The Pirate Prince

Zelda - The Royal Tomb

The Pirate Prince

Chapter 14: Zelda – The Royal Tomb

Zelda hit the ground with a hard thud. Groaning, Zelda got to her feet and looked around her. From what she could see, she was underground, before she mentally berated herself, as she had just fallen down a hole. Tentatively, Zelda took a step forwards, her foot stepping on an old bone, which let out a loud crunch. Zelda jumped, before placing her hand over her heart to steady herself. Zelda looked down and bit back a scream. The bone that Zelda had stepped on was a Hylian's hand. In that hand was a traveller's sword.

Zelda bent over and picked the sword up and looked around. Zelda thanked the Goddesses that Impa had the foresight to teach her how to use a sword. Zelda took a deep breath and looked around her. Zelda spotted two Skultulas in front of her, blocking a door. Zelda spun the sword in her hand and quickly dashed towards the spiders, her new sword making quick work of them. Zelda took a breath and walked through the door, which slammed and locked behind her.

Almost immediately, three keese flew at her, their single eyes red. Zelda swung her sword, the blade cleaving through two of the keese, while the third remained at a distance. Zelda's foot brushed up against a small, round object. Looking down at her foot, Zelda spotted a small shield. Zelda quickly stomped on the shield, catching it as it jumped into the air. Zelda looked at the last keese and threw her sword at it, the blade going straight through the monster's eye.

A chest dropped down, making Zelda jump as it landed on the floor. Zelda walked over to the chest and looked at it, before she swung her leg back and kicked the chest open. The old lock immediately giving way, allowing Zelda to look inside and pull out a map. Zelda looked at the map, noting that the room she had landed in had stairs. Which was understandable, since this was the tomb dedicated to the royal family. Zelda also noted that the map had two rooms highlighted as red.

Zelda sighed a walked into the next room. From what she could tell of the map, the rooms just led from one room to the other. Zelda mentally bemoaned at how linear the tomb was, before mentally kicking herself, because a tomb was meant to linear, people were buried here. Zelda suddenly stopped and looked down at the shield she was holding. From what she could tell, the shield once had an ornate design, clearly made by the Gerudo. If Zelda didn't know any better, she would've assumed that the shield she was hold was the Daybreaker. The only reason she knew it wasn't, was because the actual Daybreaker was on display in Hyrule Castle. Zelda looked at the back of the shield, which held the inscription 'To honour our fallen sisters, may golden shield protect you in many battles.' Zelda suddenly realised what she was holding and dropped it.

The golden shield, or the Queen's arm, was a gift from Lady Riju of the Gerudo to Queen Zelda of Hyrule, after she had sealed Ganon away over 300 years before hand. Once that Queen had died, she had been buried in a secret location, with only the Sheikah and Zora knowing where. The common belief was that she had been buried with her hero. Zelda knew that the two had left a fifteen-year-old son and a twelve-year-old daughter behind, as the 100 years finally caught up with them, taking the Hero first, and then the Queen. Neither living long enough to see Hyrule fully restored.

Zelda looked around her, before picking the shield up and advancing to the next room. Zelda dispatched a few more keese, before she examined the room in front of her. There was a single statue, one of the Hero of the Wild with the Master Sword held skyward. Zelda looked at the hilt of the statue, noticing that it was missing one of the gems. Zelda immediately looked around the room, spotting a tomb and a necklace. Zelda walked over to the necklace, her eyes narrowing at the sight of the piece of jewellery. Zelda mentally identified it as a Guardian resistant necklace, imbued with rubies to resist the cold, sapphires to resist the heat, topaz to resist shock and, at last, diamonds to provide the Guardian resistance that it was famous for. A priceless heirloom.

One that had been buried with Queen Zelda nearly 300 years prior.

Zelda's mouth twisted into a snarl. Someone had been here before her and desecrated the sacred sight. Zelda turned her eyes to the tomb, before she quickly advanced towards it, necklace and sword in hand, and gave the lid a hard shove.

A group of keese flew out, which were quickly dispatched by Zelda in her rage. The Princess looked into the tomb. Empty. The tomb of the Hero of the Wild was empty, completely bare of anything except a small yellow gem that lay tucked into a corner. Zelda scowled and snatched the gem from where it was sitting and stalked over to the statue, quickly inserting the gem into the hilt of the sword.

"Thaaaaat wasssss a misssstake, littlllle girl." Came a raspy voice from behind her. Zelda spun around and saw what looked like a poe, however this poe was easily twice the Princesses height and the lantern that the creature held was emitting a purple smoke. Something told Zelda that she didn't want that to hit her. "The lassst one you will eveer maaaake!"

The poe swung its lantern at her, prompting Zelda to jump back and bring her shield up. The lantern clashed against the shield. Zelda racked her brains of all the information that she knew about poes, quickly remembering that the bigger they were, the more hits it would take to defeat them. Zelda ducked under the monstrous ghost's arm and swung her sword, hitting the poe four times, before he backed off. The poe flew at her, causing Zelda to bring her sword down onto the monster's head. The poe screamed, before it vanished. Zelda walked over to the lantern and kicked it, a small key falling out of it. Zelda sighed, before scooping up the key and looking at her sword. The damage that the sword had taken was rather major, Zelda tapped the sword against the floor, scowling when the blade broke.

"Of course, it would." Muttered Zelda, turning to look at the statue. Zelda jumped when she saw that the statue had changed its stance, the sword of the statue now pointing at the floor, as if the statue were offering it to her. Zelda then noticed that the sword that the statue was holding was no longer the master sword, but rather a blade that looked similar to the one Link had returned with from that cave near the Cove, however the blade was thinner and the gem on the hilt was blue instead of green.

"That sword is my own personal blade," Came a voice from the deep recesses of the cave, "it is imbued with the power of ice when it is at its maximum strength, use it well, so say I, Nayru of Wisdom."

Zelda went very still, before swinging the sword in front of her. A cloud of ice billowed from the blade of the sword, much like that of a Blizzard rod. Zelda idly wondered if the sword Link had could do something similar. Zelda swung the sword a couple more times, watching as more clouds of ice flew out. Zelda looked around her, her eyes following the hand of the statue, noting that it was pointing at what looked like a wall.

Slowly, the Princess walked towards it, swinging her new sword at the wall, making it fall to the ground. Zelda quietly swallowed and advanced forwards. Zelda took a step forward, only to jump back as a chu-chu jumped from the floor. Zelda hit the monster with her sword, killing it.

Zelda quietly pleaded that she didn't run into a stalfos or a redead or a gibdo, the poe had been unpleasant enough for her. Zelda quietly advanced, swinging her at any keese or skultula that she came across. Zelda suddenly heard a squeaking sound, before ran into the next room. Zelda hated rats, almost as much as she hated the various monster fanatics, ever since she had snuck into the sewers beneath the castle when she was nine years old. Zelda looked around the room she was now in, before she spotted a pile of bones sitting in front of her.