Chapter Seven: In Which an Escape is Successful

Sheik rolled his head back and forth, slowly coming to. Pain shot up his right leg and back. His head was throbbing, and his vision faded in and out of focus. When it cleared, Sheik noticed that his wounds were bandaged, and his nose intook the musty smell of burning wood.

"It's about time you woke up" Link's voice chimed. Sheik sat up. Link was by a small fire poking at the logs with a stick and holding a pot over it. Liquid inside boiled and it smelled wonderful.

"Here, drink this" Link said handing Sheik a canteen. Sheik seized it and drunk it down. The cool water running over his dry throat.

"What happened?" he asked, wiping the water from his lips on his sleeve.

Link narrowed his eyes, and Sheik sensed a hot twinge of anger flow from his friend, but he seemed different some how and when he spoke his voice sounded far off, distant.

"We were attacked." he said simply. Sheik rubbed his head, remembering the fight he had with the black shadow lady.

"I remember now." he sighed. Sheik studied his surroundings. The sun was setting and the sky was streaked with purple, orange, red, and yellow. The ice wall was still there, but bits and pieces of it had melted away because of the harsh heat, still raising in temperature. They were almost there.

Sheik glanced at Link, he possessed no sign of battle fatigue. Which was surprising, Link was good but he wasn't that good.

"Odd." he muttered under his breath, but Sheik had bigger problems to worry about. He sensed that the Zora people were having trouble and there was great sorrow in the Zora Village. Sheik also sensed something else.

The Water Sage, Princess Ruto, and the Forest Sage Saria, were travailing to the Temple of Time. All the Sages were. Why?

Probably some meeting, Sheik concluded. A meeting that the Princess of Hyrule would have to miss. She could only hope that rest of the Sages could figure out what was going on, before more evil spread.

Saria ran up the stairs to the Temple of Time, passing the four Gossip Stones along the way. She entered and the faint chanting song drummed in her ears. Princess Ruto stood by the alter, with the three Spiritual Stones, along with Impa, the Shadow Sage, Dauraina, the Fire Sage, and Rauru, the Light Sage. They all turned to her as Saria walked up and took her seat at a large table.

The other Sages followed suit. A long silence draped over them and Saria glanced around the room to see who would be the first to break it. As usual Impa took the responsibility. She stood, her chair pushing back with a loud creak that echoed through the entire Temple.

"So," she said, turning her grey eyes to Rauru, "what do we do about this new predicament?"

"Well, we better do something fast!" Ruto cried suddenly, tears filling in her eyes, "my people are dying, some are already dead...Curse you Link! Cruse you and you're entire blood line!"

Saria put a gentle hand on Ruto's shoulder. "There, there now, calm down. We're all upset about what has happened, but it's no reason to start pointing fingers."

"It had to have been him!" Ruto snapped, "no one else has the Spinning Sword attack."

"Or so we thought." Dauriana's deep voice cut through and the Zora Princess glared at the Goron, "many people posses magic in this world and one could easily learn the attack from one of the Great Fairies as well."

"But they wouldn't give the Gift to one with an evil heart!" Ruto protested.

"The Great Faries are as stupid as they are annoying." Impa snorted, crossing her arms,"they would give anything to anyone who would happen to stumble upon their Fountain."

"Then how do you explain the clothing?" the princess would not let the subject drop, she was sure it was Link, and she wanted him punished. Which confused the other Sages. They all knew her feelings for the boy and wondered why she was acting so strangely.

"Many people have herd of Sir Link," Saria said gently, "and many people have herd of Kokiri taylors. Perhaps they dressed this way to frame Link. To make us think exactly what your thinking."

"Evil has no honor." Impa scoffed and took her seat again.

Rauru tented his fingers. The Light Sage had not spoken at all in this conversation and he narrowed his blue eyes and sighed deeply.

"I feel Link's presence, but it is faint. He's hurt, and he couldn't be responsible for these past events."

Saria, Impa, and Dauriana nodded their agreement.

"But what about Nabooru and the Princess Zelda?" Ruto questioned and Rauru held up a hand to silence her.

"That's enough Ruto." he said sternly, "The Princess has left of her own free will and she is safe for the moment. As for Nabooru, Ganondorf holds her captive."

The Sages gasped and Ruto's jaw dropped.

"Impossible." Impa said, "Ganondorf is dead, dead for good, and his soul is sealed in the Sacred Realm."

"So we would like to think." Rauru replied sitting forward, "but he has escaped, and has brought forth others with him. Yes Ganon is not alone."

"Then-then Link will need help." Saria said, "he can't defeat Ganondorf and his team alone."

"He's not alone." Dauriana pointed out, "he has all of us and his friends."

"Yes, but we are not allowed to interfere with their lives." Ruto sighed, "Link really is on his own, all the other people hate him."

"Not the Princess." Saria pushed back her banges, "she will be there to help him."

Impa nodded. "Yes, and we can help him by figuring out who is causing all of this trouble. Obvious it is the King Of Evil, but we need to find who else is involved."

A wave of muttering agreement spread through out the room.

"Well?" said Dauriana standing, "what are we waiting for?"

Nabooru placed a wet cloth over Link's back, the wound had been healed by magic by the looks of it, but when Ganondorf had threw him down into the dungeon it had reopened and blood trickled slowly down his back, soaking his newly black tunic red.

Link groaned and open his eyes. He smelled damp stone and decayed plants. Darkness clouded his vision. He tried to sit up, but was forced back down with a jab of pain.

"Don't fight it." Nabooru's voice was like a light in the bleak darkness, and Link sighed with relief, "you'll only make it worse." the Gruedo's voice continued.

"Nabooru? boy am I glad to see-uh hear you, are you ok?" Link asked and winced as Nabooru cleaned the cut.

"I'm fine, but we're gonna be in here for quite some time kid." she muttered.

"Not if I have anything to do with it." Link said boldly and tried sitting up again. This time, Nabooru pushed him down and told him to stay still. The next sound Link herd was a rip and he felt strong arms wrapped a soft bandage around his back and chest.

"Ok," Nabooru sighed, "now you can sit up." Link rose slowly and squinted to see in the dim light. He could make out a faint outline of the Spirit Sage, but at least it was better then nothing.

"Where are we?" he questioned.

"Ganon's hideout." Nabooru answered.

"Oh, the old one hu?"

"No, the new one, on Death Mountain Crater."

Link was confused. "The new one? but I thought-"

"Ganon's not as dead as we would like him to be." Nabooru cut him off and leaned her back against the wall, "it's about time you woke up. You've been asleep for two days, you were starting to scare me."

"Two days?" Link exclaimed, "aw, man, who knows what's happened in that amount of time. We gotta get out of here."

Nabooru shook her head. "You've got a lot of spunk kid, but this place's impossible to climb out of, trust me, I've tried."

"Well, that's because you don't have a nifty item I like to call a Hook-Shot." Link stood and fumbled underneath the secret compartment beneath his shield. To his astonishment, his shield was gone! Link gasped and touched his hands to his back, no shield, not even a sword sheath! He also noticed that his hands were bare, were was the Golden Gantlets? His bag of weapons was gone to. That meant his boomerang, switch hook, hook-shot, bow, arrows, bottles of milk, (for snackage) cane of Sameria, Roc's feather, sling shot, lens of Truth, megaton hammer, hover boots, the Master Sword! Everything! Gone!

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" Link cried as he fumbled blindlessly in the dark. Nabooru raised an eyebrow.

"Apparently you don't have it etheir."

"I don't believe this!" Link screamed, "all of my stuff is missing! And," he glared at his chest, "and I'm wearing black!"

"Well, you don't think they weren't gonna take your weapons away did you?" Nabooru stated matter-of-factly, "as for the change of wardrobe, your dark side stole your clothes and gave you his. From the looks of it."

"My what?" Link asked in disbelief. Nabooru sighed.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you haven't met him. He's the one who's been causing all the ruckus. He killed my people! He murdered the Zora Immortal and he's walking around in your clothes and your shoes and I bet you he's going for the Princess next."

Nabooru's last comment hit Link like a stone in the stomach. Oh my gosh Zelda! I didn't even think about her! Link cursed under his breath and paced back and forth. "So, let me get this straight. Ganon's alive, I have a dark half now, thousands of Greudos are dead, and hundreds of Zoras are on the way, and everyone thinks it's me going around killing everybody and now the whole kingdom probably wants to kill me themselves, and I'm stuck in this dungeon and can't do a thing about it, is that right?"

Nabooru nodded. "That's about the size of it"

"Don't I ever catch a break?" Link sat down and put his head in his hands. He sighed and gazed up at the sky. A clear window let some light show through, and it mocked him with it's unreachable altitude. Nabooru stood and started patting the walls, then pushing them with all of her strength.

"What are you doing?" Link asked.

"Trying to see if there's a loose brick." Nabooru answered, leaning against another cold block.

"You haven't tried that yet?" Link exclaimed, Nabooru shrugged.

"I was in a daze." she said simply. Link snorted and started touching the walls with her. They seemed to search for what felt like hours and not one brick had budged.

"Man, this is so primitive." Link sighed and Nabooru turned to him.

"You have a better way of doing it?''

Link nodded. "If I had my sword, I could bang it against the wall until it sounded hollow, then blow it up with a bomb or Bombchu." Nabooru put her hand to her hips.

"Well, that would be nice," she said dryly, "if you had your weapons!"

"Point." The Hylian and Greudo continued to pat the walls and Nabooru shrieked as her hand touched something fury. A large rat hissed angrily and scurried up the walls, and squeezed into a narrow crack above. Link shook his head and stepped back, giving up. He nearly slipped as his boot slid across the wet floor.

"Hey...water!" Link exclaimed. Nabooru waved her hand franticly in disgust.

"Yeah, it makes everything smell in here...Link? what are you doing?"

Link had gotten on his knees and followed the trail of water until he reached the back end of the cell. The dark corner made him feel uncomfortable so he never trailed back there until now. He was glad that he had. A small spring of water oozed from a large crack in the wall. He informed of Nabooru of his findings.

"That's great kid," Nabooru sighed, "unfortunately I'm not thirsty."

"No! don't you see?" Link said standing, "if there's water, there must be a spring where it's coming from, and the only spring of water on Death Mountain is inside Dongono's Cavern, it's a hot spring. So if we blow this rock away, and follow the water trail, it'll led us out of the Black Tower."

"Your right!" Nabooru gasped, "two problems though, one: we don't have anything to blow it up with, two: if we do blow it up, then we're gonna be swallowing some heck of a tsunami."

Link snorted, of course the Sage was right, but they weren't going to get anywhere if they just stayed here and waited to starve to death. Link stared at his bare hands, then glanced back up at the wall.

"Well, they may have stolen my weapons," he replied, "but they haven't stolen my magic!" Link bent down at waste level and pounded the ground with his fist, "Goddess of power, Oracle of Seasons, grant me the power of Din's fire!" As Link words filled the cavern, the Triforce mark on his left hand began to glow a bright yellow and flooded the room with light. Nabooru shielded her eyes as a red and orange flames licked up Link's sides, and surrounded him.

"Are you insane?" she shouted, "we'll drown if you break through those walls!"

"Gotta take the chance." was Link's last reply and with one loud scream he released the fire around his body which spread out in several directions. The wind whipped Nabooru's red hair around her body and ruffled Link's blonde bangs. The fire shot toward the wall, and a faint explosion could be herd. Soon all was silent for awhile and Link immediately stood and put his hands together and started to chant another spell. His words were lost in Nabooru's ears as the crack spread and raced upward...

and burst open.

Water flooded the tight room with lung crushing force, and Nabooru's screams were drowned as her mouth was filled with water. The deluge swept her off her feet and carried her through an incredible twisting current until Nabooru didn't know which direction was up. The pounding sound of rushing liquid drummed dully in her ears and her lungs burned with the lack of oxygen. Slowly her vision dimmed and she was just about to pass out when a firm arm grabbed her hand.

Nabooru was snapped awake as she saw a blue glow surrounded her arm, being transferred by Link. Soon a protective blue crystal surrounded her and she gasped as her lungs filled with air. Link's hands gripped onto the outside and the water forced them through the opening Link had blasted in the wall.

If Nabooru had ever seen darkness, she had never seen anything like this. No light shown at all, everything was pitch black. She couldn't even see her own nose in front of her face, let alone search for Link. She could only float helplessly in her blue shield and pray he made it out. The current carried her swiftly down a winding path and suddenly she felt herself being shot up toward the surface.

Everything seemed to slow down then and the brown jagged cliffs that served as walls in Donongo's Cavern came into view. Nabooru twisted her body left and right to catch sight of Link. She saw him, floating a little ways in the water on his back, bobbing up and down lifelessly. She pounded on the crystal covering rapidly.

"Link! Link! can you hear me? Link!" she called, but to no avail. The Hero of Time made no movement. Frustrated, Nabooru used a bit of her own magic, to blast the blue substance that held her captive away. She swam over to the Hylian and pulled him onto dry land.

She shook him violently and pounded on his chest.

"Wake up you blasted kid!" Nabooru screamed through gritted teeth. She punched him in the chest five times until Link's eyes snapped open and he sat forward suddenly, spitting out mouthfuls of water. Nabooru slapped him no the back until his coughs ceased.

"Thanks" Link breathed, and Nabooru slapped him over the head.

"You idiot! You could've killed us! Then what hope would we have to save Hyrule? We could've died! DIED!" she shouted. Link rubbed the back of his head.

"Ow, oh, could've, should've would've, but we didn't, and that's the important thing." he shot back. Nabooru was prepared for one of his well known smart remarks, but she wasn't prepared for that. She decided to let the subject drop.

"Now what?" she asked instead.

"You're asking me?" Link questioned getting to his feet, "I don't know, I guess we just find our way back to the top." He ran his fingers through his hair, "I haven't been here in so long...Hey look! a latter! Let's follow it and see where it leads."

Nabooru shrugged. "It's better then waiting to be cooked alive I suppose."