Seven
Link and Majacen stood a few yards apart on a wide, flat area several miles from the Goron village. The small plateau was surrounded on all sides by huge boulders and rocky outcroppings, with the gigantic cone of Death Mountain smoldering quietly off in the distance. The moon hung high, like a pearl in the middle of a jeweled blanket, and cast a silver light upon the scene.
The Hero and the wizard were nearing the end of the second week of Link's training with the Staff of Lightning. As with all previous occasions where the young warrior focused on a skill intently, he was learning at an astronomical rate. Majacen had mentioned several times that even he was surprised at how quickly Link was learning, saying that most of the other Heroes he had trained in magic hadn't adapted as quickly. He was of the opinion that Link was naturally a quick learner and that the Triforce of Courage had augmented this skill along with the others.
Majacen stood with his arms folded across his chest, his back to the volcano, and the wind whipped his long cloak around him along with a few strands of hair that had escaped the tie at the back of his neck. He was standing very still, giving no indication of what he was about to do next, and Link tensed, expecting an attack from either the wizard or one of the illusory monsters he had also been training with.
Link took advantage of the long pause to reach up and cinch his headband tighter. He'd finally given up and found a long black strip of cloth to keep his hair out of his eyes, since the fierce volcanic wind insisted on blowing his longish hair in front of his vision constantly, and Majacen had been taking advantage of this, reminding the young warrior that if he could not see, he could not fight.
A quiet, almost noiseless footstep alerted the Hero to something behind him, and he spun to catch the blade of an illusory robed and hooded figure on his own sword. Majacen attacked at the same moment with a blast of concussive force, and Link whipped the Staff of Lightning behind him to create a small curved shield made of electricity.
The wizard's blast bounced off the electric shield, and Link returned his attention to his phantom opponent, who attacked with a quick series of slashes and thrusts. Link countered the attack with his blade and let a small bolt of electricity -not a full blast of lightning- leap out of the staff to knock the illusory swordsman away.
Two more leaped in at him from the right, and he spun in place, swinging the Staff of Lightning in a wide arc as he loosed two bolts at once. Both bolts hit their targets, knocking them backwards, and the figures faded away as they fell.
From behind, Majacen sent twin bolts of electricity arcing out from his palms, and Link held the Staff of Lightning out in front of himself, trying to remember how to absorb energy with it. He'd been having trouble with that particular technique, doubtless why the wizard was attacking this way.
He caught one of the bolts and absorbed its energy into the staff, but the other hit him in the leg and knocked him down. Link kicked a small rock as he got to his feet, frustrated.
Majacen folded his arms again. "You are doing better, young Link, though you still have improvements you need to make."
Link snorted amusedly, rubbing the sore spot on his leg. "There's an understatement."
The wizard smiled. "It took me a long time to master my own powers. When they were first gifted to me, I thought the Goddesses had perhaps chosen the wrong man to serve them. Nayru just smiled when I said this to her and told me to be patient."
Link sheathed his sword, looking over at Majacen curiously. "You've met the Goddesses?"
Majacen nodded. "Oh, yes. Nayru herself taught me how to use the powers she granted me." He smiled amusedly, a twinkle in his eye. "The training took nearly fifty years. Consider yourself lucky that you do not have as much to learn as I did."
Link chuckled. "Yeah; it'd probably take me a hundred." He thought of something suddenly, and he looked back up at Majacen. "Hey, how old are you, anyway? Zelda and Gareth said you used to advise their great-grandfather when he was the king, so that would make you at least a hundred years old."
Majacen smiled. "I am closer to two hundred, actually. Long life is one of the gifts I received in addition to my powers."
The Hero chuckled in amazement. "That's-"
He was interrupted by a long, shrieking howl, a blood-curdling noise he never thought he would hear again. A sound he had hoped he would never hear again, as long as he lived. Link's hand darted to the hilt of his sword and whipped it out of its scabbard almost without him thinking about it.
Majacen's eyes narrowed as he drew his own weapon. In the wizard's hands, some of the designs upon the intricately engraved hilt began to glow white with power. His eyes closed briefly in concentration, and when they opened, Link could see a trace of fear on the wizard's face, shocking because he'd never seen it there before.
"There are nearly a hundred of them," Majacen said tightly. "And they are drawing closer."
As if in response, the monsters howled again in a terrifying chorus, a horrible imitation of a choir, and Link could not help but shudder. Just one of these things had been almost too much for him in the catacombs of the Gerudo city. To think there were a hundred of them out there…
"These creatures do not naturally congregate," Majacen said, a thoughtful look on his face. "The Dark One must have given command of a group of his creatures to his servant. The Sorcerer has determined the location of your charges and is assaulting in force."
"I thought they were hidden!" Link said desperately, crouching in a defensive posture as he looked around for the approaching monsters.
"It was only a matter of time," Majacen said gravely. "I had hoped it wouldn't come so soon."
Any further discussion was forgotten as the first group of ghouls crawled over the side of the plateau, moving like humanoid insects. Most were wrapped in ragged remains of clothing, hard to see in the darkness but for their faintly glowing orange eyes.
They kept coming, crowding closer together as more of the swarm of creatures moved in in preparation for attack. They were eerily silent, watching the Hero and the wizard with unblinking eyes. Soon, the two of them were surrounded, and Link felt sweat dripping down his face as he tightened his grip on his weapons. He reminded himself that he had the Staff of Lightning now, and Majacen was with him, as well.
Majacen did not give the ghouls the chance to attack first; he raised his left hand and spread the fingers wide. A moment later, a thick blast of incredibly hot blue-white flame erupted from his outstretched palm, smashing into the ghouls like a battering ram.
Several were disintegrated instantly, and many more around them caught fire, shrieking as they stumbled blindly around, knocking into more of the creatures and setting them afire, also.
Dozens were still left, and these let out a horrible paralyzing shriek almost as one. Link froze, nearly overcome with the waves of terror generated by these screams, but Majacen was quicker to respond and sent another gout of flame pouring out of his hand as he swept it through a quick semicircle.
Link finally regained control and shouted fiercely as he hurled himself into the crowd of ghouls, sword swinging wildly. He surged from one to the other, sword slicing dry, brittle limbs off like dead branches, and he spun, sweeping the legs out from under a number of them.
They attacked in turn, and Link's sword moved through a furious pattern that was as much defensive as offensive, blocking slashes from long-nailed hands as he slashed in turn. He used the Staff of Lightning for defense, also, and once he had cleared a gap around himself with a quick spin attack, he sent multiple bolts of lightning surging out of the ancient weapon, smashing with tremendous power into the crowd of monsters.
The thunder from the bolts rolled over the ravines and canyons around them, echoing endlessly like a supernatural orchestra was crashing cymbals together over and over again. The bright light of the lightning lit up the night repeatedly, dancing in flashes that could be seen for miles.
Together, the Hero and the wizard worked as quickly as they could to destroy the monsters, but they kept coming, and it seemed that for every monster they cut down, two more took its place.
--
--
Deep within the Gorons' mountain, Zelda and Gareth slept peacefully in their beds, undisturbed by the battle outside. Nothing could be seen from underground, and all that could be heard was the occasional muted rumble, which the Goron guards patrolling outside took as nothing more than the usual noises their volcanic home made.
Quickly and quietly, a cloaked figure stole along the tunnels of the underground complex, keeping to the shadows. The Gorons did not notice him, for he froze and seemed to melt into the darkness whenever one drew near.
The Sorcerer grinned fiercely beneath his hood. After nearly a week of searching, he'd finally detected an unusual amount of magic coming from Death Mountain, and when he quietly investigated, he found the Hero and the wizard training with some kind of lightning weapon.
But, more importantly, he'd sensed another piece of the Triforce nearby, and a small spy had confirmed that it was indeed Princess Zelda.
Taking a day to plan and notify his master of what he was doing, the Sorcerer crept into the Goron village and made his way to the royals' bedchamber. He grinned again as he thought of the swarm of ghouls keeping the Hero and the wizard busy; even if they figured out it was only a distraction, they were too far away to do any good now.
He waited until the Goron guard lumbered off on patrol before slowly opening the door and slipping inside. The two golden-haired youths lay in their beds, totally unaware anything was amiss, and the Sorcerer smiled a terrible predator's grin as he slowly drew his sword.
He would start with the girl.
--
--
Finally, Majacen paused to gather power, and as Link bashed a monster away from him with his staff, the wizard lashed out with his sword to stab one of the ReDead-like monsters. He left the blade in the creature's chest as it fell, then spread his arms wide. With incredible force, he slammed his palms together and sent a wave of concussive force in all directions, knocking the crowd of monsters away for a few moments.
Retrieving his sword, the wizard grabbed Link's shoulder. "You must return to the village!" he said quickly. "The Sorcerer is there!"
Link looked at the crowd of slowly recovering monsters, torn. This reminded him all too much of his disturbing dream in the Temple of Lightning, where he had two conflicting voices begging him for help and he could reach neither in time. "I can't leave you here alone!" he said. "Let's go!"
Majacen shook his head emphatically. "No! These creatures will follow us and overrun the village. I can hold them here, but you have to leave, now!"
"But-"
The wizard interrupted by loosing another blast of flame from his hand, clearing a path through the slowly gathering ring of creatures. "I said go!" he thundered, an unmistakable note of command in his voice. "I have lived for two centuries and fully intend to live at least two more. I can handle myself, Hero; your duty is to the Prince and Princess."
Majacen grabbed Link's shoulder and gave him a shove toward the gap in the ring of monsters. The Hero tightened his grip on his weapons and sprinted out of the gap.
He paused only once, looking back to see Majacen renew his assault on the crowd of ghouls with a powerful blast of flame, the blade of his sword shining with a bright white glow.
Link snarled an angry curse against the Sorcerer and his dark master as he turned and ran as fast as he could in the direction of the Gorons' village.
--
--
A terrified scream yanked Zelda from sleep's embrace, and she instantly jolted upright, looking around to see what the trouble was. Upon opening her eyes, Zelda was greeted with the sight of the Sorcerer standing over her bed with his sword in hand, its point leveled at her throat.
Their enemy was looking, not at her, but at Gareth, who had screamed. This proved to be fortuitous, as it bought Zelda a valuable extra second of time.
As the Sorcerer raised his hand to loose a magical blast at her brother, Zelda threw a shield in front of him, a blue-tinted half-sphere that covered Gareth from head to toe. The orange lance of energy was absorbed by the shield, rippling its surface, and before the ripples had died away, the Sorcerer turned and stabbed down at Zelda.
She hurled herself to the side as his blade sank deep into her mattress, tumbling onto the cold stone floor and landing painfully. Sweeping her loose hair out of her eyes, Zelda scrambled to her feet and seized the first available object within reach. The Sorcerer advanced, but she smashed her bedside lamp over his upraised arm. His sleeve caught fire, but instead of leaping aside to beat out the flames, the dark mage only smiled.
As Zelda watched, astonished, the flames crawled down his sleeve and gathered in the palm of his hand, leaving nothing more than slightly singed fabric behind. The Sorcerer grinned wickedly as he sent the flame surging out at her. Zelda hurriedly threw another shield in front of herself, and the flame was deflected to the side, where it found something else to consume: her bed.
The mattress and blankets caught fire almost immediately, and Zelda backed away from the flames, feeling the temperature of the room surge within seconds. Her back met the stone wall behind her, and she realized with horror that the Sorcerer and the burning bed had trapped her here, blocked off from her brother, who sat huddled on his own bed, too terrified to move.
The Sorcerer smiled his terrible smile again, as if silently reminding her that there was nowhere for her to go. He tossed his sword back and forth between his hands, slowly walking toward her with the unhurried gait of a predator who had cornered his prey and was about to strike.
Desperate, Zelda sent a burst of energy out at him, but he raised a hand almost contemptuously and absorbed the energy into his palm. A moment later, he sent it back at her.
Zelda dodged the lance of energy, but the point of the Sorcerer's sword leaped over to intercept her flight and she instead forced herself to tumble in the opposite direction. She banged her elbow hard on the stone floor, and gasped in pain.
He swiped at her again, forcing her back into the corner, but a small gout of flame hit his cloak from behind, and the dark mage spun to look, keeping the point of his sword leveled at the princess.
Gareth crouched behind his bed, one trembling arm still outstretched, and he shrank back as the Sorcerer took a menacing step toward him.
Ignoring Zelda, if even only for a moment, proved to be a costly mistake. The moment his back was turned, she seized the chair sitting next to her bed and smashed it with as much force as her muscles could provide over his head and shoulders.
The Sorcerer stumbled against the wall, tripping over the fragments of the chair, and Zelda took advantage of his momentary lapse to surge past him and leap over her brother's bed to land next to Gareth. Once they were together, she erected another shield around the outside of the bed, which she and Gareth turned on its side to provide another level of protection, if a flimsy one.
Snarling in wordless anger, the Sorcerer kicked away the broken remnants of the chair and brought his hands together, energy crackling between his fingers. Zelda threw an extra layer of protection into the shield, just as a hissing, spitting beam of energy as thick around as her waist slammed into the barrier.
The Sorcerer leaned forward, pouring deadly light from his hands, and the periodic flashes illuminated his face under his hood, revealing a triumphant grin strained with exertion, almost more of an animal snarl than anything that belonged on a human face.
Zelda drew deeply upon her own reserves of magic, bolstered by the Triforce of Wisdom, and did her best to make sure the shield held. The Sorcerer's beam was consuming the protective energy almost faster than she could renew it, and the princess quickly began to tire.
She could not guess how long they remained that way, each straining against the other, but between the choking smoke from the burning bed and the sheer effort required to maintain a shield of that power level, Zelda knew she but a few moments left.
Finally, just as it seemed she could go on no longer, the world around them exploded in light and sound, simultaneously blinding and deafening her as she was thrown back against the wall with a powerful wave of concussive force. Zelda cried out in pain as she pressed her hands over her ears, a small part of her mind wondering what sort of attack the Sorcerer had conjured, but several seconds passed seemingly without incident.
Trying to see past the afterimages swarming over her vision, Zelda was barely able to make out a flash of green, illuminated by the fire, and over the painful ringing in her ears, she heard the unmistakable sound of steel clashing against steel. Beside her, Gareth huddled on the stone floor in a ball, eyes squeezed tightly shut as he pressed his palms over his ears.
Blinking furiously to restore her vision, Zelda coughed violently on the smoke, now seeming to fill the entire room, and looked past the flames of her bed to two indistinct shapes, both vaguely man-shaped.
As one of them was violently knocked into the bed she and her brother huddled behind, she recognized Link, his green tunic streaked with ash and blood soaking his right sleeve from a deep cut on his upper arm.
Shouting fiercely, the Hero leaped to his feet and whipped the long purple-blue staff in his right hand at the other shape. Zelda realized what he was doing an instant before the thunderbolt leaped out of the head of the staff and crouched down, covering her ears.
With a terrible rumbling boom and a flash so bright she could see it through her closed lids, the lightning bolt exploded through the chamber, sounding like the end of the world. Over the renewed ringing in her ears, Zelda heard a new sound, a roaring she was at first unable to identify.
As she looked up over the edge of the overturned bed, Zelda realized that Link had blasted out one wall of the room with the lightning bolt, and apparently the Sorcerer as well, since he was nowhere in sight. The hot mountain wind sucked most of the smoke out of the chamber, though the burning mattress still made her eyes water and she nearly choked on the acrid smell.
The Hero sheathed his sword and leaned his staff against the wall, sharp eyes locked on the hole in the wall. Beyond, the rocky slopes of Death Mountain were visible, the orange glow from the cone of the volcano mixing with the silver moonlight to present an unearthly scene.
As Zelda rose and started to make her way over to where their protector stood, Link pulled off his headband and quickly ripped away the right sleeve of his undershirt, yanking the lower edge out of his bracer. He scrubbed away the blood on his upper arm with what was left of the white sleeve, teeth gritted in pain, and glanced up again at the wide, jagged hole leading outside.
He glanced up as Zelda touched his arm, gesturing for the black headband. He handed it to her and let her tend to his wound as he picked up his staff with his other hand, still watching for his enemy's return.
Zelda bound the deep cut tightly, but Link suppressed his cry of pain, clenching his teeth as she tightened the improvised bandage. The Hero looked it over himself before drawing his sword, stepping away.
"Thank you," he said, meeting her eyes with steely determination in his own.
With his torn, soot-streaked clothes and gleaming weapons, the volcanic wind whipping his hair around his head, Link looked at that moment more like the legendary warriors she'd heard stories of than ever before. If the fierce gleam in his eye had been directed at her, he would have been even more terrifying to Zelda than his opponent.
"Stay here," he said, his voice hard but also betraying a hint of fear. Not fear for himself, Zelda realized; he was even now internally upbraiding himself for letting the Sorcerer get as close as he did.
Clenching his hands around his weapons, Link set his jaw and turned to leap out of the hole in the wall, scrambling up the slope of the volcano a moment later. She could barely see him in the darkness, but when an orange lance of energy ripped past his torso on the side furthest from her, he was silhouetted for a moment, sword raised in challenge to an opponent she could not see.
Zelda moved to the enormous hole in the wall and carefully stepped out, following the battle as best she could. Only when an especially sharp rock dug into the sole of her foot did she realize she was barefoot, and she stopped, squinting into the orange-tinted darkness for the Hero and the Sorcerer.
Over the rumbling of the volcano, she heard distant shouts of challenge, punctuated by the clash of steel and the humming whine of the Sorcerer's energy blasts. Zelda raised a hand to her forehead to shield her eyes from the wind and keep her hair out of her face, watching the distant flashes of light.
Finally, Link unleashed another thunderbolt and the entire slope of the mountain was lit up as bright as noon for an instant, the rumble of the thunder echoing powerfully off of the rocky cliffs surrounding them. For the briefest of moments, Zelda caught a glimpse of Link and the Sorcerer sprinting toward one another, swords raised, but as the light from the bolt faded, she lost sight of them again.
She was startled as something huge and flaming soared over her head, hurtling up the mountain like a meteor to smash against a jutting rocky outcropping. Zelda looked back to see Link's friend Dar standing in the hole in the side of her room, massive arms still raised from the throw and a fierce snarl on his face. She realized he had thrown her bed, and as she looked back, the burning remnants of the mattress and wooden frame illuminated the two duelists locked in furious combat.
Link parried a twirling slash from the Sorcerer, slashing back with his own sword, but the dark mage spun in a wide kick, his robes and cloak flaring out with the movement, and his boot solidly met the center of Link's chest. The Hero stumbled, and as he did, the Sorcerer flared out his fingers and loosed a concussive blast, knocking the young warrior backwards.
The Hero slipped and tumbled back down the slope, bouncing twice before coming to a painfully sudden halt against a boulder. Zelda gasped, fearing the worst, but as another, apparently natural lightning bolt hit the far side of Death Mountain's cone, she saw him slowly getting to his feet next to the boulder, obviously in a great deal of pain.
More rubble soared up the mountain as if flung from a catapult, thrown by Dar and several other Gorons who had come to help. Zelda could see the huge shape of the Patriarch shouting orders to his fellow rock-men, pointing with an arm as long as she was tall at the cloaked shape slowly descending the slope toward Link.
The missiles drove the Sorcerer away from his opponent, and he backed away a few steps as he sent multiple thin bursts of energy to disintegrate the incoming rubble.
Zelda turned, the surging wind swirling about the volcano pulling at her hair and nightgown, and climbed back up through the hole left by Link's lightning blast. Dar grabbed her arm in one huge hand and effortlessly pulled the princess up into the wreckage of her room. He pressed a bundle into her hands, and as she nearly dropped it, Zelda realized it was her boots and her brother's large coat, donated by one of the other refugees when they had fled here from Castle Town several weeks ago.
"We must get you to safety!" the Patriarch rumbled, gesturing to the door to their room, which had been ripped right off the hinges by Dar's forceful entrance.
"Take Gareth!" Zelda shouted over the howling wind. "I have to help Link!"
Her tone made it clear she would brook no argument, so the gigantic Goron leader simply nodded once, looking over her shoulder as she shrugged into the coat. "Go with her, Dar," he said.
The other Goron nodded, clapping a fist to his rocky chest. "Come, Little Sister," he said to Zelda. "We will go help my sworn brother destroy that evil man. I will show you a tunnel that will take us near the top of the cone."
Zelda reached up and attempted to clasp his shoulder, but Dar was too tall, so she just patted his upper arm instead. "Thank you," she said, and he grinned widely, seeming eager to get outside and throw more rubble at their enemy.
She went over to her brother and enfolded him in a tight hug, feeling Gareth trembling in her arms. As she pulled back, she saw that there were tears in his eyes. Zelda brushed some of his hair away from his face and put on a reassuring smile.
"Go with the Patriarch, Gareth," she said. "He'll keep you safe."
He hugged her again, pressing his face to her shoulder. "What about Link?" he asked, his voice still quavering.
Zelda looked down into his eyes. "Link is going to get rid of that evil man, and I am going to do my best to help him," she said. "You stay with the Patriarch in the tunnels, and don't come out for anything."
Gareth sniffled, but he took a deep breath and wiped away his tears. "You stay safe, too. You're all I have left."
Zelda was struck by the abject sadness in her brother's voice, and she pulled him close. "I know," she said, fighting her own tears that tried to rise at that moment. "We'll make it through this, I promise."
Gareth straightened and nodded, putting on a show of bravery. He swallowed and turned to follow the Patriarch, who had to hunch over to fit through the doorframe. The gigantic Goron smiled reassuringly, and he guided Gareth along as the two of them hurried deeper into the mountain.
Zelda turned to Dar, meeting his eyes with determination of her own. "Come on," she said. "One way or the other, this is going to end tonight."
The huge rock-man bobbed his head once, and the two of them rushed off into the tunnels, seeking higher ground.
--
--
Link reached up and swiped the blood out of his eyes with his remaining sleeve, grunting as the fabric scraped the cut on his forehead, earned during his tumble down the jagged slope.
Every part of his body ached, it seemed, but he forced himself to ignore the pain, concentrating on the battle. He'd managed to land a few hits on the Sorcerer, but it was obvious his enemy wasn't as wounded as he was, either through some kind of magical protection or just luck.
Breathing heavily, Link summoned the electrical shield Majacen had taught him to use, absorbing another fiery orange lance of energy. The force of the impact pushed him back, and his boots scrabbled for purchase on a loose patch of gravel for a moment before he slipped and landed painfully on his knee.
Link cried out, but clenched his teeth and raised the Staff of Lightning, pouring three bolts at once to snake up the mountain at the Sorcerer. The dark mage absorbed two with a shield of his own, but the other one knocked him off his feet, and he tumbled backwards out of sight.
The Hero slumped against the boulder next to him, breathing the scorching air deeply into his lungs. It felt like it burned his insides on the way in, and he coughed, waving a flurry of floating ash away from his face. Sweat poured down his face, running down his neck to soak his shirt and tunic. Due to the oven-like heat, it evaporated quickly, leaving salt caked at his temples and in his hair, which thankfully had become stiff enough with the dried sweat that it stayed out of his eyes when he pushed it back.
Around him, the volcano shook as it rumbled ominously, and Link nearly fell as he lost his balance, scraping his knuckles on the rough stone of the boulder next to him.
After a few more moments' rest, Link wiped the blood and sweat out of his eyes again and tightened his grip on his weapons, emerging from his temporary shelter to look around for his opponent.
The scene spread out before him was like something out of a nightmare, sharp jagged rocks scattered everywhere over the steep dark slope of the volcano, with occasional patches of bright orange molten rock flowing down in slow-moving streams. The forbidding summit of Death Mountain was shrouded in a cloud of smoke and ash, glowing orange against the dark, star-flecked sky. A tiny sliver of the huge silver orb of the moon was visible through the fog-like ash cloud, casting an eerie glow over the stark landscape.
A distant flash of light caught his eye, and Link peered out into the darkness as another surged up from the spot he'd left Majacen. A distant clap of sound rolled over the sharp-edged cliffs, resulting from a concussive blast loosed by the wizard. Link could dimly make out several humanoid shapes still moving around in the distance, one of them wielding a glowing white sword. He thought he could briefly see Majacen's face as the wizard poured a column of flame from his other hand, moving in the same motion to slash his sword at one of the other indistinct shapes.
He felt a brief pang, knowing he could not go to help his friend, but, as Link reminded himself, his own opponent was just as deadly as any crowd of ghouls, and at that moment, he did not know where the Sorcerer was.
Jaw setting with deadly intent, Link moved to hike up the slope in search of his enemy. A deep, burning rage settled over his mind; his task was to protect Zelda and her brother, and he'd nearly failed in that. If he'd been only a few seconds later…
Link raised his weapons in challenge, ignoring the pain from his already numerous wounds as he presented himself as a target.
"This ends tonight!" the Hero bellowed into the darkness, shouting at the top of his voice in an angry roar to make himself heard over the rumble of the volcano and the howling wind.
"You hear me, creature?" Link screamed, looking through the ash and smoke for the other man. "One of us isn't leaving this mountain alive!"
With a suddenness that sent a chill down Link's spine despite the heat, the Sorcerer appeared out of a cloud of smoke a few yards up the slope.
His cloak and robes whipping around him from the wind, the dark mage slowly raised his sword, smiling grimly beneath his hood. In the darkness, Link could see a faint orange glow in his nameless enemy's eyes, not a reflection of the streams of lava around them but something from within.
As he shifted into a ready stance, the Sorcerer spoke the only three words Link ever heard him say:
"So be it."
--
Author's Note: As I am on vacation and currently unable to get near a reliable Internet connection every day, I wasn't able to get online until today to post this, even though I finished it a while ago. I'm well into the next chapter, as well as a Star Wars story I'm also working on, so if you want to go check out my 'One Missed Strike' stories, you'll probably be all caught up by the time I can get online again to post it. Till next time!