Noble by Nature

Chapter 12

Of course Link knew the princess was right, but the realization hit him like a blow in the face.
     This was Ganondorf.
     As soon as Zelda said the words, multiple things happened at once.
     Link staggered back a step, so that it took him a second to realize it wasn't just him that was shaking.
     Somehow the mummified body had reacted to their presence. First one finger twitched, then a second. Even though the ground was shaking and the whole cave seemed to move, Link couldn't pretend that it was just a tremor.
     No, all fingers twitched, then bent, and then he could see the exposed muscles on its neck and chest flex.
     He stepped back again, bumping into Zelda, who stumbled backwards.
     He could just see her terrified eyes, her mouth open in a scream, before the narrow bridge collapsed beneath her feet.
     Only his quick reflexes enabled him to catch her wrist, and she slammed into the rock wall under him.
     Link cast an anxious glance over his shoulder, seeing the strands of Malice twist and turn, much more lively than they had been before.
     They crawled over each other, and part of it exploded up to the ceiling, spreading out over it in seconds.
     But none of that was as terrifying as the snapping of the neck when Ganondorf suddenly moved to look at him.
     A chill ran up his spine when those empty eyes seemed to look straight into his.
     With an almighty effort, trying to ignore the horrors behind him, he pulled Zelda back up.
     'Jump!' He shouted, pointing back to the exit.
     She was standing beside him, staring at the Malice-covered corpse, frozen in place.
     'Go!' Link shouted, pulling his sword. But even as he said it, he was focusing on those empty eyes.
     That was when there was an explosion of fire and Malice, and the dark, empty eyes were suddenly full of life.
     Burning red eyes, with vertical slits for pupils, were staring at them full of hatred.
     'Run, Zelda!' Link yelled again, the panic making his voice sound shrill.
     He stepped in front of her, determined to protect her until his dying breath, and finally felt her move away as she jumped across the gaping hole towards safety.
     Malice was pouring out over the floor, up walls and across the ceiling, rapidly coming towards them.
     Link watched in horror as the body fluently stood up, stretching its arms above its head and laughing manically.
     Any other day he would have thought it was rather dramatic, but the sound was so terrible, so full of hatred, that all hairs on his body rose up. Sweat sprang up in his palms and he tried wiping them, but it was useless.
    Tearing his eyes away from this monstrosity, he turned and jumped, running after Zelda, who had just reached the archway at the top.
     'Link!' She called out when she looked back.
     He followed her panicked eyes and noticed a large tendril of Malice dripping from the ceiling, only half a step away from him.
     The burning, oozing substance twisted and turned in the air, so that its end was whipping close to his face.
     With a loud yell Link slashed his sword through the air, hacking off a substantial part of Malice. It hissed and smoked where the Master Sword had cut through, but didn't stop moving.
     He started running again, his heart pounding in his ears at the beat of his steps.
     'Don't stop!' He managed to squeeze out through his panting, gesturing for Zelda to keep going.
     She had dropped her torch during her fall into the abyss, and was blindly stumbling on, grappling for her bags to find a Luminous Stone.
     Link had managed to keep his torch with him, and called out for her to take it, so that she was leading the way for both of them.
     From behind they could still hear the terrible sounds of falling rocks, shaking earth, and gurgling Malice.
     'Go, go, go, go,' he breathed, more terrified than he had ever been in his life.
     He kept glancing back, deadly afraid that the Malice would overtake them and bury them alive, but nothing came.
     They ran and ran and ran, until the world stopped shaking and the echoing sounds of cracking rock died off.
     Still they kept running, up all those steps again, with no sounds but their falling footsteps and laborious breathing.
     'I- I think... think we're... safe,' Zelda gasped eventually. She came to a stop, her hands on her knees and gulping down air.
     Link stopped beside her, but kept his sword at the ready, turning back the way they came.
     He was panting too, and sweat was pouring down his back. Streams of it dripped off his face, and he tried wiping it on his sleeve.
     'Dear Hylia,' he whispered. 'What did we do?'
     Zelda was shaking her head. 'How is that possible?' Her eyes were big and full of tears when she looked at him. 'How is he not dead?'
     Link looked at her in despair. 'I don't know.' He took a deep, shaky breath. 'It was like those Sheikah monks in their Shrines. They had mummified themselves to be able to meet me.'
     'How could he have known how to do that?' Zelda exclaimed. 'And why?!'
     Link shook his head. He didn't know. He could hardly wrap his head around what just happened.
     'Let's keep moving,' he said instead, again glancing into the dark anxiously.
     In deep, troubled silence they continued walking, back through endless hallways.
     Where they had seemed long, dark and depressing before, they now felt like infinite black holes, swallowing them whole.
     Link quietly wondered if they would ever see daylight again.
     There was no way they could keep outrunning Ganondorf like this, stumbling through the dark, all the way back.
     They were on their last legs already, having walked the entire day. It was at least four more from here.
     There was just no way.