Chapter 17
When Darunia came to, he remembered rolling down the mountain, and then the ground shaking, and then falling…
He sat up, nearly knocking heads with Zelda. She had woken before him, and was currently attempting to wrap Darunia's head in a piece of material from Link's tunic.
"Are you alright Zelda?" Darunia asked, a hand to his head.
"I'm fine, but you're hurt. Lie back." She insisted, gently pushing him back down.
He made no attempt to sit back up. His head felt like it weighed a few more pounds than it should, and he was pretty dizzy.
Zelda began wrapping his head again, covering the bump covering his left temple.
"Where are we?" Darunia asked suddenly, eyeing the gigantic, misshapen hole above him.
"We must have fallen into a cavern. Perhaps we'll find the scabbard here." Zelda said hopefully, tying the cloth. "How does that feel?"
"My head is killing me." He grinned, and sat up to meet Zelda's worried gaze.
"Maybe we should stop."
"Nonsense, unless you need to."
She sighed, and got to her feet. Her shoulder ached from falling on it, but she brushed the pain away. She wanted to find the scabbard before Devika could.
The cavern had a drippy ceiling with random spikes rising from the ground. Zelda thanked the Goddesses that neither she nor Darunia hadn't fallen on one of them.
"Look," Darunia pointed, "a tunnel."
Sure enough, there was a nice sized tunnel in one of the cavern walls. It didn't look man made, so Zelda pushed away the thought that Devika and the Gerudos had already been there.
She led that way through the tunnel with Darunia followed close behind.
The walls in the tunnel dripped as well, and Zelda found herself shielding the top of her head.
"Any light ahead Zelda?" Darunia asked once they had been walking for a few minutes.
He wouldn't admit it, but he was getting tired. He knew that the bump on his head had a great deal of help in making him tired.
She stopped, and squinted. Her eyes picked up on a faint glow at the end of the tunnel, and she could see that the tunnel curved.
"Yes, yes there is." She murmured, touching the hilt of her sword.
Darunia noticed, and hurried to walk alongside Zelda.
The two made their way quietly to where the tunnel curved, leading into a small room. A torch hung on the wall, lit.
"Someone is here." Zelda whispered to Darunia.
There was no way that the torch could stay lit with the ceiling and walls dripping like that. Someone had recently been inside of that room. They could still be there.
"Let me go ahead inside." Darunia whispered back, stepping in front of Zelda.
"Be careful."
He nodded, and made his way cautiously inside of the room. He noticed another tunnel, as well as an altar made of wood a few feet away from him. On top of the altar was a chest.
"Darunia! Look out!" Zelda suddenly screamed.
Darunia felt himself being pushed out of the way, and slammed his head against the step leading up to the altar.
He groaned in pain, and turned over on his back to see Zelda fighting off three Gerudos, all equipped with spears.
Zelda was using her sword to fight them off, swinging it violently at the three women clad in purple. Her eyes were wild with anger.
Darunia wasted no more time in assisting her, and got to his feet. With ease, he grabbed two of the Gerudos and hurled them into the cavern wall. Their spears fell from their hands as they were picked up.
"Come to steal the treasure Princess?" The standing Gerudo asked, smiling evilly at her.
"We won't be stealing anything," Zelda twisted her arm and grabbed the spear, her face inches from the Gerudo's, "because it isn't yours."
The Gerudo kicked her to the ground, and she rolled away.
As Zelda went to reclaim her fallen sword, her arm wouldn't respond. In fact, it felt numb to her.
"Zelda!" Darunia called to her, grabbed the Gerudo before she could attack her. He deposited of her the same way he had the other two.
They all laid in an unconscious heap against the cavern wall.
"My arm…it's numb." She moaned.
Darunia kneeled by her side, and held her limp arm in his hands. He examined it, as well as her shoulder.
"You've dislocated your shoulder." He told her grimly.
"Dislocated?" She repeated, knowing what Darunia must do.
"I can fix it-"
"Do it Darunia. Just do it." She clenched her teeth, and closed her eyes tightly.
He took a deep breath, and gripped her shoulder with one hand. With the other, he took a firm hold of her arm.
With one movement, he snapped the arm back into place. The sound was sickening, and echoed through the cavern.
Zelda cried out in pain, tears stinging her eyes. But she refused to cry, instead she just kept her eyes tightly closed.
"I have to make you a sling." Darunia told her, wondering how in the world she kept her tears back.
He unwrapped his head, and used the cloth to make a sling for Zelda's arm.
"Can you walk?" He asked when her arm was securely wrapped.
"Yes, just…can you help me up." She asked in a tired voice.
Darunia gently pulled her to her feet, and then eyed the tunnel.
"Now for the scabbard." Zelda said suddenly, making her way to the step.
She touched the wooden altar, searching for any inscriptions or writings. When she found none, Zelda simply opened the chest.
A flash of light shot out from inside, engulfing the room. Darunia and Zelda shielded their eyes from it.
A soft voice seemed to be whispering incantations. The voice seemed to come from every corner of the room, as if it were omnipresent.
Suddenly, the room darkened once again, except for the glow from the torch. Zelda saw a scabbard had replaced the chest's place.
It was a navy blue color and it was covered in golden Triforce symbols. The name Hiroshi was scrawled down the side in gold cursive.
"We found it." She breathed, letting Darunia take the scabbard from the altar.
"I'm sure that if there are Gerudos here…then there are Gerudos fighting the others too." He said softly.
"We have to hurry." Zelda ran ahead of Darunia, heading into the other tunnel.
He followed after Zelda, and his heart sank when he saw that the tunnel ended not too long after it began. Another hold was made in the ceiling, only a lot smaller.
"How do we get out?" Zelda asked in a small voice.
"There's no way."
"Help! Someone!" Zelda screamed, beating against the cavern wall with her good fist. "Help!"
Darunia watched her scream until her voice became hoarse. She sank to her knees, looking up at the hole. No one was coming.
Night descended, and still no one had come.
Zelda had fallen asleep out of exhaustion against the cavern wall, her head tilted back against it. She was mumbling inaudible things as she slept.
Darunia watched her with care, looking away only to see if anyone was coming.
He was beginning to lose hope when he heard the sound of a horse whinnying. He knew it was Epona almost instantly.
"Kou! Kou!" He shouted.
A few moments later, the small boy's head appeared over the side of the hole.
"How'd you get down there?" He asked.
"No time to explain. Do you have a rope?"
Kou disappeared and then reappeared with a rope. He threw it over the side.
"You're lucky that Link has all of this stuff handy." Kou said, tying the rope to Epona's saddle.
Darunia went to Zelda's side.
"Wake up Zelda." He said loudly in her ear, feeling guilty for waking her.
"Link, stop it." She whispered, turning her head away from Darunia.
He chuckled, and carefully threw the woman over his shoulder, being cautious of her injured arm. He then grabbed onto the rope.
"Ready?" He asked Kou.
"Yeah."
It was difficult for Darunia to climb with Zelda over his shoulder, but understood that she was tired, so he didn't mind.
When he reached the top, Kou helped him out.
Darunia laid Zelda on the ground, and chuckled again as she mumbled again in her sleep.
"What news do you bring Kou?" He asked, turning back to the boy.
"Link said that none of the Kokiri are dead…but one got hurt today." Kou said quietly.
"Who?" Darunia asked in a concerned voice.
It took a moment for the boy to reply.
"Saria." He whispered.
"Saria?" Darunia thundered, thinking of the little girl he had grown to be very good friends with.
"Y-yes. She was injured fighting a sea snake. Link told her not to come because she had already gone, but she went anyways."
Darunia attempted to soften his face and his voice.
"Anything else?"
Kou shook his head sadly, and looked over at Zelda.
"Is she alright?" He asked, eyeing her sling.
"She's just sleeping." Darunia assured him.
"What message do you want me to bring to Link?"
"Give him this." Darunia handed Kou the scabbard, grinning. "Be careful with it."
"I will." Kou said, his eyes wide in wonderment.
The scabbard seemed to glow in the darkness around them.
Darunia watched as Kou rode away, and wondered how Saria was doing. He also wondered how Link was doing. Saria was one of his best friends.