buSection 6
Coflix and the Armory/u/b
"Coflixxxx! Why are iyou/i here?!" Saroe growled. Coflix didn't talk to her and walked past her cell, looking into Link's. He stood a few moments in silence, then spoke.
"So...is it true? The King is going to hang you when the sun rises?" Coflix asked.
"As far as I know." Link said, not even bothering to show his anger at Coflix for betraying Saroe.
"You'll enjoy that, won't you?!" Saroe accused, "Feelock gave you the same malicious character as everyone else, didn't he, you-"
"I won't enjoy seeing Link hang, because the event will never take place." Coflix said quietly. Saroe went silent and cocked her head to one side, very confused. For once, she couldn't find anything to say. "He won't be here when the executioner comes for him in the morning. I'm busting you two out tonight...now."
"Coflix? Did I hear you say what I thought you said?" A big smile covered Saroe's face, but no one could see it.
"You heard right." Coflix said, pulling a key from his belt. "Did you think I really betrayed you? Do you think so lowly of me?" Coflix sounded hurt.
"I'm sorry...I was so mad at Feelock when I heard you say you weren't with me that I reacted without thinking, letting my anger skyrocket. I am a fool." She said apologetically.
"No, you're not. Besides, if you didn't put on such a good show, Feelock might have thrown me in jail with you. I knew when we were taken to his quarters that he would incarcerate you, so I knew I had to lie about knowing you so I could rescue you later. Sometimes deception is more wise than honesty, my friend." He began unlocking Link's cell.
"Heheh...whatever you say, buddy. I'm glad I was wrong about you." Saroe said happily. Coflix got into Link's cell, then walked over to him, unlocking the metal ring. Link breathed deeply in gratitude as the ring came off.
"Whew...thank you, that's so much better." Link said, and Coflix smiled. Link had a reddish mark where the ring had been, but didn't care as long as it was off. After he was done with Link, Coflix walked over to Saroe's cell, unlocking it. "Hey Saroe...why couldn't you use your magic to get out of here?" Link inquired.
"Because inside the dungeons there is a magic seal, or a master spell which prevents any other spells from being cast." She answered, stepping out of her cell and close to Coflix. The male calwot was quite surprised when she purred and licked his snout a few times. "Thank you, Coflix..."
"Uh...y-y....your welcome." He studdered. "Ahem...we have to get Link out of Catalin now..."
"Not a chance." Link said. "I appreciate it, but I can't let myself leave until something is done about Feelock, and I'm going to try to do that something; but I have to get my sword first." Link said. "Could one of you be so kind as to tell me where the armory is?"
"Tell you? We're going with you!" Saroe declared.
"Same old Saroe..." Coflix said, shaking his head. "Yeah, we'll go with you. Follow me, I know a back way out of here." Coflix started walking away from the cells, deeper into the dungeons. Saroe and Link followed in silence, both wondering what 'back way' the cat spoke of. After a while they left the hall with cells in it, and came into a new room. There were some storage barrels in the corner of this room, and Coflix rolled one aside, revealing a trap door. He pulled it open and leapt in, his two friends following.
"How did you find out about this place?" Saroe asked as darkness enveloped them. Unlike Link, the two calwots had good sight in the dark, so Saroe put a paw-like hand on Link's shoulder to guide him.
"I overheard the two guards talking about it before I knocked them out and took the key. Guards will be everywhere as soon as they wake up...but those knuckle heads were so dumb that they spoke not only of where that trap door was, but which way to go when you get through it: left, left, right, left, straight, right, right." The cat said, refreshing his own memory as well as telling the others. The Link and Saroe walked behind Coflix as he followed the instructions the guards had talked about. They had been walking for aproximately half an hour when they made the last right. The companions found themselves at a dead end, with no ladder on the wall or even a trap door above them.
"Oh this is great!" Coflix growled. "Did we make a wrong turn?"
"We went the way you said. Maybe you remembered it wrong." Saroe suggested.
"Or maybe not." Link said, taking out his Eye of Truth (for you people who haven't played Zelda, the Eye is a magnifying glass-shaped thing that allows you to see through fake walls and see hidden things when you look though it). Because Link couldn't see a thing whether he looked into the Eye or not, he gave it to Saroe. He had gotten it improved by a Great Fairy a while ago so that using it did not require magic like it had before, so the magic seal did not prevent Saroe from using it. She looked through the Eye at the ceiling, and sure enough, the ceiling was a fake illusion. There was a ledge a ways up, so Saroe let Coflix look through the Eye to see the ledge, then gave it back to Link. The cats both took one of Link's arms, and flew up through the fake ceiling, onto the ledge. In front of them the cats saw a ladder, and Coflix climbed up it, opening a wooden trap door he found at the top. He climbed out, and the female cat and Hylian followed. They were now behind the dungeon building, Coflix explained, and the armory wasn't far away. Link looked around, wondering where the guards were.
The hard-packed dirt streets of Catalin were lit by the moon, and the many lamp-torches erected around the village. Link and the cats suddenly heard shouting, and pressed themselves up against the wall as a trio of guard calwots came from behind the corner of the building, running right past them without even looking around, yelling: 'Kill the escaped prisoner!', 'Dirty human!', 'Capture the stupid traitor calwots!'. Their voices faded as they ran behind some huts, and Saroe, Coflix, and Link heard more shouting, in a different direction.
"Great, the whole city is on patrol now!" Coflix growled. "At least most of the civilian calwots are asleep, and if every guard cat is running around looking for us, there can't be many of them at the armory. Let's go!" Coflix ran to the building next to the dungeon building, staying in the shadows, and Saroe and Link ran after him. After a few more minutes of sneaking around, the three managed to get behind the building three buildings away from the armory before they were spotted. The three of them were crouching in the shadows of the house they were next to, when a girl calwot leaned her head out of a window above them and looked down, gasping as she saw them.
"Guards!" She cried shrilly, "The traitors are here! TRAITORS!!" She ducked back into her window as Saroe threw a rock at her, but then the three had to leave, running down a side street. As they rushed by the next hut, a group of guards saw them, yelling in alarm. They turned down another street, running as fast as possible. After the next turn, Coflix grabbed Link and flew straight up, landing on the roof of a building and crounching, and Saroe quickly followed. As the guards turned the corner, they stopped short, seeing nothing.
"The human! I see the human!" A cat yelled somewhere (though it obviously too far away to see Link, it was probably just yelling to get attention) and the guards ran off in that direction. The three 'fugitives' jumped off the roof, sneaking past two other buildings and continuing to run silently in the shadows, until the armory was in sight. As they were about to run past the corner of the last building, they heard guard voices, right behind the corner in front of them. There was no way the three friends could run away without being seen or caught. An idea struck Coflix like lightening, and he quickly pushed Link and Saroe into the shadows, behind some boxes that were sitting around. Coflix knew he was not a popular cat, and many calwots had never seen him. When the dungeon guards had described him to the rest of the guards, the description could not have been more specific than 'a seven foot tall black male' and there were many of those in Catalin. If he put on a good show, these cats might not recognize him and mistake him for one of their own, or a citizen. As the guard calwots came around the corner, they skidded to a stop, seeing Coflix.
"Quick, men! The human and his two dirty traitor friends ran that way! You'd better go and get them before they beat another cat up like they did to me! Go! Move, move, move!" Coflix yelled. Three of the four stupid guards ran like the wind in the direction Coflix was pointing, but the remaining one was not so dumb.
"Hey, there's supposed to be a black male with the human-" The guard didn't say another word as Coflix punched him hard in the stomach. The cat fell to his back, and Coflix quickly cast an unconscious spell on him before he could sound an alarm. Coflix looked around to check if anyone had seen him, then beckoned Link and Saroe to follow and ran with them to the armory. They ducked into the shadows of the armory's doorway as they got there, panting.
"Nice save." Saroe said to Coflix. "Link, do you still have your dagger?" Link pulled it out of his boot, handing it to her. The expert lock-picking cat quickly opened the magic-proof lock on the armory door, and the three slid inside, leaving the chaotic yelling and running of the village behind them. "I think I'd better stay here in case guards notice the lock is open and come in." Saroe said, closing the door and giving Link his dagger.
"You think you can handle three or four guards by yourself?" Colfix asked. "I'd better stay with you. Link, go find your sword and shield so we can get out of here." Link nodded, wondering what would have happened to him without Coflix's guile and loyalty. He ran off into the dark armory, down a large hall with many rooms branching off from it. He checked all the rooms as he passed, and some had forges in them, others had heaps of freshly mined metal, and still others had piles of old, rusted weapons. Finally he came to the last door, which had an ornate sign over it, reading: 'Welcome to the Finest Weapon Store in Catalin!' Link slowly pushed open the door, and it was so dark inside that he had to feel along the wall for a torch to light. He found one and took it down, lighting it on fire the same way he did fire arrows. Unfortunately, the torch woke up the armorer calwot, who was sleeping in his store in case anything broke in to steal his new most expensive sword: the Master Sword, and his new finest shield: the Mirror Shield.
"Hey, stop right there! Get out of my store!" The cat yelled, jumping up and grabbing a pike from the wall. "A human?! How did you get out of prison?!" Link, not answering, ran over to the closest wall, taking a sword from it.
"I came to get my sword back," Link said, eying the Master Sword meanigfully, which was laying with the Mirror Shield behind the white male armorer calwot.
"This is my new most valuable sword because of its magical abilities! You can't take it away!" The cat said, jumping at Link with his pike aimed at his chest. Link barely had time to jump to the side as the quick calwot thrusted the pike into the spot he had been standing milliseconds ago. Link grabed the pike's handle with his free right hand, yanking it out of the cat's hands and throwing into a wall. "Yikes! Hey, cool it! You can have your sword back, and your shield, too!" The cat said, raising his arms in surrender. The cat slowly walked back over to the Master Sword, and picked it up with the shield, bringing them over to Link. "Catch!" The cat said, and Link had to drop the sword he was holding to catch his sword and shield. While his arms were busy with that, the white calwot jumped forward, delivering a strong punch to his stomach. Link dropped his stuff and the cat shoved him over, pinning him to the ground.
"Ow!" Link tried to break free of the cat's grasp as his claws dug into Link's wrists. The cat let go of Link's left wrist, rasing his arm to punch Link across the face a few times. Some blood came from Link's lip, and as the cat prepared to hit him again Link brought up his left hand, catching the cat's fist. Link kicked the armorer calwot's stomach, and as the cat flinched in pain, Link got to his feet and threw the cat into a nearby wall. The calwot didn't get up, he was knocked out, so Link picked up the Master Sword and Mirror Shield, equipping them and running back to where his friends were. There were four unconscious guards lying around their feet, but Saroe and Coflix seemed unharmed as they smiled in greeting.
"Now on to Feelock's house!" Saroe said. This time she led as the three sneaked out of the armory, back into the shadows of the streets. The commotion had died down a little, but it was evident that there were still many guards patrolling. Saroe led Coflix and Link silently down a few streets, until they saw the King's stone house before them. It was really more than a house, and looked like a mix between a tower and a castle. Its tall blackness rose up before the companions, surrounded by alert guards.
buSection 7
Feelock's Favorite Play Area/u/b
"It'll be really easy to get in there, won't it?" Link asked sarcastically.
"It shouldn't be too hard," Coflix said unsarcastically. "Saroe and I have knock-out spells..."
"Here's the plan:" Saroe said, simply assuming the other two would agree with it. "Coflix and I lead away the guards and then knock them out, because if they're knocked out and found next to Feelock's place, everyone will know we're inside. While me and Coflix are doing that, Link, you go inside and knock out any guards you see, and it shouldn't be too hard to locate Feelock's room. When you get there, do your stuff. Coflix and I will make sure no more guards enter the castle from outside while you're taking care of Feelock, agreed?"
"That sounds confusing..." Link said.
"Alright, just go in the castle and beat up Feelock when we lead away the guards! Oh, and make sure you cut off Feelock's whiskers for me!" She added, grinning.
"Give him a bald spot on the top of his head for me..." Coflix said.
"Sure." Link said, laughing. "He'll look pretty funny when I'm done with him!"
"Okay, let's go!" Saroe said, and her and Coflix ran off to get the guards' attention. As soon as they were gone, Link ran over to the tall door, and took out his dagger, wondering how to pick huge lock. He had watched Saroe do it, so he figured he could if he just did what she had; so he stuck his dagger in the keyhole, twisting it around. He tried for a few minutes, but got a little irritated when it still didn't open. He heard yelling far away, and thought, iForget the dumb lock picking!/i He got out the Master Sword, not bothering to be quiet as he completely destroyed the lock with a strong stroke of his sword. It fell, in tiny pieces, to the ground and Link entered the building.
It was lit dimly by torches on the walls, so Link made it a point to watch carefully for guards hidden in the shadows as he walked. The stone building's main hall was twenty feet high and fifteen feet wide, and decorated with paintings and tapestries of cats, wars, forests, and past Kings, all of which had black fur. The hall had a dark red carpet covering its floor, and eventually opened up to a large room with one of those huge, wide staircases. There were three doors at the top of the stairs, and the middle one was the largest, so Link went to that one. He thought it was strange that this cat's palace/house was bigger than the building his throne room was in, but then it was the first time he had heard of a King who didn't live in the same building his throne was in, so maybe it wasn't unusual.
Link pushed open the large, creaking door to find another hall, this one a bit smaller than the last, but decorated in the same manner. The creaking door alerted two guards which had been partolling, and they ran at Link as soon as he was inside. They were a normal guard pair, consisting of one male and one female. The female reached Link first, and hurled an ice ball at him.
"Yikes!" Link ducked just in time, but the top of his hat got frozen. "How rude!" Link powered up the Master Sword and did a spin attack, throwing the female to her back, but not hurting her too much because she had a magic shield. Link then ran over to her, quickly giving her a blow to the side of the head with the hilt of his sword which was hard enough to knock her out, but not injure her.
"You think she's rude? That's no way to treat a lady!" The male cat said, jumping into the air and hovering in front of Link by flapping his wings very quickly.
"Sorry, but I had to!" Link said, almost sorry he'd done it, but then if he hadn't, he knew what would have happened...
"And I have to do this!" The cat said, swooping at Link and trying to stab him with his sharp spear. Link jumped to the side and the cat flew right past him, hovering again and turning around. As Link was turning to face him, the cat flew strait up to the ceiling, and Link saw nothing.
"Huh?" Link looked behind him, then in front of him again, wondering where the calwot had gone. He was about look up, when the cat closed his wings and dropped behind Link, putting his spear up against his neck.
"The King had ordered that we kill the human if we find him...farewell..." The cat said.
"Hey, c'mon...I'm here because I want to make Catalin a better place!" Link protested. Suddenly the calwot had a very curious look on his face.
"You do? Just who are you, anyway? You're strangely brave for a human." Link wondered irritably how many humans the cat knew. The cat leaned his head over Link's shoulder, looking at his face. "Hey! You're that guy who killed the black monster in the calwots' metal mine! There was a shortage of beds when the mine was blocked up because they're made of metal and calwot feather matresses...and we don't want to cut down the trees here to substitute for metal. Anyway, without you I wouldn't have been able to get a bed for my mate to have her kittens on! How can I kill a guy who helped my family? I'll forget I saw you come here...but don't tell anyone, okay?!" The cat took his spear off Link's neck, and went to go and watch over the cat Link had knocked out (the cat was just his guarding partner, not his mate).
"Thanks, pal!" Link said, but the cat ignorred him, as if he wasn't there. Link got the message and kept going down the hall, until he reached a large door. Link knew this had to be Feelock's room, because there was a black calwot painted on it. Link decided that he wanted to catch the cat by surprise, because Feelock would have a definite advantage with all his spells. Link couldn't sneak in because the door would probably make a creaking sound like the last one, and Feelock would know he was there immediately. So, Link knocked on the door.
"Who's there?" An angry, muffled voice came from behind the thick door.
"Room service!" Link called in a girly voice.
"Room service?! What the...!!!" A calwot pushed open the door. "The King did not call any servants or ask for room service..." The calwot, who was Tarisla, the mean tiger-striped one from earlier; stopped talking when she nothing. Link had been hiding behind the door, expecting to ambush Feelock, but was suprised to hear a female's voice and revealed himself. Tarisla was just as surprised to see Link as he was to see her. "YOU!" She yelled in rage, slashing at him with a pike. Link dodged, but as he was about to retaliate, a huge clawed eagle-like hand shot out of the door behind the enraged Tarisla, grabbing Link and pulling him in. Link tried to break free of the grasp, but stopped, staring up surprise whan he saw that a huge griffon held him. He was still fascinated by griffons, but had no time to sit and look at the thing. He started struggling again, but only succeeded in tiring himself. "Heheh...you didn't think there would be just two more calwot guards in Feelock's room, did you? I have the iKing of griffons/i for a guard partner!" Tarisla bragged. "Don't just stand there staring, you big dumb beast! Throw him into a wall or something!" The griffon, excited that it was able to battle something (it had a blood-loving and mind-control spell on it), hurled Link into the nearest wall. Sure it hurt, but it wasn't as bad as when Link had been thrown into a wall by a dragon, and he got up quickly.
Link looked over at the griffon again, which was about as big as a one-story house (as big as griffons can get), and looked like a mix between a panther and a golden eagle with very large feathers around its ears. Despite the creature's beauty, the blood-hungry look on its face made it difficult to admire. It flew at Link, who ran to the side. Just as Link had thought it would, the griffon struck its head on the wall the Hylian had been standing next to a moment ago. The fallen griffon sat up, eyes crossed.
"Idiotic bird-brain!" The angry female calwot yelled. "The King's blood-lover spell usually makes creatures cunning and filled with rage and love for battle...but he must have put a stupid spell on this one!" She ran at Link, aiming to decapitate him with a stroke of her pike, but Link ducked. As the cat dumbly ran into him, he picked her up, throwing her into the same wall he had been thrown against.
"How do iyou/i like it?" Link asked the cat, who was shakily getting to her feet.
"I'll...kill you..." She pointed a paw at Link, and soon some powerful magic wind was blowing him backwards. The big griffon, still a little stupid from its blow to the head, chose that moment to attack. As it rushed at Link the wind pushed it too, blowing it right into Link. Luckily Link was able to get around the griffon before it slammed into the opposite wall of the room. Tarisla growled in irritation and stopped her spell, taking to the air and zooming at Link, who was moving away from the stunned griffon. She reached the Hylian and flew above him, while casting a spell. The spell caused magical ropes to grow out of the ground, twisting around Link's legs. While he was busy getting those off the female dived at him, and Link couldn't duck fast enough to avoid damage. As he crouched the cat's pike made a fifteen inch long slash down his back, and Tarisla grinned as she saw the blood from it. As the cat landed Link twisted around, slashing at her back with his sword. She did a high backflip right over Link, and as Link faced forward again to face her, he froze. The cat's pike was two inches from his face, and he couldn't move back due to the ropes on his legs.
"Drop your sword." She ordered. Link knew he couldn't do that, but the pike was inching closer...
Suddenly the griffon who had been laying in the corner let out a loud moan, getting to its feet. The moan was so loud and sudden that Tarisla made the mistake of looking over at the griffon. Link immediately hit the cat's pike away, hitting her on the head with the flat of his blade. Tarisla slumped to the ground, unconscious.
"Sorry if that hurt, but you know I had to..." Link muttered to her unconscious form, slashing at the ropes at his feet. The ropes started disappearing with their caster no longer able to control them. As the last rope disintegrated, the huge griffon got to its feet and ran at Link. The griffon seemed to have a less dazed and blood-hungry look in its eyes than before, and stopped before reaching Link rather than attacking him. The spell on the griffon, which had not been entirely sucessful in the first place, was broken when the creature had been slammed into the wall by Tarisla's magic wind.
"Who are you, human?! Answer me before I eat you!" The griffon demanded. Even if the spell was off him, he was enraged by the fact that his people were slaves of the calwots, and wanted to lash out at anything in his way.
"Hey, don't be so rude! There's no reason to eat me - in fact I'm here to help Catalin by getting its evil King out of power...which should release your people! My name is Link."
"Is that so? Well I can tell you're not lying...my name is Cazan, Chief and King of the Griffons! Now that I am released from that annoying spell, I'm going to go and save my people, because I'm not sure if a little guy like you can beat Feelock and release them...no offense. See you later if you're alive." The griffon charged past Link, through the door from which Link had entered the room, with much difficulty (the griffon could barely squeeze through it). As soon as Cazan was gone, Link looked around the dimly lit room for the first time. It was quite big, and had a lot of finely crafted furniture it it. The biggest piece of furniture was a huge bed in the corner, constructed of a big nest-shaped metal frame with calwots carved into it, and a huge, soft calwot feather matress, along with some colorful blankets and pillows. The bed was empty, and there was no sign of Feelock anywhere in the room.
iWhere on earth could he be? I'm sure that mean female calwot and Cazan weren't guarding this room for nothing...maybe he ran away. /iSomehow Link doubted that idea, but walked towards the door since there was nothing to do but search the other rooms of the tall castle. As Link reached the door, he heard something drop behind him; and felt the furry hand of a calwot on the back of his neck.
"I knew you would come here, Link...and so you will die." A cold voice whispered. Link felt a surge of energy enter him through the paw, and his body was suddenly unable to maintain consciousness.
"Whoa, Coflix, look out! Cazan looks reeeally mad!" Saroe yelled, spotting the giant griffon down the hall, who was running towards the exit they were guarding with incredible speed born of rage. Saroe and Coflix leaped behind a pillar as the griffon stormed past, wrecking the doorway of the tower.
"My people! It is time to repay the calwots!" He yelled, eager to rip calwots apart.
"Saroe...he doesn't know that the reason griffons have been enslaved is Feelock and his spell on Catalin...if we don't stop him, he'll kill hundreds, and his griffons will kill hundreds more if he manages to free them from the Aviary 'Barracks'! We have to catch him before he reaches that jail of griffons!" Coflix said urgently.
"Way ahead of you!" Saroe yelled over the noise and chaos Cazan was causing outside. Saroe bolted out the door after the griffon, Coflix following. The two flew as fast as their wings could carry them as soon as they were out of the King's castle/tower, but even when Coflix cast a speed spell on them both they weren't gaining on the raging griffon very fast. He was mowing through guard calwots, their injured and screaming forms tossed aside before they could do anything to defend themselves. Saroe and Coflix knew it would be a good thing for the griffons to escape if the calwots were really as cruel as they had been lately, but they also knew the unsusual cruelty of the calwots was not their true nature. The spell on them needed to be removed, not the cats themselves killed, but they could tell that the angry Cazan wasn't thinking about that. The griffon kept running towards his imprisoned people, knocking away calwots.
Cazan reached the 'barracks' before any calwot could stop him, and started ripping at the door (made of the special plant which grows only in the Stalfos Swords and is good for constructing buildings, called the Yetodi plant. Most buildings in Catalin are constructed of this waterproof, tough, insolating plant which is almost as tough as wood). He was quickly making large slashes in it, but a few groups of calwot guards ran up to him, zapping him with spells. Because the spells were weak and the griffon relatively big, they didn't hurt him much, but nevertheless he halted his hacking to attack the calwots. He swept away the ones on the right with a wave of his eagle-like hand, the ones on the left with a kick of his catish leg, and the ones behind him with a sweep of his fur-tuffed tail. There was one unusually brave calwot in front of the griffon, and it stuck its pike into the griffon's chest, making it screetch like a falcon. The wound, although painful, was not serious and the griffon quickly leaned down, taking the calwot in its beak.
The King of Griffons was about to crush the frantically struggling calwot, but Saroe hit the back of his head with a blast of pure magic power, making the creature drop the calwot before harming it. The griffon quickly turned around, its speed surprising, even for a griffon, especially one this huge. Cazan dug his claws into the earth to hold himself firm so he didn't move when he started rapidly beating his huge wings. The currents from the great wings blew the air-borne Coflix and Saroe back. When they were about a hundred yards away from Cazan, he stopped flapping, turning his attention back to the jail door. With a few more strikes from his powerful claws, the door burst open.
Saroe and Coflix jumped back to their feet as quick as lightning, dashing over to the jail door, which Cazan had just busted and entered. iAll I have to do now is destroy the magical orb holding a spell over my subjects! Then those evil calwots will receive their just desserts for what they have done to my tribe!/i The grinning griffon thought. As he came into the 'barracks' all of the griffons started squawking at the sight of their chief. They moved around and strained against the magical chains holding them, and Cazan ran over to the magic orb imprisoning them. He was hit from behind with two rather strong and painful spells by Coflix and Saroe, but ignored them, shattering the magic ball with one huge claw. The griffons ran and flew out of their prison, free and thirsty for revenge.
Link came to his senses when he started to feel some pain from the bleeding slash on his back, and opened his eyes. He had no idea how much time had passed, and his head throbbed painfully. He saw the full moon and some stars through a thin sheet of fog for a brief moment, then felt light-headed and closed his eyes again.
"Come on...you've been resting long enough. Wake up!" A paw struck the side of his face, making him wake up fully whether he wanted to or not. The first thing Link noticed as his awereness returned was the cold wind and very cold stone he was laying on. He tried to get up off of it, but found he was secured to it by his wrists, ankles, and neck. The only thing that really surprised him about this was that the rope on his neck holding him to the stone was not tight (if it was tight he couldn't scream very well, so Feelock left it loose). He ignorred the pain coming from the slash on his back, it wasn't very deep anyway; and looked over at Feelock. The cat was predictably watching him, standing on his right side. As Link turned his head and looked around as much as he could, he realized that he was surrounded by walls but there was no ceiling, and was secured to a horizontal stone table, probably built by Feelock for torturing.
"Well, I guess you got your wish, Feelock." Link said, straining against the ropes holding him to see how tight and strong they were. The thick ropes held fast as Link made a mighty attempt to break them. Link thought if he could put two hands on a rope he might be able to break it, but his hands were tied individually above his head, and like his feet, they weren't going anywhere.
"I sure did, you foolish little rat of a human. Welcome to the top of my tower...my favorite play area. I wasn't counting on having the pleasure of causing you any pain except that of hanging, but you must know I can't resist after you wandered so willingly into my room. You are such a pest, Link...waking up most of my guards so they might be too tired to join the rest of the army tomorrow..." The cat paused, thinking about tomorrow. "Blood...the roars of dying dragon scum..." He pulled himself back to the present. "I also would be too tired to go to war tomorrow because you're keeping me up, but I have a spell which will prevent that - An energy spell! It gives the person it's used on strength and awereness no matter how tired they are, and I might even be powerful enough to cast it on all my sleepy guards, so don't think you've foiled my plans!" The cat grinned. "Au contrar, this will put me in the mood for war! I am incredibly powerful and devastating in battle, and you should be considered lucky for having the honor of getting tortured by me!"
"Your head is bigger than Taig's, Cirokaal's, and Sahoriel's put together!" Link declared. His mind was racing. How could he escape? If he could move he would use Din's Fire, but as he was tied, he couldn't perform any spells (he's wasn't like Zelda, who knew a score of verbal spells that didn't require movement) .
"Do not mention those foul names in my prescence, boy!" The cat ordered, putting a five armor-covered-clawed paw on Link's chest. "Would you like a demonstration of just how sharp these metal claws are?"
"Your claws may be sharp, but you're not the sharpest tool in the shed..." Link said, just to make him mad.
"Why you little..!! How can you speak so boldly, tied to a slab? Let me show you these claws of mine!" Feelock curled his paw into a fist with just the index finger protruding, and stabbed that claw easily into Link's shoulder. Link screamed as the cat drew his finger across Link's chest, not even putting much pressure on the claw at all. The claw made a clean one-inch deep cut, as thin as a razor cut and twice as stinglingly painful.
"Oww..." Link said, grimacing. "Those really are sharp..."
"I warned you. You just had to irritate me, didn't you? If you try to make me mad so I'll hurt you, I'll gladly oblige your wish, human!" Link kept quiet for a moment, trying to think of a way to get off the table and get his sword and shield, which were lying up against a wall to his right. He strained against his ropes again, but knew his strength was not enough without the gauntlets. The only thing around other than his sword that could cut the ropes were his dagger and Feelock's claws...
"Your mind is so filled with blood there's no room for honor. What kind of a coward needs to enslave creatures less intelligent than itself to win a war against creatures that don't even have as many spells as him? The dragons would crush you..." Link thought the cat would scratch him again, and he was right. This time Feelock started from his other shoulder, drawing it easily down his chest. It really hurt and Link yelled, but his plan was to get the cat to scratch his arms, close to the ropes. That way, if he could make the cat's paw slip even an inch..."You can't even cast a decent spell on a griffon!" Link growled through clenched teeth. Blood was running down his sides.
"Silence! My spells can kill a legion of dragons!" This time the cat dug one sharp claw into Link's stomach, and though it was more painful than a knife being twisted in him, Link forced himself to keep silent. "Oh, a tough guy, huh?" Feelock cast a simple one-word spell, and a red-hot 3-inch long blade appeared in his paw.
"Oh crap..." Link said, thinking maybe his little 'tick off Feelock' plan wasn't working very well after all. The cat pointed the knife blade-down over Link's chest.
"Do not insult my magical ability again." The cat said in a low and dangerous tone.
"Your ability...uh..." Link didn't know what to say, so he said something stupid. "Sucks!"
"Foolish Hylian!" Feelock threw the dagger away, in favor of squeezing Link's neck so he couldn't talk. iOh that was bright, Link! /iThe Hylian thought, vainly trying to breathe. iI have to stop insulting him and get his focus on my arms somehow../i.Link gasped as the cat tightened his grasp, watching him choke.
"Ughh..." Link knew he had made Feelock pretty mad, and after a few moments his mind grew hazy as the feline showed no signs of loosening his grip.
"Die, boy..." The cat whispered.
Coflix and Saroe had to use almost every damage-dealing spell they knew as the swarm of infuriated griffons flowed from their prison. Luckily the griffons ignorred the bodies of knocked-out calwots laying everwhere, running for the ones who could defend themselves. A few calwot guards flew to the soldiers' barracks, waking up every last calwot in the military. The half-rested calwots flew quickly to the griffons, trying to use their spells to contain them, but without their King's spells their efforts proved fruitless. The cats then resorted to battle spells and weapon-summonings, and even though many calwots were knocked out, the force and size of the attack began to push the griffons back. The calwots had superior numbers, but the griffons had the advantage in rage, speed, and size, and were not overwhelmed for long. Cazan joined them, and they began to counterattack the calwots. There was a few minutes of fierce fighting in which a few calwots and griffons were knocked out, but neither race really gained an advantage. By now all of the civilian calwots were running from their homes, retreating into Catalin's stronghold against invaders, the metal mines. The griffons were so busy with soldiers they didn't attack the civilians.
A calwot General suddenly sent a huge fireball between the two feuding sides, making them break off the fighting for a moment, but then the two races rushed back at each other, in a surge of feathers and fur. The two sides mingled, and it was no longer decernable who was winning or losing, or even where the most heated point of battle was. The creatures kept fighting in a mass of chaos, but surprisingly no one was being killed. The calwots didn't kill the griffons because the King had ordered them earlier that day to knock the griffons out and capture them if they escaped, and calwots weren't dying because most of them had a spell which would lessen the impact of death blows, merely rendering the enchanted calwots unconscious.
The heated battle raged on, unbeknownst to Feelock, who was busy on the top of his tower. As the cats used more battle spells the griffons got better at dodging, and some quick griffons dodged a few large fireballs aimed for them. The fireballs slammed into a hut (it's inhabitants had escaped to the mines long ago), making the whole front side of it burst into flames. The flames consumed the Yetodi-made building, spreading to another and hungrilly beginning to devour it. Saroe, who was next to the burning building and had been separated from Coflix a while ago, flew up and hovered above the smoking battlefield, exhausted. She scanned the mass of fighting beasts for her friend, but found nothing.
"Saroe!" She nearly jumped out her skin as a voice called her name from directly behind her. "Sorry to startle you, but I just had to hit down a griffon about to tear your back up! You need to be more careful!" Coflix reprimanded.
"Sure thing!" She agreed, happy to see him unhurt. "Let's try to stick together this time!"
"Yeah, but the hard thing is, I don't know who we should attack! If the calwots defeat the griffons, the poor things will just be locked up again; and if the griffons win, they might wait around until the death-prevention spells wear off and kill the calwots! What the heck are we going to do?!" He asked, hoping his usually smart friend had an intelligent reply.
"No idea." She said, dissapointing both herself and her friend. "Hey, do you hear that?" Coflix strained to hear something other than the battle of griffons and calwots below him, and heard a faint far-away roaring...Coflix was usually a calm, intelligent cat, but the war was making him very nervous, and his cool exterior was shattered.
"The dragons are here?!? We're all going to die!" He wailed. Saroe grabbed his shoulders, beating her wings very fast to stay airborne.
"Get a hold of yourself! I think they might actually help! They can't kill the calwots because of the spells, and they wont kill the griffons because they have a common enemy! Besides, if the dragons beat the calwots, they aren't blood hungry enough to sit around and kill cats when their spells are gone, and they'll probably prevent the griffons from doing it, too!"
"But what if the cats' spells aren't powerful enough to prevent death from a dragon, and what if the griffons attack the dragons because they've been trained to, and it becomes a giant free-for-all?! We're all going to diiiiiiiiie!" Saroe watched as the dragons joined the fight, and much to her dismay the griffons fiercely attacked them, while still battling calwots. Needless to say, the dragons were enraged by being attacked by the griffons for no reason, and loosed their rage on both griffons and calwots.
"We're all going to die." She agreed.
Coflix and the Armory/u/b
"Coflixxxx! Why are iyou/i here?!" Saroe growled. Coflix didn't talk to her and walked past her cell, looking into Link's. He stood a few moments in silence, then spoke.
"So...is it true? The King is going to hang you when the sun rises?" Coflix asked.
"As far as I know." Link said, not even bothering to show his anger at Coflix for betraying Saroe.
"You'll enjoy that, won't you?!" Saroe accused, "Feelock gave you the same malicious character as everyone else, didn't he, you-"
"I won't enjoy seeing Link hang, because the event will never take place." Coflix said quietly. Saroe went silent and cocked her head to one side, very confused. For once, she couldn't find anything to say. "He won't be here when the executioner comes for him in the morning. I'm busting you two out tonight...now."
"Coflix? Did I hear you say what I thought you said?" A big smile covered Saroe's face, but no one could see it.
"You heard right." Coflix said, pulling a key from his belt. "Did you think I really betrayed you? Do you think so lowly of me?" Coflix sounded hurt.
"I'm sorry...I was so mad at Feelock when I heard you say you weren't with me that I reacted without thinking, letting my anger skyrocket. I am a fool." She said apologetically.
"No, you're not. Besides, if you didn't put on such a good show, Feelock might have thrown me in jail with you. I knew when we were taken to his quarters that he would incarcerate you, so I knew I had to lie about knowing you so I could rescue you later. Sometimes deception is more wise than honesty, my friend." He began unlocking Link's cell.
"Heheh...whatever you say, buddy. I'm glad I was wrong about you." Saroe said happily. Coflix got into Link's cell, then walked over to him, unlocking the metal ring. Link breathed deeply in gratitude as the ring came off.
"Whew...thank you, that's so much better." Link said, and Coflix smiled. Link had a reddish mark where the ring had been, but didn't care as long as it was off. After he was done with Link, Coflix walked over to Saroe's cell, unlocking it. "Hey Saroe...why couldn't you use your magic to get out of here?" Link inquired.
"Because inside the dungeons there is a magic seal, or a master spell which prevents any other spells from being cast." She answered, stepping out of her cell and close to Coflix. The male calwot was quite surprised when she purred and licked his snout a few times. "Thank you, Coflix..."
"Uh...y-y....your welcome." He studdered. "Ahem...we have to get Link out of Catalin now..."
"Not a chance." Link said. "I appreciate it, but I can't let myself leave until something is done about Feelock, and I'm going to try to do that something; but I have to get my sword first." Link said. "Could one of you be so kind as to tell me where the armory is?"
"Tell you? We're going with you!" Saroe declared.
"Same old Saroe..." Coflix said, shaking his head. "Yeah, we'll go with you. Follow me, I know a back way out of here." Coflix started walking away from the cells, deeper into the dungeons. Saroe and Link followed in silence, both wondering what 'back way' the cat spoke of. After a while they left the hall with cells in it, and came into a new room. There were some storage barrels in the corner of this room, and Coflix rolled one aside, revealing a trap door. He pulled it open and leapt in, his two friends following.
"How did you find out about this place?" Saroe asked as darkness enveloped them. Unlike Link, the two calwots had good sight in the dark, so Saroe put a paw-like hand on Link's shoulder to guide him.
"I overheard the two guards talking about it before I knocked them out and took the key. Guards will be everywhere as soon as they wake up...but those knuckle heads were so dumb that they spoke not only of where that trap door was, but which way to go when you get through it: left, left, right, left, straight, right, right." The cat said, refreshing his own memory as well as telling the others. The Link and Saroe walked behind Coflix as he followed the instructions the guards had talked about. They had been walking for aproximately half an hour when they made the last right. The companions found themselves at a dead end, with no ladder on the wall or even a trap door above them.
"Oh this is great!" Coflix growled. "Did we make a wrong turn?"
"We went the way you said. Maybe you remembered it wrong." Saroe suggested.
"Or maybe not." Link said, taking out his Eye of Truth (for you people who haven't played Zelda, the Eye is a magnifying glass-shaped thing that allows you to see through fake walls and see hidden things when you look though it). Because Link couldn't see a thing whether he looked into the Eye or not, he gave it to Saroe. He had gotten it improved by a Great Fairy a while ago so that using it did not require magic like it had before, so the magic seal did not prevent Saroe from using it. She looked through the Eye at the ceiling, and sure enough, the ceiling was a fake illusion. There was a ledge a ways up, so Saroe let Coflix look through the Eye to see the ledge, then gave it back to Link. The cats both took one of Link's arms, and flew up through the fake ceiling, onto the ledge. In front of them the cats saw a ladder, and Coflix climbed up it, opening a wooden trap door he found at the top. He climbed out, and the female cat and Hylian followed. They were now behind the dungeon building, Coflix explained, and the armory wasn't far away. Link looked around, wondering where the guards were.
The hard-packed dirt streets of Catalin were lit by the moon, and the many lamp-torches erected around the village. Link and the cats suddenly heard shouting, and pressed themselves up against the wall as a trio of guard calwots came from behind the corner of the building, running right past them without even looking around, yelling: 'Kill the escaped prisoner!', 'Dirty human!', 'Capture the stupid traitor calwots!'. Their voices faded as they ran behind some huts, and Saroe, Coflix, and Link heard more shouting, in a different direction.
"Great, the whole city is on patrol now!" Coflix growled. "At least most of the civilian calwots are asleep, and if every guard cat is running around looking for us, there can't be many of them at the armory. Let's go!" Coflix ran to the building next to the dungeon building, staying in the shadows, and Saroe and Link ran after him. After a few more minutes of sneaking around, the three managed to get behind the building three buildings away from the armory before they were spotted. The three of them were crouching in the shadows of the house they were next to, when a girl calwot leaned her head out of a window above them and looked down, gasping as she saw them.
"Guards!" She cried shrilly, "The traitors are here! TRAITORS!!" She ducked back into her window as Saroe threw a rock at her, but then the three had to leave, running down a side street. As they rushed by the next hut, a group of guards saw them, yelling in alarm. They turned down another street, running as fast as possible. After the next turn, Coflix grabbed Link and flew straight up, landing on the roof of a building and crounching, and Saroe quickly followed. As the guards turned the corner, they stopped short, seeing nothing.
"The human! I see the human!" A cat yelled somewhere (though it obviously too far away to see Link, it was probably just yelling to get attention) and the guards ran off in that direction. The three 'fugitives' jumped off the roof, sneaking past two other buildings and continuing to run silently in the shadows, until the armory was in sight. As they were about to run past the corner of the last building, they heard guard voices, right behind the corner in front of them. There was no way the three friends could run away without being seen or caught. An idea struck Coflix like lightening, and he quickly pushed Link and Saroe into the shadows, behind some boxes that were sitting around. Coflix knew he was not a popular cat, and many calwots had never seen him. When the dungeon guards had described him to the rest of the guards, the description could not have been more specific than 'a seven foot tall black male' and there were many of those in Catalin. If he put on a good show, these cats might not recognize him and mistake him for one of their own, or a citizen. As the guard calwots came around the corner, they skidded to a stop, seeing Coflix.
"Quick, men! The human and his two dirty traitor friends ran that way! You'd better go and get them before they beat another cat up like they did to me! Go! Move, move, move!" Coflix yelled. Three of the four stupid guards ran like the wind in the direction Coflix was pointing, but the remaining one was not so dumb.
"Hey, there's supposed to be a black male with the human-" The guard didn't say another word as Coflix punched him hard in the stomach. The cat fell to his back, and Coflix quickly cast an unconscious spell on him before he could sound an alarm. Coflix looked around to check if anyone had seen him, then beckoned Link and Saroe to follow and ran with them to the armory. They ducked into the shadows of the armory's doorway as they got there, panting.
"Nice save." Saroe said to Coflix. "Link, do you still have your dagger?" Link pulled it out of his boot, handing it to her. The expert lock-picking cat quickly opened the magic-proof lock on the armory door, and the three slid inside, leaving the chaotic yelling and running of the village behind them. "I think I'd better stay here in case guards notice the lock is open and come in." Saroe said, closing the door and giving Link his dagger.
"You think you can handle three or four guards by yourself?" Colfix asked. "I'd better stay with you. Link, go find your sword and shield so we can get out of here." Link nodded, wondering what would have happened to him without Coflix's guile and loyalty. He ran off into the dark armory, down a large hall with many rooms branching off from it. He checked all the rooms as he passed, and some had forges in them, others had heaps of freshly mined metal, and still others had piles of old, rusted weapons. Finally he came to the last door, which had an ornate sign over it, reading: 'Welcome to the Finest Weapon Store in Catalin!' Link slowly pushed open the door, and it was so dark inside that he had to feel along the wall for a torch to light. He found one and took it down, lighting it on fire the same way he did fire arrows. Unfortunately, the torch woke up the armorer calwot, who was sleeping in his store in case anything broke in to steal his new most expensive sword: the Master Sword, and his new finest shield: the Mirror Shield.
"Hey, stop right there! Get out of my store!" The cat yelled, jumping up and grabbing a pike from the wall. "A human?! How did you get out of prison?!" Link, not answering, ran over to the closest wall, taking a sword from it.
"I came to get my sword back," Link said, eying the Master Sword meanigfully, which was laying with the Mirror Shield behind the white male armorer calwot.
"This is my new most valuable sword because of its magical abilities! You can't take it away!" The cat said, jumping at Link with his pike aimed at his chest. Link barely had time to jump to the side as the quick calwot thrusted the pike into the spot he had been standing milliseconds ago. Link grabed the pike's handle with his free right hand, yanking it out of the cat's hands and throwing into a wall. "Yikes! Hey, cool it! You can have your sword back, and your shield, too!" The cat said, raising his arms in surrender. The cat slowly walked back over to the Master Sword, and picked it up with the shield, bringing them over to Link. "Catch!" The cat said, and Link had to drop the sword he was holding to catch his sword and shield. While his arms were busy with that, the white calwot jumped forward, delivering a strong punch to his stomach. Link dropped his stuff and the cat shoved him over, pinning him to the ground.
"Ow!" Link tried to break free of the cat's grasp as his claws dug into Link's wrists. The cat let go of Link's left wrist, rasing his arm to punch Link across the face a few times. Some blood came from Link's lip, and as the cat prepared to hit him again Link brought up his left hand, catching the cat's fist. Link kicked the armorer calwot's stomach, and as the cat flinched in pain, Link got to his feet and threw the cat into a nearby wall. The calwot didn't get up, he was knocked out, so Link picked up the Master Sword and Mirror Shield, equipping them and running back to where his friends were. There were four unconscious guards lying around their feet, but Saroe and Coflix seemed unharmed as they smiled in greeting.
"Now on to Feelock's house!" Saroe said. This time she led as the three sneaked out of the armory, back into the shadows of the streets. The commotion had died down a little, but it was evident that there were still many guards patrolling. Saroe led Coflix and Link silently down a few streets, until they saw the King's stone house before them. It was really more than a house, and looked like a mix between a tower and a castle. Its tall blackness rose up before the companions, surrounded by alert guards.
buSection 7
Feelock's Favorite Play Area/u/b
"It'll be really easy to get in there, won't it?" Link asked sarcastically.
"It shouldn't be too hard," Coflix said unsarcastically. "Saroe and I have knock-out spells..."
"Here's the plan:" Saroe said, simply assuming the other two would agree with it. "Coflix and I lead away the guards and then knock them out, because if they're knocked out and found next to Feelock's place, everyone will know we're inside. While me and Coflix are doing that, Link, you go inside and knock out any guards you see, and it shouldn't be too hard to locate Feelock's room. When you get there, do your stuff. Coflix and I will make sure no more guards enter the castle from outside while you're taking care of Feelock, agreed?"
"That sounds confusing..." Link said.
"Alright, just go in the castle and beat up Feelock when we lead away the guards! Oh, and make sure you cut off Feelock's whiskers for me!" She added, grinning.
"Give him a bald spot on the top of his head for me..." Coflix said.
"Sure." Link said, laughing. "He'll look pretty funny when I'm done with him!"
"Okay, let's go!" Saroe said, and her and Coflix ran off to get the guards' attention. As soon as they were gone, Link ran over to the tall door, and took out his dagger, wondering how to pick huge lock. He had watched Saroe do it, so he figured he could if he just did what she had; so he stuck his dagger in the keyhole, twisting it around. He tried for a few minutes, but got a little irritated when it still didn't open. He heard yelling far away, and thought, iForget the dumb lock picking!/i He got out the Master Sword, not bothering to be quiet as he completely destroyed the lock with a strong stroke of his sword. It fell, in tiny pieces, to the ground and Link entered the building.
It was lit dimly by torches on the walls, so Link made it a point to watch carefully for guards hidden in the shadows as he walked. The stone building's main hall was twenty feet high and fifteen feet wide, and decorated with paintings and tapestries of cats, wars, forests, and past Kings, all of which had black fur. The hall had a dark red carpet covering its floor, and eventually opened up to a large room with one of those huge, wide staircases. There were three doors at the top of the stairs, and the middle one was the largest, so Link went to that one. He thought it was strange that this cat's palace/house was bigger than the building his throne room was in, but then it was the first time he had heard of a King who didn't live in the same building his throne was in, so maybe it wasn't unusual.
Link pushed open the large, creaking door to find another hall, this one a bit smaller than the last, but decorated in the same manner. The creaking door alerted two guards which had been partolling, and they ran at Link as soon as he was inside. They were a normal guard pair, consisting of one male and one female. The female reached Link first, and hurled an ice ball at him.
"Yikes!" Link ducked just in time, but the top of his hat got frozen. "How rude!" Link powered up the Master Sword and did a spin attack, throwing the female to her back, but not hurting her too much because she had a magic shield. Link then ran over to her, quickly giving her a blow to the side of the head with the hilt of his sword which was hard enough to knock her out, but not injure her.
"You think she's rude? That's no way to treat a lady!" The male cat said, jumping into the air and hovering in front of Link by flapping his wings very quickly.
"Sorry, but I had to!" Link said, almost sorry he'd done it, but then if he hadn't, he knew what would have happened...
"And I have to do this!" The cat said, swooping at Link and trying to stab him with his sharp spear. Link jumped to the side and the cat flew right past him, hovering again and turning around. As Link was turning to face him, the cat flew strait up to the ceiling, and Link saw nothing.
"Huh?" Link looked behind him, then in front of him again, wondering where the calwot had gone. He was about look up, when the cat closed his wings and dropped behind Link, putting his spear up against his neck.
"The King had ordered that we kill the human if we find him...farewell..." The cat said.
"Hey, c'mon...I'm here because I want to make Catalin a better place!" Link protested. Suddenly the calwot had a very curious look on his face.
"You do? Just who are you, anyway? You're strangely brave for a human." Link wondered irritably how many humans the cat knew. The cat leaned his head over Link's shoulder, looking at his face. "Hey! You're that guy who killed the black monster in the calwots' metal mine! There was a shortage of beds when the mine was blocked up because they're made of metal and calwot feather matresses...and we don't want to cut down the trees here to substitute for metal. Anyway, without you I wouldn't have been able to get a bed for my mate to have her kittens on! How can I kill a guy who helped my family? I'll forget I saw you come here...but don't tell anyone, okay?!" The cat took his spear off Link's neck, and went to go and watch over the cat Link had knocked out (the cat was just his guarding partner, not his mate).
"Thanks, pal!" Link said, but the cat ignorred him, as if he wasn't there. Link got the message and kept going down the hall, until he reached a large door. Link knew this had to be Feelock's room, because there was a black calwot painted on it. Link decided that he wanted to catch the cat by surprise, because Feelock would have a definite advantage with all his spells. Link couldn't sneak in because the door would probably make a creaking sound like the last one, and Feelock would know he was there immediately. So, Link knocked on the door.
"Who's there?" An angry, muffled voice came from behind the thick door.
"Room service!" Link called in a girly voice.
"Room service?! What the...!!!" A calwot pushed open the door. "The King did not call any servants or ask for room service..." The calwot, who was Tarisla, the mean tiger-striped one from earlier; stopped talking when she nothing. Link had been hiding behind the door, expecting to ambush Feelock, but was suprised to hear a female's voice and revealed himself. Tarisla was just as surprised to see Link as he was to see her. "YOU!" She yelled in rage, slashing at him with a pike. Link dodged, but as he was about to retaliate, a huge clawed eagle-like hand shot out of the door behind the enraged Tarisla, grabbing Link and pulling him in. Link tried to break free of the grasp, but stopped, staring up surprise whan he saw that a huge griffon held him. He was still fascinated by griffons, but had no time to sit and look at the thing. He started struggling again, but only succeeded in tiring himself. "Heheh...you didn't think there would be just two more calwot guards in Feelock's room, did you? I have the iKing of griffons/i for a guard partner!" Tarisla bragged. "Don't just stand there staring, you big dumb beast! Throw him into a wall or something!" The griffon, excited that it was able to battle something (it had a blood-loving and mind-control spell on it), hurled Link into the nearest wall. Sure it hurt, but it wasn't as bad as when Link had been thrown into a wall by a dragon, and he got up quickly.
Link looked over at the griffon again, which was about as big as a one-story house (as big as griffons can get), and looked like a mix between a panther and a golden eagle with very large feathers around its ears. Despite the creature's beauty, the blood-hungry look on its face made it difficult to admire. It flew at Link, who ran to the side. Just as Link had thought it would, the griffon struck its head on the wall the Hylian had been standing next to a moment ago. The fallen griffon sat up, eyes crossed.
"Idiotic bird-brain!" The angry female calwot yelled. "The King's blood-lover spell usually makes creatures cunning and filled with rage and love for battle...but he must have put a stupid spell on this one!" She ran at Link, aiming to decapitate him with a stroke of her pike, but Link ducked. As the cat dumbly ran into him, he picked her up, throwing her into the same wall he had been thrown against.
"How do iyou/i like it?" Link asked the cat, who was shakily getting to her feet.
"I'll...kill you..." She pointed a paw at Link, and soon some powerful magic wind was blowing him backwards. The big griffon, still a little stupid from its blow to the head, chose that moment to attack. As it rushed at Link the wind pushed it too, blowing it right into Link. Luckily Link was able to get around the griffon before it slammed into the opposite wall of the room. Tarisla growled in irritation and stopped her spell, taking to the air and zooming at Link, who was moving away from the stunned griffon. She reached the Hylian and flew above him, while casting a spell. The spell caused magical ropes to grow out of the ground, twisting around Link's legs. While he was busy getting those off the female dived at him, and Link couldn't duck fast enough to avoid damage. As he crouched the cat's pike made a fifteen inch long slash down his back, and Tarisla grinned as she saw the blood from it. As the cat landed Link twisted around, slashing at her back with his sword. She did a high backflip right over Link, and as Link faced forward again to face her, he froze. The cat's pike was two inches from his face, and he couldn't move back due to the ropes on his legs.
"Drop your sword." She ordered. Link knew he couldn't do that, but the pike was inching closer...
Suddenly the griffon who had been laying in the corner let out a loud moan, getting to its feet. The moan was so loud and sudden that Tarisla made the mistake of looking over at the griffon. Link immediately hit the cat's pike away, hitting her on the head with the flat of his blade. Tarisla slumped to the ground, unconscious.
"Sorry if that hurt, but you know I had to..." Link muttered to her unconscious form, slashing at the ropes at his feet. The ropes started disappearing with their caster no longer able to control them. As the last rope disintegrated, the huge griffon got to its feet and ran at Link. The griffon seemed to have a less dazed and blood-hungry look in its eyes than before, and stopped before reaching Link rather than attacking him. The spell on the griffon, which had not been entirely sucessful in the first place, was broken when the creature had been slammed into the wall by Tarisla's magic wind.
"Who are you, human?! Answer me before I eat you!" The griffon demanded. Even if the spell was off him, he was enraged by the fact that his people were slaves of the calwots, and wanted to lash out at anything in his way.
"Hey, don't be so rude! There's no reason to eat me - in fact I'm here to help Catalin by getting its evil King out of power...which should release your people! My name is Link."
"Is that so? Well I can tell you're not lying...my name is Cazan, Chief and King of the Griffons! Now that I am released from that annoying spell, I'm going to go and save my people, because I'm not sure if a little guy like you can beat Feelock and release them...no offense. See you later if you're alive." The griffon charged past Link, through the door from which Link had entered the room, with much difficulty (the griffon could barely squeeze through it). As soon as Cazan was gone, Link looked around the dimly lit room for the first time. It was quite big, and had a lot of finely crafted furniture it it. The biggest piece of furniture was a huge bed in the corner, constructed of a big nest-shaped metal frame with calwots carved into it, and a huge, soft calwot feather matress, along with some colorful blankets and pillows. The bed was empty, and there was no sign of Feelock anywhere in the room.
iWhere on earth could he be? I'm sure that mean female calwot and Cazan weren't guarding this room for nothing...maybe he ran away. /iSomehow Link doubted that idea, but walked towards the door since there was nothing to do but search the other rooms of the tall castle. As Link reached the door, he heard something drop behind him; and felt the furry hand of a calwot on the back of his neck.
"I knew you would come here, Link...and so you will die." A cold voice whispered. Link felt a surge of energy enter him through the paw, and his body was suddenly unable to maintain consciousness.
"Whoa, Coflix, look out! Cazan looks reeeally mad!" Saroe yelled, spotting the giant griffon down the hall, who was running towards the exit they were guarding with incredible speed born of rage. Saroe and Coflix leaped behind a pillar as the griffon stormed past, wrecking the doorway of the tower.
"My people! It is time to repay the calwots!" He yelled, eager to rip calwots apart.
"Saroe...he doesn't know that the reason griffons have been enslaved is Feelock and his spell on Catalin...if we don't stop him, he'll kill hundreds, and his griffons will kill hundreds more if he manages to free them from the Aviary 'Barracks'! We have to catch him before he reaches that jail of griffons!" Coflix said urgently.
"Way ahead of you!" Saroe yelled over the noise and chaos Cazan was causing outside. Saroe bolted out the door after the griffon, Coflix following. The two flew as fast as their wings could carry them as soon as they were out of the King's castle/tower, but even when Coflix cast a speed spell on them both they weren't gaining on the raging griffon very fast. He was mowing through guard calwots, their injured and screaming forms tossed aside before they could do anything to defend themselves. Saroe and Coflix knew it would be a good thing for the griffons to escape if the calwots were really as cruel as they had been lately, but they also knew the unsusual cruelty of the calwots was not their true nature. The spell on them needed to be removed, not the cats themselves killed, but they could tell that the angry Cazan wasn't thinking about that. The griffon kept running towards his imprisoned people, knocking away calwots.
Cazan reached the 'barracks' before any calwot could stop him, and started ripping at the door (made of the special plant which grows only in the Stalfos Swords and is good for constructing buildings, called the Yetodi plant. Most buildings in Catalin are constructed of this waterproof, tough, insolating plant which is almost as tough as wood). He was quickly making large slashes in it, but a few groups of calwot guards ran up to him, zapping him with spells. Because the spells were weak and the griffon relatively big, they didn't hurt him much, but nevertheless he halted his hacking to attack the calwots. He swept away the ones on the right with a wave of his eagle-like hand, the ones on the left with a kick of his catish leg, and the ones behind him with a sweep of his fur-tuffed tail. There was one unusually brave calwot in front of the griffon, and it stuck its pike into the griffon's chest, making it screetch like a falcon. The wound, although painful, was not serious and the griffon quickly leaned down, taking the calwot in its beak.
The King of Griffons was about to crush the frantically struggling calwot, but Saroe hit the back of his head with a blast of pure magic power, making the creature drop the calwot before harming it. The griffon quickly turned around, its speed surprising, even for a griffon, especially one this huge. Cazan dug his claws into the earth to hold himself firm so he didn't move when he started rapidly beating his huge wings. The currents from the great wings blew the air-borne Coflix and Saroe back. When they were about a hundred yards away from Cazan, he stopped flapping, turning his attention back to the jail door. With a few more strikes from his powerful claws, the door burst open.
Saroe and Coflix jumped back to their feet as quick as lightning, dashing over to the jail door, which Cazan had just busted and entered. iAll I have to do now is destroy the magical orb holding a spell over my subjects! Then those evil calwots will receive their just desserts for what they have done to my tribe!/i The grinning griffon thought. As he came into the 'barracks' all of the griffons started squawking at the sight of their chief. They moved around and strained against the magical chains holding them, and Cazan ran over to the magic orb imprisoning them. He was hit from behind with two rather strong and painful spells by Coflix and Saroe, but ignored them, shattering the magic ball with one huge claw. The griffons ran and flew out of their prison, free and thirsty for revenge.
Link came to his senses when he started to feel some pain from the bleeding slash on his back, and opened his eyes. He had no idea how much time had passed, and his head throbbed painfully. He saw the full moon and some stars through a thin sheet of fog for a brief moment, then felt light-headed and closed his eyes again.
"Come on...you've been resting long enough. Wake up!" A paw struck the side of his face, making him wake up fully whether he wanted to or not. The first thing Link noticed as his awereness returned was the cold wind and very cold stone he was laying on. He tried to get up off of it, but found he was secured to it by his wrists, ankles, and neck. The only thing that really surprised him about this was that the rope on his neck holding him to the stone was not tight (if it was tight he couldn't scream very well, so Feelock left it loose). He ignorred the pain coming from the slash on his back, it wasn't very deep anyway; and looked over at Feelock. The cat was predictably watching him, standing on his right side. As Link turned his head and looked around as much as he could, he realized that he was surrounded by walls but there was no ceiling, and was secured to a horizontal stone table, probably built by Feelock for torturing.
"Well, I guess you got your wish, Feelock." Link said, straining against the ropes holding him to see how tight and strong they were. The thick ropes held fast as Link made a mighty attempt to break them. Link thought if he could put two hands on a rope he might be able to break it, but his hands were tied individually above his head, and like his feet, they weren't going anywhere.
"I sure did, you foolish little rat of a human. Welcome to the top of my tower...my favorite play area. I wasn't counting on having the pleasure of causing you any pain except that of hanging, but you must know I can't resist after you wandered so willingly into my room. You are such a pest, Link...waking up most of my guards so they might be too tired to join the rest of the army tomorrow..." The cat paused, thinking about tomorrow. "Blood...the roars of dying dragon scum..." He pulled himself back to the present. "I also would be too tired to go to war tomorrow because you're keeping me up, but I have a spell which will prevent that - An energy spell! It gives the person it's used on strength and awereness no matter how tired they are, and I might even be powerful enough to cast it on all my sleepy guards, so don't think you've foiled my plans!" The cat grinned. "Au contrar, this will put me in the mood for war! I am incredibly powerful and devastating in battle, and you should be considered lucky for having the honor of getting tortured by me!"
"Your head is bigger than Taig's, Cirokaal's, and Sahoriel's put together!" Link declared. His mind was racing. How could he escape? If he could move he would use Din's Fire, but as he was tied, he couldn't perform any spells (he's wasn't like Zelda, who knew a score of verbal spells that didn't require movement) .
"Do not mention those foul names in my prescence, boy!" The cat ordered, putting a five armor-covered-clawed paw on Link's chest. "Would you like a demonstration of just how sharp these metal claws are?"
"Your claws may be sharp, but you're not the sharpest tool in the shed..." Link said, just to make him mad.
"Why you little..!! How can you speak so boldly, tied to a slab? Let me show you these claws of mine!" Feelock curled his paw into a fist with just the index finger protruding, and stabbed that claw easily into Link's shoulder. Link screamed as the cat drew his finger across Link's chest, not even putting much pressure on the claw at all. The claw made a clean one-inch deep cut, as thin as a razor cut and twice as stinglingly painful.
"Oww..." Link said, grimacing. "Those really are sharp..."
"I warned you. You just had to irritate me, didn't you? If you try to make me mad so I'll hurt you, I'll gladly oblige your wish, human!" Link kept quiet for a moment, trying to think of a way to get off the table and get his sword and shield, which were lying up against a wall to his right. He strained against his ropes again, but knew his strength was not enough without the gauntlets. The only thing around other than his sword that could cut the ropes were his dagger and Feelock's claws...
"Your mind is so filled with blood there's no room for honor. What kind of a coward needs to enslave creatures less intelligent than itself to win a war against creatures that don't even have as many spells as him? The dragons would crush you..." Link thought the cat would scratch him again, and he was right. This time Feelock started from his other shoulder, drawing it easily down his chest. It really hurt and Link yelled, but his plan was to get the cat to scratch his arms, close to the ropes. That way, if he could make the cat's paw slip even an inch..."You can't even cast a decent spell on a griffon!" Link growled through clenched teeth. Blood was running down his sides.
"Silence! My spells can kill a legion of dragons!" This time the cat dug one sharp claw into Link's stomach, and though it was more painful than a knife being twisted in him, Link forced himself to keep silent. "Oh, a tough guy, huh?" Feelock cast a simple one-word spell, and a red-hot 3-inch long blade appeared in his paw.
"Oh crap..." Link said, thinking maybe his little 'tick off Feelock' plan wasn't working very well after all. The cat pointed the knife blade-down over Link's chest.
"Do not insult my magical ability again." The cat said in a low and dangerous tone.
"Your ability...uh..." Link didn't know what to say, so he said something stupid. "Sucks!"
"Foolish Hylian!" Feelock threw the dagger away, in favor of squeezing Link's neck so he couldn't talk. iOh that was bright, Link! /iThe Hylian thought, vainly trying to breathe. iI have to stop insulting him and get his focus on my arms somehow../i.Link gasped as the cat tightened his grasp, watching him choke.
"Ughh..." Link knew he had made Feelock pretty mad, and after a few moments his mind grew hazy as the feline showed no signs of loosening his grip.
"Die, boy..." The cat whispered.
Coflix and Saroe had to use almost every damage-dealing spell they knew as the swarm of infuriated griffons flowed from their prison. Luckily the griffons ignorred the bodies of knocked-out calwots laying everwhere, running for the ones who could defend themselves. A few calwot guards flew to the soldiers' barracks, waking up every last calwot in the military. The half-rested calwots flew quickly to the griffons, trying to use their spells to contain them, but without their King's spells their efforts proved fruitless. The cats then resorted to battle spells and weapon-summonings, and even though many calwots were knocked out, the force and size of the attack began to push the griffons back. The calwots had superior numbers, but the griffons had the advantage in rage, speed, and size, and were not overwhelmed for long. Cazan joined them, and they began to counterattack the calwots. There was a few minutes of fierce fighting in which a few calwots and griffons were knocked out, but neither race really gained an advantage. By now all of the civilian calwots were running from their homes, retreating into Catalin's stronghold against invaders, the metal mines. The griffons were so busy with soldiers they didn't attack the civilians.
A calwot General suddenly sent a huge fireball between the two feuding sides, making them break off the fighting for a moment, but then the two races rushed back at each other, in a surge of feathers and fur. The two sides mingled, and it was no longer decernable who was winning or losing, or even where the most heated point of battle was. The creatures kept fighting in a mass of chaos, but surprisingly no one was being killed. The calwots didn't kill the griffons because the King had ordered them earlier that day to knock the griffons out and capture them if they escaped, and calwots weren't dying because most of them had a spell which would lessen the impact of death blows, merely rendering the enchanted calwots unconscious.
The heated battle raged on, unbeknownst to Feelock, who was busy on the top of his tower. As the cats used more battle spells the griffons got better at dodging, and some quick griffons dodged a few large fireballs aimed for them. The fireballs slammed into a hut (it's inhabitants had escaped to the mines long ago), making the whole front side of it burst into flames. The flames consumed the Yetodi-made building, spreading to another and hungrilly beginning to devour it. Saroe, who was next to the burning building and had been separated from Coflix a while ago, flew up and hovered above the smoking battlefield, exhausted. She scanned the mass of fighting beasts for her friend, but found nothing.
"Saroe!" She nearly jumped out her skin as a voice called her name from directly behind her. "Sorry to startle you, but I just had to hit down a griffon about to tear your back up! You need to be more careful!" Coflix reprimanded.
"Sure thing!" She agreed, happy to see him unhurt. "Let's try to stick together this time!"
"Yeah, but the hard thing is, I don't know who we should attack! If the calwots defeat the griffons, the poor things will just be locked up again; and if the griffons win, they might wait around until the death-prevention spells wear off and kill the calwots! What the heck are we going to do?!" He asked, hoping his usually smart friend had an intelligent reply.
"No idea." She said, dissapointing both herself and her friend. "Hey, do you hear that?" Coflix strained to hear something other than the battle of griffons and calwots below him, and heard a faint far-away roaring...Coflix was usually a calm, intelligent cat, but the war was making him very nervous, and his cool exterior was shattered.
"The dragons are here?!? We're all going to die!" He wailed. Saroe grabbed his shoulders, beating her wings very fast to stay airborne.
"Get a hold of yourself! I think they might actually help! They can't kill the calwots because of the spells, and they wont kill the griffons because they have a common enemy! Besides, if the dragons beat the calwots, they aren't blood hungry enough to sit around and kill cats when their spells are gone, and they'll probably prevent the griffons from doing it, too!"
"But what if the cats' spells aren't powerful enough to prevent death from a dragon, and what if the griffons attack the dragons because they've been trained to, and it becomes a giant free-for-all?! We're all going to diiiiiiiiie!" Saroe watched as the dragons joined the fight, and much to her dismay the griffons fiercely attacked them, while still battling calwots. Needless to say, the dragons were enraged by being attacked by the griffons for no reason, and loosed their rage on both griffons and calwots.
"We're all going to die." She agreed.