Chapter Twenty Two
The Failure of a Hero…
"Inside." Stalakor barked at his new prisoners. Another stalfos picked up Link's prone form and the others began advancing on the sages threateningly. Clearly out of any other options, the sages filed into the dark corridor after the skeleton general. Saria shuddered at the sudden cold, all of the heat of the black desert evaporated as the cold stone walls plummeted the temperature to near freezing. With an echoing slam, the door and only source of light slammed shut. Plunging them all into darkness, they had to try and perceive the world with their other senses. The floor was cold and slimy, as if it was covered in some rotting substance. A putrid stench hung in the air, growing stronger as they marched deeper into the dark tower's dungeons. Sounds of screams wafted up the tunnel, causing Saria to gasp. Opening her mouth, she discovered that the air even tasted foul. With a small gagging noise, she shut her mouth and didn't dare to open it until the general opened a door, enveloping them in a glorious dim light. At least she thought it was glorious until she saw what was causing the green luminescence.
At the top of the domed outer dungeon, a horrid green crystal the size of a tree was glowing, illuminating the large room with a sickly green light. For a while, Saria couldn't place what was so horrid about the crystal that was causing her stomach to clench. Unnatural… As a child of the forest, everything she saw and perceive was natural, even tools wrought by hands were still composed of natural components. This crystal however, Saria could tell there was nothing natural about it. It had been wrought entirely by magic, evil magic at that.
"Welcome." The sages looked toward the source of the familiar voice of the Stal King who was entering the room, a whip in hand. It was covered in blood. For several long moments they glared at each other. Surprisingly, it was Impa, the quietest of them all who broke the silence, her voice cracking with a mixture of anger and dread.
"What did you do to her?" She pointed at the King's whip. The blood on it appeared to be glowing in the eerie crystal's light. The King did his skin crawling smirk as the sages caught on.
"Oh, nothing much… just tortured her out of her mind." His smirk became a maniacal grin.
"You bastard…" Link's disoriented voice spoke, the effects of the curse was apparently wearing off as he glared at the stalfos king with slightly crossed eyes. "You…" He proceeded to call the King some rather obscene things that made Saria gape at him despite their current situation. "I'm going to kill you!" Link concluded at the end of his cuss rant. He lunged forward, only to have his legs give out and land flat on his face against the moldy floor.
"Hahahaha!" The King crowed. "Kill me as you are? Fool. If you didn't have what I needed, I'd squash you like the mortal insect you are! Solnakag!" With the last word, lightning shot out of the Stal-King's bony fingers and blasted Link with unimaginable energy. The force of it sent the helpless hero crashing against the wall, screaming in agony. "Like it?" The skeleton sneered after ceasing the torrent. "Your girlfriend has been on the receiving end of that one for a week!" With an angry growl, Link sprang to his feet, fueled by blind rage. He knocked the stalfos guards out of the way, taking their swords, and charged at the skeleton monarch.
CLANG!
Both swords clashed hard on Stalakor's blade that had risen in the Stal-King's defense. Laughing, the skeleton king sat down in a stone throne that had appeared out of nowhere to watch the fight.
CLANG!
Link's swords hit Stalakor's again as the enraged hero tried to charge at the king again. With a deft swipe at Link's legs, Stalakor incapacitated the Hylian. Thinking the battle was over the skeleton general began to turn away when he had to block one of Link's swords. Though down, Link slashed at the stalfos furiously, the skeleton blocking his every blow. Frustrated, Link threw one of the swords at the general's head. Stalakor barely had time to deflect the projectile with a block.
"Foolish move." Stalakor growled. "Didn't anybody ever teach you tactics?" Link stabbed at the skeleton in fury. Slamming his foot down on Link's blade, the stalfos effectively disarmed his opponent. The stalfos picked up Link's sword and began advancing on the hero who had managed to get to his knees. Stalakor positioned his swords, "scissor-style" around the Hylian's neck. "Cooperate, or you'll never see your princess again!" He growled.
"Damn you." Link muttered under his breath. Satisfied, Stalakor removed the blades and several other stalfos approached and bound the hero's hands.
"Very entertaining…" the Stal-king sneered. "Though I had hoped for better." With a nod of the monarch's skull, the other stalfos bound the other sages and led them off to the dungeons. "As for you…." The king continued turning his attention back on Link. "You will give me the Triforce of Courage!"
Link scoffed. "You are still trying to wring them out of us with begging?"
"No." The king sneered. "Merely giving you a chance. Now that I have the both of you, things will be much easier…" With a snap of his fingers, the remaining guards shackled the hero and dragged him to the depths of the dungeons…
Screams echoed up the dark tunnel as the stalfos pushed Link through it. Mixed emotions passed his mind as they went deeper and deeper into the depths of the tower. Hope to see Zelda again, fear of what had been done to her, sick from the horrid stench of decay, not to mention being sore as hell from his duel with Stalakor. Coming to an empty cell, the guards roughly shoved him in.
"Gruka snarkak." One of the skeletons barked at a moblin who promptly saluted. "Solkag gruelkak." The stalfos continued and the moblin grunted in affirmation. After the skeletons exited the room, Link watched wearily from his cell as the moblin just as promptly sat back down and fell asleep, grunting loud snores.
What seemed like hours later, light flooded the dark dungeon, rousing Link from his stupefied state. The moblin was still snoring loudly, apparently not having heard the door. Closing the door silently, the three figures that entered slowly crept along the dungeon wall. Link squinted at the newcomers as the light from the door was extinguished as it closed. As they crept past his cell, he stared in surprise as he recognized the red-haired girl in the middle of the line. Malon looked at him, spotting the hero with a very audible gasp.
"Kr-snork!" The moblin guard suddenly snorted loudly, clearly irritated by the disturbance of its sleep. The large man at the back of the trio quickly dashed at the guard and killed the pig with a lethal blow to the neck.
"Ganondorf?" Link spoke incredulously as the large man returned to break the hero's shackles. The gerudo's jewel that was embedded in his forehead glowed a dim orange as he crushed the shackles with a makeshift hammer.
"Yeah kid. I bet you never thought I'd bust you out of here eh?" Ganon replied, chuckling a soft version of his evil laugh. Once Link was free from the shackles, he collapsed to the ground. Ever since the battle with Stalakor, he seemed to be growing weaker and weaker.
"Link? Are you alright?" Malon asked him with concern. After a shake of his head, Quin and the farm girl each took an arm and began helping the weary hero along.
"Ah, how very brave and extremely foolish." The quartet halted at the dreaded voice that spoke behind them. Ganondorf turned toward the Stal-King with a feral growl. The King was walking toward them with his decayed skin pulled tight into a triumphant grin. Behind them, the stalfos general that Link had fought was glaring at them with burning hatred.
"Allow me." Stalakor growled, stepping forward, only to be stopped by the Stal-King.
"Take the others and put them into cells, and watch them personally. The moblins have let them escape too many times." The skeleton king looked at Link. "You on the other hand…are coming with me." With a wave of his boney hand, Link was pulled forward out of Quin and Malon's grips. The skeletal fingers clasped around Link's arm with an incredible amount of force.
It's time to pay a visit to your fiancée. And it won't be a happy one…" With an evil smirk, the skeleton led Link down toward the deepest dungeons…