Chapter 12

PALACE 5

It took Link all of three seconds to decide that he hated this place. A cold dankness seemed to envelop every inch of the Water Palace. Oddly enough, it was green in color and seemed to be made of some sort of metal. The dark color made the palace seem more sinister and it made it darker inside than a palace normally would be.

The first corridor was no challenge. Just bricks, Ropes, and a Demon Head Statue. But the very next room was infested with Skull Balls and in order to pass through it he needed to get over a tall wall. Only one thing to do.

"AGRA!"

He hated wasting that much magic that early on but there was no choice. While it was true that being a fairy made him a difficult target to hit it also left him defenseless. He hated that. Especially now. For some reason he couldn't seem to pick up the key at the top of the wall. It was heavier than the glove. He had to fly far enough away for the spell to wear off and then go back to the previous room to slay the last Skull Ball and get the key.

Not one "original" obstacle lay ahead. He had to cross a disappearing bridge over a lava pit with Demon Heads flying all over. One hit would have knocked him into the lava below. The next room had those drippy ceiling thingies that produced Bots, more brick barriers, and yes, two Red Ironknuckles in an environment with limited mobility. All rather repetitive. Maybe it was boring but boring might just keep him alive. He opened a nearby gate and took an elevator downwards.

Huh, that was strange. Link had gone east when he got downstairs but for the first time in all of his palace experiences he hit a dead end with nothing of value waiting for him there. He had been told by a villager that there was a false wall somewhere in this palace but upon examination it seemed to be real enough. Nothing to do but turn around and head west. Link was seriously starting to dislike this place more and more every minute. And it hadn't even really begun to get dangerous yet.

"Son of a…"

Dead bodies. Of all the sights Link didn't want to see the top selection on his list was right in front of him, both terrifying and mocking him. He was being emotionally beaten over the head with memories of Darunia. Seven elf men lay cut up on small altars. Seven men, seven towns, seven sages. Not just sick but symbolic.

Now Link understood what he hated so much about this place. He had sensed it before he saw it. This was no ordinary palace. It was being used a high temple of human sacrifice… er, elf sacrifice, well you get the idea… for the priests of the Cult of Ganon. Magos, as these vile priests were called, were all over the place. Like the Wizzrobes, they were elves and possessed the ability to teleport but they could stay in a dematerialized state for longer periods of time. Rather than radioactive waves, they used fire as a weapon which traveled along the floor much more slowly. Link wasted a Reflect Spell only to discover that the fire could not be sent back at its source.

"Why are you doing this?" Link shouted. "He's a liar. He won't reward you for taking his side. When he has all the power he'll just kill you."

No response. Just wicked laughter which seemed to come from nowhere.

"Did he tell you I'd say that? He did, didn't he? Did he convince you I was wrong and that you'll be spared and rewarded? Or are so messed up that you'll gladly embrace death in his name? In that case I have no sympathy for you. Your blood will atone for Darunia. Come meet your death!"

One Mago appeared right behind Link. Before it could attack he stabbed it right in the chest. He expected it to go down but its power had made it strong. It stumbled back a step or two and disappeared but it still managed to get off a fireball which Link hadn't expected and had a difficult time dodging.

Was it worth staying here and fighting it out with these freaks? Probably not. Would they follow him if he went on? Only one way to find out. Link headed west as quickly as possible. To his dismay their pattern of teleportation did indeed seem to follow him but at least they didn't try to follow him out of the room. He promised himself that was the last time he'd run from them. Next time he'd take their lives.

The following room also had a collapsing ceiling like what he had encountered in the second palace. But this one had one major difference. Up on a shelf nearby was a key too high for him to reach. This gave him an idea. Maybe if he could break the bricks in a certain pattern he could get up there.

"AGDA!"

Link set to work right away. Once four blocks had fallen nearby he realized breaking wasn't needed. He leapt straight up onto the shelf and grabbed the key. But now what? In front of him more and more bricks rained down and stacked up in an erratic pattern. Not only that but he heard an unpleasantly familiar high pitched noise. An Orange Moa had come to join the fun.

Timing was everything now. Link waited until the bricks were stacked nearly all the way up to the ceiling. At exactly the right moment he jumped like a stag towards the west side of the pile. A falling brick nearly crushed him but he kept his head and nailed it with the upward thrust. As he reached the edge he saw the Moa right below him. He jumped off and nailed the Moa with the downward thrust on the way down, careful not to land on the fireball it had just dropped.

His usual fans where waiting for him in the next room. Three Ironknckles in a row. By now only the Blue ones were a match for him. He wished somehow he could sic these things on the bad guys. How do you tell an empty suit of armor you are on its side? Well at least one of them dropped a red jar.

The elevator took him to another fork in the road complete with complementary Magos. This time he kept his word and took the time to slug it out with them. They were quite crafty. The two of them avoided him well and reappeared on both sides of him seeming to box him in. Sad for them that they didn't know about the downward thrust, eh? What is also sad to report is the satisfaction Link derived from slamming his blade into fellow elves. Marcellus' advice about not hating the Cult members had long since become meaningless to him.

Now which way to go? Well he had gone east before and hit a dead end. It couldn't happen twice in a row, now could it? What do you think?

Several minutes later Link returned to the elevator shaft bruised and angry. There had indeed been a dead end. Of course by the time he figured that out he had already fought through Bago Bagos, a lava pit, and not one, not two, but three Ironknuckles, one of them blue. A blade had hit him in the armpit. Now he was pissed.

It was time to chose paths again. There was another elevator shaft up ahead but Link also had the choice of going straight ahead on the path. Whatever instincts Link had earlier had faded somewhat but now they were starting to kick in again. He took the elevator downwards but only down one floor. This place was laced with dead ends all over and he was determined not to walk into another one. To the east there was a Red Ironknuckle standing on a high shelf guarding a key. Perfect.

"AGDA!"

Oops, he had forgotten one little detail. It's a little difficult to fight an Ironknuckle with the Jump spell in place. The whole operation depends on jumping up and fooling it into dropping its shield. This one had too much time to react. He had to jump over it several times before he could kill it. With the key in hand, Link continued west.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!"

Another dead end? Link had just fought his way through several hostile Magos and a Blue Ironknuckle. One of the Magos had sunk its long fingernails into his left eyebrow and cut it very badly. It had aimed for his eye but missed. The Ironknuckle had fractured his jaw with its shield. Now this. It just seemed so unfair. He wanted to scream. In his frustration he kicked the wall. Or at least he tried to. His foot hit nothing and he fell on his ass. There was a tunnel through the wall! It wasn't magic, it was an optical illusion hiding it. He might have walked past a million times without seeing it.

That laughter. Oh those damn Magos just wouldn't let up. What was it going to take to get rid of those things? And yet oddly enough, Link's instincts told him to ignore not only the Magos but also the elevator in the next hall and continue west. Well his instincts had yet to lead him wrong but Link was itching for a fight. He had promised himself not to avoid Magos anymore. But the mission was more important. So be it.

The next corridor featured even more Magos and (big surprise here, folks) even more Goatheads. Oh goodie, he'd get his fight after all. After battling to his heart's content (again enjoying killing too much) he took the elevator at the end of the hall. He just had to see where this would take him. To be precise, where it took him was a large room with three Blue Stalfos and barriers between each one. OH JOY, an unguarded key. Well not exactly unguarded but it wasn't like those Stalfos could do anything but kiss their bony butts goodbye as soon as they took on Link.

Well, now it was time to take that last elevator he had passed up. Oh what a miserable time he was in for! Magos and Wolfs Heads and Ironknuckles, oh my! (That's a joke, son) And… what the heck was this? A flute? Were there whirlwinds in this territory too?

Link was in for a long and boring walk. West, up, east for a while, and Link found himself back at the first elevator that had lead him to this part of the palace. Heading back up, Link walked east yet again reaching another elevator. Since he honestly had no clue which way to go, Link chose to go up. Bad choice. There was a gate and three Ironknuckles waiting up there and he had no more keys. Well he was fed up and wasn't going to go looking for it.

"AGRA!"

Transforming into a fairy, Link easily floated through the gate, over their heads, and pretty soon he found himself walking into a room with very familiar draperies. As well as the most intimidating guardian he had ever seen. It was Gooma.

Gooma was a monster in every sense of the word. It stood about eight and a half feet tall and must have weighed a couple thousand pounds, nearly all of it muscle. It was dressed in singlet with only one shoulder strap. On its head it wore an enormous leather mask similar to those of Mexican wrestlers but with one major difference: this one had several dagger-sharp spikes on top.

Link immediately applied the Shield and Jump spells. He was furious at himself for being afraid. As soon as Gooma came to life, it pulled out an enormous mace and chain and approached Link menacingly. Link crept up closer. Too close! He had to jump out of the way of a very forceful mace swing. No sooner had the mace swung by than Link jumped up and attacked its head. Hey, it worked on three of the four guardians he had met before this one.

BANG!

Link got hit so hard he nearly had an out of body experience. He desperately struggled to his feet. He had suffered horrible injuries in spite of the Shield spell. His ribs were badly broken, he had bad puncture wounds to the torso and he was in so much pain that he nearly went crazy. If the elves had discovered morphine at that point in history, he would have done anything for a dose. The spells he had used had taken up too much of his magic. He couldn't heal himself. But one more hit and he was a goner for sure.

There was only one chance to find this creature's vulnerability and figure out how to attack it. Gooma was closing fast. Oh gosh, it was hard to think with all the pain! If it wasn't the head, perhaps the legs? No. No way. The torso? It had to be! Link crept up again and lured Gooma into swinging its mace again. This time when he jumped he stabbed Gooma right in the gut. Success! It flashed and stumbled backwards. No time! No time at all! If it backed him up he was done for. Link attacked as quickly and ruthlessly as he could. Once, twice, three times…

"AH!"

Gooma had nailed him again. This time the blow didn't connect quite so well and Link fell to the ground right in front of the monster. Instead of swinging its mace and finishing him off, Gooma stepped on Link's foot, crushing nearly every bone in it.

Something happened. Something bad. That sudden feeling of anger and hate came over him again but not like before. This time it was far more intense and seemed to occupy every fiber of his being. It was like a voice in his head telling him to kill. And this time he decided to give in to it. In a sudden rage he cut Goomas arm off, the one it had been holding its mace with. He grabbed Gooma's other arm and bit into it as hard as he possibly could, ripping off a considerable chunk. Grasping his sword, he dealt a blow to Goomas body so severe that it nearly cut him in two. The fight was over. Gooma detonated.

"No! MORE! I want MOOOOOORRRRREEEE!"

Ignoring the statue completely, Link ran out into the previous hall where two Ironknuckles awaited him.

"GAH!"

He angrily cut through them both ignoring the Sting spells that were cutting up his abdomen. The third crossed through the gate in his direction only to meet the same fate.

The gate! It was in his way! Link angrily slammed against it and howled like a wild animal. But wait! A key had dropped from the ceiling. He could use that and…

Suddenly the pain that he was in became so much worse that it snapped him back to reality. He was hurting too badly to feel any emotions right now so he limped all the way over to the statue. The moment he was healed and outside the palace he collapsed into the sand and shook all over.

"No…. What's happening to me?"

Now was seriously starting to wonder if he really did kill those people in Darunia. What had he become? Far more had happened on this trip than he had ever bargained for but this was too much to take. Was he Dr. Jeckle now? Would Zelda have ever fallen for such a fiend? Ever since he had left the mainland he felt like he'd left his sanity behind. This wasn't righteous anger. This was sick!

"Link…"

There was no mistaking that voice. It was Zelda. But no more words came. Was it a comfort? Wait…

Link understood something. Whatever this was and how it had happened didn't matter. He could control it. Of course it was horribly difficult but ultimately he had made the decision to give in inside the palace. Thank God it had been only enemies he had attacked.

Link still had one great hope. He hoped that the reunion of the Triforces would overcome whatever was within in him. But perhaps when he was asleep he couldn't control it. Link crossed back over the water and hid in some tall grass. In the distance he could see Impa. He knew he could never allow her to be put in harm's way again.

"Goodbye granny," he whispered. "From here on out I have to go it alone."

"Link, you're never alone…"

Zelda again. The sadness he had felt at leaving the old woman behind passed somewhat. He forced himself to go on.

End Chapter 12