Chapter 16- Trapped in the Eldin Caves
For once in a long time, Zelda has to recall her troops from battle. Zelda's forces flee for the exit of the Eldin Caves.
"All troops! Fall back!" Zelda calls. She stands at the exit, making sure all of her troops make it out before her.
Cia stands at the enemy base. She was just getting started. Seeing her enemies flee without a real fight makes her mad. Volga watches as Cia charges at full speed out of their base to catch Zelda before she flees with her troops. He stays at the base, figuring that this is Cia's battle; not his. If his enemy wishes to surrender, then he won't stop them. On a side note, staying at the base gave him the opportunity to witness an exhausted Wizzro stagger into the base. Volga, though he would really like to, refrains from saying to his fellow minion "I told you that you should have exercised."
Link checks the allied base, just in case some of the men didn't get the memo that they were fleeing the battle. Before he makes for the exit himself, he catches a glimpse of Cia out of the corner of his eye. On instinct, he intercepts her path. Cia stops in her tracks. The way Link stands makes it look like he is challenging her.
Cia lets her magic flow from her fingers into her scepter. With a graceful twirl, she strikes down, aimed to whip Link from above. Link expertly dodges to the side. The end of Cia's scepter lashes the floor of the cave, sending waves of magical energy through the rocks. Link charges his sword and lunges at Cia. Cia blocks the attack. The combined power of Link's sword and the stored energy in Cia's scepter unleash an energy wave in the air, cracking the walls of the cave. Like an earthquake, the interior of the cave shakes. The tremor isn't violent, but it is enough to make Volga shift his feet to keep his balance.
The last of Zelda's forces exit the cave. Without a second thought, Zelda does the same. On the opposite end of the cave, Volga follows his instinct and flees for the nearest exit as well. Wizzro, unsure of what to do, follows Volga.
The weak points of the cave collapse, including the exits. Those on the outside of the cave are on the outside, and those who are on the inside will remain inside.
…
When the cave started to collapse, Cia fled for the nearest exit. She was too late. Her first instinct was to beat on the rocks until they collapsed. Her attempt was unsuccessful. Her next action was to go to the base. Neither of her army commanders is there. She assumes that they fled the cave before the exits collapsed. She'd expect that from Wizzro, but for Volga to completely abandon her like that is unusual.
In the process of searching for an exit, Cia comes across some of her lowly soldiers. She is relieved, at least until they scowl and blame her for this. A Lizalfos leads what's left of their army to turn against Cia. Cia is forced to run from her own army.
After about twenty seconds of running, she realizes that this is stupid. She continues to run anyways.
Link also runs from surviving members of Cia's army. The two pass each other. Cia stops, quickly attacking the traitors, and then watches Link. The two make eye-contact. As if telepathically communicating, the two join forces against the traitorous army.
…
Together they defeat the army of lowly enemies. They've each acquired a few scratches, but they aren't complaining. Link puts his sword away, nods once to Cia, and returns to searching for an exit.
Cia won't let Link just walk away. She decides to taunt him, so she says, "You couldn't handle a group of puny enemies all by yourself?"
Link stops and turns towards Cia. "As a matter of fact, I could have. If I were you, I wouldn't be picking on me for running. You ran too, you know."
Cia's eyes widen. "Oh, so you do talk."
"Uh, yeah," Link says, "we established this in chapter 9."
"Wait, what?"
Link shakes his head and holds up a hand. "Never mind." It is better to drop the subject.
An eerie silence fills the cave. The only sounds come from bats and the lava.
"I suppose we should-,"
"So now what do-,"
Both started speaking at the same time, and they stopped at the same time. Link says, "Sorry, you go."
"No, it's ok. What were you going to say?" Cia replies.
"Oh, ok," Link explains. "I was going to say that we should start looking for an exit together, but… um."
"That's what I was going to say," and with that said, Cia starts walking. She walks past Link. Link follows. For no particular reason, Cia takes off her mask. She leaves her hat on; just removed the mask to allow her eyes full range of view.
In the keep in the very middle of the battlefield, Link stops to grab the contents of a heart jar. Cia waits at one of the entrances. She has to wait even longer when Link sits down and empties the pebbles out of his boots. With irritation, Cia asks, "Are you done yet?"
Link stands up, brushes off his backside, and says, "We're in no rush. Also, we just defeated a small army. We could use a rest," he then takes a break and continues by saying, "Don't forget; a little waiting never killed anybody."
"What are you, a chilled traffic police?"
"Sometimes."
This leaves Cia at a loss for words. Link laughs. For being stuck in a cave, he's decently happy. This makes no sense to Cia. He walks past her with a certain grin which would irritate the calmest of people. If he winked, it would be the perfect imitation of Ghirahim; perhaps a better imitation of Ghirahim than the original Ghirahim can do. Thinking of Ghirahim reminds Cia that she hasn't been out in the sun in a while. Before Link leaves her behind, she catches up.
…
Eventually, Link and Cia enter the crystalized portion of the cave. When they enter the main keep, memories flood in. Link admires the beauty of the keep; he hasn't been able to simply gaze at the crystals without enemy attack being imminent.
"This is where I found the ring," Cia randomly announces. Link faces Cia. Cia looks at Link and asks, "Did I say that aloud?"
"The ring?" Link asks.
Cia divulges the details. At first she wonders if it is ok to tell the 'enemy' about it, but ultimately decides that what's in the past can't hurt anybody. Link finds the story fascinating.
Cia chuckles. "Before that, I never thought I'd ever say that I was being betrayed by jewelry."
Link laughs. He says, "I've actually been reading stories of my past lives. I've had some pretty weird experiences myself. In one life, a skull kid with a very powerful mask turned me into a deku scrub."
For the next fifteen minutes, Cia and Link exchange stories. Cia, having watched Link over the course of several generations, already knows most of his stories, but she lets him tell his side of the story nonetheless.
Cia's favorite story is the one where he was from a small island called Outset. He sailed more seas in that life than all of the pirates he met in that life combined. In that life, he did a lot of talking to himself while sailing. It was entertaining to listen to. Link's favorite story that Cia told was the one about Volga's birthday. By the end of the day, since nobody had even said happy birthday, he went into a tantrum. Then, just to mock him, Wizzro said happy birthday to him every day after that for two weeks until Volga started yelling at him that it wasn't his birthday.
…
Speaking of Volga and Wizzro-
"Want to play soccer?"
"I don't have any legs…"
"Hmm…. Football?"
"That's the same game, and again, I don't have any legs."
"I meant American football, stick arms!"
Yeah, there really isn't much to say. Let's just say that they are trying to entertain themselves while Cia is away.
…
Link and Cia chat the night away, eventually getting tired and taking a nap. In the cave, there is no way of telling what time it is. What seems like a few hours to Link and Cia is really an entire day in the outside world.
(And yes, for the remaining 4 hours of daylight after the cave collapses, Volga keeps suggesting games they could play that require having feet, which Wizzro does not possess. After Volga suggests all the games he played as a child, which Wizzro has played none of them, Volga comments on how Wizzro must have been a really depressed child. Then they go to bed.)
For the first couple days in the cave, Link and Cia make do of what resources they have. Using the lava, they are able to roast the remains of the traitors from Cia's army. Who knew that Lizalfos was actually pretty tasty? After that, Link finds that he has a couple beans in his pocket. They plant the beans in soft dirt and collect water from stalactites and stalagmites. Cia uses a growth spell to speed up the process of the bean growth. Using rocks, Link is able to carve a rock stove. They manage to get lava into the stove without injuring themselves.
After a week, Zelda finally realizes that Link is gone. She takes her strongest men to the cave and they try to bash down the piles of rock that block the cave exit. The echoes are heard throughout the cave. Link freaks out, thinking that King Dodongo is knocking at the front door. (He's lost a tad bit of sanity by that time.) Using what little strength she has left, Cia uses magic to seal the exit tighter. Only after she does it that she remembers that they are trying to find a way out of the cave. She tells Link about it, but Link cares about as much as a drunk person cares about anything in general. After that first attempt, Zelda just assumes that Link is dead. They mourn over their 'fallen' hero.
…
Finally, at the end of two weeks, Link falls ill. This is a wake-up call for Cia. Desperately, she tries to remember where the exits of the cave originally were. She desperately searches the wall for a soft spot. Just as she gives up, a dragon claw breaks through the wall.
Volga stands on the outside of the cave. He morphs back into his human form and peaks through the hole he made in the wall. Wizzro comes up behind him and says, "It's been two weeks, Volga. Cia is dead. D-E-D, dead."
Volga calls Cia's name. It takes a moment, but then Cia responds from inside the cave. Wizzro thinks for a moment that the dead has responded to Volga's call.
"Hang on, Cia. Step back and I'll break down this rock," Volga tells his mistress.
As Volga steps back, Cia starts running to go get Link. She says, "Ok! I'll go get Link!" With that, she charges for the keep that she and Link had been saying.
Volga slams his body weight against the rocks. Wizzro can barely hear himself speaking over Volga's slamming noises. Wizzro raises his voice. "Wait, did she just say she ate a mink?!"
Volga stops to reply to the wizard. "I believe that is what she said. She is malnourished and can't think straight. She must be rescued," he says with a mixture of concern and determination.
"Why can't we just leave Cia to die?" Wizzro asks.
Finally, Volga bashes through the wall, screaming a battle cry as he does so. When the dust clears, the first thing he sees is Cia dragging a sickly-looking Link towards his newly created exit. Volga hesitates, but then assists Cia in carrying Link to the exit. Wizzro leaves to mourn over the loss of his newly found freedom.
…
Both Link and Cia are nursed back to health. Cia heals much more quickly than Link.
"Mistress, we are rested and ready for battle," Volga reports.
Wizzro gives an unenthusiastic "woo-hoo."
"Where shall we attack next, and when are we to head out?"
Cia stands with her back turned to her minions. Being trapped the Eldin Caves with her love interest has humbled her (to a certain degree). She simply smiles and turns towards her minions. "I think we can afford to give Zelda's forces a chance to ready themselves."
Volga and Wizzro can hardly believe it.
Author's Notes- Progress has been slow. I originally wanted to post both 16 and 17 at the same time, but to be honest, I haven't even started 17. I'm working on it, though. Thanks to everyone who have suggested names for the wolf pups and ideas for future chapters. It helps turn the gears in my head. I still like suggestions, so if you have any, I'd love to hear them. Vote on the poll if you haven't, because I have no idea what I'll do if there is a draw.