Hi everyone! Thanks for the reviews! I shall continue to continue, albeit a little slowly, so don't worry - I have no intention of abandoning this story until it's finished. I'm glad you liked the explanation for the digging mitts, Mimi! That always bugged me…

Chapter 28: Ambush

The door creaked as Link pulled it open, throwing his weight into it. A wash of hot air billowed out, warmer even than the air around him, laden with something that stung his eyes. He raised a reflexive hand to shield them, lowering it slowly as the initial rush of air died away, frowning into the gloom. The hall ahead was wide and short, with alcoves that had perhaps once held candles lining the walls, and as Link ventured cautiously forward, he could see that it ended in a staircase, descending deeper into the mountain.

Link lit his lantern, hanging it from his belt. Taking a deep breath, he glanced to the Sheikah flanking him… and began the descent.

At the foot of the stairs, the hall opened out still further, into a huge and largely dark chamber. Flickering torchlight in seemingly arbitrary locations only served to emphasize just how far away the walls were, hinting at edges of shapes that he couldn't entirely make out. The pool of light around him, his shadow a black bar dancing across it, seemed dwarfed by its immensity. Link gazed around slowly, trying to estimate how big the huge space really was. Had this been a gathering hall for worshippers…?

The tingle of warning from Fi came barely half a heartbeat before the Sheikah snapped into motion; a full heartbeat before Link snatched his sword from its scabbard, eyes flicking back and forth as he sought what they had sensed – what, in the next moment, he heard: a shrieking and a screeching that seemed to come from all sides; the sound of heavy soft impacts like bare feet landing on stone. Moments later, several bokoblins charged squealing into his light, hatred burning in their dull piggy eyes, more of their fellows running behind them. Link gasped, automatically dropping into a defensive stance, the sword in his hand glowing subtly with its inner light as he took one blow on his shield; caught another on his sword; resisted the urge to whirl on another presence he realised was the Sheikah trying to remain back to back with him. There were so many!

Fighting with a strength born of equal parts determination and desperation, Link struggled to hold them off, sweating in the heat of the cavern, instinct taking over as he blocked, parried, struck; punched out with his shield to send one foe stumbling back into another; stabbed into the soft unprotected stomach of a third; took a glancing blow to the mail that covered his side and in the next second saw his assailant fall to a knife in the eye. Another few moments of desperate battle and Link found himself returning the favour, half-turning to embed the shining Goddess Sword in the head of a club-wielding bokoblin that had been about to strike Ireya and jerking it free, whirling back the other way at once before the attacker to his right could take advantage, only just able to bring his shield to bear in time, the force of the poorly-caught blow sending a numbing shock up his right arm. Flickering light and shadow made the bokoblins seem even more monstrous than they already appeared, catching gleams from tooth or tusk or crude chipped blade; exacerbating sagging jowls or cloaking eye sockets in empty-looking shadow. Another dagger flew over his shoulder, so close he felt the wind of its passage on his ear; another bokoblin fell thrashing to the ground for its fellows to stumble over, and Link took the moment's opportunity to strike out, lunging for a foe, almost overreaching himself but counting it worthwhile as it gurgled its last and he drew back, as another crude weapon caught the side of his leg and he staggered, but kept his footing, the Sheikah behind him landing a lightning-fast kick on the attacker without turning, knocking it off-balance enough that he could bring the Goddess Sword down on it and send it screeching to the floor. Time had lost all meaning; distance was measured only in inches from the presences at his back, in sword-lengths to the foe. Another numbing strike landed high on his left arm, Ireya moving to cover his brief vulnerability, and as Link slightly shakily restored his guard he heard a pained cry from behind, the first sound either Sheikah had made beyond their motions and breath.

Link whirled at once, seeing Davar sprawled on the floor, a bokoblin jabbing down at him – leapt his fallen ally's body in furious determination, almost heedless of the danger, striking out with enough force to take the hideous creature's arm clean off in a spray of foully discoloured blood and interpose himself in the way of another would-be attacker, while behind him Ireya defended Davar's other side. The wounded bokoblin staggered away, clutching the stump of its arm, bumping into another of its fellows, tripping over a corpse lying still on the floor, already all but gone from Link's awareness as he kept up the desperate fight, struggling to keep them back. How many were there? The thought crossed his mind only for an instant: he couldn't focus on anything but the fight for even that long. Three bokoblins swung at him and Link twisted, shield up, blocked frantically with the Goddess Sword, almost stumbled over Davar as one of the creatures all but threw itself at him. In the next moment, the prone Sheikah seemed to come back to life, a small blade in hand slashing across the back of the bokoblin's ankle, biting deceptively deep and dropping it to the floor at Link's feet. He kicked it back with a cry and struck down, ending it, and all of a sudden Ireya was at his side, driving one of the others back with a flurry of precise strikes. Suddenly there seemed to be only one left in front of him, cowering back as at last the idea that perhaps it was outmatched finally filtered dimly through to its feeble mind – and, though it blocked his first strike, Link cut it down with a second that all but took its head from his shoulders.

Silence fell, broken only by the humans' ragged panting and the occasional weakly fading squeal, and Link slowly turned, looking around. Bokoblin corpses and the nearly-dead littered the floor around him, Ireya's face a blood-spattered mask, Davar still lying almost motionless on the ground, his face set in lines of pain.

"Davar…!"

Link slung his shield back across his back and knelt beside him, holding up his lantern for better light as Ireya dropped to her knees on his other side. Like them both, Davar was sprayed in the bokoblins' foul, purplish blood, but no bokoblin could have been the source of the dark stain that covered half his side, beginning to pool on the floor beneath him.

"I made… a mistake…" Davar whispered through gritted teeth.

"I have potions- let me-"

Ireya leant across her friend to intercept Link's hand as he reached to his pouch, her hand warm to the touch and trembling against his.

"No, chosen one." She blinked for a moment too long, her whispered words on the edge of shaking. "Such a wound… no potion alone can heal. Only make certain the inevitable, even as it delays it. He has… he has not much time."

Link froze for a moment as her words sank in. He barely knew either of them, and yet – they had aided him, saved him, stood and fought beside him – after a moment of yawning horror, he spoke again, tripping over his words.

"Can you take him – if you took him to get help – your people, could they-?"

Ireya nodded jerkily. "It is possible. A skilled healer- it's possible, still."

"But the spirit maiden…" Davar managed. "In this place…"

Ireya and Link looked at one another over his body, duty warring with duty in the Sheikah woman's eyes. In Link's, it was no choice at all.

"I'll be okay. Take Davar back home. I don't… I won't let either of you die for me."

"Chosen one…"

Link forestalled her words with his own. "Not if there's any other way." He still didn't even really know what they and Fi thought he'd been chosen for. "I've got Fi. I'll be all right. We know Zelda came in here, and we're not far behind her. There can't be that many ways out. I've just got to keep going." He glanced at Davar's pain-drawn face. "I already wouldn't have got this far this quickly if it hadn't been for you. You've helped me a lot. Please… take him back."

Ireya's eyes flicked from Link to her dying companion and back again. "Are you certain?" she whispered.

"Of course! Look… if you get him help now, you'll both be able to help me later." He refused to let himself believe that there might already be nothing anyone could do. "Hurry, okay? I know it's your duty to help me, but believe me, both of you already have."

Ireya nodded, slowly, the flickering light of his lantern reflecting from her eyes. "We will do this, chosen one. I will return to aid you as soon as… as soon as Davar's fate is secured."

Link nodded, forcing a weak smile onto his face, an attempt at encouragement. "Good. I'll see you again soon."

Once again, Ireya nodded. She said nothing more, sitting back, looking at her companion for a last long moment, and standing to begin a set of swift gestures that whisked them both away with a warping in the air, stirring a brief breeze that brushed past Link's face and was gone.

I hope he'll be okay…

Link stood up, feeling himself shaking as everything that had just happened finally hit him, the bright blade still in his hand wavering slightly. Bokoblin corpses lay all around, a couple not quite dead and still twitching feebly with the last of their strength.

The obvious thought struck him then, so hard it felt almost like a physical blow. How had Zelda made it past here?

"Fi," he whispered, tense and almost frantic, "Zelda's trail goes on from here, right?" It has to, please say it does, it has to.

Fi sprang from the sword to appear beside him, her faintly luminous presence comforting. "It does, Master." She gestured gracefully ahead. "The aura of evil within this temple is sufficiently strong that I am unable to discern more than that her aura is present, and that she passed in that direction."

Relief filled Link's heart at the words. "That's more than enough. Thanks, Fi."

"You are welcome, Master."

Sorry for the delay! I'm afraid there most likely won't be a chapter next weekend, either – I have quite a busy week ahead of me. But here's one for now! Sorry for the fate of the help… but he might make it!

Patch Notes:
- Ambush capable of overwhelming lone Knight Academy student provided.
- Enclosed space with minimal airflow no longer at 1,000°C: magma removed from majority of temple.
- Self-patch: Additional Sheikah removed from local plot before they can become too helpful. ;-)