Chapter 13: Tower Imprisonment
Throughout the lands of Hyrule, things were looking grim. Word had spread far and wide now that both the princess and the man that most people thought was the hero had been captured by Ganon. Monsters were everywhere; no matter how many were defeated, their numbers would be back up the next day. The land was starting to degrade from dark magic, trade between towns had almost stopped entirely, and everyone was afraid to some degree. No one was sure what was going to happen.
There came one day when a few people glanced out the windows or peeked outside to see how things were going. If they happened to be looking towards Hyrule Castle, they stopped cold. Then they called others to see and curiosity spread. A strange swirl of clouds had grown right over the castle, full of orange, red, and black. While a few other clouds were in the sky, none were connected to the perfect spiral there.
A few hours later, the sky was ripped apart with the furious roars of dragons. At the center of it all, Ganon tried to clasp the Septdraco tightly. He had done the ritual correctly. He had researched it five different ways and combined all the facts into a method that should have worked as he wanted. However, the dragons were fighting back more fiercely than he expected. Their magics pulled at his soul until they broke free.
Seven evil dragons fled to various parts of the land. They were full of rage at their imprisonment and at the man who tried to control him. Aware that they were meant to be at certain places, they flew to those places and settled in to reign over the lesser creatures as they once had.
The storm that had gathered took in all that dark magic and raged across Hyrule as well.
Zelda sat at the writing desk with the window securely locked. This storm had been going for three days now. At times, it quieted down to dry rumbles with sun rays trying to break through. But the storm was born of magic and not yet ready to die. Right now, rain poured down the window in a wavy sheet. Bolts of lightning were frequent across the roof of Hyrule Castle. Somewhere out in all of that were the escaped dragons.
She tried to study the storm, find a way to break up the magic maintaining it. But she needed a better view of the clouds in order to find that way. There was no questioning that its source was in the failed summoning of the Septdraco dragons. Did Ganon still control this? It would make sense to her that he did, keeping it out of spite or a misplaced sense of injustice.
Frowning, she crossed her arms on the windowsill and rested her head there. Whenever she thought about him, she still felt a powerful fury over all that he had done. There was nothing in the world that would deserve all of this as a reaction. He might claim he was injured and mistreated, but that didn't excuse destroying everyone else's lives. When she got out of here and in a position to actually do things, she wanted to completely destroy him. His character, his reputation, his power, everything; he had to be eliminated from the world.
But, she didn't want to go as far as he did. Zelda wanted to see Ganon destroyed. Never mind what precedent legends had, she personally wanted him gone. She didn't want to ruin anyone else in doing that, though. If she didn't care about the collateral damage, she'd be all too like him. And maybe she shouldn't be involved much in fighting against him, as her anger against him was so strong.
"I wonder if there's still time to turn myself into a warrior princess," she said to the storm. "Or even a sorceress. I hate being helpless."
But the storm had no good answers to give her.
How much time had passed?
Thunder rumbled past the walls, accompanied by the drone of rain on the roof. Link was waking up slowly, or perhaps falling back asleep. In this state, his body felt heavy and his mind fuzzy. He wasn't sure of where he was, just somewhere unfamiliar. It seemed completely enclosed in stone with a dim light that wasn't under his control. In this barren place where little changed, time was uncertain.
Time… he closed his eyes. It took such little time for things to change, to become tragic. Epona hadn't been out of his sight more than five minutes; he'd failed her. Gale had given him a good plan to go after Zelda; he'd failed both of them as well. Maybe he wasn't really cut out to be a hero. Because of his dreams, he had a connection to the past heroes and a wealth of experience from them. That still wasn't enough.
So little time for tragedy to strike… he remembered getting a letter from his parents when they were off fighting under conscription. Their house had been quiet and still without them, but he had expected them to come back so their life would go on as normal. Within a day, another message came that many of their unit had ended up killed in battle, including them. And there was something ominous in this rain. People had put their hopes in him and here he was barely able to keep awake.
A shadow shifted in a corner of the room. "You must really hate me now," Link mumbled.
"There's no use in fighting you now," the shadow replied. "You're still blind. There is still farther for you to fall, far farther. Don't."
He closed his eyes and the rain droned on.
Although it was a sign of his failure, Ganon felt a sense of comfort listening to the storm he had caused. It was like everything he had tried to hide was out there making itself heard. Listening to the rain pound against the windows, he remembered days he'd felt powerless and useless in spite of being addressed as a king. All that shame and tears he had to hide while doing his best to look strong and confident in front of his people, it was raging out there at never being heard. No one would ever know that but him. Still, he felt calm now. He was on the path he'd chosen and things were falling into place. He'd already accomplished his more personal goals. Anything beyond this, well it was for the sake of a better world. Everyone would suffer and know real pain. When the storm ended, they would be more mindful of each other.
It would sound crazy if he tried to tell anyone else. But the storm reassured him that it would all come out okay. There was all the bitter feelings that he had to swallow before, lashing out as lighting and thunder across the land. He was in power now. He still had to watch what he was saying, but he'd claimed his vengeance. The monster that had terrorized him in his dreams was dead.
Still, there were things to do now. He didn't control the dragons of the Septdraco, but it didn't matter. They were basically doing what he had planned on and people knew that it was his work. As long as they knew that, they didn't need to know that he had no control over them. And even if they found out, what would it matter? He had the power to summon them and he had the power to destroy them. If there was a suitable reason, of course, like if everyone begged him to do it and swore they'd be obedient to his rule.
There was a little nagging thought that doing so was going too far. That he'd already gone too far. It was a misplaced conscience, although he couldn't get rid of it yet. There was too much left to do before he could throw away all restraint and humanity. Thankfully, the rattling glass and pounding wind didn't let him worry over any of that for long. He could be a force of nature too; knowledge like that was empowering.
He turned his thoughts back to skimming the journal he had. Since he'd summoned the dragons, he had time to search through the royal quarters. Ganon held the king's journals and was glad that the storm was around because otherwise he might not be able to keep his temper in check. These writings were where Albertos did not have to hide his cruelty or inflated ego. And in this one, he found a reference to the suicide of Hizza Rat. The journal included the claim that Hizza had stolen the Master Sword and hidden it away in a bewildering wood.
While Albertos had only wrote this down to make fun of him for being conceited, Ganon knew it was the truth. A bewildering wood… he could think of two places that fit the descriptor and both he and Link had already been in one of them. There was definitely places in the Trickster's Grotto that he had not seen; Link might not have as much of an excuse for missing it, but Hizza seemed cunning enough to carve out a part of the place for himself. The other place was further to the southeast of Taven, in the Deku Forest. The Deku Forest was said to be home to fairies as well as an ancient forest god. However, even the exceptionally clever Hizza would have great difficulty making a hideout in the Deku Forest. The thief's vanity would not be satisfied with putting a treasure where he could not return to admire it and gloat to himself.
There were other things that Albertos wrote in this journal, proofs that he and his wife had set things up so that the next iteration of the Legend of Zelda would crop up in their lifetime. They'd even tried to cripple their own daughter's intellect through lots of useless information in order to make her more vulnerable. While it hadn't worked entirely, this was good proof to convince Link to be in his favor. And he should be fully recovered now; not at the top of his game for having been locked away in a prison room for over a month, but enough that he should be able to escape with Zelda in a day or two.
That meant it was time to put all that he'd done to good use. Ganon shut the journal and tucked it away in his coat pocket. There was another item in there, a magical key that he had enchanted himself. Given that Hizza would take measures to secure his hideout and treasure horde, it seemed best to give Link the means to bypass such things. Others might say it was counterproductive for him, in the role of the villain, to give Link, in the role of the hero, a free chance to escape with the princess and claim the sword said to be the bane of all evil. But the Triforce of Courage wasn't going to show up if Link stayed locked up in a tower. If he escaped, rescued Zelda along with himself, claimed the sword, and fought the evil dragons out there, there was no way that the Triforce would not accept him as a worthy bearer of Courage.
And all he really needed was enough time to touch the Triforce. Anything more was a bonus, really.
Ganon checked his forces on the way to the prison tower. Velken was hiding, but hints at his presence were around the place. Thankfully, he hadn't tried to speak to him again and stuck with taking care of the prisoners. He should know better than to interrupt now. All of the monsters on their potential routes of escape were ones that Link was capable of handling without the Master Sword. There would be enough challenge to not make him suspicious, but not more than he could take care of himself. And if something did go awry, Velken was capable of taking out a good portion of the monsters as well.
At the top, there was a single Stalfos pacing around as a guard. It moved aside and saluted for him. Not even acknowledging it, Ganon took the magic key and unlocked Link's cell with it. Link was walking around now, trying to get his strength back. On hearing the door unlock, he backed up towards the wall where a loose strand of chain was lying. Then he came towards him. "Gale? How did you get in here?"
"Hello, Link," Ganon said, smiling at him. "I made a magical key that should get me in to anywhere, that's how. You seem to be doing well."
"They have been taking good care of me, surprisingly," he said, unguarded as Ganon came up and put a hand on his shoulder. "But it's dangerous here, you know that."
"Of course I know," he said, then pushed him back into the wall. Link didn't know what to make of that, so he didn't even move as Ganon took control of the manacles by magic and chained him up against the wall.
"Gale, why?" he asked, looking over at one of the chains.
"I thought it'd be nice to see you chained up," he said, leaning in and touching his chin. A crash of thunder made it through the stone walls. "But I've also got something to tell you, something important. I've been here all along."
Link was not as well studied as others involved in this legend, that much couldn't be denied. But he wasn't an idiot either. His expression showed that he clearly understood what he was implying. He also didn't want to accept that, which left him at a loss for words.
"That's right, I'm really Ganon," he said. "I've been that way ever since we met in Trickster's Grotto. Didn't you ever think there was something suspicious about me? That one time we met up in the Gerudo Desert just happens to be the day that Ganon is out of the castle long enough for the others here to attempt to escape with the princess? That should have seemed strange. But more than that, just how many Gerudo men are around? Even with my people all scattered to the winds, some things remain firmly in place. There's only ever one male Gerudo born every hundred years; there's no way there would be two of us living in the same time being of the same age unless the two were actually one."
Although Ganon gave Link a moment to think on that, he didn't respond. He actually drew back when he tried to touch him again. Being silent was his defensive measure, after all. Maybe he could wreck all of the progress they had made trying to get Link more comfortable with talking. That would be perfect.
"Then you never questioned who I was? You're slow in some matters after all. And it was really easy to win you over so fast. Do you realize that now? All I had to do was find your insecurity, then butter you up so that your opinion of yourself changed."
Link was trying to back away, but Ganon had drawn the chains tight. There was nowhere for him to go. So Ganon came closer, well into his personal space.
"And such a silly insecurity at that. You, the one chosen as the hero, were so ashamed at your own voice that you hardly spoke to any but the horses? Those actions alone would make you a strange person to others. But from someone who's supposed to be the embodiment of courage? Your goddesses must have low standards. You even wanted to leave your hometown to get away from a pushy girl who was trying to take advantage of you just as I have. Although she clearly wasn't going about it in an intelligent manner if it drove you away from her like that.
"Now you're stuck here in this tower with the flimsy little princess over there, all because you trusted the person you were actually fighting against. You're not turning out to be much of a hero, are you? Because you wrote so much to me, I know all about you. I know you'd do what other people tell you mostly because you don't want to argue about such things. I know that you're actually lazy and would rather not be rushing around on some inane fetch quest around Hyrule for a sword that wasn't even there when you got to its supposedly secure shrine. And I know that your passion for me burns strongly and keeps you up some nights wanting to be with me."
At that, Link finally looked at him with an intensely hateful glare, full of that passion turned right into pain. It made a shiver run down Ganon's spine from a thrill of cutting so deeply without even drawing blood. Still, it wasn't the proper time for Link to be hating him. There was so much more than could be done. So he moved to confuse Link instead by kissing him right then. He tried to get out of it, but the chains kept him on the wall and Ganon further restricted his movement by putting hand on his collarbone. After a few seconds, Link stopped resisting and was trembling.
Ganon shifted his entire demeanor to something more suitable. It wasn't to his liking, but he made himself seem weaker by hunching over and leaning against the wall like he was tired. "I'm sorry," he said in a quiet voice on the verge of breaking.
"What?" Link asked, completely baffled. But the hate was gone and he looked to him as if wanting to believe him.
And right as he'd told him how foolish it was that he'd believed before. But that had to stay unsaid. "I am Ganon, but I am still Gale too. I just find myself being less of the latter as time goes on, especially after nearly everyone left me here. Look, uh, you're from a forest town. You know about grafting trees?"
Link nodded. It was a believable explanation then. To build a variety of crops, sometimes those who farmed fruit trees would cut into one tree and attach a branch from a similar variety into the cut. The tree would then grow with the new branch, letting it bear two kinds of fruit at once.
"That's sort of what happened over a year ago when I called on Ganon as my ancestral spirit," he said. "I was in a bad position and desperate for any measure to accomplish my goals. But I hardly recognize myself now. He's taken over almost entirely. I did plan on manipulating you knowing what was going to happen; I think he keeps my voice around because he's not interested in writing letters and it's easier for me to communicate with you instead. Though, I have come to admire you all the same. You're not after glory or power, just doing what you feel is right and trying to help people. I wish I could have had the same integrity."
"Gale, you," he hesitated, some part of him cautious. But his sympathy was stronger and he looked at him. "You can still get rid of him, can't you? You called him, you should be able to send him away."
"It's not that simple," he said. "The both of us are bound by legend now. Powers far greater than us have decided how things should be, what our roles are. Things have progressed so far that we can't stop it. I'm the villain, and you're the hero. At the end of it all, you're going to kill me."
"No, I can't," Link trembled and closed his eyes. "I can't do that..."
"But that is how the legends end," Ganon said. That thrill was powerful, of playing him exactly how he wanted. He could get any reaction he wanted if he just said or did the right things. At moments, there was an occasional twinge in his heart for doing this to him. But no, this had to be done and it was better to have fun with it while he could. "There are a few exceptions, but then you'd be the one to die instead and I don't want that. I made a terrible decision, I'll admit that now. You've been the virtuous one who wants to bring peace to the land; you should be the one who survives this."
"I can't..."
Ganon put a hand on Link's cheek, getting him to calm down a little. "I'm really sorry about this. But you have to realize that we aren't in control of our lives anymore. It's a fate we can't escape. At least, not if things go as normal. I've been trying to find way to get out, but my priority was making sure that my people survived without blame for my actions. I don't want to see Sudai go the way of the Gerudo people. Although I wish I hadn't dragged you along into my foolish plans like I had. It would've been better if we kept apart, just following the roles that were planned for us."
"But do you really have to die?" Link asked, his voice heavy with sadness. "Ganon has survived and come back."
"He has, as an evil soul tied to the Triforce of Power," he said. "As Gale, I will have to die. I've accepted that."
"But that's not right!" Link said.
Ganon put a finger on Link's lips to stop him. "I've ruined many people with all I've done. And I've hurt you terribly. I should be stopped. I..." he stopped for a moment and looked away, to seem like he was just as emotional here. It was a calculated move; there shouldn't be any emotion to this for his part. Although, there was something that might completely derail things if he let his willpower break. Or, would that help secure Link's loyalty?
Link's lips trembled and he couldn't find what he wanted to say again. It was enough to make Ganon feel somewhat guilty about just leaving it at that. Well, it wasn't going to change things that much.
"I know what must be done," Ganon said, making the words sound forced. Then he spoke more naturally, "but being with you makes me want to do completely different things. If I had a chance to do what I really wanted, I," he looked Link in the eyes and saw that he was listening. He probably wanted out of the chains just to embrace him. So Ganon kissed him again, far more passionately than the first one.
This method of seduction was different, but he had to admit that manipulating someone this personally had a lot of pleasant advantages over other means like controlling through fear.
Rain was still pouring down the roof, often punctured by noisy lightning. When would this storm end? It was disorienting to Link, making it hard to tell how long he'd been in here. He knew someone other than Ganon was taking care of his head injury, but had only recently seen that person. Had that been today? Or yesterday, or longer than that? He wasn't sure.
Although he was able to get up and walk around without feeling dizzy, Link was lying on the bed and staring up at the ceiling. The morning he'd come to the castle trying to reach Zelda seemed far longer ago than it could logically be. A totally different time… what was he going to do now?
He had been reading a journal that Gale had left him, one that King Albertos had kept. There was a marked entry that referenced the theft of the Master Sword, to it being in a mystifying wood. Was that Trickster's Grotto? There were places that he knew he'd never reached there. The only other mystifying woods he could think of was the home of the forest guardian, but Hizza shouldn't be able to reach that place.
But there were other things in that journal that troubled him, like plans on how to educate Zelda in such a way that she wouldn't be capable of fighting back if someone tried to capture her. Elsewhere, there was a part that suggested the king had taken advantage of Gregio's disapproval of more aggressive policies to send him out into the lands so he was there to train a potential hero. Then there was a disgustingly proud part talking of how the presence of a neighboring kingdom's prince being clearly of Gerudo descent was a sign that the legends could take place in their daughter's generation… Link hadn't been able to read past that one and had thrown it onto the ground after finishing that entry.
Although his mind drifted to those problems, they weren't the main thing on his mind. Gale was actually Ganon; he'd been using him. He hadn't kept writing out of falling in love with him, but he'd fallen in love anyhow. Hadn't he? He could still be lying and acting. Link didn't want to believe that, but it might be happening. So he'd been an idiot all along and was doing what Ganon wanted him to.
Which was, to get the Master Sword? He'd left the journal with that entry marked. And there was the other thing he'd left behind: the magical key that might be able to unlock any lock, perhaps even those odd seals that had been in the Grotto last time. Ganon had given him the means to get out of this cell. Maybe he really thought he had to die? But that still felt horribly wrong. There was what was written in Albertos' journal: the already flimsy sounding story about the Sudain conquest seemed a lot more insidious. Gale's parents had died then and he'd been forced to swear allegiance to their killer and submit to their control. While there was no question that Ganon was doing terrible things, killing him meant killing Gale. Ganon would survive even that and emerge again in a few generations. That wasn't right! Link couldn't see how he could go along with that.
At the same time, there was that voice in his mind that was stricter about responsibilities. He'd agreed to become the hero and Hyrule was suffering dark times. He had to destroy the villain because there weren't many in the world capable of doing all that was needed to take him down. While he'd thought that was a sensible thing before, it felt more foreign now. It was the right thing to do. If he had the ability to end all this suffering, he should do all he could towards that goal. But that meant killing the person he loved.
Link wondered if he should be more horrified to realize that he was in love with a villain. He was definitely horrified to know that Gale would end up dying. But while he still felt betrayed for having been fooled like this, he just couldn't bring himself to hate Gale. Maybe he could hate Ganon if their souls were grafted together and the older spirit was taking over. Gale had made terrible choices. But, Link still loved him. He could close his eyes and think back over the kiss, and then want so badly to be with him again. If he could just convince Gale to run off somewhere, anywhere in the world, that'd be wonderful. He wouldn't mind never coming back to Hyrule again if it meant being with him. Forget everyone else, he wanted to save Gale most of all.
That wasn't going to happen. Gale was convinced that he had to accept his fate and the only thing he could do personally was try not to take anyone else down with him. Ganon was going along with this plan because he wanted the Triforce. In fact, that could be why Gale was allowed to leave behind his key. Once Link escaped, everyone and everything around him would be subtlety pushing him towards the fate that had been decided on, that the hero would defeat the villain and everyone would live happily ever after. Except Gale, because he'd be dead. And not himself either because getting that happy ending would mean throwing away his own heart and not caring any more.
"Nothing's going to get accomplished just staying here," Link said to himself, then sat up and shook his head. He didn't like any of this anymore. But the fact of the matter was that many more people were suffering because of all this. It was that more responsible voice that wanted him to stay on the path of being a hero, but it did have a point. He was responsible for part of this tragedy, especially if things got worse because he was doing nothing.
Zelda was here, just across the hall. And there was one of Sudain generals left behind, the man who'd been helping him heal up. Picking the journal back up off the floor, Link glanced around at what was in his cell. There was a stalfos patrolling around in the hallway, a monster he didn't think he could take down with his bare hands. This journal was too light to be useful against it; same with the magic key even if it could get him outside. He'd been given meals, but there currently wasn't anything from those left behind. A good heavy mug might be able to do something. He had the summoning chain still on his wrist, but he'd not messed with that much aside from making sure he could call on Balrog when needed.
Across the room, there was a loose length of chain that wasn't attached to the wall. Link went over and picked it up to see how it was. It was heavy and strong, although it didn't have anything on the ends that could be used as a ball and chain weapon. Maybe if he twirled it around and used it like a whip? That just seemed like a bad idea all around, more likely to hit himself with. Besides, the hall out there wasn't wide enough for swinging the whole chain around.
There was the pillow he had, or more specifically, the fabric case over it. It wasn't quality cloth, but it only had to last through one attack, maybe two if he got unlucky. After putting the chain in the pillowcase, he set the journal back on the bed to free up his hands and took the magic key. Although he was inside the cell, the key still went in backwards and unlocked the door. Link tucked the key into his pants pocket and put a hand on the door to keep it shut.
Listening, he could tell where in the hallway the stalfos was. It was passing his door into the shorter part of the hall… turning around and walking back by the door. Link pulled the door open slowly and slipped out as soon as he could. At a steady pace, it would take the stalfos half a minute to turn back around and see him. They could survive the destruction of most of their body, but a good strike to the head would be a one hit kill. Link whirled the makeshift weapon around and slammed it onto the stalfos' skull. It cracked and turned to smoke instantly, dropping the actual prison keys on the floor.
Link looked ahead and saw a large chest at the far end of the hall, closer to the second doorway that had to lead into the other cell. There was a third door across from it, and a fourth behind him. Since it was closer, he turned around and checked what was that way. It turned out to be the staircase down the tower. Since this was a key, could it lock things too? Link tested it out and managed to lock the stairway door down. Good, that would give them a little more time before someone noticed. He knocked on the other cell door and then unlocked it.
"Are you up now?" Zelda asked, coming to the door as he opened it. She was wearing a floor length night gown and her hair was unbrushed, but she looked fine. And her cell was a lot nicer than his. "You were severely hurt when you arrived."
"I'm fine," he said. "We're leaving."
She smiled. "Good, but could you give me a few minutes first? There's some clothes in here that should be fine for traveling; wouldn't want to go out in that storm like this."
Link nodded and shut the door again to give her privacy. He then unlocked the chest at the end of the hall to see what was there. To his surprise, it was all of his gear: depth bag with things in it, the chain mail that went under his tunic, and the hat that had been taken off to bandage up his head. He put the latter two back on before checking on the bag for his inventory. These bags were enchanted to have greater depths than they seemed to have, so that took some time.
Everything was there as well. His rupee bag was still full up and the small vials of medicine were untouched. The larger bottles were all empty now, but all four that he'd gotten were still there. In other side pockets, he found the diving gear, the bomb bag with the assortment of normal and underwater bombs, the trirang, the bow and quiver, the camping gear, Sophie's lamp, the pan flute… everything was still as he arranged them. That was just as surprising as this stuff being left so close to where he was being held. Maybe it was Gale's influence.
Since he got done before Zelda did, he shut the chest to have somewhere to sit while he checked over the pan flute. Was there anything he could do about Gale? There were many magical songs out there and he could remember more if he tried. Something that might help… he could recall one powerful song, but didn't want to play it. That was the one that broke time apart for the Hero of Time and Link wasn't looking to make things even more complicated.
But he could recall that same hero playing another song that could help. Link closed his eyes and tried to draw out that melody. It was a song to reach out to those who were losing hope and suffering, to bring hope back to those unfortunate souls. Some of them were beyond being saved: the ghost of a hero who had already died, a dying father that wanted to do all he could to save his family and that wasn't enough. The Song of Healing was like grieving, sad and mournful. But it was a sadness keeping hold onto hope, looking for some way to a better life.
Once he had it where he could play it, he knew that it was most useful for those on the verge of death or just beyond it. It would give the dying peace. As for the living, it could reawaken hope and help them endure longer than they would have alone. Maybe it could give Gale the willpower to try fighting his fate again. But hope without a means to fulfill it wasn't helpful.
The song did give Link some ideas that he hadn't thought about before. Like the summoning chain on his wrist. The problem with fulfilling a legend was that it would try to kill Ganon and end up killing Gale instead. But was there a way to undo the grafting of souls like that? The Song of Healing might be useful in that instance to strengthen Gale's resolve to live. That way, he could satisfy the greater forces that were trying to guide them along a prescribed path. He was saving the princess now, and he could save the one he loved later on while still defeating the villain and ending this time of darkness. He just had to find a way to separate Ganon and Gale.
"That's a song to heal wounded souls, isn't it?" Zelda asked as she came out of her room. She was now wearing pants under a gray hooded cloak that seemed a couple sizes too big on her; a white crescent moon was on the side and seemed too distinctive for someone who didn't want to be noticed. But it would protect her from getting wet and being exposed to the sun if this storm ended. She did have very fair skin that would burn quickly.
"Right," Link said, putting the flute away. "How should we get out of here?"
"We don't have any options until we get to the base of this tower," Zelda said. "Once we're down there, we can see where monsters are posted and decide from there. But first, can we go up the stairs over there? I want a better look at the storm."
"From the top of a tower?" Link asked her, thinking that was far too dangerous.
"There's too much lightning out there for you to risk doing that," another man said. Link tensed and looked over at the door to see the man who'd been taking care of him through this.
"I guess," Zelda said, not worried about him. "I wanted to end the storm, as it's been going on far too long. Link, this is Velken; he's already agreed to help us get out of the castle."
"I'll be leaving Ganon's service today," Velken said. "Don't worry about me; let's get going."
"All right," Link said, getting up from the chest and going to unlock the door down the tower. Velken should be good in a fight, especially since he was one of the generals of Sudai.
The stairwell down the tower was mostly full of keese, as well as three beamos that Link shot at to deactivate before they got into range of attack lasers. At the bottom of the tower, there were three stalfos standing around. Velken warped down to take them out quickly while Link stayed with Zelda to make sure she was safe. He had some kind of dark-bladed weapon, maybe a short sword. But when Velken met with them, he'd already hidden his sword away again.
At the base of the tower, Zelda used her Triforce piece to look into the monsters that were keeping guard around the castle. "We should head towards the stables," she said, indicating the hallway to the west. "There's a path from the inner pasture that heads directly out of the outer walls so that the horses could run in the fields. While there's a heavily armored monster in the pasture, we should be able to sneak by it. We can certainly outrun it if needed."
"All the defenses there make sure people don't get in that way," Velken said. "We'll be fine going out."
The halls that the other two picked out were meant for servants. Thus, they were smaller and less decorated than the main halls. There were a few ghastly knights on patrol, but some patience made them simple to evade. At one point, they had a look into the kitchen and saw redeads down there. The unsettling zombies didn't notice them passing by.
As for the heavily armored monster in the pasture, it was certainly impressive. The reptilian skin and large berth made Link think that it was an old dodongo. Not only did it have natural armor that would be hard for any weapon to pierce through, it also had a custom spiked metal plate armor with a huge saddle on top. Link wondered what kind of rider would use a dodongo for a mount. The dinosaurs weren't known for being fast until they rolled up like a boulder and bulldozed their way through anything.
As Zelda thought, they were easily able to sneak by the dodongo and into the gated passage to Hyrule fields. Link considered offering the use of his magic key, but Zelda knew a song that would cause the magical locks to raise the gates temporarily for them. He recognized it as Zelda's Lullaby, a song that was supposed to be used by the royal family and those serving them. Did it check to see that the singer was her? If the song itself was enough of a key, this passage could be something to keep in mind for later.
On getting out of the castle walls, Zelda hurried down the short drawbridge to turn and look back up at the swirling storm clouds. She showed no hesitation at getting into the slick mud to do so. Link followed her over, but then Velken tugged at his sleeve. "Where are you going now?"
"I have to find the Master Sword," he said.
"It's in Trickster's Grotto by your hometown of Taven," Zelda said, still studying the storm.
Velken nodded, continuing across the drawbridge and glancing around for threats. "I should report to Leonidas. After that, I have some things I want to check out. Could you take her to Sudai Castle? Our new king Joachim is there waiting for her."
"Sure," Link said, taking hold of the horseshoe charm on the summoning chain. Balrog appeared obediently on the bridge, showing no trouble with the rain and lightning.
Velken glanced over the horse, then turned back to keeping watch. "Also, you were under heavy medication when something major happened. Ganon used the Septdraco to summon seven dragons that had been sealed inside the artifact. He lost control of them and they're now wild through all the provinces of Hyrule, even in the northern lands that were never conquered. Your horse is supernatural, but be aware of your surroundings. The dragons will be dangerous to challenge even after you get the Master Sword. It should still be greatly effective as these dragons are creatures of evil."
"We'll be careful," he said. So now there were dragons? Those definitely had to be gotten rid of.
Zelda then put her hands together at her chest and bowed her head. A golden light shone around her before shooting up towards the clouds. Seconds later, a bright lightning bolt struck down ten feet away. Link had just managed to close his eyes in time for that. "That should do it," Zelda said after giving them some time tor recover their hearing. "Not right away, but it will start falling apart now."
"We'd better not stick around," Velken said. "Be seeing you." He then vanished into thin black smoke.
"Thanks for taking me to Joachim," Zelda said to him. "Hopefully Ganon won't do the same as last time. But first, could you bring out your bow?"
He nodded and got it out of his bag. After handing the bow to her, he brought out the quiver too. There weren't many arrows in his possession, but he wanted this in easy reach.
Putting her hands on the sighting guide, she used a different magic as he put the quiver on his back. "This isn't how things are normally done. But with the dragons about, we don't want to be caught unprepared. The Master Sword will be able to strike down beings of evil like the dragons, but so can these light-enchanted arrows. It's a spell I found in my family records; usually it's one of the last enchantments that a hero gains. I think these will prove even more practical when it comes to dragons since you won't have to lure them into melee range to fight them."
Light Arrows? Those were one of the most powerful weapons around as nearly every monster was weak to them. If he picked up a bigger quiver to keep more arrows, he could potentially go without any of the other weapons that he had. Although, just about everything had some use that he could think of. "Thanks. Need help getting on my horse?"
"Yes, it's too tall for me." She handed his bow back and then he helped her get up in the front of the saddle. Link mounted behind her to make sure she could remain steady. Then he tugged at the reins and gave the signal to go at a light run, to get used to how this horse moved.
He'd signaled for a light run but Balrog quickly reached speeds that Epona could only reach at a gallop. Zelda gave a gasp of surprise and clung onto his hand to stay in place. When Link pulled to turn towards a bridge to cross a river, Balrog ignored the bridge and ran straight across the water, not even bothering to jump. There were definitely advantages to having a supernatural horse.
"We're going to go faster," Link said in warning.
"It can go faster?" Zelda asked in shock.
"Of course," he said, then gave the signal. Balrog broke into his gallop and they whirled around the southern side of the castle town and were leaving it far behind a minute later. Magic automatically rose up from the horse's helm and created a shield to keep the speed from blasting them in the face with wind and rain. In spite of all that had happened, Link broke out into a grin at this. Epona had left him a great gift as Balrog was a real speed demon.
As it turned out, they'd left the castle in the early afternoon. By the time the sun set, at a late time as it was the start of summer, they had arrived at Kakariko. That trip should have taken two days to complete. Link slowed Balrog down to a reasonable trot in order not to terrify the townspeople who might remember when this horse first showed up here. At the gate leading into town proper, they found a Hylian knight and a Sudain knight standing guard while the gate itself was closed shut.
"Good evening," Zelda called, waving to them.
"Princess Zelda?" the Hylian knight called in shock. "You've finally gotten away?"
"Yes, thanks to Link here," she said. "May we stay here for the night? It's been a crazy trek out here."
"Of course, hang on while we open the gate," he said, going to the side while the Sudain knight got the other. "May the goddesses bless you both; we've been waiting for a good sign like this."
The storm had ended out here too, but there was one still in his heart.