The Legend of Zelda: Goddess of Secrecy

Dungeon Chapter 32 - Trekking Back

            …into the last room of the dungeon. The orb sat on the pedestal once more, the two guards stationary against the wall. Link dismounted and walked back up to the pedestal. He picked the orb back up and returned to his saddle.

            Epona snorted. “We’re not coming back for this again. We’re taking this to the other side and then leaving.”

            “Alright,” Link answered, patting Epona on her side. Epona raced on back through the chambers. Link heard the guards reawaken behind them. With nothing stopping them this time, Link figured that they would make time on the guards.

            They passed through the first two rooms without any difficulty. The third room, which had originally given him and Epona so much trouble, they crossed at a slow gallop. Or almost crossed it.

            When they reached the other side of the bridge again, the door locked ahead of them. Epona reared. Link turned around, wondering what was going to show up now. When nothing appeared, Link turned back around towards Endeavor. “What is going on?”

            Endeavor kept Quicksilver still, answering, “I am not sure.”

            “This isn’t right,” Dominus added. “This shouldn’t be happening.”

            Mirum asked, “What’s happening?”

            “It appears that the temple is trying to slow us down,” Dominus answered, looking up at the wall. "But that is only a command someone could give from the heart of the temple, where the..."

            The wall began to slide open. Link looked back again and saw the guards appearing behind them. The blockade parted enough for Epona to ride through. The mare jumped toward, almost knocking Link off until he turned back around to focus on the path in front of them.

            Epona rushed through the basin where they had fought the shadow lion, spinning wide as she tried to rush the hill. The orb fell out of Link’s hand as she jolted him, and rolled over the floor. Mirum bent over and scooped up the orb. She called, “Keep your horse in control. We can’t afford another trek back through this place.”

            Stumbling to her hooves, Epona whinnied, “I can keep up.” Epona leapt up the basin, gaining on Mirum again.

            Mirum kept the orb tucked beneath her arm. She said, “Just keep the path open. I’ll hang on to this.”

            Link pulled his staff back out as they crossed through the room with the platforms, and then over the large pit. The path was still there, and from here, the door appeared to be open. He hoped it stayed that way.

            A wall began to slid shut in front of them. Link swung his staff around, stabbing the wooden rod into a crevice in the wall. Slowly, he and Epona pushed it back. They created a gap wide enough for the others to pass through. Link pulled his staff free, before racing through the gap as it began to close again. He knew that the guards were picking up their pace by now.

            As he and Epona slipped through, they found themselves at the base of a staircase. A series of hallways were above them. A voice echoed from somewhere deep in the maze. Though, Link figured that the word Echo was the best description for it. “Hello! Well, if it isn’t the green clad hero again?”

            Echo leaned around the corner of the hallway. Link asked, “What are you doing here?”

            “Well, someone melted my last stop, so I figured I come here before it disappeared as well,” Echo answered. “It looks like I made a decent guess about where you were heading next. Lucky me.”

            “How did you get in here?” Link asked again. “There’s twilight magic all over the marsh.”

            Echo said, “Using your friend’s answers doesn’t mean you know what you’re talking about.”

            Link sighed, he wasn’t going to get through with this girl. He wondered if any of them would ever figure out what she was really up to. Or even what she actually was. He asked, “Did you see where my friends went?”

            “The two twili and the Drex?” Echo replied. “Well, I’ve never met them before, but I’m guessing that’s who you mean. They went in there with an orb. Something says they’re trying to avoid those hands coming in behind you.”

            Turning back over his shoulder, Link saw the first guard coming in through the door. He said, “Yes, that would be correct.” He began to ride Epona up the slope towards the maze.

            Echo said, “You’re not going to be able to out run them if you don’t know the way through this maze.”

            He looked down, and saw the guards going beneath the maze. He asked, “Do you know the way?”

            “That would be cheating,” Echo replied. “Why don’t we have a race instead?”

            Epona snorted. “You couldn’t keep up with us.”

            The girl laughed, before a plume of fire rose up, causing Epona to rear up in fright. The familiar brown vixen darted into the maze, blue fire trailing after the fox. Link urged Epona on, and the horse chased after the surprisingly swift fox.

            To Echo’s advantage, the path was narrow, and Epona had to slow down often to make sure that she didn’t hit a wall as she chased the young woman. Echo led them through a crooked course, the flames continuing to trail after her to make sure she didn’t vanish into the darkness of the walls around them. Link looked down and saw the outline of the two massive hands speeding through beneath them. He said, “They’re gaining on us.”

            Epona came to a halt at the end of a hallway. The two of them look around, only to find that Echo had vanished. Link looked ahead and saw a hole in the wall, just wide enough for the end of his staff. He brought Epona up to the wall, before driving the Goddess’s Reach into the opening. He pulled the staff down, and the floor began to vanish.

            As soon as Epona could get free of the walls, she leapt for the floor beneath them. She hit one of the guards as they landed. Above them, the two Zol came floating down. Quicksilver made a rapid series of jumps down to the ground as the floor vanished beneath him. Journey kept close to the horse’s side.

            Endeavor landed beside Link. “I’m guessing that this was your doing.”
            “I had a little help,” Link said.

          The Drex looked back. The guards were gaining on them, but Link saw the tip of a tail escape through the door on the other side of the room. “We need to be moving on,” Endeavor replied.

            “Right,” Link said, as the two started to gain on the others…