16. Vici
It was now early evening and the sinking sun was staining the sky the color of a Sheikah's eyes. No one important to our story at the moment was aware of this though, in fact Link and Zeld didn't even know if it was the same day it had been when they'd first hopped down the hole in Vaaltos' sacred space.
All those still in Vaaltos' tower were too distracted to notice the sunset.
"I told him not to support the tower with just magic!" one of the guards raged.
"You did not!"
"Well I meant to! Don't forget that picture of your daughter."
"Right, thanks." The guy grabbed the picture and added it to the box of stuff he was gathering frantically.
The tower shuddered for the nth time in the last hour, and the two men decided to cut their losses and just run for it.
They were joined in the hallway by three others, all fleeing for their lives. Oaths didn't mean jack when your boss was missing and your place of work could fall down around your ears at any moment.
"Where's Tor?" someone asked.
"Haven't seen him. He's smart, he'll know to get out."
"I don't know. He was under a way more binding oath than ours. If Lord Vaaltos told him not to leave, he wouldn't, couldn't, leave."
"Well he's a Sheikah. They have, like, ways."
"Yeah, that's true."
"He'll be fine."
"No problem."
They all paused in their running.
"We don't know where he is."
"There's nothing we can do."
The tower shuddered.
"We should warn the town. If this thing collapses it'll cause a lot of damage."
"Yeah... Let's go."
They ran.
zzz
Link clambered out of the hole and got out of the way as Zeld shoved Denko's still-unconscious form up ahead of him.
"This idiot's heavy," Zeld grunted.
"Here, let me." Link slipped her hands under Denko's shoulders and yanked. He was out cold, he wouldn't mind.
Once Denko was slumped on the floor, well away from the hole, Link offered her hand to Zeld and pulled him out.
"All okay?"
"All okay."
"Let's-"
Suddenly the floor shook beneath their feet, and the walls shuddered.
"Hocrap!"
"What was that? Earthquake?"
"I don't know, but I think we'd better get out of here."
Zeld nodded, then bent to pick up Denko again. This time he slung one of Denko's arms over his shoulders, and Link took the other one. They half-dragged him out into the hallway and up the stairs, then heard running footsteps up ahead.
"I'll check it out," Link said. She slipped out from under Denko's arm and darted around the corner.
Zeld waited. He heard the footsteps slow, then stop. There was a voice and he strained to hear, but Denko moaned and opened his eyes.
"Uh... Where am I?" He raised his head and tried to stand on his own, swaying unsteadily.
"In Vaaltos' tower," Zeld said, shifting his weight to get a better grip on the other man. "We're trying to get out though."
"Tor," Denko said firmly. "Where's Tor?"
"I'm not sure, he's probably gone by now."
"Where is he? I need to find him." He shoved at Zeld and tried to walk away, but Zeld kept his grip.
"You're injured, I think. Don't try to walk."
"I need to find him. I need to tell him I-"
"Zeld!" Link came around the corner, followed by four men in black livery. Zeld automatically released Denko and went for his bow. "No Zeld, it's okay. They're on our side."
"We're getting the hell out of here," the one in the lead said, "and we think you should too."
"We can't," Zeld said.
"See?" Link nudged the man.
"But take him," Zeld took Denko by the shoulders and shoved him forward.
"Where's Tor?" Denko asked.
"He seems to be fixated on that."
"I'll take him," the man took Denko, who was still quite unsteady, and slipped his arm under his shoulders. "Come on, Sparky."
"I need to find Tor."
"That's nice, but let's find your family first."
"Oh, yeah, I should tell them too..."
The men headed off down the hall, leaving Link and Zeld alone.
"Sooo..."
"Up?"
"Why not?"
They headed up.
The tower seemed completely deserted, but it was difficult to tell. It had always been quiet. Zeld had spent the vast majority of his time there inside that cage, so it was up to Link and her vague memories of Vaaltos' tour to find their way. They didn't know what they were looking for, they didn't have a plan, but they went up every staircase they came to and hoped for the best.
The only sounds as they walked were those they made themselves, plus the ominous creaking and cracking that came from the walls. Link walked with her sword drawn, Zeld a few paces behind her with an arrow on the string. Neither spoke.
On the second floor from the top they came across what looked at first like a spot of unusually deep shadow, but as they approached it moved.
Vaaltos looked up at them from where he sat, dejected, on the floor. "I'm not certain whether I should be impressed or not," he said conversationally. "You taken so much from me, but you only did it through luck and my own oversight. It's a bit depressing."
"You bastard," Link growled. "After everything you've done you expect us to feel sorry for you?"
"Don't be silly." He got to his feet and dusted off his robes. "All I expect you to do...is die." He raised his hand as he said this, then winced. "I'm straying into the clichéd evil wizard dialogue again aren't I?"
"A bit, yeah."
"I'll try to stop that." He brought his hand down hard, and the tower gave a final shudder, then gave up.
zzz
Vaaltos' men, Denko still wobbling, escaped from the tower with moments to spare before it started shaking like it was made of gelatin. Stones are not supposed to move like that, and the
stones seemed to know it, for only seconds after the shaking started one of the blocks of dark stone that made up the tower came crashing to the ground. Many of its fellows soon followed.
The homes and shops in the vicinity of the tower had been vacated years ago so there was little danger of injury from the falling rocks, but the townspeople ran for it anyway, gathering on the old milk road, long abandoned, to stare at the destruction.
The entire top half of the tower was gone now, and the shaking seemed to have stopped. The townspeople stared in silence, that is, until a small regiment of men in black appeared ahead. Then there was running, and shouting, and explanations, and tears...
And then silence again.
"Where's Tor?" Denko asked.
zzz
Vaaltos' robes whipped around him as he rose, slowly, above his two former captives. There was wind swirling around him, not black, but filled with the dust of the partially-destroyed tower. He was smiling.
Link and Zeld helped each other to their feet and recovered their weapons. They were standing on what was now the roof of the tower, the rest of it having fallen. There was wind swirling all around, perfectly ordinary non-black wind, but it seemed to be under Vaaltos' control.
"You've set me back years," Vaaltos said.
"You've ruined hundreds of lives," Link replied.
"Have at you then."
The battle began.
Vaaltos' started by hurling lightning bolts at Link and Zeld, which they had no trouble dodging after all the practice they'd had with Denko. Zeld fired arrows while Link tried to run in close with her sword.
Unfortunately Vaaltos noticed this and little mini-tornados started sprouting off of the giant swirl of wind that held him aloft. Link dodged, but there were too many and one hit her, carrying her ten feet before dropping her on the ground.
"Link!" Zeld ran to her. "Are you okay?"
"Un. Yeah." She sat up. "That's not gonna work."
"So what can we do? The arrows are too light. They keep getting blown away."
"Is that a longbow?"
"Yeah."
"Shoot my sword!"
"That is the worst idea I have ever heard. Let's do it."
As anyone with any sense knows, it should be impossible to shoot a sword with a bow. But the world wasn't operating on normal rules at the moment, and Zeld knew how to bend them anyway. He pulled back and let fly.
It got caught up in Vaaltos' whirlwind, spun around the back, and flew back toward our heroes.
They yelped and threw themselves to the ground.
"That didn't work!" Zeld shouted.
"You noticed!" Link shouted back.
Zeld tried with the light arrows again while Link yanked the sword out of the floor, but it was clearly not going to work. As long as Vaaltos was completely focused on them, Link and Zeld would not be able to get a blow in.
And it was at this moment that Tor, with his traditional poof-in-from-nowhere entrance, appeared on the rooftop behind Vaaltos.
"Hey Vaaltos!" Tore shouted.
"What?" Vaaltos snapped.
"I thought I knew a lot about your past, but there was one thing I never figured out!"
"What's that?"
"You're ninety years old!"
"WHAT?" Vaaltos spun around and faced Tor, for the moment completely forgetting about the fight.
It was just the opening Link needed. With one last yank she freed the Black Rose Blade from the stone and rushed forward. Vaaltos had his back to her, glowering at Tor. He didn't even notice when she got caught up in his whirlwind and swept off the ground.
"Vaaltos!" Link screamed over the wind. He turned and she met his eyes just as the wind brought her level with him. He stared at her with rage and hatred and drew his hand back, preparing a strike.
Link felt her stomach go cold.
He was going to kill her, and he wouldn't even think twice about it afterward.
The wind was buffeting her back and forth and she could barely control her movements, but Link did the only thing she could.
She swung the Black Rose Blade.
There was a terrible moment where she could feel the sharp edge of the sword slice through muscles and scrape against bone, and then a worse moment when the bone shattered and the sword cut things more vital.
The look in Vaaltos' eyes was not fear, or even pain, it was simply...shock. As if he had honestly not believed this was possible.
And then the sword broke free of Vaaltos' body and the wind exploded in between them, blowing them in opposite directions. Vaaltos fell of the edge of his tower, and his body streamed blood into the air as he plummeted earthward.
Wind gathered underneath him, trying to slow his fall, but gravity was too much for him for once. He didn't move, looking like a boneless doll as his own wind tried desperately to save him.
And then, barely a yard from the ground, he slowed...and stopped...and then that last something that let you know he was still alive seemed to fade away...and he hit the earth with a dull thud.
And so ended the life of Vaaltos, Wizard of the Black Wind.
zzz
"Link..."
"Mm?"
"Link, are you okay?"
"Uh." Link sat up and rubbed her head. Zeld and Tor were leaning over her, wearing identical expressions of worry. "Yeah, I think I'm fine. Whole body feels like one big bruise though."
Tor sighed with relief and Zeld offered her his hand to help her to her feet.
"What happened?" She looked around. They were in the middle of a street some distance from the tower.
The tower was gone. Nothing but rubble and dust.
Tor coughed uncomfortably and Zeld spoke. "Tor sort of...flew us over here as the tower was collapsing."
Link blinked. "He did what?"
Tor grinned sheepishly. "Have I mentioned that I'm damn good at magic when I have to be?"
Link stared at him. "Vaaltos can fly."
"Could," Zeld said.
They both looked at him.
"He's dead. The proper term is 'could.'"
"He's...dead?" Link blinked again. Her eyes were suddenly very bright.
"Yes," Tor said solemnly. "I went and checked. He's very definately dead."
"Link?" Zeld put his hand on her shoulder.
She sniffed and smiled weakly. "I'm okay. I just..." She blinked once more and tears rolled down her cheeks. "I...I never killed anyone before... I... God it's been a long week!" She threw herself at Zeld and sobbed.
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Quick note:
First of all, sorry. For everything. I am so, so, sorry.
Second, I have a DeviantArt account under the name BatNeko. I've got some fanart and I intend to post more in the future. I've been wanting to draw illustrations for my stories for a long time, and now I finally have a reason (the two-page comic of the "colossal confrontation" scene in my "Why I Hate Hormones" series isn't drawn yet, but it WILL be!). My featured deviation is currently the cast picture I drew for the Legend of Zeld, so if you've been wanting to know how Iimagine all these crazy people, go check it out. (I love Denko!)