Link had just been dropped into a nest when he heard Zelda scream. His eyes widened and he cast his eyes around in vain for any hint of her. He shook his head, chasing away the thoughts of despair that were threatening his mind. He had lost his sword and all his other weapons were being held by Midna. Link was never quite sure how it worked, but Midna could store limitless objects with her twili magic. Unluckily, she was the only one who could retrieve them.
So all he had was his shield, which was great for defense, but totally useless in attack. Any one else would have been completely helpless, but Link just grinned.
A moment later a gray wolf with a metal shield on his back stood in the hero's place. One thing Link could never figure out was how his clothes seemed to disappear into thin air but his weapons only disappeared if Midna took them up. He gave a wolf-equivalent of a shrug and began to sniff around the nest.
There were two things of interest in this nest. One was the eggs in the corner, which Link was having a very hard time not eating (they smelled so yummy!), the other was a small patch in the center of the nest that smelled like dirt.
He began to tear away at the sticks separating him from the dirt with his paws and fangs. Soon his front paws contacted the soft brown of soil, but he didn't stop, there was something important here. The dirt seemed to sparkle in his mind's eye, calling out that it hid something.
And then the dirt gave away, and he fell. Apparently the pillar was hollow.
He landed in a small lake of some sort. The first thing Link realized was that there was no way to get back to the nest. The walls slanted straight up and were covered with the same slimey moss that was on the outside. And the entire chamber was one big lake.
Link transformed into a human again. He dove under the surface to see if there was anything of use. He couldn't even see the bottom. It wasn't that the lake was particularly deep, it was just that it was really murky. Link swam around in the lake a little, trying to think of a plan.
He sighed, Midna was a lot better than he was at these things. She could figure out the weak spot of every enemy they had! Well except for Darknut, Midna hadn't known anything about the swordplay needed to defeat the golem knight. Link had gloated over that for a while! It was strange to see Ganondorf using Darknut's sword now… but he was getting distracted.
Suddenly Link froze, his arms and legs stopped stroking the water for an instant and he was rewarded with a small plunge under the water. He shot back to the surface, sputtering. Of course! Ganondorf!
Ganondorf pushed the master sword out of Link's reach after disarming him again. I think I've given you a bit too much credit in the whole defeating me thing You must have had a heck of a lot of help to do it because you haven't beaten me even once!
Link opened his mouth to protest, but Ganondorf cut him off.
"You rely too much on physical strength little hero. Why don't you use a spell or something? You have the triforce's power to draw on!"
Link shook his head and Ganondorf rolled his eyes.
"You don't know any spells do you? Din help me! Or I suppose it's Naru help me since I'm dealing with you. Fine, watch me."
He pointed the back of his right hand at a nearby bolder, one about the size of Fyrus, and the triforce began to glow. Suddenly a burst of gold light shot out and blasted the stone to dust.
Ganondorf smirked at Link "There. Your's won't be nearly as strong as mine since you don't have the triforce of power, but it will give you a nice hidden weapon if you need it. Just concentrate on the power in you're triforce and it will come to you. Now lets move to a different training ground before any villagers who saw that come running."
Judging from what the pillar had looked like from outside, the walls weren't very thick. Link aimed for the wall with his hand, rewarded again by going under and coming up sputtering. The metal shield wasn't helping things much. He tried again, and found that paddling with just one hand spun him in circles. He sighed in annoyance and tried again, this time paddling with his legs like crazy while aiming with his left hand and leaving his right to be lazy.
Finally, he got the hang of it and focused on the symbol of the triforce. It was a lot like what he had done in the chamber of sages, except this time he was focusing on power instead of calling.
He once again, he turned into a wolf. Link gave a howl of frustration, the sound echoing against the stone. He couldn't aim like this! Or maybe… Link focused on his forehead, the place where Midna always told him there was a funny mark. Maybe if he focused on that…
He noticed detachedly that he was howling a song again. Suddenly he felt a heat on his forehead. He felt a moment of triumph, but it was quickly extinguished. It was too hot! He hadn't felt this hot since he had accidentally set Barnes bomb storage on fire! He gave a yowl of pain and the power was finally released. The wall was blasted away and the water carried Link out of the pillar in a little waterfall.
Link stood up drunkenly, he couldn't see straight, he couldn't stand strait, he couldn't think straight, he couldn't even hear, feel, or (most importantly) smell straight! He half stumbled, half limped across the floor. Whimpering as he did.
Zelda held the triforce of wisdom, so even while falling to her death, she kept her head. And there was still a long distance to the ground, therefore, time to save herself. She yanked her bow off her back, charging the arrow with power from her triforce. She yanked back the string, pulling it taut until the bowstring drew blood. Then she released and the arrow exploded against the ground.
The explosion's force pushed her back into the air, when she fell again; it was a lot less distance to fall. She hit the ground on her feet, catlike, scorched from the power of the explosion, but alive.
Zelda whirled around to face the birds, but there was no need. They wouldn't follow her, though they eyed her angrily. One suddenly leapt forward to try and climb down the pillar, and Zelda readied her bow.
But the thing's claws broke against the stone of the pillar, and it plummeted to the ground. It had no triforce-charged arrows to save it.
Zelda couldn't help but smile, she had saved herself this time. No guard or hero had needed to come to her rescue.
She ran through the pillars to see if she could find the others. But behind her, the largest tunnel bird seemed to smile his smile once again ironically saint-like. It knew that the hyrulian would be coming back.
Itzal dashed through the passages. He had no light to guide him, he was, after all, a sheikah. It had been easy to follow them, everyone but Ganondorf left a clear trail, and Itzal was reasonably sure that the thief had been with them.
He had not bothered to put his disguise back on, he had decided there was no more need for it. The bandages, spectacles, and gloves were gone; his feet were as bare as his hands. But most importantly, he had taken off the hooded coat he had worn, in its place was a black tunic, one with a weeping crimson eye in the center. The symbol that had been on the gossip stone, and the symbol of the sheikah.
Then Itzal was in the nest room. His eyes widened, but he didn't let himself gasp. The tunnel that led to the cavern was near the ceiling, but Itzal didn't even pause. Unlike the pillars, the walls of the cavern were normal stone, so it was child's play for him to scale down. Only then did he slow, now clinging to the shadows so whatever enemies were here couldn't see him.
Itzal held his black disk into the air, recalling the shadow sage's words.
"This item is attracted to those of the shadow, it was made to find sheikah, but it should be able to locate those of the twilight just as well. The princess of twilight, the chosen hero, and Ganondorf all have attributes of shadow. Hopefully, at least one of them will be in the company of Zelda, for she is entirely of light, and it will not react to her."
Itzal dropped the disk and it plummeted to the ground, stopping only a moment before impact. It grew, stopping once it was about two feet in diameter. Itzal stepped onto it cautiously, balancing on it like a surfer on his board.
He focused the image of wolf Link in his mind, and the disk shot off through the pillars, intent on its target. Itzal just barely avoided falling off.