Chapter Eight: Chief Gosthard

The Legend of Zelda: Real Courage 2: Dark Mirror

The dungeon wasn’t far from the throne room. Once inside, Lila gathered her wits and tried to formulate a plan. She took a close examination of the room, looking for anything that could help her. There was one support beam in the center with a pair of lanterns hanging off of the sides. Other support beams and lanterns were recessed into the walls so there was nowhere to hide like the hallways. For such a gloomy place, the number of lanterns made it well-lit. The room was filled with various devices that were probably made for torture. Lila thought the dark stains covering them were from blood. A tool rack hung from the wall near the entrance. Now that was something that could be useful.

The bulblin took her to the far wall and chained her up. This would have been a good opportunity, but the other bulblins had followed and blocked the only door. Once she was secured to the wall, the bulblin leader ushered the others out. They closed the door behind them, though she imagined they wouldn’t venture too far.

Lila wished she could do something, but with her hands shackled above her head, she felt powerless.

Powerless…

That word sparked something in her mind. Power. Like the Triforce of Power. The Triforce was formerly held by Ganondra, whom Lila had defeated just days before. She had a crazy thought. Could she have the Triforce of Power, now? And could it give her power? In all of the legends of the Triforce, they never mentioned what happened after the hero defeated the villain. It was always just a happy ending. Now, Lila had defeated the villain, and she wondered what came next.

Lila decided to try out her theory before someone came in. She pictured the pieces of the Triforce on her damaged left hand. She imagined two of them lit up for courage and power and squeezed her fists. Then she pulled at the chains with all her strength.

“Ow!”

The chains groaned under the strain. It was working! Though it hurt to do so, she continued pulling, feeling the rock giving way to her strength. It was slow going, but it was going nonetheless. Eventually, she broke the chains free from the wall, and they dangled from her bruised wrists.

Lila stifled a shout of excitement. She could feel the power surging through her. It felt like she could lift anything, like when she used the Gauntlets of Strength. Her heartbeat quickened with the confidence it gave her.

Now on to the next step. Lila hurried over to the tool rack by the door and started taking things down. She grabbed everything she thought could be useful and stashed them in her pockets, her boots, and even her hat. She decided to leave the chains on her wrists to use as bludgeoning weapons. The bit of rock that was clinging to each end would surely knock an enemy off of their feet.

When she felt ready, she stood nervously behind the door… and knocked.

“It’s really stuffy in here,” she called out.

The door burst open, and a bulblin came in. Lila sprang into action and attacked him on sight. She swung the rock on her chain and hit him in the head. He went down instantly. Another bulblin followed, club raised, but he went down with a punch to the nose. Lila came out from behind the door but was surprised to see no other enemies for her to fight. They must not have thought she could escape. She checked on the two she had attacked and saw that they were out cold. Satisfied, she stepped out of the door.

Looking both ways down the hallway, Lila saw nothing. She remembered the way to the throne room and crept her way there. At the entrance to the throne room, she peeked her head around the corner. The Moblin Chief was still sitting there, laughing with his subjects. Lila looked around and found all of her weapons and supplies in a pile on the other side of the room. There was nothing left but to attack. She took a deep breath and began.

Lila used the tools as throwing knives and started with the blins closest to her. They fell to the ground before anyone noticed her. She took out another group as the blins figured out what was going on. Then she had a real fight on her hands.

“Get her!” roared the chief. He jumped off of his throne, picked up Lila’s things, and ran.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Lila shouted. She fought her way through the blins, but there were just too many of them. There was no way she could catch up to the chief and get her things.

That’s when she noticed that he didn’t get everything. One lesser moblin fought with her boomerang, though he had no idea how to use it. Lila quickly stole it back from him. Another bokoblin was wearing her gauntlets, which she also took back. The combined might of the Triforce of Power and the Gauntlets of Strength allowed her to take out the rest of the blins with ease.

After every enemy was unconscious, Lila took a careful look around the room. She gathered whatever the blins had stolen, which ended up being everything except her sword and bomb bag. She even got her shield back! With her stuff back where they belonged, she followed the chief to get back her sword.

Outside of the throne room, Lila had no idea where to go. She considered picking a random direction but then thought of something else. Would the chief be susceptible to goading?

“Hey,” she called out. “I beat up your minions. You can’t hide from me! I will get my sword back!”

Lila paused to listen but was rewarded with a group of blins attacking from one side of the hallway. They weren’t any trouble at all now that she had most of her gear. She dispatched the blins quickly and continued going the way they had come from.

“Is that all you got?” Lila tried shouting again at the next juncture. More blins appeared, and more blins went down. She continued goading the chief, “It’s no use. Give me my sword and this can end.”

One more round of blins showed up, and afterward, Lila could see a darkly-lit room. She rushed into the room without considering the consequences. The door slammed shut behind her, and bars blocked the way. Lila braced herself for the possibility of a fight.

Because it was so dark, she couldn’t see her enemy right away. What she could see were pedestals and displays lining the walls, each with its own tiny candle. That was the only light source now that the door was closed. The displays held some gruesome objects, such as skeletons and severed hands. Some of the displays held weapons. At the other end of the room stood the Moblin Chief, clutching the Master Sword in one hand and a trident in the other.

“You stole that from the Gerudo!” Lila accused, recognizing the trident. “And you stole my sword. I’ll be taking both back, thank you.”

“I take, make mine!” the chief roared back as he lunged forward with the trident.

Lila used the Boots of Sturdiness to stabilize her position then grabbed the trident with both gauntletted hands. The Moblin Chief was stronger than she expected, and he pushed her against the wall. A crackle of blue lightning danced down the trident’s haft and jolted her. She cried out and had to let go, shoving forward as she did so. The moblin took a few steps back.

“What did you do to that thing?” Lila shouted.

“Make mine,” the chief repeated. “Upgraded with power. Dark. Demonic.”

Lila took heavy steps forward, keenly aware of every ache and injury that hadn’t yet healed. The electricity had awakened her nerves with a fresh wave of pain. But she couldn’t let any of that slower her down. She had to fight her way out of there.

She shifted her shield to her left arm. Then she pulled out her boomerang and threw it at the moblin. The moblin charged at her again with the trident, so he was unable to block her attack. The boomerang hit his head, which made him stumble and fall to the side.

Lila rushed forward and wrenched her sword from him. Then she slashed downward but only hit armor. The missed attack gave the moblin time to jump out of her way. She cursed but didn’t have time to regroup. The moblin chief jabbed at her with the trident, and she could feel the trident scraping against her shield as the metals screeched against each other.

Another jolt of electricity made Lila back away. The moblin followed her, pressed her. Soon her back hit the wall again. The electricity wouldn’t stop. She squeezed her eyes shut and screamed in pain.

“You suffer,” said the Moblin Chief in satisfaction. “You will die.”

In desperation, Lila her sword at the moblin’s gut. The squelching sensation told her that she made a hit. The moblin roared in pain, and the electricity stopped. Lila ducked to the side, taking her sword with her. The Master Sword slashed through the Moblin Chief. Lila stumbled to her feet to see the chief lying on the ground, the fight gone out of him. Relieved, she finally took a deep breath… and coughed from the stench.

After regaining her composure, she said, “I’ll take that,” reaching for the trident.

The chief clutched it closer to himself and said, “No! Mine!”

Lila on her teeth. “Give me the trident, or I’ll have to kill you for it.”

The chief hesitated, but decided to loosen his grip. Panting, Lila bent down to grab the trident. As she did, she felt electricity crackle up her arm. Quickly, she yanked the trident away from the chief, and the lightning stopped.

Lila backed away from the chief to survey her situation. First, she made sure she got every one of her items back, which she did. Then she looked around the room. The bars had disappeared from the doorway, so that was good. She noticed a familiar sparkle in the air and saw a glowing heart gem laced with gold. She had seen these hearts before at the end of particularly difficult battles. Excited, she reached for it and watched it vanish in a dance of gold and ruby flecks that reflected what little light was in the room. Instantly, she felt refreshed, though sleepy. The aches and pains were gone but at the cost of her energy. As long as she could get out of there quickly, it wouldn’t be a problem.

“I’ll return this for you,” Lila said to the moblin chief. “I’m leaving now. No need to get up.”

Like this story? Give it an Upvote!
Thank you!

Comments

You must be logged in to comment
No comments yet