A Link to the Past
Chapter Forty Three: A Hidden Queen
Once he realized that Agahnim really was gone, at least for the moment, Link went back over to the buried mine entrance to try and clear it out, a task that proved impossible even with the power of the glove. He pushed, pulled, hit the stone with the Master Sword, and sure some of the smaller rocks and debris was moved, but no real progress was made, forcing the young man to admit that he could not get out of Misery Mire the same way that he came in. So with no other choice, he set out to explore the rest of the massive swamp, moving carefully around the perimeter both so that he didn't have to trudge through the murky water, and also that if he came to a trail or at least a cliffside that was rough enough to climb, the path could be accessed quickly.
Hours went by and his search was fruitless, the only things Link spotted as he walked being more of those plants sticking out of the water, more stone that was high enough to be visible such as where he fought the wizard, and an endless mass of shallow, stagnant water. It was still raining, too, not nearly as hard as the young man had seen it come down in Hyrule, but more than enough to keep him soaked and annoyed as more hours passed, but at least the storm allowed him to collect some of the water in his hat… which was especially useful as thirst and hunger began to set in. Sure, time might not have passed within the Dark World, but it was still pretty easy for those trapped within to die, be it by the sword, eaten by the others… or simply getting trapped in the swamp and starving to death.
Back in Hyrule, even in awful places such as the Misery Mire, there was something crawling around that could be caught and eaten, but there was literally nothing in this place except for those plants, and something told him that the viney, broad leafed foliage wasn't something that should be consumed. So he continued on, and the rainwater helped for a while, but eventually Link's stomach was rumbling to the point where it was cramping up a little, making it hard to keep going. He kept looking up at the tops of the cliffs, imagining being able to just fly up over them like a bird, or that the power of the glove gave the young man enough strength to simply leap up over them… which they didn't, and all he got for the attempt was a nasty bruise when he came back down.
No getting back through the crack between worlds, no sign of the crystal that even Agahnim hadn't been able to find, and no way to scale the cliffs… the wizard was right… he was trapped. Drinking the rainwater was no longer helping, and now Link had no idea how much time had passed, since the sun didn't actually go down in the Dark World, and now Link had to sit down against the rock wall. Was this why Agahnim took the crystals but left him armed… just another hope that could be taken away? Master Sword… magical shield… freezing rod… none of them did him any good in this situation, nor did the glove, flipper, or undershirt, and… and the hunger was getting so bad that the young man was finding it difficult to stay awake.
Making one last attempt to get to his feet, the effort felt impossible at this point, so Link leaned back against the rock wall, only to find himself crashing hard onto the stone terrain when the wall itself didn't catch him. Maybe it was confusion from the hunger, or maybe he was just tired, but it took the young man a few moments to realize that not only was he lying on the stone ground, but something was sheltering the top half of his body from the rain as if… as if there were some kind of ceiling above him. Rubbing his eyes and turning his head as he sat up, Link now realized that he was sitting inside the entrance of a small cave… strange, he was sure that it hadn't been there before… or had it? He didn't know now.
Taking a lot more strength than it should have, the young man managed to roll over and get up to his hands and knees so that he was looking into the darkness ahead. It wasn't completely dark since a lot of the light from outside was flooding into the cavern, and there wasn't any other option, so he used the wall to pull himself to his feet, and cautiously began to walk inside. The light from out in the swamp didn't last very long, although the random flashes of lightning were enough to show him just for a second that it was literally a straight tunnel where the walls that rounded up to the ceiling were… were way too smooth to be a natural formation. The cave's entrance had looked normal enough, but now it was more like walking down one of the tunnels inside the dry cistern than a cave at all.
"Hello?" He called, his voice weak and shaky from hunger. "Is anyone there?"
It crossed his mind that this might be some kind of trap, possibly laid by the monster Ganondorf had left to guard the crystal, not that Link was in any shape to fight if it was, but what else could he do, go back outside? No, the only choice was to keep going, and actually tunnel didn't go on for much farther, ending at a sharp right turn into an old looking wooden door where the soft flicker of orange light was coming from underneath. The young man considered knocking, as foolish as that sounded, before pushing on the latch and the hinges made a long, rusted, squeak when he pushed it open. A small chamber awaited him, smooth walls like the rest, and the fire from two small metal braziers in the center of the room, providing illumination that made the shadows move.
Aside from this, the room's only other feature was a wooden chair, on which a hooded figure sat, it's features completely hidden by the brown, tattered hood and cloak that was wrapped around it. Having become familiar with the Dark World by this point, Link kept one hand on the hilt of the Master Sword while the freezing rod was ready in the other just in case this creature was hostile… and he hoped it wasn't… he was so tired and hungry that the young man didn't even realist that the creature was pointing at him with a long, crooked finger before the blast of red light erupted from it's fingertip. Link tried to raise his shield, but the light was on him too fast, and… and now something strange was happening.
Instead of being burned or thrown across the room, the young man's whole body glowed with that red light for a few moments as… as he started to feel better. The aches and bruises from fighting Agahnim faded away, and the gnawing hunger that had bene torturing him began to vanish as well to the point where it felt like Link had just eaten only a short time ago, and then it was done. The red light faded, and the creature lowered its clawed hand while the chamber was returned to its dimly lit firelight. It was no trick, his strength had returned and now he was ready to resume the hunt for the crystals and defeat Agahnim and Ganondorf… but the only question left was… why?
"I hope you are feeling better now." A soft, female voice said from under the hood and cloak. "Using my powers in this place is much harder than it was in Hyrule… it took everything I had to nudge that wizard's mind away from killing you."
"You nudged… what?" Link asked, feeling more confused. "What are you talking about? Who are you?"
Instead of laughing or proudly proclaiming her identity, the figure sighed sadly, sniffling a little and her voice breaking a little as if starting to cry as she introduced herself as Venus, Queen of the Fairies. Of all the things that the young man expected her to say, this was not one of them, and now the figure really was crying, those horrible crooked, her unseen face buried into those long, twisted clawed hands. Regardless of whether or not she really was Venus, the figure had helped him, so Link started forward with the aim to comfort her, but the reaction was negative… angry in fact as she jumped to her feet, making sure to keep her face hidden while retreating to the far wall.
"Stay back!" Venus yelled, her voice suddenly a lot deeper than one would expect. "Don't look at me! Don't look at me, I'm cursed and hideous! This place is wrong… it's wrong! It saps my strength and stole my beauty!"
She calmed a bit, but kept on ranting about how decades ago she wandered into this place, and was quickly captured by Ganondorf, the vile monster who paraded the most beautiful creature in Hyrule around so that all of his servants could laugh and throw things at her, before casting her down into the swamp. This was why she helped Link, both in confusing Agahnim's mind and healing him, so that an enemy of that foul monster might survive long enough to destroy him. This was a good plan, at least as far as the wizard, since as long as the young man could actually hit him once in a while he would probably die, but Ganondorf was different since the Triforce made it so that the Master Sword couldn't do any real damage to him.
"Ganondorf is a vain, egotistical creature who thinks he is superior to all others." Venus explained, seeming to calm down a bit more. "He thinks the Master Sword was the only threat to him, but there are other ways to destroy evil… ways long forgotten from the ancient days of the Hylia people. Reach into the fire of each brazier, and I will give you something important."
The young man hesitated at first, not wanting to burn his hands, especially after just having all his injuries healed, but so far the figure had done nothing but help him, so he took a deep breath and reached into the orange flames with the hand he wore the hidden glove on, hoping it would protect him. Surprisingly, Link felt no heat at all, and the metal at the bottom was cool to the touch as if there was no fire at all, and… and something else. Closing his fingers around the object, the young man pulled his hand back to reveal… part of a broken arrow? Yes, it was the front half of a wooden arrow, with a sharpened head at the top that was unusually shiny.
"Silver is pure and good, even in a place like this." Venus explained as he looked at it. "I only had the strength to produce a little of it here, and all I had was the broken arrow that one of Ganondorf's servants shot me with during my humiliation. Aside from the Triforce, there is no shield that evil can hide behind that will protect them from a pure silver weapon, so you must keep it hidden until the critical moment… Ganondorf's last moment. Now reach into the other brazier… I have one last gift for you."