A Link to the Past

Chapter Thirty Seven: The Waterway

Unlike the dungeons beneath the Village of Outcasts where the only light came from torches, all of the illumination inside this icy prison came from sunlight that was reflected all the way down from the entrance, leaving the whole place as orange and dim as the rest of the Dark World. Too bad all this reflected light didn't bring any additional heat with it, leaving Link to shiver inside of that cell with the others, where no matter how much he tried, the ice around his arm and the Master Sword just wouldn't break. After their initial conversation, his two cellmates didn't say much, and as soon as Captain Stalfos left them alone, the monster and the ball creature went to separate sides of the cell like they didn't want to talk to each other, either.

Nope, while the young man just sat there on that frozen bench trying to free his arm, the ball creature began to very loudly bounce himself off of the nearby walls while the horned monster started to… started to run toward the back wall as fast as he could. Whump! It was not the sound Link expected to hear when the monster's horns collided with the icy barrier, and the impact caused the monster to fall on his face while… while small flakes of broken ice showered down onto him. It was only after the monster got up again and rammed the wall a second time that the young man realized what was going on, beginning with the fact that the wall the monster was ramming was not nearly as flat as all the others.

Because everything was the same color and texture, it would have been impossible for anyone not standing right next to the far wall to see how much damage it had been taking, probably over a long time, and the constant bouncing around of that ball creature was masking the sound so that the guards and Stalfos probably just thought the monster was bouncing the other one around like when Link had been brought in. At the rate the small pieces of ice were falling with each hit, these two must've been at this for a while, like a while, but how did they even know that there was anything behind that particular wall? It was probably just the only one they could hit without being caught, and the attempt was better than just sitting there waiting for the skeletons to decide what to do with them.

So the young man joined in as well, discovering that while his doubly frozen arm was resistant to all damage, the frozen wall was not, and with the power of the glove there was soon triple the amount of broken ice pieces falling to the floor. Every once in a great while they would have to stop when some of the skeletons came to check on them, but other than that the three of them were left alone most of the time, stopping only when they got tired or the ball creature needed a break from all that bouncing. Link wasn't sure how long this went on for, since there was no way to measure time down there in the dungeon, but eventually the ice on the wall began to change color. It was still orange like everything else, but a shade or two darker as if… as if there was nothing behind it.

"I knew it, there's a tunnel!" The horned monster loudly exclaimed. "Just a little more and we'll be able to escape!"

"Not so loud!" The ball creature replied just as loudly. "They'll hear you!"

The young man was trying to hush them, but it was too late and soon the sounds of boney footsteps were heard coming down the nearby stairs. Stopping work immediately, all three of them just stood there looking at each other trying to think of what to do, but then Link grabbed the ball creature so that it was being pushed hard against the bars of the door just as two of the smaller skeletons marched into view. They just stood there for a moment, looking at the prisoners with their empty eye sockets, before one of them lifted his leg and kicked the ball creature between the bars so that it and the young man were knocked to the floor. Now the skeletons were laughing as they walked away, talking about that idiot trying to squeeze the ball in between the bars as if that would help them escape.

"Good thinking." The horned monster said quietly once they were gone. "Come on, let's get back to work… we've gotta be almost through by now."

"Hey, so what's the plan once we get through?" Link asked while the ball creature moved to start bouncing again. "I mean, do you guys have any idea where this tunnel even goes?"

"It's better than being in here, isn't it?" The ball creature asked. "Even if it doesn't go anywhere, we can still ambush a couple of the skeletons and get their weapons, just as long as we keep away from Stalfos."

Yes, even if the tunnel just looped around to the other side of the cells, it was better than being trapped inside that cage, so the three of them kept working, with the ice in front of them getting darker and darker with each hit until the young man had to stop the horned monster from touching it even one more time. Obviously, the monster was confused as to why he would be stopped, only to gasp when Link pointed to what he had seen after his own last strike. The very edge of the corner of his frozen arm had managed to get all the way through the darkened ice, but instead of air coming through, it was a single drop of water. Thankfully, the cold of the surrounding ice sealed the hole, but if the tunnel beyond was flooded then what were they going to do now?

"Wait, don't panic." The young man said, trying his best to see through the thinned ice. "If this went right to the lake, then Stalfos would've never been able to freeze it into a dungeon, so… so maybe it goes into the cisterns, I mean… if everything's the same here as in Hyrule."

That was the thing, none of them knew for certain, and even though Link could breathe underwater thanks to the flipper, the same wasn't true for his cellmates, and he wasn't about to drown them for a slim chance to get away. Sure, there was a chance that the tunnel was only partly flooded, or else how would the barrier there have been formed in the first place without the tunnel being empty at one time? But there was no way to tell how much water, even if that was true, and what would happen to all the trapped, frozen creatures in this place if the whole frozen dungeon flooded out? Would they be left frozen there forever? Were they even still alive inside that ice? On top of all that, there was the fact that Stalfos had one of the seven crystals, so how in the world was the young man going to get it?

Just then the sound of boney feet coming down the nearby stairs reached his ears, causing all three of them to fall silent when it wasn't just the smaller skeletons who appeared a few moments later, but Stalfos himself. The much bigger skeleton towered over the others, his enlarged skull grinning at the prisoners as he looked at each one through the bars, before turning his shield hand so that a cloud of white mist was launched between the bars from his freezing rod. Before any of them could move or react, the ball creature gasped as it was enveloped by the mist, the whole rounded body stiffening, a thick layer of ice forming just like all the others, and sealing him to the floor of the cell.

"Ganondorf says he wants you frozen so you can't cause any more trouble." The big skeleton commented. "You understand."

All right, there was no more time to be careful, and if Link got himself frozen like the others, then it was all over… everything. So using the power of the glove, the young man sprinted out of the way just as Stalfos was firing the rod again, leaving more ice to form on the floor while he swung his still frozen arm right at the darkened wall. There might have been a sound that came along with the breaking ice, but if there was, it was completely drowned out by the torrent of water that was swept into the cell so hard that Link found himself thrown back against the bars while Stalfos and his guards were knocked down. Swimming with all his might against the current, it took the power of both the glove and the flipper for the young man to swim forward while pulling the horned monster along.

Soon the current stopped, probably meaning that the lowest level of the dungeon was completely filled, and making it a lot easier for him to swim through the slightly upward sloping stone tunnel. Eventually Link's head broke the surface, forcing him and the coughing horned monster to walk/crawl the rest of the way up the inclined tunnel until it finally leveled off inside of a rounded chamber. This place was far warmer than the icy dungeon, built entirely of smooth stone blocks and illuminated by orange light coming in through what looked like small holes in the ceiling, kind of like how it was underneath the dunes during the challenge of courage. There was no going back the way they came, but now there were several passages to choose from, and beyond his guess that the tunnel led to the cisterns, that was all the information Link had.

One of the places in Hyrule that the young man had never ventured into was the storm drains, with the exception of briefly passing through while helping Princess Zelda escape from the castle, so even if this place was exactly the same as it was in Hyrule, Link wouldn't have known. However, anywhere was better than being trapped inside that frozen prison, and the tunnels had to come out somewhere, so he would just have to pick one and hope for the best. Having been unable to breathe underwater, the horned monster took a bit longer to catch his breath, finally getting to his feet after several minutes, only to gasp when a rush of cold air filled the chamber.

The monster started to try calling for help as the white mist surrounded his body, stiffening just like the ball creature had done, and quickly sealed within a thick layer of ice that bound him to the stone floor. When the mist cleared, the horned monster was completely frozen just like all the others, and now Stalfos was slowly trudging his way out of the water, up the inclined passage. Mist gathered around the ice rod again, but Link was able to drop down in time to avoid being frozen as the blast sailed right over him, and then the young man scrambled for the nearest passageway. He should've figured that skeletons didn't need to breathe, and now those echoing boney footsteps were heard pursuing him as he rushed blindly down the tunnel.