The Legend of Zelda: The Missing Link

Chapter 13: Strength in Numbers

Zelda froze in her tracks. She turned her sight to the shadows next to the fireplace, where the voice had come from.

"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to scare you." A feminine body appeared from the darkness. It was Ashei, with one hand on her hip, as always.

Zelda relaxed and waved her hand to dismiss Ashei's concern. "Do not worry about it, Ashei. Pleasure seeing you here."

"Ah, you too," Ashei shifted her weight onto her other foot, smiling. "So, you're here to get armor, yeah? I think I can help you with that. I was just here trying to find the weapon left by the hero long ago. We can search the place together, if you'd like."

Zelda nodded once. "Strength in numbers, as they say."

"Fantastic. Now, I think I know where the best place to start is." Ashei sauntered over to a door to Zelda's right and pushed through it. She led the way for the pair (or really, trio) as they ventured deeper into the mansion. The rooms were all old, decrepit, and covered in ice, neglected for decades.

Zelda occasionally stopped to run her hand along dusty picture frames that held muddy-looking portraits, feeling the antiquity of the frames, then she would wipe the dust off her fingers and continue to follow Ashei. The young women seemed to know the mansion very well, which Zelda was glad for.

"Watch your step," Ashei said as they entered a room with a mostly pulled-up floor. Zelda peered into the darkness beneath them, and felt uneasiness settle in the pit of her stomach. Who's idea was it to put bottomless chasms underneath the floors, anyway?

Ashei took very careful steps on only the most sturdy-looking boards, Zelda hesitated, never being one to put herself in danger; she preferred to stay back and asses the situation. Ashei stopped and turned her head back.

"You doing okay there, Zelda?"

Zelda swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded, slowly, carefully, putting one foot in front of the other.

An icicle, glittering in the streams of sunlight coming in from the ceiling, fell and shattered on the other side of the room. The two girls froze and turned towards the sound.

A Chilfos rose from the icicle's remains, pulling up an ice javelin from thin air.

"Zelda!" Ashei called out. Out of instinct, she rushed to protect the queen, forgetting about the treacherous ground beneath them. She lost her balance and fell, catching the edge of a floorboard and hanging over a bottomless pit by only a few of her own fingers.

"Ashei!" Zelda gasped, not knowing whether to focus on her friend about to fall to her death or the ice monster before her. She turned her attention to the Chilfos, ducked before its ice projectile could strike her, and then fell to her knees while shoving her hand out to Ashei. "Take it!" She yelled, feeling the adrenaline starting to rush into her body.

Another icicle crashed.

Ashei pushed past her fear and reached for the queen. The two stretched as far as they could, but it seemed almost impossible to clear the distance between them. Ashei's fingers started to slip.

"Ashei!" Zelda could feel herself starting to tip over the edge but she had to reach farther. She had to reach--

One of the Chilfos's ice javelins flew through the air, aimed right for Ashei. "No!" Zelda shrieked as the ice struck Ashei right on the hand that kept her hanging, causing her to lose her grip. She looked up and let out a blood-curdling scream as her eyes met Zelda's.

"Ashei!!" Zelda couldn't avert her eyes as her friend fell to her death.

Zelda gripped the edge of the board, staring at the darkness in shock.

Midna appeared from Zelda's shadow beneath her and quickly pulled on Zelda's hood, forcing her to stand. "Zelda! Get a hold of yourself! There's monsters here, in case you forgot!"

Zelda did not respond, and her body started to shake.

"Goddesses!" Midna exclaimed as she somewhat roughly pushed Zelda over to safer ground, plucked the ice javelin from the board before her, and the ice infused itself with her palm. "What the..." She muttered, looking down at the spear, before pitching it towards a Chilfos. The javelin and the Chilfos both shattered, and another spear appeared in Midna's hands, which she then used to execute the other Chilfos.

Zelda peered up from underneath the hood of her cloak as the room fell quiet. Midna slowly turned back at the queen, looking at her wet, shining blue eyes, wide with shock. The two stared in silence, Zelda still shaking.

"I think we need to get out of here." Midna said softly.