Chapter 14. Veni

The blackness of the door drew away from the sword, similar to the way paper draws away from a lit match. Link and Zeld looked at each other, then stepped through the hole in the door.

The room was painted completely white, and packed full of Stalfos. Link made a sound halfway between a sigh and a groan and elbowed Zeld.

"Cover me?"

"Right."

zzz

Tor's extremely shortened version of his life's story had explained how much Vaaltos knew about Hyrule, but neglected to mention how much he knew about Vaaltos. The Wizard of the Black Wind was the son of Vaati, the Wind Sorcerer. He had been born in a world different from both Hyrule and Termina, and by the time he was thirty he had taken over half of it. He did not attempt to rule, he just made it clear that he would get whatever he wanted if they did not all wish to die.

Vaaltos stumbled across stories of his father completely by accident. Vaati had died shortly after his son was born, and Vaaltos' mother hadn't liked to speak about him. The fact that his father had been a great sorcerer, evil, and attempted to take over worlds did not interest Vaaltos. What he found interesting was the fact that there were other worlds.

That was when he began to develop the black wind. He tapped into the power of another world, one almost entirely made of power, and focused it through an object into a form Vaaltos could control nearlyunconsciously.

The source of the black wind, the thing that without which Vaaltos would not be able to summon it, at all, was a large chunk of obsidian. The fact that the object was a large chunk of obsidian was not in any way important, almost anything would have worked, Vaaltos just liked it. It was black.

Link and Zeld had no way of knowing this however, so after they had cleared all the Stalfos from the room and saw the black stone sitting on a pedestal, they just looked at each other and said, in unison, "Laaaaame."

Link still had the Black Rose Blade drawn, but wasn't looking at it as they approached the stone. Zeld, was slightly behind her though, and he noticed as the sword suddenly became engulfed in black.

"Link!" he exclaimed.

"Huh?" she turned.

"Your sword!"

She looked at it. "Oh. Huh. That's weird."

"What's wrong with it?"

"Oh, nothing's wrong. I figure it does that when it gets close to doorways between worlds or whatever we're calling them."

"So...there's a doorway to somewhere in here?"

"Yuh-huh." She swung the sword around experimentally. "In...the rock?"

"Maybe the rock is, like, linked to somewhere?"

Link glared at him. "Was that a 'link' pun?"

Zeld recognized the dangerous glint in her eye. "No! No, just...you know...maybe the rock is connected to somewhere."

"Better." She eyed the rock critically. "There's something..."

"You feel it too?"

"Yeah."

"What do we do about it?"

"What a hero always does. I hit it with my sword."

"I'm just...going...to...duck."

"Have fun."

zzz

Tor approached Vaaltos' library with no small amount of trepidation. He stuck to the shadows, using all his skills to remain unseen. As far as Vaaltos knew Tor was no more rebellious today than he had been the day before, but Tor had a sinking feeling he would be able to tell Tor was free of the oath as soon as he saw him. Oaths worked like that.

Just as he was inching near the door, something shuddered through the building. Tor managed to stay hidden, but only barely.

The door to the library slammed open and Vaaltos burst into the hallway. "TOR!" he roared.

Tor managed to keep from jumping, then waited a few moments and watched Vaaltos seethe before melting from the shadows.

"You called?" he asked, trying to sound normal.

"Where are the prisoners?" Vaaltos asked through clenched teeth.

"Still in the..." He trailed off. "They're gone aren't they?"

"You tell me," Vaaltos growled.

"I brought them food a little while ago like you told me to. They were still in the Darkroom when I shut the door, I'm sure of it."

"Check," he said simply. Tor started to turn away, but Vaaltos shook his head. "No, I'll check. Gather your fellows and meet me downstairs."

By "fellows" Vaaltos meant the other human servants, it was how he often referred to them. Tor nodded and dashed away.

He released the breath he hadn't realized he was holding as soon as Vaaltos was out of sight. He had never been more grateful for all those years of lying to his parents.

zzz

The half-dozen men that lived in Vaaltos' tower had gathered in the basement. There were a few muttered questions about what was going on, but they had all learned not to press for answers when it came to Lord Vaaltos.

Only Denko, typically sloshed, had the courage to poke Tor in the ribs and ask what the hell was up.

"Badness," Tor answered. "The blondes are loose."

Denko whistled. "Never underestimate the power of a hot chick."

Tor rolled his eyes. "She was too young for you."

"Doesn't mean I couldn't look."

"You're a sick bastard."

"Says the sweeper of the chocolate chimney."

Tor lunged for Denko, but three of the others grabbed him and held him back.

"Not worth it man."

"He's drunk, he doesn't know what he's saying."

"We all like you, even him. He's just dumb as hell."

"I will rip his dumb throat out!" Tor snarled.

"No man. We are in this together, you can't just-"

"Stop," a cold voice said.

All the men froze, and turned slowly. Vaaltos was glaring at them from the stairs.

"You can kill each other later for all I care, but right now I require your assistance." Vaaltos swept past them and to the black door, which looked oddly thin, though no one could say why.

"The prince has escaped," he said simply. "Due to...reasons, I believe he and his little lady friend are in here." Vaaltos placed his hand on the door and it parted before him, rippling like water.

The room had changed since Link and Zeld had entered it, only a few moments before. The remains of the Stalfos had disappeared, as they tended to do, and where the pedestal with the chunk of obsidian had once stood was a hole.

That's it, just a hole. But it was perfectly round, and there was bright white light coming from it. Along with the occasional wisp of black wind.

Vaaltos stared at it thoughtfully. He turned and pointed at Denko. "You. You've the approximately the brains of half a brick, yes?"

Denko was still slightly stunned form the events of the last few minutes. "Uh..."

"I'll take that as a yes. You," he pointed at the hole, "go down there and kill the escapees."

"But- but I can't-"

"Yes you can." Vaaltos looked at a couple of the other men. "Someone shove him over here."

The guys who had been holding Tor back earlier obliged.

"Denko isn't it?"

Denko nodded mutely.

"Hold still."

Vaaltos' hand snapped out and latched onto Denko's face like a snake. Sparks started flying from Denko's hair, and a muffled scream came from behind Vaaltos' palm. The sparks flew faster and faster, and became little lightning bolts going from Denko's head to other parts of his body.

Vaaltos drew his hand away and for a moment Denko's screams echoed throughout the chamber, lightning flickering between his fingers and limbs. Then, suddenly, it all stopped, and there was nothing but silence and the smell of ozone.

"Well?" Vaaltos asked.

Denko's voice sounded hollow, and slightly shell-shocked. "I'm definately sober."

"Good. Now get going."

Denko took one look at Vaaltos' face, nodded, and hopped down the hole without a second glance.

"What did you do to him?" one of the younger guys asked.

Vaaltos smiled a little, always a bad sign. "You know how sometimes when you touch a doorknob it gives you a shock?" His smile broadened. "Our inebriated friend Denko is a walking, drunken, doorknob."

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Notes From the Author

Short chapter. Sorry, I'm sick. Last chapter sparked a couple questions that I thought I wouldn't have to answer, but here we go. The reason Tor didn't notice what Link and Zeld had been up to in the Darkroom is 1) It was dark. Even if there was light coming in from the hallway, it was still pretty damn dark. Along with that, remember that Tor wears those dark glasses all the time because he's too stubborn to admit he needs them to see. 2) They had been in there for a good twelve hours, plenty of time to get their clothes sorted out and such.

I really do think this stuff out, sometimes it's just hard to get it all down on paper. Pixels. Whatever.

My head hurts.

Oh, and for the record, "Veni" means "I came."