Nathaniel hissed when the throbbing ache in his arm pained him. The medicine he had his daughter fetch for him didn't seem to be doing the trick. Leaning over the table some, his legs felt quite unsteady, and in the process of holding himself upright, he knocked over a bowl of dried fruits which clattered nosily in the small room.
While he had been observing through the window, Miroku immediately turned the moment he heard the crash, and offered his assistance to the perspired man. "Are you alright? What ails you?" From the sight of his bloodied bandages, he gasped. Certainly the wound hadn't reopened, had it? Miroku was sure it was nothing but a mere scratch, but that obviously wasn't the case. "Let me check your wound!"
The moment she heard the ruckus, the door swung open from the next room and Pamela emerged worriedly. "Father! Are you okay?"
Grasping his arm, Nathaniel reacted frightfully to Miroku's attempt to remove the bandages and to his daughter's sudden appearance in the kitchen. With unwavering speed, he turned from the monk and took to the stairs in a desperate fashion, in which case clearly shocked the monk and child.
"Father!" Pamela cried out, and as proceeded to follow after, a gentle hand on her shoulder stopped her.
"I'll look into this. Stay here," Miroku explained, and with that, he walked down the staircase, quite dumbfounded and concerned.
Staggered and speechless, Nathaniel fell to his knees in desolation. What he had thought had been a measly scratch turned out to be something quite serious, so serious, that he knew no amount of medicine could change anything.
"Nathaniel?" Miroku's voice drifted to his ears. "Is everything okay?" At the sight of the bloody bandages laid scattered by his feet, Miroku assumed not.
Startled, the older man hid his arm behind him protectively and offered the monk a small smile. "Oh…it's nothing…I'm alright."
OOO
Upon their entrance inside, they were greeted by three separate rooms, and luckily, and so far, nothing had jumped out at them and from the looks of the place, there were several dead corpses lying around the room. Cobwebs lined the interior of the stone walls and a cold draftiness chilled them.
"You sure you know where you're going?" Inuyasha complained.
Serena stuck close to the group. Somehow, she felt as if she had stepped onto forbidden grounds. Had Link actually visited this place? "How much further?"
"Not far." In fact, they were quite close. There were two more rooms left to pass before entering through the main room where he was sure the pendant possibly resided, if not then this was a waste of valuable time. Though they were searching for the four pendants, this one would most likely dwell inside the palace, if not there then he had no idea where. The palace was a safe bet, after all; where else in Ikana would it be if it were not so?
While it was difficult to discern anything as they walked through the darkness of the palace halls and various empty rooms, Kagome couldn't help but notice strange writings etched into the walls of every room; they were so unusual and unlike anything she'd seen before, especially on her trips to different museums in her era.
"So…there was a great war years ago," Kagome muttered to herself.
Hearing this, Sango blinked. A war? Now that she thought about it, she remembered the story told to them by the Great Fairy back in Clock Town. Still, it was unbelievable that the palace still stood after all that had transpired since then.
Eventually, the gang arrived into another room, this one similar to the last, however, the room was lightly lit by a couple torches seated against the farthest wall near the door to the next room, and aligned in the four corners of the space were old statues bearing a strange resemblance to a human, though oddly misshapen and disproportioned.
"How odd…" Sango commented. "The torches are lit…"
Even Inuyasha found this quite strange, though he didn't comment of course; rather, he walked on ahead of the group, intent on getting this whole charade over with. "Hurry up."
Warily following the unconcerned half demon, Shippo nervous looked around. "Do you suppose someone is here?" He asked. Weren't abandoned ruins supposed to be…well abandoned? Therefore, why were the torches lit? They should have been long since burned out.
Lightly stepping past Link, Kagome couldn't help but falter in her footing and turn to quizzically stare at the boy whose eyes and ears were elsewhere. For some reason, ever since entering the palace, he kept looking around, as if bothered. "Link?"
With his glare firmly fixed upon his surroundings, his eyes paused and met hers, and for a brief moment, they softened. Link didn't know why, but when he regarded the priestess standing before him, he couldn't help but relax. Even as the firelight reflected from her dark almond shaped eyes, her iris's sparkled nonetheless, and Link had to look away.
"What's wrong?" She asked, and from her question, he shook his head.
From his line of vision, Link's eyes fell an enlarged shadow beneath the priestess's feet expand suddenly, and narrowing his gaze, he glanced up. Upon the ceiling, he took notice of a looming shadow slowly crawling, drawing itself close to them. Like a spider ready to lower itself from its hiding place, Link didn't dare waste any time before grasping Kagome's hand and pulling her directly behind him a safe distance from the hungry predator which would have ensnarled her in its grasp if he hadn't moved in time.
Link was no fool. The moment he had noticed the shadow magnify beneath her feet, he didn't hesitate to pull her away from danger. The moment the grayed hand dropped from the ceiling, he stood before her with his blade ready to strike the moment it attacked.
From the sound of something dropping, Shippo turned, along with everyone else and gasped. "What is that? It's huge!"
"That's a Wallmaster!" Serena warned. "Be careful it doesn't grab you!"
Sango and Inuyasha readied themselves, but before either one could attack, the creature lunged for Link, baring its decayed claws at the youth, but it should have known better than to pick a fight with Link, because as soon as it was in arm's length, he took it down with one strike.
"I-is it dead?" Shippo asked, staring at the unmoving hand a few feet away.
Inuyasha and Sango, who had been ready to attack, found themselves staring at the enormous hand which had fallen easily by Link's blade. They hadn't even sensed the creature until it hit the ground before them and in a matter of seconds; Link had defeated it with just one blow.
"I guess so…" Was all Sango could say. She warily searched above her for any signs of danger, but there was nothing there.
Wounded terribly, the Wallmaster's hand shriveled up and sunk through the stone floor before vanishing before the group.
Although she had never been one to go out on such travels before in her life, this had been the first time Serena had ever encountered such a foe. The Great Fairy, her mother, had told her all sorts of stories about the great dangers outside of Town, and as she traveled with Link, she slowly learned about their existence and their threat upon the weak.
"It's gone…Where did it go?" Shippo asked.
"Through the floor," Sango replied quite dumbfounded. How was that possible?
From the sudden action, Kagome found herself staring at Link and his hand which still held her own protectively. Blushing, she couldn't help but notice how his was much bigger than her own though quite warm and comforting. Yet again, he saved her from another threat; it seemed he was doing that a lot now, shielding her from harm.
"You're so cool, Link!" Shippo exclaimed joyously, his voice echoing off the walls around them.
From Kagome's reaction to hers and Link's hands entwined, Inuyasha's eyes narrowed slightly. What was this? Why the heck was Link holding her hand again and why was Kagome…acting…strange? Inuyasha hadn't forgot what happened on their way to Great Bay and how Kagome hadn't tried to pull away from Link the first time he pulled her along with him to safety. Surely Inuyasha was imagining things…and right now the threat was diminished…so why was Link still holding her hand?
Still somewhat naïve to the world of adults, Shippo nonetheless smiled at Link; however, he couldn't help but sneak a glance at Inuyasha, who by this point was attempting not to make a scene. Emerald eyes took notice of a twitch under his eye. Shippo smirked. Someone was jealous.
In an instant, Link released her hand, though was unfazed by Inuyasha's glare. He directed the group toward the door, though he calmly spoke over his shoulder in doing so. "Be aware of the shadows above you by watching the floor, and as soon as they fall, attack before it grabs you."
Baffled by the half demon's strange reaction, Sango stared dubiously. "Are you ok?"
"Hmpt, nothing!" Inuyasha hadn't bothered to answer her back, but instead followed after the boy with crossed arms. What was going on between him and Kagome?
Sango blinked. What was up with him?
After passing through the door and pushing away the cobwebs that hung in their way, they entered into a large spacious room, one in which Link had once fought against a Wizzrobe; it had taken a great amount of effort for Link to dispel of, only because its attacks mainly dealt with incredible speed, fire attacks and the use of teleportation.
Upon their entrance, a tall inanimate heavily armored knight stood before the large ornate door protectively, wielding a massive ax in both gauntlet covered hands. Though its armor was golden in color, it wasn't surprising to see its surface weathered over the years it stood frozen in place.
"What's that?" Inuyasha asked. At first he had thought it was an enemy, but on closer inspection, it was just standing there.
Blue eyes narrowed.
Whatever the case was, Inuyasha decided to step forward, and as he did, he grabbed it and with all his might, attempted to push it to the side so they could continue forward, but unfortunately, it was far too heavy and wouldn't budge. "What the hell is this thing made of?"
"Inuyasha…step away from there," Link's voice warned.
Baffled, he looked at the boy, who suddenly unsheathed his sword, his eyes glaring at the inanimate knight next to Inuyasha. "What?"
Kagome noticed the look in Link's eyes and worriedly glanced at Inuyasha. "Inuyasha, you should probably listen to him."
"What the hell for?"
Even Sango understood Link's reasoning for wanting Inuyasha to move away. "Don't you find it peculiar that it's standing in front of the entrance?" She asked.
Link nodded. "Last I came here, the entrance was without obstruction."
"Then…it's an enemy?" Asked the child. Shippo gulped. Couldn't they at least get a break from all the fighting once in a while?
Link nodded. "It's an Iron Knuckle…"
Somewhat curious, Inuyasha did not falter in his inspection of the armored Knight innocently standing before the entrance to the room of their destination. "Doesn't look dangerous to m—" It had happened so fast that he hadn't had time to doge; in an instant, Inuyasha found himself flung across the room, sporting yet another injury, this time to his chest.
Kagome gasped. "Inuyasha!"
Shippo wanted to roll his eyes. "He never listens!"
Serena agreed. "Tell me about it…"
Stepping loudly away from the door to the next room, the armored knight stalked toward them at a slow pace, with its sword at the ready. From its speed, it appeared as if the armor was dragging it down, impeding it's movement greatly.
Taking matters into her own hands, Sango grabbed her boomerang and threw it at the approaching enemy, and as it sailed through the room, it effectively pushed it back, though it did little damage. "What?" Normally her attack would have caused a lot of damage, but this time, it did nothing.
Deciding to put this fight to an end soon, Inuyasha charged at the foe, and landed a striking blow to its face, though unfortunately a loud clang upon the armor resonated in the room; Inuyasha only succeeded in hitting the armor. Again he raised his sword to strike, but this time, the knight was dealt him a blow to the side. "Damn it!" Inuyasha jumped out of harm's way and held his side which now bled. It seemed today wasn't a day to pick fights; he already had wounds on his shoulder.
Link charged at the Iron Knuckle, but before he could pass Inuyasha, the half demon stopped him with a piercing glare and a snarl.
"You stay out of this! You're always showing off!" He growled. This time, Link would watch from the sidelines and let him handle this. Inuyasha was annoyed with Link always showing him up, and this time he'd get some spot light. "Tell me its weak point."
Unsure, Link scrutinized the half demon's wounds. From the looks of it, he was pretty beat up, especially from the wolf attack back in the maze. He knew the Iron Knuckle closing in on them was no doubt his strongest opponent in dungeons, but would Inuyasha be alright against it? Surely he would, after all, he was no ordinary human and he was pretty fast on his feet. "Aim for its abdomen. Where the armor is tied, cut there." That way, its armor would fall and it would be vulnerable to any attack.
Understanding, the half demon didn't waste any time charging once again, this time, as soon as the Iron Knuckle raised its ax, he used his speed to dodge the oncoming blow, and as it struggled to raise its heavy weapon from the ground, he did as Link instructed and slashed at its abdomen.
"Why won't he let us help?" Shippo asked.
From the way Inuyasha had barked at Link to let him deal with the problem, Sango was pretty sure, as well as Kagome that Inuyasha didn't want to lose, not to Link or anyone. It was a matter of pride, and no matter how many times they warned Inuyasha not to overdo it, he simply would not listen.
OOO
"Father?" Pamela called from upstairs worriedly. For over ten minutes, Miroku and her father had yet to immerge from the study in the cellar. Right now she wanted to run down and check on him, and it had seemed like his wound pained him greatly.
When no response came, she decided to go down anyway, despite Miroku's order to remain upstairs. From his expression, he had seemed quite concerned, and she only hoped this wasn't a repeat of what had transpired a few years ago.
Before she could step down, Miroku appeared below and he climbed the stairs, flashing Pamela a smile that melted away her fears. He was smiling? This had been the first time she'd seen him smile since their arrival, but why now? "Is…is my—"
After ascending the stairs, he patted the child upon the head. "He's just fine. There's nothing to worry about," he replied.
"But…he was in so much pain and his injury—"
Bending down at eye level, he flashed the child another grin, ruffling her hair in the process. "It seems as if his injury reopened but its fine now. I gave him some medicine to ease the pain and he should be better in no time," he explained. Noticing a tear cascade down her freckled face, he placed a hand upon her shoulder lightly. "He's sleeping right now, so let's let him rest."
Nodding, she followed the monk to the table and took a seat. All that time she had worried over nothing. "What kind of medicine did you give him?" She inquired skeptically, and from this, Miroku gladly pulled some from his sleeves.
"Just some medicinal herbs we gathered along our travels is all," he replied, showing her the ground up ones in a small pouch one would use for money. "We have some for poisons as well, but Lady Kagome's medicine is more effective."
"Herbs?" The leaves were quite different from the ones she'd seen.
OOO
Each attack and dodge made, Inuyasha successfully rendered the inanimate knight vulnerable; its armor lay scattered on the floor, and now he could easily attack. "Take this!"
For the past few minutes, Inuyasha was faring well against it and so far, no one had stepped in or interfered, which pleased him. With its armor removed, he realized that its speed had increased and instead of simply walking after him it now ran, slashing at him relentlessly; however, with each slash, Inuyasha blocked it with his sword or simply dodged. While fighting this strange foe, he found that it clearly left itself open to attacks as soon as its weapon hit the ground.
Considering Inuyasha's injuries, Serena thought he did pretty well against the Iron Knuckle, but still, her partner Link could have easily taken it down since he was more knowledgeable on battles and the weaknesses of his enemies.
Inuyasha leapt into the air and raised his sword, ready to deliver the finishing blow, but unfortunately, the Iron Knuckle quickly raised its own weapon, blocking Inuyasha's attack. Before he could jump away and try again, the Iron Knuckle pressed all its force into its ax and swung quite hard, effectively throwing Inuyasha across the room a good distance.
"I think he's getting tired," Serena commented.
"Who's inside that anyway?" Shippo asked curiously.
Link never took his eye off the fight, but he decided to provide his companions with some information. "Iron Knuckles are deceased knights of Ikana…somehow, they've been reanimated after death," he explained nonchalantly. The question however was, how did they leave the graveyard? Someone had obviously placed the Iron Knuckle in the palace, and he guessed it was to either test their strength or slow down their progress.
Shippo's mouth fell open at this information. "You mean…it's moving on its own?!" Was it magic?
Thrown across the room for a third time, Inuyasha cringed at his injury on his side. This foe was a lot different than the last, but he was sure he almost had it beat. One more attack would be enough to finish it off, he was sure.
With its opponent on the other side of the room, the knight turned its sight to those on the sidelines, and since they were trespassing onto private grounds, it charged.
"It's coming!" Shippo shouted in fright.
Before Sango could throw her boomerang, Inuyasha charged at it, and since its back was open, he thrust his sword into the chainmail before it could hurt his friends. Just this one thrust brought the Iron Knuckle down to its knees, and in only a matter of seconds, it burst into flames.
Sheathing his sword, Link didn't bother to wait around while the group observed the emptied armor, in fact, he hurriedly ran through the door and into the next room, despite everyone's complaints to wait. There was no time to wait around.
"Sheesh! Why is he in such a hurry?" Inuyasha complained while running after him.
"Don't question Link. He has his reasons," Serena defended confidently.
OOO
Their footsteps reverberated off the walls of the imperial hall, and it came to their understanding that they stood in throne room. A ray of sun partially cut off by the dirtied drapes on the highest windows against the left wall shined through, but despite that, darkness shrouded the entire room, making it nearly impossible to discern anything.
"I wonder where I put my flashlight…" Kagome thought aloud, easily perplexing both Serena and Link.
"Your what?" Serena asked.
Although it was quite dark, Serena's light was hardly unnoticeable. "Oh it's…kind of like a lantern; it should be in my backpack somewhere…"
"Fox fire!"
Blue flames engulfed tiny Shippo's form and as he focused his energy, the flames shot up from his hands, before innocently floating around the room. The flames eerily seemed ghostly to the group, but nonetheless, it did brighten their path up some.
Kagome smiled at the child by her feet. "Wow, Shippo, I didn't know you could do that." It must have been because of the Great Fairy's magic that he was able to use his Fox Fire in different ways. Still, very useful.
Directly ahead of them, up a few steps sat a tall throne made entirely from stone. The seat was empty as was the entire room, yet strange paintings were drawn upon the walls around them, some eerily representing human figures with enlarged tongues or misshapen shapes which clearly baffled the group or ones that clearly resembled skulls which lined the entire room.
Torn and dirtied banners, weathered from age, hung upon the furthest wall straight ahead of them above the stone throne. A symbol, most likely representing Ikana's power was painted upon the cloth; the emblem resembled that of a human, with legs but the arms were not visible. However, in their place was what seemed like small wings and in place of the head was a round ruby stone.
In Link's opinion, the very emblem reminded him of the one back in Hyrule, only it was more detailed and in place of the ruby was the Triforce. Rather than small wings, in Hyrule, the wings were longer, representing the might of the Goddesses, but the might of the Goddesses was not acknowledged in this forgotten land of Ikana. For despicable reasons of their own, the Ikanaian's deeply disliked the true creators of their world and through their monuments and towers their hatred burned until they breathed their last.
The closer they approached, gentle muffles of hushed whispers filled the room around them, and they stopped curiously to pinpoint its source. With each turn, only the flames of Shippo's fox fire lighted the room, but no one appeared present.
"Where are those voices coming from?" Kagome asked.
Sango was just as perplexed, as well as the others, excluding Link of course. "I'm not sure…"
"W-who do you suppose they could be?" A whiny high pitched voice asked.
"Trespassers!" One of them barked, its deep voice echoing in the room around the group.
Inuyasha squinted through the darkness, and located the very source of the bickering. In the farthest corner of the room to their right, were two ghostly lights floating about.
"Do you see that?" Shippo asked Link, who nodded in response.
Sango and Kagome were surprised, yet nonetheless, seeing as how the spirits were not attacking, they decided to confront them. Besides, it was five against two.
"Again? Why?"
From the sounds of footsteps approaching, the other one grew frantic and flew about the air around its friend. "Shh!" As he and his friend kept their faces toward the wall, they realized that the room had returned to utter silence. Believing they had not been heard nor seen, they calmly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Who are you?" Inuyasha questioned suddenly with narrowed eyes.
From the sound of Inuyasha's voice right behind them, they jumped in mid-air, cowering in the corner, shaking from fright. These two ghostly skulls found themselves confronted by an unlikely group of visitors and their strange powers of dancing flames that encircled the room around them.
The two disembodied heads with a ghostly aura around them, possibly keeping them animate, regarded the group, unsure of their intentions in the palace. Upon their heads they were adorned in military headdresses of their rank beneath their majesty Igos Du Ikana; in fact, they were his personal henchmen or at least they were before they had fallen to their deaths many years near the time of creation; these two were regarded as the strongest soldiers of all of Ikana.
Acting brave, the one with the rounder and sturdier bone structure directed its attention to the group. "I'm the best swordsman in all of Ikana!" He replied as a matter of fact. Well that wasn't true anymore, but the memory of him still lived on, despite what others would thought.
Unlike the other, his face was more elongated, and at the reply from his friend, he laughed. "The greatest swordsman? Of Ikana? You? Ha!"
"Grrr! Draw your weapon!" He growled.
"Oh not this again…"
When his companion failed to unsheathe his sword, he growled indignantly. "You hear me? I'm telling you to draw your sword!"
"…how?" He questioned quite incredulously. "We're dead." To top that, they had no body, arms or legs; they were merely floating heads, incapable of combat.
"Um…excuse us," Kagome voiced, and from the interruption, they turned their sights back to the group and curiously regarded them again. "But you wouldn't happen to have the pendant that we've been searching for, would you?"
A silence filled the room once again.
Leaning in to the rounder faced skull, his friend whispered, "Did you hear? They want the pendant…"
"I heard…"
"Well…what do we do?" From their questionable stares, he didn't know what to do. "Should we te—"
"Why are you asking me? I don't know!"
Provoked that they were being ignored, Inuyasha growled. "Hey! Do you have it or not?"
Kagome placed her hands upon her hips, quite annoyed by the half demon's rudeness. "Inuyasha!
Providing their utmost attention, the elongated skull had to be sure they had heard correctly. "Did you say pendant? You want it?"
"Yes," Replied the slayer. "The Great Fairy asked that we retrieve the pendants in this time of urgency. We mean no harm."
Great Fairy? What were these trespassers talking about? Whatever that was, it was beyond them.
"There is no pendant," Replied the thicker faced skull suddenly. "So leave now!"
This came as a surprise. Weren't they just whispering about the pendant a few moments ago? Why were they lying?
"Hey! Hold on! What do you mean you don't have it?" Inuyasha asked. He knew for a fact they were hiding something from them, and lying their way pass this wouldn't work.
"I'm telling you to get out now! Trespassers aren't welcome!"
"The hell we're leaving!" Inuyasha replied.
A sinister cackle erupted behind the group, easily putting an end to the bickering. From its place upon the throne, King Igos Du Ikana had awakened from his previous slumber. How he had regained his skeletal body, Link did not know, but it seemed as if something evil was at work once again.
Frightened, the skulls suddenly fled from the room, startling the group by their retreat. "We told you so!"
"W-what is…that?" Kagome stuttered in fright.
While they had come across Stalchildren during their travels to Ikana, they never believed they'd encounter one so enormous. This being, crowned and seated upon the royal seat of the palace wore the colors and cloth of that of a superior majesty. His height of course was certainly questionable; no one would have believed they'd come across an ancient giant on their quest.
Shippo hid behind Sango. "I-It's huge! What do we do?"
"You have made it this far…interesting…." The King replied suddenly before cackling once more. "You are after the pendant, passed down through the Royal Family's lineage, are you not?"
Knowing he should have seen this coming, Inuyasha blatantly unsheathed his sword and approached the Igos Du Ikana without any fear. As soon as he stood a few feet away from the small stone stairs leading to his throne, he pointed his blade arrogantly. "You got that right! If you know what's good for you, you'll hand it over."
"You see, we're collecting the four pendants because the Great Fair—" Kagome was suddenly interrupted by yet another laugh.
"The Great Fairy asked this of you? How detestable…" He seethed. "You shouldn't follow orders from a mere 'woman,'"
Kagome and Sango blinked. What? What was wrong with being a woman? Did this guy have something against women? Why? As Kagome thought about it, she came to the conclusion that perhaps women were lowly in this dimension also and men were seen as superior.
Igos Du Ikana clenched his bony hands irately before standing up from his seat. In a regal manner, he descended the stairs and unsheathed his ancient sword by his hip. "I don't believe in Great Fairies or Goddesses with divine powers! I am the King, Igos Du Ikana, and you shall pay for trespassing into my Kingdom!"
Already prepared for this outcome, Link aimed his fire arrows toward the two windows overhead and released. One by one, fire eliminated the curtains blocking the path of the sun's rays. Immediately after, the room brightened, allowing for a fair fight.
Igos Du Ikana detestably growled at the blonde youth who dared to enflame his curtains. Raising his sword, he swung at Link, who had not been prepared to dodge the attack. "You dare bring light into my palace!"
When Link landed a good distance away, injured from his chest up to his shoulder, everyone gasped and stood protectively in front of him, drawing their weapons against the undead King.
"Link!?" Serena cried before fluttering to her companion's side.
"Damn you!" Inuyasha cursed at the giant. Beyond angry, he unleashed his fury upon the dead King, but with each attack, the King's shield kept him from delivering a blow. To make matters worse, ever since Inuyasha returned to his half demon form, his sword hasn't been responding well to its unusual but strong power. If he had his father's fang, he could finish this in one attack.
Igos Du Ikana didn't waste a second as he struck at Inuyasha harshly with his blade, nearly overpowering the half demon's attack. The force was so strong, that Inuyasha had to jump away in order to access its movements before looking for its weak point.
"Link!" Kagome cried as she examined his wound. From where she knelt, she gasped she realized he was bleeding terribly, that he could hardly keep himself upright. Gathering her power into her hands, she concentrated on healing his wounds, unfortunately, Link stubbornly pulled away. "What are you doing? Stay still," she scolded, but her efforts to heal him were in vain.
One moment Link was sitting and the next he unsheathed his sword and suddenly charged for the King.
"What are you doing?!" Inuyasha complained. He watched as the boy ran past him and for the deadly giant in front of them. Before he could warn Link, he was flung back yet again, though he managed to pick himself back up. "Do you want to die?!"
"Hiraikotsu!" Sango's giant boomerang sailed through the air and easily hit the skeleton with great force, knocking it back into the furthest wall. By doing so, her companions had a little extra time to prepare themselves for another attack.
What was going on? Why couldn't he get a hit in? Link's vision faded and black spots filled his vision. A strange numbness overwhelmed him suddenly and he grasped his chest painfully. For some reason, he felt exhausted and he fell to his knees out of breath. The voices of his comrade were off pitch, so much that he couldn't hear them properly.
"Link!" Serena cried. "Are you alright? What's wrong?" She asked, but when she failed to receive a reply, she couldn't help but notice that the passive expression sometimes worn by her companion had fallen. He was in pain and worn out. What was a fairy to do? "Let Kagome heal you! Or better yet, drink that potion!" For crying out loud, he was going to bleed to death!
Cracking its neck, King Igos Du Ikana angrily regained his footing and roared a tremendous roar. From the noise, the walls around the group cracked and one of the pillars stationed near the throne fell, and a collection of dust filled the air around them. After this, his head dislodged from his neck, eerily cackling as it made toward them.
From the sight of this, everyone gasped. Not only did they have to dodge a flying head that could mull them to death, but now they had to avoid the headless body which swung its sword around crazily.
"Shit!" Inuyasha cursed. A thought came to him suddenly and it was so brilliant, he knew it would work for sure. "Sango! Aim for the body! I'll take care of the head!"
She nodded and once again she threw her boomerang, but unfortunately, it didn't have any effect because the giant easily stepped out of harm's way which clearly baffled her. Sango would have guessed that it would be vulnerable since its head wasn't attached.
While Sango and Inuyasha took on enemy, Kagome rushed over to Link's side once again and re-examined his wounds. From his shortness of breath and tired and pained expression, she pulled him out of the line of fire and to the far side of the room away from danger.
The entire time, Serena was panicking and circling the two. "Link are you alright?! Say something!"
Shippo, quietly perched upon Kagome's shoulder, frowned. Link was hurt pretty badly and he looked exhausted. "Is he okay?" He asked the priestess, but she didn't answer right away.
Serena, who had noticed Kagome was about to use her healing magic, stopped her. "Use the potion instead; it'll be quicker that way."
Understanding, she reached into his satchel and retrieved the bottle of red liquid. After uncorking the lid, she lifted his head upon her knee and pressed the contents to his mouth. From where she sat, she couldn't help but notice the blood continue to seep through his clothing; the wound was deep. "It's not working?"
This was a surprise.
"What do you mean it's not working?" Serena questioned. The fairy examined her partner, but the magic did not take effect. What? It worked just fine with Sango not long ago; why was that?
Coughing from the contents of the potion, Link pushed the bottle away, surprising his three friends beside him. A trickle of blood fell from his mouth and he fell on his stomach clenching his wound. With his eyes squeezed shut, he did not hear the voices of his friends calling out to him and darkness invaded his senses.