The Legend of Zelda: Goddess of Secrecy

Dungeon Chapter 44 - Up the Spiral

...in Epona's saddle behind him. There was a rumbling beneath them. Dabir braced himself as Link quickly turned Epona about. The others began racing up the slope as Epona picked up into a canter. Epona clambered onto the path as the first of the Stalfos began to appear behind them.

Parijan could have easily overtaken Daniel and Endeavor, but she lagged behind in front of Link, even to the point of dropping down behind him. Epona bit at the reins, not eager to have the horde behind them catch up. Link shared her opinion.

They rattled up the steps. It was was narrow on the lower levels, and Link didn't care for taking the tight turns on Epona. She handled them, but they were uncomfortably close to the edge. Link struggled to keep him upright in the saddle to help Epona. Dabir appeared uncomfortable as a rider, and he leaned into the turn too hard. He nearly came unseated several times from leaning too far over. Link pushed the Sage back into the seat many times as they neared the second level up from the bottom.

More wizzrobes appeared. Link tossed his bow up to Daniel, before snapping out his whip. It was great fortune that the knight knew how to handle the weapon, and Daniel clearly was more comfortable with the bow than the Sage's Rod. Link handed Dabir the Sage's Rod instead.

"They're going to try and overpower us with numbers," Dabir shouted.

The increasing numbers was certainly proving to be much harder than Link hoped. While this portion was shorter than the upper half due to the narrower width of the building, they were forced to slow down due to the sharp turns and overhead enemies. But they couldn't slow too much or the swarm behind them would catch up with them. The procession was then made significantly more treacherous.

Poes howled and cackled above them. The swarm was beginning to get far too close to Parijan. Link pulled out a bomb and chucked it over Parijan's head. Yore grabbed it and carried it several more feet over the Gerudo rider and letting it land just in time to cut away the horde by a couple dozen Stalfos. While it increased their gap, it made a small dent on the swarm beneath them.

"How many people died here exactly?!" Daniel exclaimed.

"Too many!" Dabir bellowed back. "Generations have come and gone from this place. It has been built up from housing many gates since Hyrule was founded."

"So, thousands?!" Daniel asked.

"Basically," Dabir replied.

Link glanced back once more, before turning to face upwards. Their overhead spectators were none too eager to let them proceed either. Link snatched a mask off another wizzrobe. They had two more levels still before they were even halfway back. At least then they could pull the drawbridge back up and stop the Stalfos for some period of time.

"Bombs aren't going to keep doing it, Hero!" Parijan called from behind him, making Link snap back to attention. Link looked and saw that the mass had redoubled its efforts, and the gap was fast closing.

"What in Hylia's name?" Daniel shouted.

"Watch your words!" Endeavor roared.

"There's a swarm of Stalfos about to catch us and you're worried about my saying the Goddesses name?!" Daniel replied.

"If we fail, you might want to be in good graces with Her!" Endeavor returned.

Hylia's name. An idea struck Link. Why hadn't he thought of it sooner? It had stunned the ReDeads in the Temple of Secrets, why not here? He fished out his Ocarina. He recalled the tune fortunately quickly.

A blast of light emitted from the instrument as the Sun Song echoed through the halls. Monsters covered their eyes. Stalfos toppled over the edge and the flying fiends fled.