Chapter 19: The Floating Castle at the End of Charted Territory

Link rode towards the Floating Castle like there was no tomorrow, hoping to catch Ganondorf there and defeat him. Then, and only then, could he go on with his life, and be with the one he loved so dearly. Link never took in the beautiful landscape he was passing on his way to the Floating Castle, only thinking of defeating Ganondorf. Finally, after what seemed like days, Link arrived at the Floating Castle at the End of Charted Territory.

"Feels more like the Floating Castle at the End of the World," thought Link.

The castle, surrounded by a thick fog, was floating on a cliff which overlooked a dark abyss. There was nothing else in site for miles. Link rode around the castle to look for a method of getting up to the castle doors. Seeing nothing on the ground, Link looked up at the castle walls. Finally, Link spotted a ledge protruding from the castle. Swinging his grappling hook towards it and latching it on, Link climbed up to the doors. Link took a deep breath, and entered the doors, eager to find Ganondorf. Link took in the interior of the castle: There was a pit in the center with walls lined with spikes, above it, a walled aisle way wrapping around the perimeter, above that, was the floor where Link was standing, and above Link was another floor, and, judging from his view when he first arrived at the castle, above that was the roof of the castle. In each of the four corners was a turret that led all the way to the roof. Link saw very little in the room he was in; most of the room was obscured by darkness.

"Now if I was Ganondorf, where would I go?" Link asked himself. "I'd go up. And there's only one way up".

Continuing along the room, careful to avoid the hole cut in the center that led to the pit, Link encountered a skeleton soldier. Already knowing what to do, he sliced off the head of the skeleton, and punted the body into the pit. Link continued along the room, and found a doorway in a turret that contained a winding stairway. Link climbed to the next level, and emerged in a medium sized room that had in it several human sized wooden dummies used to train soldiers, lit by a few torches held against the wall. Suddenly, the dummies came to life and slowly moved towards Link. Quickly, Link took out his bow and aimed it straight at the dummies. The arrow stuck into the torso of the dummy, and did nothing else. Link took out the Master Sword and waited for the dummies to get within range. When they did, Link sliced off their wooden heads, but the dummies still continued moving. Inching closer and closer to the wall, Link was running out of ideas. Then, it came to him. Wasting no more time, Link side kicked the torsos of the dummies, giving him some room to maneuver. Link ran out of the corner towards the torches. Grabbing one off the wall, he tossed it at the dummies, which burned to ashes quickly. Link then exited the room and went into the next room, which had a window with drapes and a large bed.

"This must have been the king's room," thought Link.

Link looked around the room, and under the bed, but did not find anything. In two corners of the room were turrets. Choosing the right one, Link climbed up the staircase inside it to find himself on top of a turret. Link looked around at the top of the castle, and saw a shadowy figure on the roof. Link tied his grappling hook tightly on part of the turret, and climbed down to the roof to investigate. When Link reached the figure, Link found out that it was a keesee. Remembering its poisonous fangs, Link back stepped quickly and took out Reldief's bow and shot an arrow at it. The bat died, but in doing so let out a loud screech. Suddenly, Link heard the sounds of flapping wings. Looking around at the fog, Link saw several blurred figures. As they got closer and closer to Link, they became more and more clear. More keesee were flying at Link. Link shot two arrows at two keesee, killing them instantly. But for the rest, they closed the gap and were now too close to shoot. Link took out his shield and allowed a couple of keesee to bounce of the shield and fall to the roof, where Link wasted no time in killing them with the Master Sword. Now, only six remained. Two flew at Link's head from opposite directions, and at the last moment, Link ducked and let them crash into each other. Then he sliced them, killing them instantly. Four remained, and they circled the sky. Link took this opportunity to fire more arrows, and kill all but one as it swooped down, ready to bite. Link then took his shield, and allowed it to knock itself unconscious as it hit the shield. Link killed the unconscious bat as it lay on the roof.

"HEELLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPP" screamed a male voice that pierced the silence.

"He's in castle," thought Link. Link ran towards the turret and climbed the rope of the grappling hook. Link ran down the stairs of the turret, and through the king's room. Then he ran down the next flight of stairs and found himself in the original room. Looking around quickly, Link found nothing. Moving towards the pit, he saw Ganondorf holding a pale-faced man in the pit. Without hesitation, Link jumped down towards the pit, and landed softly in the sand that was at the bottom. Ganondorf immediately dropped the man, who was now bleeding, and stared at Link.

"So you've found me, Link" said Ganondorf.

"And now I'm going to kill you," replied Link.

"Oh, now that wouldn't be very nice, besides, you have other things you need to worry about."

"Such as".

"THIS".

Ganondorf ran towards the only turret that reached the pit and ran inside, shut the door, and climbed the stairs. Link ran after him, only to be stopped by the pale faced man.

"What are you doing?" asked Link.

"Stop, if you value your life," replied the man.

"And you are the sage, right,"

"Yea, pretty cool, huh? Me, LeBaron, a sage. Look there's something I need to tell you, you need to know it before you go to face Ganondorf."

There was no time for LeBaron to talk. From the level above that was the aisle way with a wall emerged several moblins and skeletons holding bows and arrows. From the room where Link entered the castle there emerged more moblins and skeletons, and they jumped down towards the pit.

"You're wounded. Here, take this and protect yourself" said Link, and he handed LeBaron the Mirror Shield. LeBaron took it and sat on the sand, his wounded leg could no longer support his body.

The enemies landed with a thud, and one skeleton immediately broke upon contact with the sand, his legs breaking off his body. The skeletons and moblins closed in on Link as the others pulled their bows back readied their arrows. They fired their arrows at Link, who blocked some with the Master Sword as he jumped out of the way. Now was his moment, while they reloaded, he could take on the moblins and skeletons on the ground. Link was careful as he charged at the group; he did not have his shield to protect him. Link cut several moblins across the abdomen, and then backed off, and looked up just in time to see that the group above's arrows were pulled back. Link dodged at the last second, and fell to the ground in the process. As Link pulled himself up, the skeletons and moblins on the ground surrounded him. Now encircled, Link thought what to do. Link picked out one skeleton, and side kicked it, causing it to fly into the spiked wall and become stuck. Link then ran out of the circle, and dodged the oncoming arrows. Link then realized that he could use the spikes on the wall to his advantage. As he has this revelation, some of the moblins moved towards LeBaron. Link ran towards him, and slashed them as they closed in. This cost Link his attention, and caused him to miss the skeletons and moblins reloading their bows. As several arrows were shot, one hit Link in the leg. Link collapsed, and took the arrow out of his calf.

Link got up in time to be grabbed by two skeletons, who picked him up and were trying to impale him on the spikes on the wall. As they got closer, Link struggled to reach his boomerang. He did just in time, and threw it at the skeletons. The boomerang ran right through the torsos of the skeletons, causing them to drop Link. Link ran towards a moblin and grabbed it. Link turned around with the moblin just in time to have the barrage of arrows hit the moblin. Link then kicked the moblin towards the wall and it was impaled. Now, few skeletons and moblins remained on bottom. Link took out Reldeif's bow, and fired arrows at the moblins, killing all of them. Now, with only three skeletons left in the pit and one moblin, Link took out the boomerang again and threw it, and then turned his attention to the moblins and skeletons with bows and arrows. They were loaded, and let their arrows fly at Link. Link ducked just in time, and used this time to get the boomerang that had destroyed the skeletons back. He threw that towards the skeletons, and destroyed the skeletons standing there. Link then fired arrows at the moblins, killing all but one. He had his arrow load, as did Link, and they were in a face off. Both fired their arrows, and both avoided being hit. The one remaining moblin in the pit charged at Link. Link fell backwards and kicked the moblin upwards towards the other moblin who was reloading his arrow. The moblin crashed into the barrier where the other moblin was, and caused both to fall back to the pit. Link immediately charged at them, and impaled one on the spikes, and sliced the other with the Master Sword. His battle over, Link went towards LeBaron, and found an awful site. LeBaron had not avoided all arrows; one was protruding from his chest.

"Llllliiiiiiiiinnnnnkkkkk", said LeBaron with difficulty. "You...must know...what I told Ganondorf...when...he...threatened...me."

"What?"

"Loooooook...I was...entrusted with this information. The sages...the wonders...they...aren't guarding...the Triforce...which lies in the sacred realm. It...was...all a lie...to protect...the one...who does. The one...who...doesn't...know...their fate".

"LeBaron. Who is guarding the Triforce? I must know"

"Zelllllllllllllllllldaaaaaaa".

With those last words, LeBaron's eyes glazed over, and he died.

"No. No. That can't be it. No, you can't be dead. Wake up" screamed Link as he shook LeBaron in vain.

Link got up and gathered himself. He knew Zelda wouldn't be safe for long if Ganondorf knew this. He ran towards the door, and climbed the stairs furiously. He reached the floor on which he entered, and ran towards the castle doors. He jumped down with total disregard for his body, and mounted Epona. Link slapped Epona, and she galloped as fast as she could back towards Hyrule Castle. No matter what, Link must get there and protect Zelda. He had to fulfill his duty as Hero to Hyrule, and as future husband to Zelda. Link couldn't get there fast enough. Eventually, Link reached Hyrule Castle. Link dismounted Epona, and ran into the castle, looking around for Zelda. Link entered the courtyard of the castle and found Zelda, laying on the ground, with her head resting on her arm, and a small stream of blood running from her mouth down her face to her arm. He ran over to her and picked her up and shook her.

"Zelda! Wake up! Wake up Zelda! You, you can't be dead. We were going to get married! We were going to be man and wife!. You have to be alive, I love you Zelda, you can't be dead!"

Mihalich then appeared in the courtyard with his hand against his head, rubbing it. Link ran towards him and grabbed him at the chest.

"What happened?" asked Link

"I don't know. I was knocked unconscious. Is that Zelda? Is she...dead?"

Link became silent. He didn't want to answer that question. He knew the answer in his mind, but he didn't want to believe it in his heart. He wanted to make it so that if he said nothing, it wouldn't be true. She would be alive, and this would be a terrible terrible dream.

"Where is the entry to the sacred realm?"

"I don't know, Link."

Link dropped Mihalich on the ground, and ran off. He wanted to find out where Ganondorf went, and make him pay for killing Zelda, if it was the last thing he ever did. Link searched the castle furiously, not leaving so much as one stone unturned. Link went deeper into the depths of the castle, where it seemed no man had gone before. Link found a staircase. He descended the stairs as fast as he could; he couldn't rationalize it, but he knew he needed to go this way. Finally, Link reached the bottom. He went through a winding hallway lit by torches. Then, Link found it. There was a doorway at the end of the hall. Link looked inside, and saw that there was an island floating inside it. There, on the island, stood Ganondorf, reaching for the Triforce, which stood on top of a large rock at the edge of the island. Link jumped through the doorway, rolled as he landed on the floating island, and stood up.

"GAAAANNNNNNOOOOOOONNNNNNDDDDOOOOOOORRRRRRRFFFFFFFFF," screamed Link.