Okay. I correct myself. THIS chapter is the creepiest to me. It just embodies everything I'd most freak out about in real life.
But whatever.
No warnings.
Hylian Kings
By CM
Tenth Chapter: Emerging
Link, holding his satchel above his head as he and Zelda waded through the low tunnels, water reaching their armpits, wanted to retch. The stench was fouler than anything he'd ever smelled, surpassing that of decaying corpses. Not even in his worst nightmares had he imagined something so terrible.
Zelda, doing her best to follow him, looked ready to cry from sheer desperation. The tunnels turned and twisted, as though they had no end. No end to this hell of rot and fumes and murky water. Her foot had one too many times slipped on the floor invisible below the water surface, and her arms were tiring. Her pack was scraping the filthy ceilings and stone arcs.
Link did his best to avoid inhaling too often. He'd heard of people who'd died from fumes like these, and he wanted to delay that as long as possible. He had the feeling Zelda felt the same.
He turned a corner, and, to his despair, another long stretch of tunnel, pierced with more drain holes on the ceiling, came into view. It had been this way for the past two hours.
He was beginning to lose faith in finding any possible exit.
"How vast is Hyrule Castle town?" He asked, his voice weakly bouncing off the ceiling and water surface.
"Quite," Zelda answered, and Link was positive his knees almost gave in with desperation.
"How are we to find our way out? We don't know how to go back," he said. He knew saying something so depressing was tactless, but at that given moment, Zelda had the right to know everything.
Zelda exhaled sharply, almost losing balance, but regained it quickly and said, voice dulled by the small space, "There must be some place we can go to rest safely."
Link turned the corner, and a light in one of the forks made him gasp, then cough on the disgusting smell.
"A light!" He exclaimed once he'd stopped choking, "A light, Zelda! We've made it!"
Urged on by this revelation, the two young people hurried the best they could in high waters towards the light source. Link could practically feel the clean air as they neared it.
Zelda, too, was feeling relieved. She'd never dealt with such filth before.
Suddenly, Link stopped. Zelda squinted in exhaustion at his back.
"What?" She asked him, and Link turned back, shuddering, allowing her a better view of their light source.
A grate.
A big exit, with huge, solid, iron bars pinned so close together that an adult could not pass.
Beyond, a clean air, the moat was in open skies, with run-down houses closely overhanging the canal.
But the grid in their way was unbreakable. She saw Link, in shock, arms still holding his satchel high, widen his eyes in desperation.
"No," he breathed, "no. No. No!"
A loud clank and a splash of water indicated her that Link had kicked the iron bars. To no avail.
"No!" He cried, "No! NO!"
She saw him touch his dirt streaked forehead to the metal grate in hopelessness, and say, brokenly, "By Din, to come so far and stop so close!"
"It's alright, Link," she tremblingly said, ready to break down herself, "All will be well… We can find another exit."
But she knew it was no use. They wouldn't find another way out. They didn't have the energy or will left to try.
"Zelda," he'd lowered his satchel so it was high on his shoulder. "Princess… I'm so, so sorry… I… I didn't…"
He broke into shocked, tearless sobs. He seemed delirious with despair. Zelda came as close as she could to him, and put her dirty forehead to his shoulder, trying to soothe him without dropping their bags.
"Please, Link, don't do this," she breathed softly, "please, Link, don't give in."
"I didn't want to kill you…" He said. "I didn't! I—I wanted you to be… h-happy and—By Nayru, Zelda, I'm so sorry!"
"Link, it's not your fault, please, stop. I wouldn't have been able to do any better."
"I said such awful things to you," he breathed. "Things I didn't mean."
"It's alright."
Link's eyes were tearing, and he was gasping for air. He was stunned, she knew.
"I wanted to make you happy… I wanted you to forgive me…"
"It's alright, Link."
"And look where I've led you!"
"Link— … please…"
"I don't—"
"Quiet!" Zelda suddenly ordered, in a very different tone, looking out beyond the grate. Link turned as well, and he saw what she meant.
Two men, strolling down the streets, singing loudly, breaking crates and jugs. Whenever guards came too close, the men gave them a severe hit in the torso, knocking them out and allowing the two comrades to continue their promenade.
"Do you think we can count on them?" Zelda asked as the loud duo came closer. Link, slowly growing more alert, nodded at her.
Mikau and Darmani, on their part, were on the other side of town, making quite a racket themselves. The majority of the city's guards had gathered to try and neutralize them, but Mikau's speed and Darmani's strength were tough to outdo.
"How much more time do ya think we have to hold out?" Mikau asked, hurriedly slamming his elbow into a guard's face. He turned to look at Darmani, who was holding two limp bodies up, having obviously hit their heads together powerfully.
"Aw, Darmani!" Mikau whined, exasperated, "I thought we said we ain't gonna kill no one!"
"I didn't kill 'em," Darmani growled, dropping the two guards like potato sacks, "I just made 'em stop moving."
Mikau rolled his eyes, then turned to look up the run down street at the castle. It was ominous looking, and he hoped they wouldn't have to assault it later on.
"Ya think Link and Z—his lady have made it out alright?"
"Considering their shambled relation before we left 'em, I'd say it'd be a miracle if they haven't killed each other by now."
Mikau scowled. "They ain't gonna kill each other. They're in love. How many more guards do ya think—oh, for blessed Din."
More guards were running in from the side streets, and Mikau had to cut off mid-sentence to slam his fist into a few stomachs.
When they had a relative calm again, he said, "What I meant was, should we try to free the way towards the castle or something?"
Darmani shrugged his broad shoulders. "Let's just move forward and see how many more they've got for us. And if we can, we'll hide out in a tavern or somethin'."
Kafei and Keaton, drunk out of their minds, had seated themselves on the side of the canal, and were conversing with the two young people stuck behind the grate, amused to no end, not of their misfortune, but of their gut.
Zelda and Link, after explaining their situation for the second time, begged them to help them break free.
Keaton nudged Kafei, and the dark haired young man saw a few guards approaching.
In time, the two brothers bent over and pretended to retch. Disguted, the guards avoided coming too close, and hurried away from their area. This way, they hadn't seen Link or Zelda.
Once they were gone, the two young men sat up, and continued discussing the situation with Zelda, who had decided, after Link got angered from the first tale-telling, to be the spokesperson of their team.
"Lemme get thish shtraight," Keaton said, eyes open for any more guards, "you're out to… to overcome…—no, shubdue…—no, overthrow Ganondorf—the Evil King?"
"Yes," Zelda patiently said, holding onto the metal bars. Link was holding all their packs and was hardly paying attention. He looked exasperated.
"But you… got stuck in… the sewers," Kafei said. If he wasn't less drunk, he was slightly more intelligible. "And you… want us to help… you out, otherwise you… won't be able to… over—over—overthrow Ganon."
"Are we shure thish ish what we want helping us, Kafei?" Keaton said, teasing, rocking to and fro uncertainly.
"Two is better than… No—nothing at all," Kafei said with a smile, and it became obvious that while the two brothers were wasted, they were genuinely good.
At least, so Zelda hoped.
"We'll help you," Kafei finally said, getting up falteringly, his arms waved about for a moment as he regained his balance, then he looked around, squinting, forcing his mind to do more than it was capable of doing at that very moment.
He saw the cart. He saw the ox. He saw the rope. It was all his mind was able to conjure up for now.
He grabbed the rope, gave one end to Keaton, who looked bewildered, then threw the other end to Zelda. She tied it to the metal grate very happily. Even Link had perked up.
Then, Kafei tied it to the ox's collar, and motioned to Keaton.
Together, the two brothers started pulling on the rope and urging the ox onward.
Zelda heard the metal groan, but nothing budged.
Until suddenly, Link nudged her shoulder, and she saw, at the side of them, the stone beginning to crack. The fissure crawled for a moment, then stopped.
And then, a formidable screech was heard, and the metal bars on the side were dislodged. Thanks to the efforts of both men and the ox, they stayed gaping long enough for Zelda and Link to hurry past them. Zelda ripped her sleeve on one of the ends, but they made it out.
As soon as they stopped pulling, the metal creaked again and slammed like a death trap onto the stone, back into place.
It was hardly even twisted or bent.
Zelda felt Link shudder, both of them relieved to be free at last. The water here wasn't much clearer, and Zelda wanted out of it very quick.
They hurried up the steep steps on the side of the canal, sitting on the side where Kafei and Keaton joined them.
"You bloody hell stink!" Keaton commented. He was obviously the least mannered of the two. Link shot him a tired glare, but Zelda didn't bother at all. Instead, she was looking at Kafei.
"Is there a place where we can have a change of clothes and a bath? Things haven't been going as quick as we expected and—"
"Say no more," Kafei held up a hand. "We'll have you taken care of. The only worthwhile place in town is the tavern. You can take a room if you want, but it'll cost you."
Zelda frowned. Kafei shrugged.
"Or, you can go to the castle. It's the only other place here that's well kept."
Sighing, she nodded.
"Then, the tavern it is." She looked at Link, who was gazing at nothing, but still listening. He turned to look at her. He smelled of sewer, and his clothes and skin and hair were dirty.
She knew she must have been a fright as well.
They were definitely stopping for a cleansing before moving on.
If only she could warn Darmani and Mikau of the change of plans… If only they could get a meeting spot.
"Something on your mind?" Kafei asked, slurring only a bit. His eyelids were drooping.
"Two friends of ours were supposed to make a diversion."
Keaton and Kafei's eyebrows rose in time. Then, grinning, Keaton said, "You mean thoshe two looshe-shcrews we shaw on the shquare were your friendsh?"
"That might be them," Link tiredly mumbled.
Zelda, more diplomatic, turned to the two men. "Could you tell them to meet us at the tavern?"
Kafei, about to acquiesce, was stopped by Keaton. "How do we know you two aren't crayshy like them?"
Zelda sighed loudly. She looked at Link apologetically. He smirked. She turned to the brothers. "My name is Zelda, princess of Hyrule. And this is Link, my childhood friend."
Stunned, Kafei and Keaton suddenly realized why she was so familiar.
Link averted his eyes, thinking of his true title, the one Zelda didn't know about but probably despised. 'Link, childhood friend... and royal consort.'
Bolombolombolom, yeah!
Love,
CM