Chapter Sixteen
Aquatic Attack

Led by Ruto, the soaked travelers marched up the long tunnel leading to the heart of Zora's Domain. King Zora, Ruto's obese father, was waiting for them at the end. Saria and Zelda, who had never seen the Zora monarch before, gaped at the fat king until they noticed his fisheye glaring at them.

"Father, I bring you these guests." Ruto spoke to him with as she kneeled on the raised platform. Link noticed the slight contempt in her voice as she spoke, obviously still mad about the earlier events.

"Welcome." King Zora replied in a booming voice. "Darunia, it has been too long my friend. I am sorry to hear about your home."

"Indeed it has." The goron replied with a bow of his rocky head. "I only hope my people were able to get away from the mountain in time." The two leaders were silent for a moment until a messenger that came running up the tunnel broke the peace. The slightly exhausted Zora stopped on the raised platform next to Darunia and kneeled.

"My lord!" He cried in a raspy voice. "There are stalfos at the waterfall gate! They are climbing the cliff!" The reaction was instantaneous. Link already had his sword out by the end of the messenger's speech and several Zora guards were hissing in the direction of the gate.

"They are attempting to enter our domain by going through Jabu Jabu's shrine!" King Zora exclaimed. "You must defend Jabu Jabu at all costs! Now let me move out of the way…" The fat Zora began shifting across the wide waterfall that served as his throne…very slowly. After thirty seconds of straining to budge an inch, Link cast a meaningful glance at Darunia. Taking the hint, the Goron walked up the ramp up to King Zora's side.

"Don't take this personally, your highness." Darunia said to the obese fish as he began pushing him out of the way.

"Whatever works…" King Zora muttered as the warriors filed through, his dignity somewhat insulted.

Running down the flooded tunnel, Zelda was taken by surprise as Ruto suddenly grabbed the Forger Crystal out of her belt.

"What's this?" She asked imperiously. After Zelda told her, Ruto gave the crystal a wave and an intricate Zoran javelin appeared. "Excellent." The Zora princess, satisfied with her new weapon, carelessly tossed the crystal back to Zelda. The Hylian princess waved the crystal and a gilded double bladed staff appeared in front of her. With a satisfied smile, she grabbed the staff and followed Link out the tunnel.

Two Dinolfos stood on the feeding platform of Jabu Jabu, burning the fish's scales wherever their fiery breaths touched. At the sight of their deity in pain, the Zoras went berserk. In a single wave of fury, the Zoras flattened the Dinolfos and skewered their corpses with a dozen spears. Ffftt! A Zora warrior fell, an arrow embedded in his back.

"On the wall!" Link yelled at the others, pointing at the dozen Stalfos that had just climbed over the dam. Ffftt! Another of the Zoras fell. Link drew his bow and aimed at the stalfos archer. Whump! "Aah!" The hylian found himself flat on his back, staring at the red eye of a Blue Tektite. The tektite charged at his face again, its small jaws snapping hungrily. Link swung his sword and dismembered both of its front legs in a single swipe. Its red eye glowing with anger, the tektite furiously scrabbled its back legs in an attempt to charge at him. With a swift stroke at its back, Link easily cleaved the creature in two. Ffftt! Link looked back at the archer as the skeleton sniper took out another Zora. After a quick check for Tektites, Link obliterated the archer with a light arrow.

"Oh, hell no…" Link muttered as twenty stalfos jumped over the dam. He sprinted to the dam and climbed to the top of it, disposing of two stalfos along the way. Someone jumped into the middle of the fray and Link stared agape as Zelda began spinning around with the grace of a ballet dancer as her swift bladed staff cut down the stalfos like weeds.

"Algrasath!" An Elite Stalfos nearby yelled at her, sending an azure ball of power into her midst. The blast knocked her off her feet and slammed her into the wall of the dam, knocking her out.

"No!" Link fired a light arrow at the Elite but the swift skeleton flipped over it and landed on the dam. The two foes glared at each other for a few seconds, measuring each other up. The Stalfos wore the elegant bronze breastplate of a general. General Stalakor parried Link's first strike and delivered a counterstrike so fast that sent Link toppling off the dam. Catching the edge with a single hand; his sword flew out of his other hand and disappeared at the bottom of the waterfall. He looked up at his opponent's skull, facing the end.

"The Stalfos will rule forever!" The elite roared as it plunged its blood-red sword into Link's arm. As he screamed in agony, his injured arm lost its grip on the dam and the Hylian plummeted down the waterfall into the freezing waters of Zora's River.

A Stalfos launched itself into Darunia, who was delivering colossal punches in all directions, and knocked the Goron off his feet. His rocky back began sliding down the sloped ground toward the deadly water. Unsuccessfully, he groped at the slick ground and found himself sinking rapidly into the depths of Jabu Jabu's lake.

Another Stalfos leapt onto Ruto, knocking the Zora Princess face down on the cold rocks. With a deft swipe, the skeleton's sword chopped off her hand, sending the javelin into the depths. Before the Stalfos could decapitate the unconscious Zora, two daggers cut through its vital backbone. Impa looked over at Zelda's unconscious form and watched helplessly as General Stalakor jumped down from the dam and grabbed her wrist, teleporting her with him to the Stal-King's tower. Seconds later, a sword clanged down hard on her helmet.

Saria watched hopelessly as Impa crashed to the ground. Gripping her dagger, the Kokiri jabbed at a nearby Stalfos and before the skeleton could respond, she jumped into its ribcage. Surprised at the girl inside its chest, the Stalfos began punching at her with steel gauntlets, breaking its own ribs. As it roared in pain, Saria stabbed her dagger upward into its skull and the skeleton broke apart, freeing her from the bony cage. As the last Stalfos went down, a half-hearted cheer came from the Zora survivors. They had won the battle but at great cost.

Jabu Jabu dived into the deep water and soon surfaced, carrying a groggy Darunia in his mouth. A Zora survivor revived Ruto and administered a blue potion, regrowing her missing hand. Saria looked around the battlefield, her spirits sinking like a rock. Link and Zelda were nowhere to be found…