Noble by Nature

Chapter 13

Zelda had not lost consciousness for a second, but she wished she had.
     First she had to watch Link get blown away by that massive explosion, his head thrown back when a big rock hit him near his temple. A large boulder smacked him in the chest, and he went down in a shower of smaller rubble.
     That all happened in a fraction of a second, right before she herself was thrown down by the sheer force of it. Rocks and pebbles struck her all over her body, but she wasn't badly injured.
     While Zelda was still gathering her wits, trying to focus her vision through all the dust settling, she heard a faint hissing and rumbling, barely audible above the ringing in her ears.
     She frowned, unease filling the pit of her stomach, making a wave of nausea come over her.
     Before she even had the time to push herself up off the floor, large tendrils of Malice came creeping into the room, crawling over rocks and rubble and burning everything in its wake.
     Zelda gasped and crawled back into the wall, trying to stay out of its reach.
     She watched as the stuff consumed the Luminous Stone torch, plunging her side of the room into darkness.
     On the other side she could now see a faint glow, originating from Link's stone. In it she could see his still form, partly hidden behind some rocks.
     'Link!' She called out, but no answer came.
     She struggled to get up, her feet balancing dangerously on loose stones, but there was no way to get to him without going through the foul, stinking mess.
     She only just started looking around in a desperate attempt to find something to help her get across the room, when she heard it.
     Footsteps.
     Out in the hallway she could hear the faint echo of feet dragging over the dusty floor, kicking away pebbles so that they were rolling across the ground, ticking against each other.
     For a moment she stood petrified, firmly in the grip of mortal fear. But the sounds slowly grew louder while she glanced across the room to Link's motionless body.
     She didn't know if he was even actually alive still, but she didn't stop to think on it. All she thought about was to keep him safe from whatever was approaching.
     If she could not get to him, and he would not get up to fight for himself, then there was only one option left.
     She turned and jumped through a large hole in the wall behind her, landing her in another room, instantly plunging her into pitch black darkness.
     Every cell in her body wanted to turn back and get to Link, to make him get up and get him out of there, but there was no way.
     The only thing that seemed to make sense was to lure any dangers away from him, until he would wake up himself and come to find her. She didn't doubt for a second that he would. She was counting on it.
     In the pitch black darkness she stumbled through the room, feeling for a way out.
     She couldn't hear those footsteps any longer, and in the eerie silence her heartbeat pounded in her ears. Her breathing was shallow and fast, but she didn't dare to breathe any deeper.
     After a couple minutes stumbling through the network of rooms and hallways, still without a single sound behind her, she stopped to stare into the darkness.
     It was useless. She could wave her hand right in front of her eyes and not see a thing.
     For the first time she allowed the panic that was building up inside her to get into her head, and she hugged her arms around her in helplessness.
     How would she ever find her way back to Link? How would she even find the way out? Their situation suddenly felt utterly and completely hopeless.
     And then a hand grabbed her shoulder.
    
Zelda shrieked so loud that somewhere down the hall a slide of pebbles came down, and she jumped to jerk back from whoever it was.
     The hand disappeared, but she was staring right in its direction and still couldn't see a thing, making all the hairs on her body rise up in terrified anticipation.
     Then a scraping noise, followed by a low, raspy breath, and she could almost feel the air moving, right before the hand clasped around her neck.
     She screamed, her fear and panic pinching her voice, before it was cut off together with her air supply.
     Tears were streaming down her face and she kicked and clawed at her attacker with everything she had.
     Zelda didn't know what came over her, but the next moment her vision seemed to turn red, and she grabbed hold of the wrist with both hands, jumping up and kicking her feet forward.
     She hit something solid, right before she crashed backwards to the ground.
     The iron grip around her neck was wrenched away, and she heard a thud as the other fell against the wall.
     Clawing at the ground she crawled backwards as quickly as she could, then turned on her knees and started running before she was even fully upright.
     With one hand extended before her and one on the wall to her left, she barrelled down the hallway. She twisted her ankles more than once, and repeatedly hit her toes or even her knees and shins on big rocks, but never once slowed down.
     Terrified gasps escaped her lips, and tears streamed down her face, both of fear and pain.
     She didn't hear anyone pursuing her, but that obviously meant nothing. She had been certain there was nothing there before, and look how that had turned out.
     Could it really be that mummified version of Ganondorf stalking these hallways?
     In her mind's eye she could see him chasing after her, just like General Shihin did in her dreams. It no longer seemed so impossible.
     Another wave of nausea hit her, so violent that she had to stop to throw up on the floor, bile burning in her throat as her stomach emptied itself.
     She groaned, feeling empty and disgusting, her stomach clenching painfully tight as she heaved.
     When nothing more came out, she forced her feet forward again, not daring to stop for a second longer.
     She ran and ran, cursing silently at every piece of stone that caught her legs, and clasping her painfully empty stomach, which sent constant spasms of pain through her body.
     Eventually she simply couldn't go on anymore, and when she fell over a piece of stone on her path she stayed on the ground, silently crying into her cold hands.
     There was no way she would simply stumble upon an exit anytime soon, even if she wasn't pursued by some invisible terror.
     When a strange scraping sound reached her ears a few minutes later, she had no more fight left in her to run away.
    
Her heart clenched and she struggled to breathe properly, panic coursing through her body so violently she thought she might just collapse and literally die of fear.
     She squeezed herself against the wall, hoping against hope she wouldn't be noticed in the dark. But the sound kept growing louder and louder, now accompanied by the dull thud of feet hitting the ground.
     She stared up into the dark, and for the first time noticed a very, very faint reddish glow creeping towards her.
     As it came closer and grew brighter, she could hear the hissing of Malice, until it even drowned out the ominous footsteps.
     But now she could see it, a dark silhouette outlined against the faint glow.
     It steadily dragged itself forward, and Zelda watched in horror how Malice spread in its wake.
     She could make out long hair clinging to the scalp. The eye sockets were two black holes, but somehow seemed to burn with hatred, solely directed towards her.
     When she saw those horrendous eyes, she was suddenly reminded of her fight against General Shihin, and how a golden light had reflected in his eyes while she fought him.
     She had been afraid then, but her anger and willpower had given her the strength to do what it took, and against all odds she had succeeded.
     There was no way she would let herself be killed here, cowering on the floor, in the dark, far away from anyone she ever loved.
     A new determination came over her, one that was long overdue. She worked herself to her feet and squared her shoulders, staring down the hallway at the monstrous shape of Ganondorf.
     She breathed in deeply. She held out a hand. And she let go.