Chapter 10

The Forbidden Mountains

After about three days the two of them arrived at the coast west of the Forbidden Mountains. The two traveled for a while when they came to the first mountain. It was black and had almost no vegetation it.

"This is definitely the place in my vision. Except the fortress was further in." Link told Zelda.

"Well then lets not waste any time. Lets go for it." Zelda said.

After a little mountain climbing the two came to a tunnel that lead all the way through the mountain. About halfway there Zelda heard a noise.

"Hey, Link did you hear that?" Zelda asked in a shaky voice.

"No what noise?" asked Link. Then he heard it too. RUMBLE! Link drew his sword and Zelda pulled out her bow. Then slowly it came into sight. A dragon that seemed to be wearing away as if it was made of stone. Its wings were almost nonexistent and some of its face seemed chipped off. Its sleek gray skin made it look kind of like stone. At first it didn't look strong enough to even attack, but as Link and Zelda soon found out it was indeed a powerhouse. The first thing that it did was blow a blast of chilling cold air. It was so cold that it even froze the cave walls, but the two managed to dodge most of the cold. Link took advantage of the creature's shortness of breath to attack. SHINK! As Link sliced the creature it made a sound like metal scratching stone. The creature roared as it breathed another blast of frozen wind at the duo. This time it froze Zelda's legs to the cave floor. It came toward her ready to freeze the rest of her, but as it reared up Link made his move. With two swift but strong strikes Link cut off the dragon's head. Crash! As it hit the floor it shattered like ice.

"So it wasn't made of stone, but of ice." Link observed.

"Who cares, just help me out of this ice already!" Zelda said angrily.

As they were walking they kept hearing rumbles and feeling small tremors. Finally they came to the end of the tunnel. When they got out they saw the horrible landscape. There were mountains after mountains. They were all black and ashy as if they'd been burned. The sky was black and stormy and in the distance Link could see what looked like volcanoes. There was one mountain in the distance that stood out more than the others, it was tall and had a peak that had a huge boulder resembling a dragon's head resting on it.

"I have a feeling that we're supposed to go to that mountain" Zelda said.

"Yeah, you're probably right. We always have to go to the most forbidding places." Link said.

After hours of climbing and walking Zelda needed to take a break. As they were sitting there Link saw a shadow fly overhead.

"Hey Zelda take a look at that! It's another dragon."

"I saw a couple more a while back. These mountains must be full of them." Zelda pointed out.

Soon the two started walking again. They had just crossed over the first mountain. Then suddenly Link shouted," Get down now!" Just as they did a black dragon flew right over their heads. It landed and stared at the two with its red glowing eyes. Its scales were more like black plates sticking out from its very thin midsection ready to skewer anything that got close. Its wings were about 20 feet from tip to tip and its head was thin with two sharp horns sticking out from the top of its head. The terrifying dragon spit fire behind the two so they couldn't escape.

"Zelda this was part of my second vision. Which means that we're on the right track." Link said as he tried to come up with a plan.

The dragon reared up and fired another blast of flames. Link dodged it, but the flames hit his sword. Suddenly the blade began to wave like water again. Zelda had begun firing arrows at the dragon. Most of them bounced off its hard bony plates. Two managed to get in between its plates and sunk into the creature.

RAAHHH! The dragon got enraged and flew full speed into Zelda, sending her flying into a rocky ditch.

"NOOO!" Link cried in rage. He swung his mighty blade and sliced the creature's right wing off with a single blow. The dragon then swung its strong tail, sending Link tumbling to the ground. Link struggled to his feet, his left arm totally out of socket, not to mention the gaping gashes on his side from the rough rocky landscape. He charged at the dragon and the dragon charged at him too. One of them would die in this last charge. The dragon tried to bite Link, but missed. Instead Link sliced the creature in half down the middle.

Link ran to see if Zelda was alright, but when he got there she was still lying motionless on the ground. Her bruised, bloody body just lay there in his arms.

"NOOO! This can't happen. Din help me!" Link shouted as he began to cry and as he did one of his tears fell to Zelda's cheek. He began to talk to her in hope that she would wake up.

"We've been through all this together, you can't die on me now!" He shouted.

"So… you do…care." said a faint voice.

"You're alive! And of course I care about you. I've cared since we first met. Zelda I love you, I have since we first meant." Link said softly.

" I did too, but what you said back at the Temple, did you mean that?" as she asked tears began to well up in her eyes.

"No, of course I didn't, I was just too shy to tell you, but what happened a minute ago made me realize that I might lose the person I care most about." he said apologetically. Zelda leaned up and gave Link a quick kiss on the cheek. This made him blush. He never imagined getting kissed by a girl so beautiful.

For a couple of days they stayed there while they both regained their strength. Finally the two of them were ready to set out once again. For a few days they walked without any more trouble. Finally after a lot of climbing the two came to a clearing in the mountains. Ahead of them a dark structure of a dragon was erected in the middle of the plain. Further past the plain was Dragon Peak Mountain, the place they needed to go.

"We're almost there, the last piece of the Triforce awaits." Zelda said with relief. Link however knew this would be much harder than any of his other challenges.