A Link to the Past

Chapter Eleven: A Test of Courage

As unsettling as it was to find that he was trapped underneath the old ruins… in the center of the dunes… where no one was likely to find him for a very long time… the two things Link had going for him at this point were that there was plenty of light coming in through the holes in the ceiling for him to see, as well as the fact that there might be another way out up ahead. Of course, if there was another way out then why hadn't all these people near the entrance found it? Why had they all just gathered near the sealed doors and sat on the floor to die like that? Well, he wouldn't find out the answer just standing where he was, so the young man cautiously moved forward.

He considered trying to use one of the holes up in the ceiling to escape, but even if they weren't too high up and the walls too smooth to climb, it didn't look like any single hole was big enough to climb through anyway. No, the only way was to move forward, and this was easy since there weren't any branching hallways or staircases, or really anything at all… just a linear hallway that sloped slightly downward to a degree that almost wasn't noticeable if not for the water dripping in with the mud gravitating in that direction just a little. So far no change in décor, either, just more carvings on the walls that Link couldn't understand, but this tunnel had to lead to something, right?

More bodies, too, some sitting against the wall, some laying in the middle of the dirt covered floor, and a few even with old rusted knives and swords shoved through their bones in a way that could've only been done themselves. It wasn't hard to imagine what happened; a person finding himself trapped inside with no way out, tunning out of whatever supplies they brought along, before facing two choices… either slowly starve to death or meet the end a little quicker. Of course, Link didn't intend to meet either of those fates as he kept moving through the tunnel, but then again that's probably what each of these skeletons said when they first arrived, too, but… but what were they doing here?

"Were you all sent here to test your courage, too?" The young man asked, his voice echoing a bit on the stone walls. "Did the old man… no, that's silly… some of these bones look even older than he is."

Whatever happened to them, the bones weren't going to give him any answers, so Link started walking faster, ignoring both the water and mud that dripped onto him each time he passed underneath a hole in the ceiling, and trying not to think any more about what happened to all the adventurers that came here before him. The tunnel went on like this for a while, but then suddenly it came to an end, opening up into a large round chamber where many more holes in the ceiling allowed a lot more mud and water to come in. The ground was a lot softer, too, so much that it startled the young man when he stepped into the chamber, only to pull back after his foot sank up to his ankle.

Maybe the mud and sand there was deeper than that, but Link pulled back as soon as he felt it, almost falling down once he was back on solid ground, but managing to regain his balance at the last second. Aside from this big sand pit, the chamber only had one defining feature, and that was the object at the very center. It was a mound of stone that rose up about a foot above the rest of the mud and dirt, with a carved pedestal in the center that had… something sitting on top of it. Kind of hard to see from that distance, but gray colored, and shaped kind of like the armored gauntlet that a guard would wear. But why was a glove like that just sitting over there? What was the point of all this?

Did he have to retrieve the glove? Was that it? Just go over there and grab the thing? From where Link was standing there was no way for him to tell how deep the loose dirt was, and if it was too deep then the young man could easily sink to the bottom and suffocate, so what was he supposed to do? Whoever put the glove there in the first place had to have a way to do it, so… so maybe there was a hidden path, like stones or something just below the surface, or… maybe there was an easier way to see how deep the sand was? The only thing the young man could think to do was use his sword, so he drew it and got down on his knees at the edge of the pit, before stabbing the blade down into the mud.

If the depth was greater than the length of the sword and his arm combined, then walking across would mean certain death, but instead Link was pleasantly surprised when the blade only went down about partway to the hilt before striking a solid surface… about as deep as the young man's knees, and always the same no matter how many places he checked. All right, so if it was only as deep as his knees, then walking over to the pedestal would be difficult, but not impossible, so he carefully stepped into the mud and loose sand. It was an odd feeling, slowly lowering down until his feet touched solid stone, and he was right, walking forward was difficult, struggling to take that first trudge forward, and…

Suddenly there was movement in the chamber, not from back along the tunnel, but up ahead on the other side of the pedestal where… where the sand was being disturbed as if something large was moving underneath it… and coming right toward him. With as hard as it was to move in the sand, Link didn't like the idea of trying to face something that was moving through it as easily as this thing was, so the young man scrambled backwards, pulling against the mud and rolling up onto solid ground just before the disturbance reached him. Then there was a flash of movement, a dark colored, snake-like creature, its head and neck raising up from the sand, and one of its fangs scraping along the surface of Link's shield when it struck hard enough to send him sliding backwards.

Just as quickly it was gone again, the disturbance moving underneath the sand around in a circle as if it were trying to find a way to reach its prey, but then giving up after a couple passes and settling down. Trying to catch his breath, the young man now understood why no one was able to get that glove before, and why everyone else had been unable to find a way out of these ruins… they must've either killed themselves or starved to death in order to avoid facing that… that thing down there in the sand. Ugh… it was powerful, too, the strike that hit his shield being hard enough to make Link's arm throb in pain for more than a minute, and now… now he was left in the same tough spot as all the others.

Part of him wanted to panic, to run back to the door and try to find a way to get it back open, and if not for all the skeletons lining the corridor, he might have done just that. No, there was no other way out, and this right here must've been the test of courage that Sahasrahla was talking about… the courage to find a way to get across the sand pit and reach that glove over there no matter what. But how was he supposed to do it? Each time Link tried to enter the sand, the disturbance would come for him much too quickly to out run it, and that must've been how the creature hunted… it must've felt the sand move and rushed right toward it.

Too bad he didn't have anything else to distract the creature with, and no one to help him… heh… nope, the young man was all alone down there except for… except for the others who came before. Looking back toward the corridor, Link saw that there were plenty of bodies to choose from, but no, the bones probably weren't enough on their own… this was a pretty large creature, which probably needed decent sized meals to survive, meaning that he was going to need something heavier. Walking back along the path, he stopped to pick up some of the broken knives and rusted swords that were lying among the bones, hoping that they would be heavy enough for what he had in mind.

"If I drop any of these I'm dead." Link said to himself, deciding against grabbing any more. "I hope this is enough."

Wishing that he could carry more, the young man returned to the edge of the pit tossing one of the swords as far as he could, and then waiting for it to hit the sand before slipping into the dirt and mud as slowly and carefully as he could. Was this a risk? Yes, and he was probably dead if the plan didn't work, but thankfully the disturbance went right for the sword, striking at it a couple times before realizing that it wasn't a meal, and then settling down like before. Well, it was working, so Link tossed another sword, this time carefully trudging his way forward when the disturbance attacked, stopping as soon as it was done attacking the thrown blade, and not moving again until it settled down.

Throwing his last sword, then a knife, and then another, the young man was making good progress across the pit, but then he realized that he only had one knife left, and there was still a long way to go… more than he could probably make it in the time the creature was distracted. To be fair, it wasn't like he could go back in that time now either, so what was he supposed to do? Just throw the last one and go for it? This was a test of courage after all, and the only alternative seemed to be starving to death like the others, and the young man might've lost nerve if he hadn't stopped thinking and just tossed it.

Now there was no choice, continuing to move carefully until the creature was done with the distraction, and then rushing forward as fast as he could, which was actually more than an awkward, desperate stumble toward the mound of stone in the center while the disturbance underneath the sand closed in. If it had been a direct shot, Link would have died right then, but he was saved by the fact that the creature had to go around the stone in order to get him, which gave the young man just enough time to climb up onto the stone before the creature struck again with its fangs scraping across the stone before it sunk back underneath the sand. One of them grazed his boot, too, leaving a scratch that went all the way along to the sole.

Like before the creature settled down, and it took the young man a while to catch his breath, laying there on his back until his breathing slowed, and now… and now all that was left was the glove. Rolling over and getting up to his hands and knees, Link could see that it was definitely an armored gauntlet, but why was it there? Was it an ancient prize that would trigger a hidden opening for escape? Was it just left there before whoever built this room was eaten by that creature down below? If there was nothing to the prize, then the young man was simply doing to die down underneath these ruins, so he picked up the gray colored gauntlet and inserted his hand.

"Uh… all right." He said, looking at all sides of it, honestly a bit big for his hand. "Is… is this it?"

For a few seconds nothing was happening, and Link was just about to lose hope when there was a metallic clicking sound as the glove locked onto his wrist. Understandably startled by this, the young man tried to pull the glove, but then it made even more clicking sounds as the palm and fingers started to shift, shrinking in size gradually until fitting his hand so perfectly that except for the gray color, it was impossible to tell that he was wearing a gauntlet at all. During all this he expected for there to be pain, but instead he felt refreshed as if just waking up from a good night's sleep. All the pain and fatigue in his body was gone in less than a minute, and Link felt stronger to the point where he had to catch himself after not being ready for how quickly his legs moved after he was standing.

Was this glove magical, he wondered looking at it again? Was this some ancient artifact that everyone else that came into the tunnel was looking for? Without the assistance of those who came before he could never have reached the glove, making Link unable to keep from wondering how the first man was supposed to get it. He was sorry for the pain and horrible fates that the others met, but right now the kingdom was counting on him, and he felt so strong that he… maybe he could… running at full speed and leaping forward, the young man was surprised not only when he cleared half the distance across the pit, but when he hit the ground running and was moving so swiftly that it was like he was barely sinking into the dirt at all, leaving that creature far behind as he ran out of the pit and back up the corridor.

Now the closed doors made sense, given that anyone who didn't have the glove would never have been able to push them back open again, so he came to a stop on the stairs and pushed on the doors with both hands. This time the hinges squeaked as the stone rumbled, but it was still taking a lot of effort to push them, Link sweating and groaning, having to shift positions and brace them with his shoulder as he fought for every inch. Now squeezing his body through once they were open enough, there was a loud slam when the doors closed again, leaving the young man once again standing in the rain. There was no time for rest, though…

He had to get back to the old man and hopefully now Sahasrahla would be a bit more forthcoming with information before Agahnim completed his plans… whatever they were.