Despite Zelda's reassurance that the cave would lead them to the temple under the mountains, none of them had ever seen anything less temple-like in their lives.
The tunnel was dark and damp, mold covering ever inch of the rock and making the path treacherously slippery. The stone was jagged and uneven as well, jabbing into their feet and threatening to split the soles of their shoes in two. At one point, Zelda had accidentally placed her hand on the wall, and now she had a bloody slash along her left hand to match Link's broken toes.
Ganondorf scowled as one of the stone spikes finally succeeded in puncturing his boot and he narrowly escaped having his foot punctured as well. He stopped and unhooked his boot from the spike.
"How exactly is this going to lead us to a temple? I've seen a lot of temples and none have had something like this leading to them!"
Zelda frowned slightly, she was beginning to have doubts as well "I suppose the temples here are different. But I know I saw the symbol of the Fire Sage in that obsidian."
Ganondorf snorted "Yes, yes. And the seven sages know everything." He snorted "Would you like me to tell you what those six were before they got their ever so wonderful titles?"
Link and Midna both gave out simultaneous groans and rolled their eyes. Zelda started walking again, hoping Ganondorf would take the hint. He didn't.
"The fire sage was the goron leader. He spent all his time listening to silly little tunes. When I tried to get his spiritual stone, he asked me to dance with him! You've met the sage of the forest. She's a child! And being a kokiri, she's never going to get any older! Now the sage of water! She was the princess of the zora, and the most stuck up little brat I have ever seen!"
Midna grinned at that "Hyrulians defiantly has a strange way of raising royalty. How can you expect any different?"
Zelda decided to ignore that comment.
"The sage of shadow was the previous princess Zelda's body guard. I have to admit that she wasn't a bad fighter, but she couldn't even leave the room without trying to be dramatic! She never just used the door; that would be much too easy! Instead, she used a ever-so-mysterious smoke bomb and then used the door. As for the sage of spirit, well she is a back-stabbing, traitorous, filthy, disgusting, sneak-handed, sly-motive, KIN-SLAYER!"
Zelda tried to act as if she hadn't noticed his outburst, but Midna and Link stopped dead in their tracks, staring at him.
Ganondorf glared at them, in a bad mood from just the mention of Nabooru "What?"
He stomped ahead of them, ignoring the spikes of rock that were now making Swiss cheese out of his boots and feet.
Midna's eyes widened in disbelief "What?! He just had the biggest outburst in history and he's asking what?! Call me crazy but I think he might just have a slight personal grudge against the sage of spirit!"
Zelda shook her head, feeling pity for Ganondorf "You're over-analyzing him Midna. He's just… had a lot of stress lately.
Midna raised her eyebrow and started to speak, but Link beat her to the punch "You're a really bad liar Zelda. I'm just wondering why you're covering for him."
Zelda shook her head, not responding. She told herself she was covering for Ganondorf out of pity, but even she wasn't sure if that was true.
Link suddenly froze. "Do you hear that?"
The two princesses followed his lead and stopped to listen. There was a faint rumbling coming from the walls, one that was now fading.
Link followed the sound with his eyes. It was moving toward Ganondorf. During Link's recent training, Ganondorf had taught him to always be alert, which was why Link was now perceptive enough to hear the sound. But Ganondorf, in his rage, was ignoring his own advice and totally oblivious to his surroundings.
All three of them sped toward Ganondorf, giving out a shout as they did.
But even as the words of warning left their throats, the thing burst from the tunnel walls in front of Ganondorf. If someone from earth were to see it, they might say it looked something like a parrot with giant pearly claws instead of wings and a lipless gash in it's face were it's beak would have been. In any other situation, it might have actually been considered beautiful. But right now, it was only deadly.
Ganondorf, despite his oblivion, snatched the bird from the air before it could even touch him. He pinned its claws to its sides and threw it to the ground.
Another burst from behind them, its claws raking into Midna even as she fired a bolt into it. At the close range, the tunnel bird was incinerated before it could even realize it.
And then the walls themselves exploded; the stone disappearing into feathers and claws.
Even for the four best warriors in Hyrule, the odds were not in their favor.