Chapter 13: The Fortress of Ice

By the time Link reached at the end of the tunnel, he was already shivering. The cold of the frozen dungeon pierced his clothing and bit into his flesh like icy fangs, forcing him to clasp his arms around his torso in a vain effort to ward off the chill. His teeth were chattering and his whole face felt as if it had been dusted with frost. More to distract himself from the cold than anything else, he briefly looked around the first chamber of the icy, wet domain now known as the Fortress of Ice. Sheets of solid ice spanned the floor and ceiling, smooth and moist to the touch, while irregular outgrowths of multifaceted ice crystals overwhelmed the walls, each one containing hundreds of images of the same shivering Hylian. Considering that Link had never been colder in his life, he was somewhat perplexed when he noticed puddles nearby, water dripping from the damp ceiling, and a small pool spanning the middle of the room. Why these weren't frozen as well, Link had no idea; but he hardly had time to think it over. A screeching sound drew his gaze upward and, above him, Ice Keese fluttered about the room, ready to swoop down on any intruders. Deciding not to give them the chance to notice his presence, Link raced toward the stone door ahead, which was bordered by another sheet of ice and one of the inexplicable pools of water. He shivered all the more from the chilled air flowing through the chamber. Link had been no stranger to the cold, as his quests had taken him to the Ice Cavern on the far side of the Zora's Fountain and to the wintry peaks of Snowhead in Termina, but either of those seemed like the beach at Great Bay compared to the Fortress of Ice. He was surprised that the entire room hadn't yet been frozen solid. Still, Link slowly walked towards the pool of water, dreading that he'd have to swim through it to reach the other side. Images of becoming a living ice sculpture danced through Link's imagination, and chilled him all the more.

"This has g-g-got to be the c-coldest place I've ever b-been in," Link commented through his chattering teeth.

"I agree. This is w-worse than the Ice Cavern," Navi chattered.

"If Ruto is h-here, I don't know how in blazes sh-she takes it! YIKES!"

Link had heard the fluttering of one of the Ice Keese just in time, and dove out of the way as the creature swooped straight for him. He retaliated by drawing his sword and cleaving the icy bat in two. Deciding he would be no worse off for a jump in the likely freezing water, Link dove into the pool. He quickly decided that that decision was definitely not one of his best. The water was so cold, it burned. His lungs heaved and his heart pounded as the icy water seemed to clutch him in a grip that Morpha, who had been the boss of the Water Temple in the dark future, would envy. Knowing better than to turn back and give the Ice Keese another chance at him, Link pumped his arms and legs as much as he could, as much to keep them from going numb as to reach the other side. By the time he neared his goal, his limps felt so numb that he couldn't even feel them anymore. Once he reached the far side and forced his frozen limbs into motion to clamber out of the water, searing pain shot up and down his body as the blood began flowing through his numb limbs.

"H-Holy…c-c-cuccos!" Link exclaimed, nearly doubling over in agony. "I w-was only in th-there for what, a few seconds and alr-ready I c-can barely move!"

"Oh, honestly, Link, is it r-really that bad?" Navi retorted.

Indeed, this was true. Link's limbs and joints felt as if they'd been frozen solid and, when he forced them into motion, the pain made his eyes water.

"Y-Yes! Heck, people lose limbs this way. But I…I can take it… I think…"

"Whatever…"

Once the pain had, slightly, subsided, Link staggered to the door and, to his relief, it was not frozen shut. It opened readily enough but, to Link's dismay, the next few rooms were no different. In every frozen room, enemies abounded. Even worse, in the second and third chambers, Link encountered yet another unpleasant memory from his earlier quests: Freezards. He had encountered the fairly small, horned creatures, which seemed to be made completely of ice, in the Ice Cavern and the Snowhead Temple. As far as Link was concerned, he hated these things almost as much as he hated Torch Slugs. Unlike many of this foes, there was little warning before they unleashed their frozen breath, and one hit would render him frozen in a block of ice. Worse still, however, Freezards always populated cold places and might very well be swarming this dungeon. Luckily, it only took a few strikes to bring one down…assuming that whoever was enhancing these monsters had not corrected that flaw.

Link soon had no choice but to find out, however. The next room was lair to several of the chilly monsters and the door was sealed off by bars, leaving Link with no choice but to do battle. Luckily, the Freezards were spread throughout the room, so Link then decided that the best tactic was to focus on only one of the creatures at a time. He quickly discovered, however, that the Freezards' freezing breath now had a wider range. Kelli's lessons in the back slice allowed Link to outmaneuver the blast, but the coating of frost newly added to his boots told him that he would not be so lucky a second time. Thankfully, since there were only a few populating the chamber, Link was able to engage them one at a time with little risk of being being exposed to flanking fire from another Freezard. Even better, whatever fiend enhanced these Freezards neglected another glaring weakness in the creature. A Freezard always expelled their frozen breath for several, long seconds and, better yet, they still couldn't move. Taking a hint from his still frost encrusted boots, Link waited until the Freezard unleashed its freezing breath and back flipped out of range. With their wider attack, Link had to weave a broader circle around his foe to reach the creature's backside and then use a jump attack to close the gap.

Well, a little exercise will help warm the bones, Link mused, unimpressed with these latest enemies.

Each one went down with only three strikes, shattering into hundreds of ice shards under his sword and melting away. When the last of them fell, the bars on the door rose. Link immediately entered after, all the more eager to be done with this dungeon as soon as possible.

The next room was much larger than the first few Link had explored. If he had been puzzled by the unfrozen puddles in the frigid dungeon, then he was confounded to see a waterfall cascading into a large pool of water. The muddled hero spent several long moments gazing at the water for…well, he wasn't really sure what he was looking for. Still, instincts honed by negotiated many dungeons and all the dangers therein told him that there was something decidedly strange about the unfrozen water. What that might be, he could not say but he suspected that he'd find out soon enough…and that the knowledge would prove vital. The banks of the eerie lake were bordered on one side by a barrier of strange bars, which rose out of the water and nearly touched the ceiling, while the water flowed through a small canal that had been carved into the floor and which ran the length of the room. More than a little curious as to why the canal had not frozen, Link surveyed the lake a second time. Just beyond, the lake itself was dotted with small icebergs, floating upon the water's surface. Link could see a door on the far side of the lake, but the bars were too tall for Link to leap over and too narrow to squeeze through. Furthermore, there were no targets for his Grappleshot. What's more, even if Link had been willing to risk another swim through the icy waters, and even Ruto seemed preferable to that, the bars appeared to run all the way to the bottom of the lake and the gaps between them were too small for Link to fit through. But, then again, it was probably just as well, for small rays known as Stingers populated the water while more Ice Keese winged about the room. The canal divided the section of the room Link was in clean in half and, on the opposite side, were other doors. One door, bordering the strange lake, was barred while the one across the canal was sealed with a lock and chains. Before Link could begin wondering how to open one of them, he spotted a dark blue, rusty eye switch on the wall between the two doors.

Suspecting that triggering it would unseal the barred door, Link drew his bow and fired a Sun Arrow at the switch. To his surprise, instead of opening the door, it caused a small treasure chest to shimmer into existence right below it. Intrigued, Link hopped over the canal, walked over to the chest, and opened it to find a small key. While carefully avoiding the Ice Keese and Stingers, Link approached the chained door and inserted his new key into the lock. Upon entering the newly accessible room, Link immediately noticed that this chamber was much different than the other rooms he'd visited. To his astonishment, it was not frozen. The ceiling was arrayed with stalactites, but these were of stone rather than ice, which wept droplets of water into puddles scattered across the floor. A door at the opposite end of the cave led onward, but Freezards populated the room once again, along with a group of Blue Tektites, forcing Link to be all the more cautious as he attacked. Tektites were weak creatures, but their agility made them dangerous.

As he fought his way through the creatures in order to reach the door ahead, Link decided to take out the Tektites first. He'd already seen these enhanced monsters try to get the better of him by working in teams, and they'd nearly succeeded once or twice, so he wanted to make sure the Tektites couldn't knock him into the path of the Freezards' frozen breath. One Freezard had very nearly struck him in the process, but Link managed to leap out of the way at the last second. Fortunately, the Tektites didn't seem to have changed much, though whoever or whatever could make even Stalfos and Iron Knuckles more dangerous likely wouldn't have bothered with the feeble Tektikes in the first place. As such, each one fell to his blade fairly easily, allowing Link to quickly turn his focus upon the Freezards. By back flipping out of range of the Freezards' wider breath and weaving a wide circle to strike them from behind, Link soon cleared the room and continued to the door ahead. A smug grin graced his features at the easy victory, but then it vanished as something occurred to him. This dungeon had, thus far, been a little too easy. Even the simplest and un-enhanced enemies had put up fierce resistance but here, aside from his swim through the icy pond, he hadn't even been met with a decent challenge. More curious still, the rooms were not even half as complex as those from the prior dungeons. Wary of this seeming ease, and suspecting it was deceptive, Link pressed on.

However, the next room turned out to be a dead end. It contained no doors, save for the one Link had come through. In fact, the chamber was completely empty except for a single switch sitting in the middle of the floor and several puddles of water scattered everywhere. More icy stalactites thrust downward from the ceiling as well, weeping droplets and looking eerily like fangs waiting to bite an intruder in half. Shivering from both the cold and the imagery, Link approached the switch and stepped on it. He had expected the switch to cause a treasure chest to drop from some unseen hiding place in the ceiling, which happened often in the cal-du-sacs of the dungeons. Yet, he stood there and listened carefully, but nothing happened at all. Link merely scratched the back of his head in confusion.

"Well… That w-was weird," he commented, arching an eyebrow. "C-could the mechanism have broken down, with nobody here to k-keep the p-place up?"

"M-Maybe. We have no ch-choice but to turn back, though," Navi replied.

"Hmm… You know, I wonder if…" Link murmured contemplatively, turning around to return to the expansive main chamber with the lake and canal.

Link raced back through the previous two chambers, and entered the main chamber once more. He immediately turned his attention to the door that had previously been sealed by bars. The bars, however, had risen and the door was open. Another smug grin tugged at the corners of Link's mouth. His earlier hunch from before had been correct; the switch, which appeared to do nothing, had caused the bars to rise, granting Link access.

"Ha! I kn-knew it!" Link exclaimed excitedly. "Let's go, Navi!"

"Oh yeah, I f-forgot about that door. Good th-thinking," Navi complimented, following Link through the door.

"As I said in the Magma C-Cavern, I'm just that bright. Hee hee hee," Link chuckled with an ecstatic grin.

"Oh, p-put an icicle in it."

"Ugh, don't even joke about that! I'm f-freezing as heck as it is. What, I can't brighten the m-moment a little?"

The next room, much like the main chamber, contained a pool of water, but this time it was partially frozen. A half-moon sheet of ice, its jagged edges clawing at the waters, spanned half of the lake and spread to cover a portion of the floor. A White Wolfos prowled near a chunk of ice sitting on the floor, prompting Link to silently ready his sword and shield. On the far side of the water, Link could spy a web of cracks lining a portion of the wall. Link didn't doubt for a moment that he could shatter the cracked ice with a bomb, but the pool was much too broad. He knew he would not be able to throw the bomb all the way across the lake. Thankfully, it only took seconds for him to spot a stirrup-shaped stalactite hanging from the ceiling above the lake. Knowing exactly what he needed to do, Link decided to ignore the Wolfos for the time being. Quietly, so as to avoid attracting the lupine monster's attention, Link searched for a good vantage point and quickly produced the Grappleshot. He then aimed it at the stalactite, but before he could launch it, the White Wolfos caught his scent and charged forward, ramming itself into Link and sending him crashing to the floor. Hoping he hadn't heard a rib crack under the impact, Link scrambled to his feet as the Wolfos stalked towards him, fangs dripping and eyes glowing with azure fury. The creature's navy eyes meant it was a creature of the moon and, knowing what that meant, Link drew his bow. After evading one of the creature's claw swipes, he let fly with a Sun Arrow. It blasted through the Wolfos's back, erupting through its chest in a shower of ichor and lodged itself into the wall behind it. The creature staggered, fell and, after a few moments of convulsing, was dead.

With the White Wolfos dealt with, Link aimed and fired the Grappleshot at the stalactite. As he swung across the water, Link angled his swing toward the cracked wall, extended one leg, and braced for the impact. He brought up one hand to shield his face from flying ice shards as he crashed through the cracked wall as hard as he could. Thanks to Link's great strength and the momentum of the swing, the wall crumbled upon impact. Behind the wall was a small niche containing a large treasure chest and an unlit torch. The torch was as cold as everything else in the dungeons and looked as if it hadn't been lit since the Zoras lived there. This was hardly a surprise, however, as no fire could possibly burn in such a cold place. Link did not hesitate to land at the small niche, approach the chest, and open it to reveal the map. He anxiously unrolled it and looked it over. What he saw made his jaw drop.

"Whoa! There's another s-section of the dungeon we c-can't access yet. And it's gigantic!" Link exclaimed, eyeing the mass of rooms west of his location on the map. Navi peered over Link's shoulder to see.

"Yeah. And look here. It seems that that b-block of ice we saw outside really is blocking a s-second entrance after all," Navi added, gesturing towards a room in the larger section that had an opening drawn on it.

"You're right. But we don't have any w-way of getting in."

"Oh yeah… Well, let's h-hope we turn something up in here."

"Indeed."

After rolling the map up again and putting it away, Link continued to explore the rest of the room. Despite his best efforts, however, he found nothing unusual. So, he made his way to the only other door in the room while struggling to keep his footing on the icy floor. The door was located to the left of where Link had first come through. After taking another look at the map, he realized that not many rooms remained in this section of the fortress. Two of these rooms, however, led back to the main chamber, but via the door located on the far side of the walled-off lake. A third and fourth chamber were located behind the waterfall, but how to access them eluded Link. More than anxious to get there, the hero hurried through the next door.

In this room, several canals ran across the floor, water flowing through each of them. At the head of each canal was a furiously spinning fan, propelling the water into currents that moved so fast, Link suspected that not even a Zora would be able to swim in them. More Ice Keese fluttered about in the air and blue Tektites awaited unsuspecting victims. As Link walked along the edges of the canals, being careful not to fall in, he scanned the room for the next door. Strangely, it was nowhere to be seen. Puzzled, Link checked the map again. The door was supposedly on the wall to the left and right next to the nearest canal, but all that was there was a an ancient statue of a Zora. Link, thinking that the statue might be concealing the door, began to shove it with all his might. The statue wobbled threateningly for a few moments, but would not budge.

Suddenly, just as Link was about to give up on the statue, a Tektite sprang at him. Caught off guard, the impact sent Link toppling over backwards and into the canal. The instant Link was in the freezing cold water, the strong current seized him and dragged him along through every one of the branching canals. Unable to control his course or even slow down at all, Link was pulled along helplessly and, though the canal was too shallow for him to drown in, he kept bouncing painfully off the floor and walls of the canal. And, of course, the frigid waters didn't help much either.

"AAAH! OUCH! COOOLD!" Link yelped as he vainly grasped at the sides of the canal to try and climb out. Navi, once she saw that Link was in no real danger, giggled to herself at the humorous sight of him being bobbled, jostled and plastered against the canal. Eventually, Link managed to find a section along the edge of the canal which was rugged enough to offer handholds. Grasping it with a white-knuckle grip, Link pulled himself out of the canal. Link then sagged with relief, soaked from head to toe, bruised from bouncing around the canal and his teeth chattering furiously. Navi was giggling harder this time.

"Oh sh-shut up," Link retorted through chattering teeth as he wrung out his tunic; he was certainly going to remember this the next time he thought of Tektites as being merely a nuisance. "Bloody p-p-pests…"

With murder in his eyes, Link drew his sword and cut down every Tektite in sight. However, Navi only continued to laugh at Link's earlier blunder as she leisurely seated herself upon the Zora statue's right hand.

"Will you kn-knock it off?" Link seethed as he finished off the last Tektite. "It wasn't that f-funny! I think I twisted something in there."

"Hee hee. Okay, okay," Navi replied, taking to the air again.

Suddenly, just as she had flown away from the statue, the hand on which she had been sitting descended slightly. The statue then slowly slid to one side, revealing the door to the next room behind it. Link's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"I should have guessed," he opined.

"No kidding," Navi agreed.

With that, Link hurried through the door before any of the Ice Keese could take an interest in him and, as was shown on the map, he found himself back in the main room. Except that, this time, he was on the far side of the bars. Link, certain that he'd discover some clue about how to reach the second portion of the dungeon, or at least the significance of all the unfrozen water, scanned the room eagerly. However, to his surprise, there appeared to be nothing more to that part of the room besides the pool of water and the waterfall. Bewildered and frustrated, Link wondered what to do next.

"Hey, Link…" Navi spoke up. "I think I see something really shiny in the water down there."

"Huh?" Link wondered.

He then peered into the water, and there, resting on the floor of the small lake, was a round, shiny object. However, it was so far down that Link could barely see it, let alone tell what it might be.

"Aren't you going to go after it?" Navi inquired, a hint of impatience in her tone.

"Ugh… Alright. I just know I'm not going to enj-joy this," Link grumbled with a sigh. "Especially after I h-had just wrung out my tunic."

Not giving himself enough time to reconsider, he dove into the water and swam deeper and deeper until he could grasp the round object below. Once he had it firmly in hand, he swam back to the surface, clambered out of the water and, once again, wrung out his sodden clothes.

"If the c-colors start to r-run, I'm going to—" Link began, but was cut off.

"Oh, s-stuff it!" Navi shot back. "Besides, I'm sure if Zelda w-was here, you'd be t-taking off your shirt every chance you got."

"Will you shut it already?"

While he'd been bandying words with Navi, Link had also been examining his find. It was piece of some sort of jewelry, consisting of pendant made out of a shiny purple material which reflected the light in the dungeon and a black chain. He immediately held the pendant out in his hand to show Navi what it was.

"Hey Nav, ch-check this out!" he blurted. "It's some kind of w-weird pendant, I think."

"So it is," Navi observed. "That d-doesn't look like anything that w-would belong to the Zoras, though."

"Yeah, I ag-gree," Link replied, slipping the pendant around his neck. "I d-don't think this is going to g-get us into the other half of the f-fortress either. But we'll ask Ruto about it j-just to be sure. If she d-doesn't know anything, then we'll turn to K-Kelli or his majesty."

"Oh, Kelli p-probably knows," Navi guessed, her tone turning snarky. "She's little miss know-it-all to you, isn't sh-she?"

Link merely folded his arms in disgust and glared at the wall. He should've known Navi would make yet another such jibe at the mention of the young Sky Guardian.

"Now you know that's n-not what I think," Link replied, losing patience with the temperamental fairy. "Don't s-start this again, Navi."

"If that's not what y-you think, then why do you keep a-asking her about everything?"

"She's the G-Guardian of the Sun, Navi. She doesn't know everyth-thing, but she certainly knows more than us about w-what's been going on here! N-not to mention the S-Sky Guardians. We need th-that information."

"Whatever. Do what you w-want."

Link merely sighed and unfolded his arms.

"Thank you. Now let's m-move on."

"But how are w-we supposed to get t-to that last room?"

"Oh yeah… Wait, hold on. I th-think I see something."

With that, Link began to skirt the edge of the pool, his eyes unblinking as he searched for whatever had caught his eye. Then, he saw a telltale glint. The light was reflecting off of something near the waterfall, but it wasn't the water. As Link wove around to get a clearer view, he spied a metal ladder which rose to a hidden opening above.

"Bingo!" Link opined excitedly and grasped it.

Link briskly swam through the water and then clambered up the ladder. Another Zora statue sat at the top, but this time it was of a female who bore a disquieting resemblance to Ruto as she had appeared as an adult in the dark future. For a moment, Link was terrified that he'd happened across the genuine article…and Navi, he was sure, would never let him hear the end of it. Link had no idea who the Zora statue might be of, as the inscription at the base of the statue was written in Zora script, which he couldn't read, but he suspected that the statues depicted Zora royalty or other famous Zoras from the past. Link examined the statue for another possible switch like the one Navi had accidentally discovered earlier and eventually found it was the same as on the prior statue: one of the hands. After pushing the one on the right, the female Zora statue slowly slid aside to reveal another door. Link did not hesitate to enter, though he was idly wondering if the Zoras had created these mechanisms with the statues or if the monsters had.

Suddenly, just as the door closed behind Link, bars descended over it, which meant that an enemy was not far away. At the other end of the room there was yet another Zora statue. This one, however, was far grander than either of the previous statues, leading Link to suspect it might depict an ancient Zora king. It was also much larger than the other statues Link had seen in the fortress, and was flanked by a pair of unlit torches. Water covered the entire floor, rising to Link's ankles, but seemed eerily still except for where he had just passed. Even through his boots, the water was so cold that Link's toes clenched reflexively. He then noticed chunks of ice were scattered on the floor as he slogged through the freezing cold water.

Just as Link approached the center of the room, however, a chilly breeze began to blow, seemingly from all directions. The chunks of ice began to tremble and slowly drifted towards each other in the near center of the room in front of Link. Sensing that a powerful foe would soon make an appearance, Link drew his sword and shield and carefully watched the ice as the pieces began flinging themselves into the air. Link, confused but still alert, watched as the ice shards continued to rise out of the water and join together. Some looked as though they might be forming limbs, linked by invisible, and, he suspected, magical, joints and tendons, while other ice chucks forms a torso, a head and even hands and feet. Moments later, Frozo, the ice warrior, stood there before Link, girded for a fight with a sword and shield also made of ice. He grunted and chuckled, though it sounded more like ice being crushed with a hammer, and then charged at the green-clad hero standing before him.

Link, surprised at Frozo's great speed, just barely managed to jump out of his path. Link remembered what Kelli had taught him back in Kakariko and tried a shield attack against Frozo. It seemed as though, being made of ice, the creature didn't readily feel pain, but the force of the blow did knock it off balance, just barely forcing an opening in the creature's defense. When Link pressed his attack, he came away with a glancing, frost speckled wound to his left cheek, but Frozo was left even worse off. Link's window had been narrow, but he'd succeeded in landing a blow in Frozo's chest and arm. The arm fell away from the ice warrior's body, with his sword still clenched in his fist, and both shattered upon the floor.

Link, believing he had the better of Frozo, was about to attack again but, when Frozo made no move to evade or escape, Link sensed that something was wrong. He was proven right when, to his astonishment, another icy arm and sword sprouted from Frozo's shoulder. He charged at Link once more, and Link, who was utterly stupefied at what he'd just witnessed, was struck full on and sent sprawling to the floor. After snapping out of it, Link scrambled to his feet and again used a shield attack to break through Frozo's defense. He then continued to hack away parts of the ice warrior's body, scattering them to the floor where they shattered and vanished. Unfortunately, every time Link would cut anything off, however, Frozo would magically re-grow whatever was lost. By now, Link had become frustrated and could only continue to block and evade Frozo's tireless attacks.

"Oh come on! It seems that no matter how much you cut him up, he'll j-just p-pull himself back together!" Navi pointed out. "You've got to f-find a way to completely shatter him to p-pieces."

"Yeah, it's getting r-really annoying," Link replied, dodging another attack that nearly took the tip of his ear off. "But I know just the th-thing to deal with it!"

With that, Link went back on the offensive, whirling about the frozen warrior and unleashing barrages of shield attacks and back slices. Frozo seemed practically unaffected by the assault but, he didn't notice in the slightest that Link had been gradually herding the frozen warrior toward the statue of the Zora king. Unaware of the trap, Frozo drew back his sword and thrust forward with all his might. Link leapt out of the way and Frozo's sword clove through the Zora statue, buried in the stone up to the hilt. As Link had suspected, the frozen warrior found getting the sword back out to be rather difficult. Not wanting to waste this opportunity, Link jumped sideways and launched himself into a back slice, sending Frozo crashing to the floor. Smiling to himself, Link then leaped into the air and thrust his sword downwards into Frozo's chest, delivering a perfect ending blow. Frozo's body shattered into a multitude of chunks of ice upon impact, but Link knew their magic could still make them reassemble.

Before the ice warrior could manage to pull himself together again, Link produced a bomb and immediately chucked it at the remains of Frozo's body. It was a fine throw, and the bomb had landed neatly in the center of the fallen chunks of ice and exploded moments later, shattering them even further. Link shielded himself from the shards of ice as they went soaring in every direction. After lowering his shield, however, Link was relieved to see that Frozo was gone. Link turned his attention to the statue, certain that it hid the next door, but he saw that Frozo's sword was still lodged in the sculpture.

"Looks like it's in deep," he opined, reaching for the statue's hand. "Still, here goes nothing."

Link pressed down on the statue's hand and, immediately, a terrible screeching and grinding filled the air. Sparks sprayed from somewhere beneath the statue, sending Link leaping backwards to avoid getting his tunic set afire, but then the spectacle died down with a succession of cracking and the sounds of tortured metal melting and deforming under impossible duress.

"Now you've d-done it, you broke the s-statue…mechanism…thing," Navi chimed in.

"Wow, that w-was terrible. My h-head's g-going to be ringing f-for days! Well, let's try this instead."

With that, Link produced another bomb and threw it at the statue. Again, he hid behind his shield until he heard the explosion fade. He looked at the statue again and saw that it had been blown to smithereens, revealing the anticipated a door beyond. According to the map, it led to the last room Link had yet to explore in that section of the dungeon. The bars that were barricading it quickly rose, allowing him to enter.

"Now, you've really gone and done it! You wrecked the statue," Navi opined.

"Oh, shut u-up," Link retorted. "I hope K-King Zora won't mind that s-statue being pulverized…"

"It's really old, I'm sure he'll f-forgive you," Navi replied, dropping her snarky tone. "It couldn't be helped anyw-way."

"Yeah, I g-guess you're right. Let's get moving."

With that, Link went to the newly opened door ahead, glad to be getting his now numb feet out of the freezing cold water. His fingers, toes, and many other parts of his body had begun going numb as well, and Link was even beginning to fear that he might end up with frostbite if he stayed in the fortress for much longer.

The final room was the smallest one Link had seen so far. It was dark and, unlike most of the dungeon, did not hold even the smallest chunk of ice. The only light came from a pair of torches just ahead of Link. Upon a small dais between the torches was an ancient, ornate staff. The staff, Link supposed, must've once been beautiful, but time had not been kind to it. What looked to have once been swirling designs of blue and sea-green had turned muddy brown and the staff was pot-marked with small, round recessions which, Link suspected, had once held gemstones or pearls, but which had been since removed…or, more likely, stolen. The only part about the staff which seemed untouched was the gold embroidery which adorned the head, strung with a collection of tiny seashells and decorative scales. An inscription was carved into the dais directly below it and, unlike the inscription on the statues, it was written in the common tongue. Link slowly approached it and attempted to read the inscription. Some parts of it were faded or had been worn smooth, making it difficult to read, but Link fortunately managed to make out the words.

If thou wouldst possess this ancestral staff

The desires of royalty thusly fall into thy hands

When courage doth meet this weapon of good

The way of the flames shall one day prevail

"Are you c-confused by this at all, Navi?" Link inquired after he finished reading the inscription.

"Well, it seems to say s-someone courageous should wield the staff, but other th-than that, yeah. I don't know at all w-what it means," Navi replied.

"I guess I'll take it then," Link decided and took the staff from the dais. "That part about f-flames prevailing, though… I've a feeling that m-might be a clue to how we're supposed to r-reach the rest of the dungeon."

"Yeah, it talks about f-fire," Navi agreed. "Hey, King Zora should kn-know something about this. Let's go see him again."

"You don't have to tell me twice."

With that, the pair quickly headed back to the main room with the staff in hand and continued to the fortress's exit. Link was still certain that the staff was a powerful weapon, and that it held the solution to this dungeon, so he decided to get in some practice with it on the way back to Zora's Domain. More than confident that King Zora would know the story behind the staff and why it was hidden in the Zora tribe's old home, Link eagerly exited the dungeon, climbed free of the dried up Lake Hylia after departing, and rejoined Epona by the fishing pond. Much to his relief, her wounds from earlier had stopped bleeding and had already begun to heal. The mysterious staff, however, kept tugging at Link's mind as he mounted his horse.

"It sure feels good to get out of that frozen masoleum for the time being," Link said. "I'm actually glad we had to leave."

"You can say that again," Navi agreed.

With that, Link spurred Epona to a gallop, jumping the smashed fences blocking Lake Hylia and headed for Zora's Domain once more, hoping he could acquire enough information to solve the mystery of the staff with King Zora's guidance.

"Hey Link, how about we stop by Lon Lon Ranch along the way?" Navi suggested. "We still need to pay them a visit, remember?"

"Ah, right. Let's do it," Link agreed. "I just hope Malon won't mind it being a rather short visit."

"Uh, Link, I think you're going to end up being pummeled by a woman no matter what happens."

"Daaagh…" Link groaned in frustration. Though he was loathe to admit it, Navi was right. Either Malon would be enraged because Epona was hurt and Link had put off visiting her, or Ruto would knock him around for putting her rescue off because he visited another woman.

"Why me…?" he uttered.

"Maybe because you're a ladies' man?" Navi coyly suggested.

"Oh goddesses…"

"Ah, that's right! You don't want anything to get in the way of your crush on Zelda!"

"Navi, I'm warning you, don't start this again! I never said I had a crush on anybody!"

"Hee hee. I'll believe it when I see it, oh Casanova of Castle Town. And just wait until I tell Ruto!"

"IF YOU SAY ONE WORD—GAAH!"

Before Link could finish his sentence, Epona suddenly burst into an intense gallop and raced straight for the entrance to Lon Lon Ranch. Apparently, she had figured out what her master's destination was.

"EPONA! Whoa, girl! Slow down!" Link yelped as he struggled to hang onto both the reins and his hat. "Whoa!"

Unfortunately, the excited Epona didn't slow down. In fact, she seemed to speed up.

"Aw come on! Won't you please whoa?" Link continued, pulling on the reins this time. However, Epona still didn't cooperate. Link should've expected as much since she hadn't seen Malon in so long. Navi, on the other hand, burst into laughter once more as Epona reached her old pasture and corral with a joyous leap...which carried Link's forehead right into the gate arbor, knocking him clean out of the saddle and sending him sprawling to the dirt.

"OUCH!" he cried out. "Ooooh, that hurt. These hylian hardwoods aren't too soft."

Link was dimly aware of the sound of crunching dirt and a pair of booted feet soon scampered into his line of sight.

"Link, is that you?" the voice of Malon blurted, unable to hide her astonishment or her amusement. "I was hoping you'd drop in one day, but this is a little much."

"Yeah, nice to see you too," Link replied sourly.

Link was about to clamber to his feet when, to his astonishment, Malon yanked him upright with surprising strength and then enveloped him in a rib crushing hug. Link, too bemused to do much else, simply returned the embrace while Navi muttered something to the effect of "two-timer." Epona, not one to be left out, quickly made her presence known by nuzzling Malon's cheek.

"Oh! Oh my goodness!" Malon cried, bringing a hand to the horse's cheek, but not releasing Link. "Epona! You silly horse!"

Epona merely whinnied happily and began to nuzzle Malon's face.

"I'm happy to see you too, girl! It's been so long!" the redheaded ranch girl replied and then turned to Link, her voice going husky with emotion. "And…Link! Oh, Link! Are you alright?"

"Ugggh… Yeah, I'll be fine. Man, that crazy horse! I knew she'd be excited, but geez!" Link commented as he tried to brush himself off, his embrace with Malon becoming decidedly uncomfortable.

"Oh, don't worry about it! It's been seven years, you know! I'm so happy to finally see you again!" Malon cried as she threw her arms around Link's neck and hugged him even tighter than before. "I've missed you and Epona so much!"

"I've missed you too," Link replied, returning the hug, but wary of where this reunion was leading. He was relieved that Malon hadn't yet noticed Epona's wounds, but his keen sense of danger told him that something foreboding was near.

"Well, you came back just in time!" Malon continued when she finally let Link go. "You've seen what's been happening in Hyrule! And just look at my dad's beautiful ranch!"

"Yeah, and…whoa."

When Link took a good look around the ranch, he very nearly froze where he stood. As he had seen from the field when he first arrived in Hyrule Field with Kelli, the ranch had been decimated. The stone walls which encircled the ranch showed clear signs of battle, some sections were full of holes from ballistae and catapults while, in some places, the wall had been smashed through altogether. The interior of the ranch hadn't fared much better. Much of of the horse pasture's fence had been smashed to pieces while, inside, the grass had blackened and withered. Most of the windows of the house were shattered while a tree lay on its side next to the barn, the remains of the chicken coop poking out from beneath. Rocks from the ranch wall littered the outside of the pasture, some of which had smashed in walls of the house and barn. Link was surprised that either was even still standing from the way things looked.

"It's awful, isn't it?" Malon spoke up with a sniffle. "And it looked even worse before we started repairs."

"Yeesh…" Link uttered. "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner. I had no idea what was going on until Kelli found me."

"I know, it's not your fault. But Kelli was the one who led you back here?"

"Yeah. And she even has troubles of her own now because of what's going on. Her childhood best friend, whom she hasn't seen in seven years, is missing."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that…"

"Yeah, but I'm helping her find him. We think he might be able to help us."

"I see… Oh, if only the Royal Knights were still here…"

"The Royal Knights? Why does that sound familiar?"

"You probably heard about them before you left Hyrule. Not long before the kingdom was attacked, a messenger from Mayia brought word that they were invaded and the Royal Knights were sent to act as reinforcements in case the Mayian army was overwhelmed. They haven't been seen since."

"Okay, that's bad."

"Exactly. I don't know what's happening over there, but I fear it's dreadful."

"No kidding. …Wait a second! Did you say that the Royal Knights were sent there before Hyrule was attacked?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Blast! Don't you see what's happened? Whoever's responsible for Hyrule's situation must've attacked Mayia first in order to lure the Royal Knights away! They knew the knights would go to their aid and that left Hyrule unprotected!"

"Oh! You're right! How come King Daphnes didn't see this coming?"

"I doubt he could have, unfortunately. Whoever is behind this is clever, not only for luring the Royal Knights away but for making the monsters even stronger than they were before. I doubt Hyrule, or Mayia for that matter, has ever faced an enemy like this."

"But, what could they be after? The country's already been picked clean!"

Link could think of one likely answer to that question: the Triforce. The relic of the three goddesses had attracted the evil-hearted before, most notably Ganondorf, and it made sense for this latest evil to be seeking it as well. Still, Link wasn't sure if he ought to reveal that. The story of the dark future was difficult enough for him to believe, and he'd promised Zelda and the Sages that he'd keep it a secret.

"I cannot say," he admitted, a vaguely honest answer. "But, Kelli and I have some idea of what to do and we've already made some progress. We can pull through, I know it."

"Ah… Thank you, Link," Malon replied. "And Kelli as well. You know, speaking of her, she's quite mysterious too. That sword she wields is unlike anything I've ever seen before. And several days ago when this all began, I once saw her standing in the middle of Hyrule Field with her hair slightly standing on end when there wasn't even a breeze! And I think her eyes changed color too!"

"I know what you mean. She's an awesome fighter, but I had the same reaction when I first saw that. I'd explain it to you, but I'm afraid now is not the time. I have to make this visit quick."

"I understand. We'll do anything we can to help! Even Mr. Ingo said 'I can't believe I'm saying this, but where's that blasted Link when you need him? Not even that girl, Kelli is able to handle this by herself!'"

"Sounds like him alright. Anyway, I came to help search for your missing ranch tools and the other goods that were stolen from here."

"Oh! That's wonderful! You must have heard our plight from King Daphnes! Of course you can help! Let's go see my dad right away!"

"Great!"

With that, Malon led Link back to the undamaged portion of the house, and naturally, Epona followed. Malon then barged in and gestured Link to follow. Inside, Talon was fast asleep at the bottom of the stairs. Link was not surprised, as the heavyset rancher was quite a heavy sleeper. Even so, in the dark future, Talon had promised to turn over a new leaf and work hard. And from what Daphnes and Kelli had told Link, it seemed that Talon had honored that promise in this future as well. Link could even understand Talon's dozing right then of all times, in fact. With the ranch having been looted, he likely couldn't get any work done anyway.

"Dad! Look who's here!" Malon cried, instantly rousing her father from his slumber.

Talon sprang to his feet immediately.

"Huh? What in tarnation?" he blurted, and then froze where he stood when he saw Link. "Good gravy! Is that Link?"

"It is, Dad! He's finally come back! And he wants to help us!" Malon announced.

"Well I'll be! After seven long years! And boy howdy, you've sure sprouted. You look big and strong enough to wrangle up cattle on foot and with just yer hands!"

"Heh, thanks," Link replied, scratching the back of his head. "I came about the looting of the ranch. His majesty told me you could use a hand over here."

"Ah, we certainly need one! You two wait outside and I'll go fetch Ingo. He was making a list of what we're missing in case you or Kelli came by."

"Works for me."

With that, the trio departed the house and Talon entered the barn. Malon and Epona strayed towards the pasture while Link awaited the others. While he did so, he contemplated everything he had discovered so far. What was the secret to gaining access to the rest of the Fortress of Ice? He was certain the ancient staff was a clue, and that the unfrozen water was also part of the puzzle, but he hoped he could learn more from King Zora. And furthermore, Malon's mention of the Hyrulean Royal Knights had reminded Link of Daphnes's claim that Judo left on a personal errand as well. Could Judo possibly be one of these knights? It would explain how Daphnes knew him so well. Then again, if that were the case, then the king would know exactly where Judo was and the young man wouldn't be missing at all. If Judo was in Mayia, fighting against whatever foe had invaded the kingdom, then Daphnes had no reason to hide anything about the young warrior. And that left Link right back where he started.

"Man, this makes my head hurt…" He uttered. "First the fortress, which we still need to figure out, then that staff, now the knights…"

"Yeah, this is definitely puzzling," Navi agreed.

"Agreed. Also, this doesn't make sense to me, but for some reason, I can't shake off the idea that somehow, the Royal Knights being in Mayia and Judo's disappearance are connected."

"Huh. Well, we'll have to worry about that some other time. We've got the Fortress of Ice and that staff to focus on right now."

"True. I'd rather not mention this new information to Kelli anyway. It might worry her more than she already is."

"Quite true. I may not like her, but knowing that somebody you care about is in danger is bad enough. Not knowing can be even worse."

"Precisely."