirt the door and no wonder for as they drew closer piercing screams could be heard. The shadow seemed to sink into Nayru's heart, chilling her to the marrow of her bones. Her eyes followed the dark door. "It is the door separating us from Ganondorf. That is the place where he dwells. He feeds on the dying spirits of prisoners and lies in wait, gaining strength and using his growing dark powers to induce chaos." Said Zarij, snapping Nayru from a horrified sort of trance. The doors shook and fire seemed to blaze behind the door, for heat blasted from them. The floor vibrated with the echoing bloodcurdling screams, and flashes of light blazed through the little cracks. Zarij shivered, "It has never been so bad as this, Ganondorf seeks revenge for the murder of his son." At this Karzad shivered slightly, but shook it off as they neared the staircase. There a guard stopped them. "Hello Zarij," said the tall guard, whom Nayru recognized from the dungeons. "Who's this you have with you?" The guard said. Zarij looked at Nayru. "A newling. She arrived today from camp, I'm just giving her the grand tour." She said coolly. Nayru beamed inwardly at Zarij's complete calm. "Well I'm not asking you!" the guard said, looking down on Zarij, "I wanted her to tell me!" she said, moving her eyes to Nayru. "My—my name is Malez, I came from camp R-7." Nayru stuttered. "Did you? I did an inventory of that camp a week ago, who are your parents?" Nayru looked petrified for a moment digging through her mind for something. "They're dead." She said after a brief second. "They died when I was born." The tall guard looked at her in pity, "I suppose you were in training when I came then." She said after an awkward moment. Nayru nodded mutely, not knowing if she should agree or not. "Well, welcome to the fortress Malez." And without another word she walked away. As soon as the guard was out of sight Nayru let out a long sigh of relief. "I thought I was done for!" Nayru gasped as they made their way down the staircase. "Well, good job, you could have fooled me," Said Zarij. "You were wonderful," Said Karzad.
****
The rest of the trip was uneventful, and lacking in excitement except for when a passing male prisoner on the stairs, who grabbed at Nayru and Zarij broke his hand. At last they reached the very bottom floor. It was dark, only lit by torches in iron brackets. Nayru grabbed on of the torches while Zarij unchained Karzad and cast the shackles away. "Now these are the oldest and thought by most to be the deepest dungeons," said Zarij "But I know better," She led them to a corner and there was a wall of thick black rock. She poked around until she found a small crack in the wall. She slid her slim hand into the small fissure and muttered a few undistinguishable words, and a sliding scraping noise followed and then the crack slid apart until a body's thickness wide, and they slid through. Once on the other side she put her hands on either side of the opening and muttered something again. The opening closed behind them. They turned, Nayru lighting the way with her torch. There was a strong stench of rotting flesh and bloodstains covered the walls. There were torture devices of all sorts lining the walls, and they were fast approaching the cells. "These cells are rarely guarded by humans, but there are eyes everywhere. We must be brief." They walked to the cells. A hall of them went to the left and one went to the right. "Nayru, you and I will take the left side, Karzad you go right, yell if you find anything." Said Zarij. Nayru looked at Karzad worriedly. "Don't worry." He reassured her. "I swear, I'll be fine." He unsheathed his dagger and held it in front of him. He also wrapped a stick found on the ground with some torn cloth off his shirt and lit it off her torch. "I'll be fine!" He said, and he disappeared into the darkness. Nayru went down the other hallway with Nayru and looked in each cell. The whole place reeked of death and decay and skeletons were scattered throughout the cells. They came to the end of the hallway when they heard a soft whimper come from a far cell. Nayru, throwing caution to the wind, ran down the rest of the hall and came to a darkened cell at the end. A huddled form was crouched in the corner, their hands chained above their head. Zarij came up behind Nayru. "Let me unlock it," She said, pulling a pin from her hair and putting it in the huge rusted latch. She fiddled for a moment and it came undone at last. The rusty door swung open and Nayru rushed in. The figure was hooded and she threw the hood down. It was her mother, it was Ruto.
****
Nayru screamed with amazement "Mother!" she squealed, throwing her arms around her neck. Ruto struggled against Nayru's grasp. "Get off me!" She mumbled, thrashing about, "Get off!" Nayru drew back and looked at her mother. "Mom, it's me!" she said. "It's Nayru!" She looked her mother up and down. Her face was sunken and starved, and her eyes darted nervously. She was battered and cut all over. She looked at Nayru. "You are not my daughter, you are another of the Gerudo scum." She spat. "No, no mother, it's a disguise! I found you!" "No, don't fool me!" Ruto cried, thrashing against Nayru more fiercely. "No mother! It's me, it is!" "Don't fool me!" Screamed Ruto. "They told me! I know she is dead!" "Dead?" gasped Nayru. "No! No, I'm alive! They didn't kill me, just hurt me, I'm alive!" "They told me!" Ruto cried in half-delirium. "They told me…I know…" "No mother, no! I'm alive, they lied, it's a disguise! It is me!" Her mother continued to resist, shaking her head and crying "No! No!" "Wait!" Nayru cried "Wait, I'll prove it!" she felt on her neck until she found the thin gold chain. She held the pendant up to her mother who grabbed it in shaking fingers. "Your pearl," whispered Nayru. Ruto began to cry softly first, looking from the pendant to Nayru and back again. Then she began to sob and wail loudly, sinking into her daughter's arms and crying long and bitterly. "Nayru, Nayru, I thought you were gone…" "It's alright mother, I found you, we're okay now…" Nayru pulled out her own hairpin and picked the lock to the chains that bound her mother's hand over her head. Her mother pulled her hands down, massaging the wrists and encouraging them to get some blood circulation. "I still can't believe your okay," Ruto said, "And that you came this far unscathed." "Not quite," Said Nayru showing her mother the scars from the wolfo that stretched down onto her stomach. "Well the point is that you're alright." She said. Ruto stood, stumbling around on weak legs for the first time in days and days. "It's okay, I think I'll be able to walk just fine, I'm only a bit rusty." They walked out of the cell. "It's strange," said Zarij. "I've been calling for Karzad for some time now, but there has been no reply, and I can't see a thing!" They peered into the darkness when suddenly from far off there came a strangled cry. "Karzad!" Nayru called, and ran through the hall.
***
Nayru ran as fast as she could until she reached a terrible sight. Karzad lay still on the hard stone floor with and undead skeleton warrior standing over him, preparing to kill him with his huge sword. "Yaa!" screamed Nayru running towards the warrior with pulling out her long curved saber. She swiped at the warrior and hit him. He recovered and swept his sword at her. She dodged it and then stabbed again. Apparently he already had wounds from Karzad because her two hits finished him and he vanished. She cast down her saber and flew to Karzad's side. "Karzad!" she cried, lying over him and putting her hand on his chest. It was wet. It was blood. She realized that his entire front was shining with blood, it spilled from a deep stab wound in his stomach. "No!" She cried "No!" His eyes fluttered open. "Karzad!" She cried, "Karzad, are you alright?" He groaned. "I'm so sorry Nayru…I'm sorry." He moaned. "Nayru…I love you, I'm sorry…I love you." "No Karzad, No, you promised, Karzad! Karzad! You can't leave me! You can't! I won't let you! Don't leave me Karzad! …What will I tell her? What will I tell Zelda?" Nayru sobbed. Karzad looked deep into her eyes. "Tell her—" He breathed in agony. "Tell her that her son—loves her…" And his eyes fluttered closed.