Chapter 10

PALACE 4

This next palace was made of violet ceramic tiles. Was there some point to color coding these things? The smell of evil magic was strong in this place. Well that was new. It wasn't an aura but specifically the odor of magic. This time they weren't even going to wait for Link to get inside before they started trying to kill him. A Moa was flying around outside dropping magic fire all over.

"Pesky little bastard," grumbled Link. Under other circumstances he may have let it pass but he was in a bad mood.

"AGDA!"

If Link had an ounce of sense it would have left it alone. There was no rational reason to go after it, especially if it required wasting a spell. But Link was in the mood for a good fight. Not getting nearly the satisfaction he wanted from skewering the Moa right through the eye, Link decided to tempt fate. He woke up the statue. With the Jump spell still activated, it made fighting the Ironknuckle a little tougher. In five passes he not only landed enough hits to kill it but he took its head right off. Yup, empty inside.

The moment the elevator touched down, Link instinctively headed east. For just a moment something startled him. He saw a flash of something white but didn't get a good look at it. Whatever it was it was gone now but he had a bad feeling about it. Any surprises in a palace are bound to be unpleasant. Was there an enemy here that he couldn't see? Should he be looking for it? No. Not yet. If there was something new, something tougher, then he wanted to get tougher himself before he faced it.

Indentations in the floor filled the hallway between Link and the next elevator. In a moment he saw how useful they were. Two Stalfos Knights fell from the ceiling but seemed to be stuck in the gaps. Sure they could jump but they seemed confused for some reason. "Too easy," said Link to himself. He easily bounced over them both with the thrust and jumped into the elevator.

Wait… No. No he wouldn't. These things were the enemy. He had never liked running. Why should he? Dammit, it was demon slaying time! How else could he get stronger? One Stalfos Knight freed itself from its hole and attacked. It even tried to use the thrust. Link not only dodged but disarmed it the second that blade hit the ground.

"See you in hell," he sneered as he prepared to…

No, wait! A truly interesting idea (truly sick is more like it) crossed his mind. He grinned as he chopped its leg off. As it flailed around helplessly on the floor Link amused himself by beating the other one senseless with its friend's bony leg. If Ganon's forces were going to mess with him emotionally, then he was going to mess with them, doggone it. This was just stupid. After knocking two witless creatures around for a while he dispatched them. What a pointless thing to do. Link convinced himself it was just tit for tat. Such foolishness.

The very first passage he reached after the elevator had another Stalfos Knight waiting for him. No big deal. But after that there was a gigantic gap with a disappearing floor and a pit that might for all he knew be bottomless. He knew that if he went onward the only way back to the elevator would be the Fairy Spell and that would severely drain his magic. Wait, why was he hesitating? He had demons to punish. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

"YEE HAW!"

Link jumped off the disappearing bridge and over onto the other side like an Olympic athlete. Hmm, more Goatheads. These things sure did seem to show up all over the place. Well they were easy enough but he had a Doomknocker to deal with afterwards. Using the newly acquired Reflect Spell was tempting. After all, his shield would get busted by even one hammer. But these creatures were also vulnerable to the thrust. Why waste magic unless absolutely necessary? Link jumped over its hammers and stabbed it in the forehead. When the hammers returned he jumped up and performed a thrust. No more Doomknocker.

Oops, spoke too soon. The very next room had another one. There were several platforms over a lava pit with breakable bricks blocking the middle of each. The bricks weren't a problem but the magic flames on top of them made mobility a slight problem.

"Ha! You dumbass!"

The Doomknocker hadn't been watching its step and fell into the lava. Link couldn't resist laughing. Heck, it was funny. He jumped onto the last platform and grabbed a key. And now to head back and…

"What the…"The Doomknocker was back on its platform. "Hope you didn't take that 'dumbass' crack too seriously."

Link jumped back onto the platform and flew at the Doomknocker blade-first as fast as he possibly could. Whether it took his remark seriously or not I can't say but who cares? Link sliced through its chest several times before it got even one hammer off.

Well now what? Use the Fairy Spell? Well the pit didn't seem bottomless. And he didn't want to waste magic either… What was that about nothing ventured? Stupid sayings.

Yup, he jumped. He landed on some more disappearing ledges about fifteen feet below. No time to think, he had to get off these things pronto. He leapt over onto the other side and found himself face to face with a Skull Ball and a Goathead. No biggie. Then a Doomknocker. Not his favorite opponent, but OK. Then two Stalfos Knights. Not the end of the world. Then…

"OH CRAP!"

A Blue Ironknuckle. Forget about this saving magic crap.

"AFE!"

"ARSTA!"

With the Shield Spell in place Link viciously charged it. Too bad. Fire had no effect on it. Link jumped and stabbed as ruthlessly as he could.

"GAH!"

Link had been so obsessed with stabbing and with blocking the Sting spell that he hadn't paid any mind to anything else this thing could do to him. The Ironknuckle ran him through with its blade. The second he hit the floor the Ironknuckle went to town with the Sting. Link's limbs were cut up, his ear was nearly severed, but even with a nearly mortal wound Link cleverly flailed around on the ground in a manner that protected anything vital.

"DIE!"

With a sudden spurt of adrenaline, Link got to his knees and stabbed at the Ironknuckle with such force that his blade went right through its shield. He coughed up some blood and collapsed.

Well Link must have been born with a horseshoe up his ass. The Ironknuckle had dropped a red jar. Link used his remaining magic to heal himself and then drank up. Behind where the Ironknuckle had been was a gate leading to the treasury. A pair of boots which had the distinct aroma of white magic was waiting for him. Apparently these were the boots that allowed the wearer to walk on water. Hmm… and there was no dock to the east of Nabooru. Using the raft was out of the question. It was a twenty foot drop to the water below. Link looked down. His own boots were nearly worn out. Well why not? Link quickly changed boots. He didn't want an enemy coming in and catching him barefooted. This was by far the most comfortable pair of boots he had ever worn in his life. I shouldn't have to tell you that after all the walking Link had been doing his feet were perpetually sore. Not only that but he had a terrible bout with shin splints. But it was like the pain left his as soon as he put those boots on.

Back in the shaft there was no place to go but down. This time the landing was a wee bit more frightening. Yes there was another disappearing surface but this time it was directly over lava and there were Demon Heads flying around all over. One hit could have sent him to his death.

No time to choose a path. Link ran east. It was another one of those rooms with lava pits, breakable bricks, and a key at the end. But this time the Doomknocker was no kamikaze. As you might imagine the obstacles between them made things harder.

THUD!

A hammer hit Link in the back pretty hard. OK, that did it! In his raged he leapt at it and stabbed wildly killing it before it ever would have had another chance to attack. With his adrenaline pumping, he took his anger out on the nearby Stalfos Knight too.

Link twisted this way and that. Well it didn't appear that he had any broken ribs but he could only imagine the size of the bruise on his back. He grabbed the key. Wow, he couldn't believe how hard his hands were shaking. What was wrong with him? He couldn't even hold his sword straight…

No time for that. Skull Ball at ten o'clock. Link barely had the patience to finish it off. He felt like he wanted to crawl out of his skin. Was this place having some sort of effect on him?

There was no place to go but west. The Demon Heads were no big obstacle but what lay ahead was, to say the least, unpleasant. Another old friend had come to play.

Wizzrobes.

Now Link understood exactly how bad things had gotten with the Cult and how much trouble he was in. All Wizzrobes were elves who had dabbled in dark magic and had been overcome with blood lust. They had sold their souls to Ganon years ago in exchange for what magic he would teach them. They no longer had minds or voices of their own. They were the enemies closest to Ganon himself. And it seemed as if this was a whole new batch.

These particular Wizzrobes were cloaked in white instead of orange or blue and to be honest, bore a strange resemblance to KKK members. Just like the ones he had known before, they shot magical radioactive waves at him and teleported around the room. Through them he could literally taste Ganon's hate in his mouth. He was certain these were probably members of the Cult who had taken the final and most terrible step in uniting with Ganon.

Whatever they were, this time his sword had no effect on them. Well if all else fails…

"ARSTA!"

Damn! It didn't work. Again. That was the second time he'd been fooled. Well maybe he shouldn't mess with them. No! That was cowards talk! But after slicing at these things for several minutes and getting no results (unless you count receiving some radiation burns as results) he had to give up and flee. I can't even begin to tell you how badly that upset him.

Killing a Bot nearby gave him a blue pitcher so the magic he had lost was restored. He could see far enough ahead to tell that there was another key room with bricks and Wolf Heads and there was no way he was messing with those things. He'd sooner use up a Fairy Spell. So he took the elevator back up to the top floor.

Out of the frying pan and into the… um, well into the other frying pan. There were more Wizzrobes up there. That must have been the white flash he had seen. OK, time to do something. What hadn't he tried? Fire hadn't worked. The sword didn't even cut through their robes. But there was one spell he hadn't used yet.

"AJIS!"

Link knelt down and the next time a Wizzrobe materialized near him he placed his shield close to the floor. The magic wave bounced right off and hit the Wizzrobe. Success! The Wizzrobe incinerated. The other Wizzrobes quickly perished the same way.

It was happening. He felt another surge of energy as his power increased from having killed enough enemies. He felt strong! He felt…

He felt very odd. For a moment he felt nauseated and had trouble breathing. His skin tingled and suddenly his thoughts were not his own. For several seconds he seemed to be looking into the dreams of another person. And yet not even one instant later he suddenly forgot the images he had just seen as quickly as a chalk drawing is erased from a blackboard. He knew they were evil and frightening beyond words but he couldn't remember a single detail. He felt dizzy and this time he couldn't stop himself from throwing up. He sat shivering in a fetal position for several minutes.

It was a while before he could stand up again. The taste of vomit was still strong in his mouth. Whatever had happened, no matter how scary, he had to go on whether he understood what was happening to him or not. But now there was a gate and he had passed up the key.

"AGRA!"

Link turned into a small fairy and flew right through. But even more magic was about to be called for. Above him were some breakable bricks between which he could see a key and a Skull Ball. In front of him was a Red Ironknuckle guarding a gate. Killing the Ironknuckle was no big deal but Link had to use the Jump spell to get the key. This time there was no choice. If there was a key up ahead he had to get it no matter what. He just didn't have enough magic left.

Luckily a room that typically would have contained Wolf Heads had only Doomknockers (oh gees, "only" Doomknockers. What arrogance). But it would have been nice if he'd calculated things better. The bricks were breakable, he tried to use the downward thrust, and well… ever fall through a floor only to have a two hundred pound Doomknocker land on top of you? Not fun, I assure you. Well at least he got the key. And a mild concussion.

At the bottom of the elevator shaft he was again faced with the familiar choice between east and west. Well heading west meant going through a gate guarded by Wizzrobes and here he was nearly out of magic. East. Yes, there was yet another one of those rooms with the lava and the platforms with bricks in the middle. Man, what idiot architect designed this place? Hard to believe people had lived here once. Well at least this one was free of Doomknockers. Plenty of Demon Heads, though. Link grabbed the key at the end of the room. Time to take a gamble. He had to stab the Ironknuckle statue. He needed a red jar.

"Oh please no unpleasant surprises…"

The lucky streak continued. A red jar popped right out.

It would seem the western passage presented a new problem. While Goatheads may have been no more than a mere inconvenience before, they were a real problem now. Link would try to set himself up to send a Wizzrobe's magic wave right back at it only to have a Goathead trot up and disrupt things. This distraction made it easy for the Wizzrobes to sneak up behind him. He desperately wished he could stab them but all he could do when they were that close was jump out of the way.

"ARSTA!"

In his anger Link rashly wasted a fire spell. Well at least he could nail the Goatheads before they came too close. It was in this way he managed to clear the room but he felt somehow unsatisfied. He shouldn't have had to resort to magic to win.

Another trip over another lava pit led him to the last elevator of the palace. Downstairs two Stalfos Knights and two Ironknuckles (neither of which was blue thankfully) awaited him. They were utterly defeated with little effort and Link prepared himself to face anything in the Guardian's Lair.

It was empty! Again! What in the world…

Link was horribly startled when Carrock appeared out of thin air. Carrock was easily as tall as Horsehead, was dressed in red robes and two evil looking eyes gleamed from beneath its hood. It looked like an evil monk.

Sadly it was one of the more disappointing fights Link had ever had been in. Carrock was essentially a large Wizzrobe. Why Elezaar would model a guardian after Ganon's closest disciples I can't say but that's what he did. Carrock was much faster than the other Wizzrobes and at first Link was utterly helpless against the onslaught. It moved too fast for him and it was knocking him around pretty good. I can tell you that it's hard to fight even a weak enemy when your skin is coming off due to radiation exposure. But as soon as Link crouched down by one of the force fields, Carrock couldn't seem to reach him. In any case all Link had to do was crouch and wait until enough of Carrock's spells had been reflected.

With a dazzling flash of light, Carrock met its end. Statue time. But what should have been a good moment turned sour. That feeling came back. With strength came suffering. Link lay face down on the floor and struggled to breathe as he fought off dry heaves.

End Chapter 10