Chapter 22: The King of Evil

    A pink crystal was forming around the princess. She cast several spells, some of which Link had never seen before, but the crystal’s surface hardened into an impenetrable shell. Link felt the shell, tapping it cautiously, and then slamming his fist into it with all his strength. He cast Nayru’s Love and drew the Master Sword, but even the legendary Evil’s Bane merely bounced off the caging spell.
    A deep voice boomed through the Temple. “You foolish little bugs… you are no match for me! I commend you for eluding me for so long. At last, I have found the princess, and now Hyrule will truly be mine!” The cage began to rise and spin. Link tried one last futile time to shatter it, but failed.
    “That was Ganondorf,” Navi said in a low voice. “The Triforce. Its strength gave him power to resist even the Master Sword.”
    “I see,” Link said grimly, running out of the Temple.
    “Rana! We need to go really fast! Ganondorf’s got Zelda!”
    “What? How?”
    “I have the Light Arrows!” Link hadn’t heard her startled shout.
    The two Hylians tore up the hill to Ganondorf’s castle.
    A giant, irregular block of stone supporting a huge tower built of black rock hovered over a lake of lava. Link skidded to a halt on the closest bit of solid ground, staring hopelessly at the distant, wide open gate. It was too far even for his hookshot.
    “Don’t despair,” Saria’s voice sounded in his head. “We’re here.”
    Light, unrolling like a carpet, many coloured, blossomed from the ground at Link’s feet and stretched in a wide arc to the gate.
    He smiled at Rana and stretched out his hand. “Come on, kitten. We’re facing this one together, like we used to.”
    Rana smiled broadly back at him and took his hand.


    The entrance was dark. Link almost tripped on stairs leading downwards. They were soft, carpeted in a red rug. As his eyes adjusted to the dim torchlight, he made out two Beamos on either side of an open door. Rana giggled and set robotic mouse bombs on them.
    “I love bombchus,” she said.
    Through the doorway, there was a huge fat pillar surrounded by a grey force field. The pillar had a gate like a flat dragon’s face in it, and a bridge led to it. All around the room, there were six doors with the Sages’ symbols on them. Link stepped into the room.
    There was a cry behind him. Rana was kept back by a shield of energy.
    “Oh!” cried Navi.
    “I’m so sorry,” panted Naeri, draining her energy in an effort to penetrate the barrier.
    “Oh, Rana… I wish you could have come.”
    “Me too. Well…”
    Link looked to see Rana turn and head for a little side door, by the left Beamos going in.
    The girl looked at him. “This way leads to the prisons and the barracks. I’m going down there.”
    “But… you don’t need to.”
    “Yes, I do,” she argued. “There are a couple of normal people down there. And you can’t have a companion up there…”
    “And you want revenge, don’t you.”
    She shifted uncomfortably.
    “Oh, well. Please, please don’t get yourself killed; please don’t die.”
    She smiled brightly. “I won’t.”
    “I won’t let her,” Naeri promised solemnly.

    Link turned back and looked around. There was a bridge leading to a gate directly ahead of him, but it was bound round and round with a multi-coloured crackle of energy.
    “I suppose that is constructed out of energy stolen from the six dominions of the Sages while they were still asleep,” he said.
    “You’re right,” Navi replied.
    Link turned and headed for the first door, green. It led him to a puzzle, after which, he entered the door at the end of the room and saw Saria, slightly transparent, hovering on the wall. The green stream of energy was pouring out of a red, pulsing ball.
    Link shot an arrow of light into the conduit-ball, which exploded, and shared a brief moment with his best friend as their eyes met. She flickered and turned into a bright ball of green light.
    Next thing he knew, he found himself back in the main hall. The current of green energy flowing to the shield dried up. Around the pillar in the centre, the green shield had vanished.
    Next was the water barrier. As Link smashed through the conduit, he met Ruto’s eyes; she was standing on the wall where Saria had been in hers. She looked very serious and determined. Link guessed that she was actually a deeper person than he had thought.
    The shadow barrier was next. Though the room appeared bottomless with an invisible pathway across it, he saw a tricky side path winding down very narrowly, and went on it out of curiousity. At the bottom was a treasure chest, filled with a ton of junk – money – and also with a pair of gauntlets in them.
    “These are… the Golden Gauntlets?” Navi said. “They must be even better than the silver ones. We’ll give these back to Nabooru as soon as we can, right?”
    “Yes.”
    He made it, carefully, a little wobbly, to the other side and cut the spell drawing Impa’s power.
    The fire’s puzzle was difficult and far too hot, even for the Goron tunic. Back in the main chamber, Link sagged. Sweat poured off him in what felt like rivers.
    “You better drink something,” Navi suggested, watching him. Link nodded and got out his waterbottle.
    He went to the door on his left and found it was the source of the light shield, judging from the symbol above the door. After that there was only the desert shield.
    Finally, the barrier around the central pillar was gone; the energy had all dried up. Link crossed the bridge and walked through the toothy doorway.
    There was a red-carpeted flight of stairs, leading upwards. Fire Keese flew around, giving Link more light than the feeble torches. He ran up the stairs and got through the next door before the bats attacked him.
    Navi helped him take down the Ironknuckle in the next room. The room was octagonal, well-lit, and rather nicely decorated. Link wondered why Ganondorf had gone to all the trouble of designing his castle the way he had, but decided that even the wicked usurper had a liking for… perhaps art would be the proper category, he decided.
    He hurried up the next staircase, this one carpeted also, but lined with stained glass windows. Zelda could take care of herself, he knew, but he was still anxious. Besides which, he didn’t know what would happen when he got to the top of the tower, where Ganondorf lived, and he wanted to find out fast. He began to hear distant, deep notes of music, vibrating the stones under his feet.
    He fought four more Ironknuckles in pairs, and then he had to take a rest before tackling the last stair. He could tell he was getting close, because the dour, creepy music was much louder. He could hear the upper registers now, and it was pretty loud. The stained glass windows were all the same pattern, but more and more light seemed to get through them, giving him a bizarre feeling of hope.
    At the top of that one, there was a door of steel and bronze, half again as high as Link was tall. The carpet abruptly changed to green.
    Link opened the door, lifting it up over his head. It fell behind him with an echoing boom, hardly audible in the deafening music.
    The wall across from the door was a solid bank of organ pipes. A red-haired man sat at the tiny console at the base.
    Hovering in her pink crystal, like a decoration on the organ, was Princess Zelda! Link waved at her. She looked relieved to see him, but still frightened.
    Abruptly, the organ music stopped. Link was glad; it vibrated in his chest uncomfortably.
    Ganondorf pushed the bench back until it cleared the pedalboard and stood.
    “So. You’ve come, have you?”
    Link squared his shoulders and said nothing.
    “You pathetic fools… I’m so glad you came. I can crush you and take Hyrule at last!” He whirled, his red and black cloak swirling behind him, and raised his clenched right fist. A golden, triangular mark glowed brightly, and swirling purple waves blasted out at Link, who automatically raised his sword arm to block it.
    A lovely ringing sound echoed through the room, resonating in the pipes. The back of Link’s hand felt… protected. A new presence seemed to brush his mind, a presence of greenness, of life and vigour.
    “Farore…” Link’s lips said.
    Navi hovered near Link, shivering in agitation. “I can’t get through the darkness, Link! I can’t help you! You’re all alone on this one! I’m so sorry!”
    Another bell-like sound echoed, and Zelda gasped. Link looked up, and saw another gleaming golden triangle imprint itself on the back of her right hand.
    Ganondorf ceased his curse and stared at Link.
    “How… but of course. Just like your stupid ancestors, you have been granted the Triforces of Wisdom and Courage, while I still have Strength.” Link stared at the Triforce on the back of his left hand in awe. Navi flew into his face, asking for comfort, and he stroked her delicate wings while exchanging a startled glance with Zelda.
    “It is always so,” Ganondorf growled. If Link had not known that he was evil before, he knew it now. “This time, it is different! I swear it, Ganon! We shall rule the world, even the Sacred Realm, as you have long desired, and we can take and destroy and command at our will! You weaklings are no match for me!”
    The King of Evil rose into the air, and the wall with the organ and Zelda vanished. Link flipped sideways as the floor fell out from under him. He got into a corner, his Hylian Shield out in front of him. A spell, a very familiar spell hit the shield with a thump, and he was racked with a familiar pain: the spell was the same one he had been hit with when he was twelve, defying Ganondorf outside Hyrule Castle Town.
    He picked himself up and stood ready for the next spell. He knew what to do next. How many days had it been since he had fought Shadow Ganon?
    Ganondorf lobbed a spell at him, and Link batted it back. Yes, it was exactly the same. Link smiled tightly behind his shield. It had been a mistake for the usurper to make a copy of himself for the hero to fight. He also knew that his shield did nothing to protect him against this magic, but it felt comfortable standing by.
    At last the spell hit the evil king, but he still hovered in the air, paralyzed. Link jumped towards him, but he couldn’t reach him even with his long sword. Ganondorf began to recover and Link leaped away.
    The previous performance repeated, and this time Link pulled out his bow and charged up his arrows with Light. He only had a few seconds, so, aiming by instinct, let fly.
    Ganondorf sank to the floor, groaning pitifully. Link charged him and hit him with the Master Sword: only a glancing blow on the shoulder, which was disappointing. But, still, he had found Ganondorf’s weakness to the bottom.
    Returning to his corner, he faced into an incensed Ganondorf. He raised his hand to the ceiling, and the room went dark. Magic flowed to his hand like lightening. Link braced himself.
    Five spheres of magic headed out on irregular paths at Link. He tried to duck and slice with his sword at the same time. Four balls slammed into his torso, and the last one was deflected by Ganondorf and hit him anyway. Link crumpled to the floor, gritting his teeth tightly, and Ganondorf laughed.
    Another spell was incoming, only a single ball this time, and Link swung his sword in time, clambering to his feet in time to hit it again. Only one more time, and Ganondorf swung late. Link snatched his bow and sent a shining arrow at the Gerudo King. He missed, and ducked to another corner.
    Ganondorf prepared his five-hit spell. Link readied his sword.
    Five spheres arced in. Link waited until they were half-way to him, then let loose with the fastest spin he could manage. Five spheres whacked Ganondorf askew; Link shot him with a glowing piece of sun.
    He jumped to the centre platform where Ganondorf hunched on one knee, left arm back, right arm and shield up, and stabbed the King of Evil in the stomach.
    A horrible scream tore from his throat, shattering the windows. Link swayed on his feet, clamping his hands – which were full of gear – over his long, sensitive ears. The window frames dissolved, and the roof fell in, the huge pieces of masonry barely missing the hero. Ganondorf gurgled and fell on his face, green blood leaking from his front and his mouth.


Chapter 21: To Find Tranquility    Contents    Chapter 23: The God of Evil