Ancient Castle of Ikana [Tsubori and Blonde Panther]

The archer shouted when Phiorra shot his leg off with her magic. "Damnation!" He let go of his bow and started pulling himself across the floor with his arms, to the somewhat twitchy leg. "Damn little living with their damn little magic." Reaching his leg, which was miraculously still intact, he turned to a sitting position and put his leg back on, a little impatiently. "Stalfos with weak joints have rights too, you kno-" He fell silent when a crossbow bolt hit him in the neck, which severed one of said weak joints and caused the head to drop to the ground.

Horus reloaded, keeping an eye on the other one. The bomb arrow-toting Stalfos had finished loading and notching, and took aim at Luna. Fortunately Luna was a lot faster than anticipated, and she leapt off the boarding when the arrow hit it... and blew it up. "Luns, you're a genius!" Horus shouted, laughing, firing his bolt at the bomb archer. He didn't even care if he hit- dragging Phiorra and Luna with him, he dropped through the hole to find himself back in the main hall. However, the block with the sun marking was gone...

He set Phiorra down. "You have some explaining to do." He then grabbed the feather from behind his ear. He had found it in the well, but now apparently there was more to it than he had thought. "You said to 'use the feather.' What do you know about this thing and what does it have to do with my suddenly being some sort of Tektite? Additionally, would you mind stopping trying to kill the Stalfos? His Majesty could hang us for high treason."

Phiorra looked at the feather, surprised he hadn't heard of it's effects. Maybe it was an Ikana thing... "That's a Roc's feather. They make you more lightweight and able to jump much, much higher." Then upon his mention of we trying to kill the stalfoses, she shook her head, worried.

"N-No! That wasn't what I was doing! Arcane Bolt isn't like my light enchantments... It won't banish their souls, only damage their bodies, same as a blade would..." Phiorra stepped back nervously. He seemed volatile... At one moment he was praising Luna, the next threatening Phiorra. She would have to be careful...

"She's right about the feather, Horus." Luna had recollected hersel from her rather rough landing and had heard what Phiorra had said. She had to admit she was a little indignant about it- the only reason she hadn't pointed that out yet was because she hadn't yet had the chance to take a proper, good look at it. "I have to wonder how it got there, but it is what allows you to jump better."

"Right." Horus ignored what Phiorra said about her Arcane Bolt -Magic was NOT his thing- and walked up into the hall. In it, he soon spotted five... no, six glowing pads on the ground. "Huh." He carelessly walked forward, until Luna grabbed his wrist and pulled him back with so much unexpected force that Horus fell backward. "Luns, what are you-"

When she put her arms around him and screamed, a sound he had never expected to hear from Luna's mouth, he veered up, holding his arms around her. Just in time to see something resembling a cragged old man with an oversized walking stick disappearing from one of the pads. When he looked, something that seemed to be a sheet of ice was melting off of Luna's back.

"A... Wizrobe..." she said, "It'll... attack with ice... but it needs time to cast..." She was shivering. She was an ice mage, but that obviously didn't make her immune to the effects of the spell... "Get it... before it casts..."

"Got it," Horus said, pulling his coat from his shoulders and wrapping it around Luna (they'd stupidly left her robe at the ruins), before gently lowering her to the ground, where she sat down, shivering. "It's going to pay for this, Luns. I promise you that."

Those words were followed by the very distinct click of his crossbow, which indicated to its master that it was ready to impale something.

Phiorra saw the Wizrobe, suddenly unnerved. It was the first time she'd ever seen one, and from the stories she'd heard, they were powerful. Without very good use of her foot, even moreso. 

Phiorra took a position at the wall, notching an arrow and firing it at the wizard, only to have it teleport next to her, taking a whack at her with it's staff. The priestess rolled back from the strike, much to the complaint of her foot. M

Regardless, she ignored the pain for now, turning and firing an arcane bolt. Unfortunately the creature knew the spell well, knowing how to turn it against the original user. With it's staff, it hit the orb back at Phiorra, who used her bow to the same purpose. They went back and forth a while, Phiorra slowly backing up to give her more reaction time. "Now, Sir Horus!"

"I'm on it!" While Phiorra distracted the Wizrobe by playing a game of dead man's volley with it (Horus had no idea where he got that name, but it seemed fitting), Horus took aim and fired his bolt, nailing the monster in the neck. He hadn't quite gotten his aim right though, missing the main artery by a hair's breadth, and the Wizrobe turned its attention to the man.

Deflecting Phiorra's spell once more, it disappeared. Ghostly images of it started running and teleporting across the room, seemingly using the pads as anchors. Horus thought he saw one a slightly more solid than the others and took aim at it... only to be shot in the flank with the same kind of ice spell that had crippled Luna before. He now felt why, too.

Without his coat, he only had his shirt protecting him from the cold, and it did a poor job of it. The effects of the ice spell crept up from the place of impact to cover his entire left side in a matter of seconds, even if the ice itself did not. He felt his left arm numbing, even as the ice melted, and when the Wizrobe appeared right next to him, it took him great effort to lift his sword and land it on the monster.

His gaze shifted to Luna, who just stopped shivering, pulling his coat a little tighter around her. At least he was built kind of tough, capable to resist things like this to some degree... but he hoped Luna's own ice magic protected her from this. If not... he didn't want to think about it.

"One more shot..." he muttered, trying to take up his crossbow again. However, with frozen fingers, the weapon proved to be a lot more complicated to operate than usual.

Phiorra swung the final time as the Wizrobe warped away, her arcane bolt just crashing into a wall. She grimaced, annoyed at her vain attempts at a distraction. 

She notched an arrow quickly, taking aim, but where was she supposed to aim? The priestess bided her time, waiting for the perfect opportunity. And there it was. As Horus' cold fingers stalled, Phiorta saw magic energy pull towards the Wizrobe, preparing to use ice. 

Luckily, this charging stopped as an arrow flew through the air, embedding itself in the Wizrobe's throat. Shockingly, this didn't kill it, but it stunned it enough for Phiorra to follow up her shot with arcane bolt, electrifying and killing the powerful foe. Phiorra made a short prayer for her fallen enemy, then rushed over to Horus and Luna. "Sir Horus! Lady Luna! Are you okay?" She asked, genuine concern on her face.

The second Phiorra delivered the final blow, Horus' weapon clattered on the ground as he didn't bother trying to hold it anymore. He was freezing from the inside out. He fell to his knees, himself, unable to do anything for his aching hands or his frostbitten legs, but could still turn his head in hopes of finding Luna.

Luna herself seemed to be recovering; she walked over to him, a little unstable and even paler than usual, but alive. She kneeled next to him, putting a hand on his arm. It was an unexpected act on the ice mage's part- and an unexpectedly warm touch. He ignored Phiorra for the first few seconds, more concerned with Luna, but managed a smile and patted her arm in return, despite the numbness.

"We'll be fine, I guess," he said to the priestess. "Just give me a little time. The spell can't possibly be permanent, right?" He waited a few seconds, frustrated by the sheer amount of pain in his hands. "Who knew a single monster would do such a number on us. With one spell, even."

"Wizrobes are foes to be met," Luna said, her voice not even quivering. "Bertrand may make light of them, but they're easily as powerful as Frederick or I am... or more powerful." She seemed to have fully recovered, handing Horus' coat back to him and helping him get it back on.

The redhead was pretty sure he was going to regret that if his body warmed up too quickly, but he was not leaving it here.

Phiorra was still greatly concerned about both Ikanans, gently putting a hand on Luna and Horus' shoulders. "B-be careful you two... Magic damages the body differently than cuts and bruises... The injuries you take damage the integrity of the body as well, making you more susceptible to future attacks... I suggest we wait an hour or so until you properly heal... We have no idea what lies through that door..."

"Spare me your magic babble." Horus got to his feet as soon as the feeling in his legs returned. "The throne room is -right there-." He pointed at the door right on front of them. "The shorter I'm in here, the better it'll be."

"Horus is right," Luna said. "His Majesty is just beyond the door. If we can confront him now, we will. We still have to forage, too, Horus."

"I freaking KNOW. It would've been nice if Freddy hadn't been bitten, then he and Bertrand could've done it, but he WAS bitten, so we have to finish up our business here and get dinner. Take-out?"

"I have no idea what you speak of." Luna walked towards the door, and in a strange display of initiative, she opened it and walked through it. Horus followed.

The room they ended up in was dark, and king Igos of Ikana rested on his throne, square in the middle of the room. He was speaking to his two most skilled swordsmen, although he could no longer speak in a hushed voice, so every word was crystal clear to the Ikanans.

And what they heard, they didn't like.

Phiorra listened closely to Igos' words, scared by what she heard. She clutched her bow tightly as she pressed herself to the wall to avoid being seen.

"My loyal bodyguards... Today we make our first move against the living. We will kill them, and without those living fools to hold us back, we can prosper."

The first shorter swordsman nodded. "Yes, my king. So we kill Bernard and his three friends?"

"You do not understand... I don't only mean those four. All life will be extinguished from hyrule, leaving only us glorious undead to reign over this land."

"Under you, King Igos, we will- Who? My liege! One's made it in!"

Phiorra's eyes widened as she realized the hem of her robe was sticking out. She signalled to Horus and Luna to stay back and hidden as she gave herself up, limping out.

Igos was an intimidating stalfos indeed, but she wouldn't falter now, even when his booming voice rang out. "Who are you, Hylian?!"

"Ph-Phiorra De'Maluin... Priestess of light from Hyrule Castle town..."

He was taken aback by this statement. "Light priestess?! I see then! Surely you were sent here to destroy us! But for the things you have heard, and for attempting on my being, you are sentenced to execution. To be carried out immediately.`

Wordlessly, the two swordsmen drew their weapons up and slowly walked forward. Phiorra`s heart was racing... She knew she wouldn`t last in a fight against them at all...

That made no sense. Horus frowned upon hearing His Majesty's words. He had been the one who had allowed the four of them to move into Ikana (and at the time there were more of them, too!), and now he suddenly wanted not only them, but all living, gone from Hy- when the Stalfos king was alerted to their presence, Horus clutched Luna and pulled her as close to him as he could, hoping to hide them both in the shadows.

However, it had been Phiorra who had been found, and while she distracted the three extremely skilled Stalfos in the room, Horus let go of Luna and drew his sword, slowly so the sound of the metal against the inside of the scabbard wouldn't alert them. Luna, in the meanwhile, pressed the palms of her hands against each other, although she briefly pulled them apart to run one hand over the blade of her partner's sword.

Igos remained on his throne, but his men approached Phiorra. They didn't take notice of Horus though, so the redhead could circle around them in the shadows. Doing so, he then rushed at them from behind, landing his ice cold blade between the shoulder blades of the shorter one. The taller one, however, immediately turned around and rammed both swords into Horus' ribcage at once, sending him to the floor.

The living swordsman rolled over and got back to his feet, seeing the taller Stalfos approaching him now, his swords both held vertically upwards defensively. His eyes shot towards King Igos, who still sat comfortably on his throne. If he knew the king, he wouldn't act until his bodyguards had been beaten... but, Horus thought as his vertical slice was too slow and his foe blocked with his left sword, whether or not he knew the king as well as he thought he did was debatable...

Phiorra let out a sigh of relief as Horus saved her, though she couldn’t just sit back now. She quickly turned towards one of the walls and pulled a rapier from a coat of arms. She’d been trained with these… She looked at the Stalfos closest to her and held the blade closely.

Her foe stalked closer, swinging with his left sword, but Phiorra got underneath it, pushing the slash off target and retaliating with a jab to his femur, causing a small crack. Then as the second slash came towards her, the priestess ducked down, firing an arcane bolt at his leg at point blank. This shattered the already weakened bone, and threw his leg off, which made he skeleton fall to the ground, unbalanced. She used this chance to slash downwards, decapitating the stalfos and quickly turning to place it in her bag. She figured the body still used the head’s sight to find the head, so if it couldn’t see…

Phiorra finished the shorter Stalfos, but the taller one slammed Horus back to the ground and put his bony foot on his chest to keep him down. Horus brought one hand up in an attempt to grab the bones, hoping to crush them, but the Stalfos was faster and brought one sword down... only to see his arm fly across the room. Looking to his side, he was met with a frozen dagger to the skull, too weak to turn it on his shoulders, but strong enough for it to stagger. Horus used that opportunity to throw his attacker on his back, get above him and pull his skull off his shoulders, giving it to Luna. "Keep that away from him."

He then turned to the king of Ikana. "Your Royal Majesty," he said, "I am confused. You graciously allowed my parents, my friends and myself in your kingdom. And now you claim to want not only us, but all living in Hyrule, gone from the surface of the earth?"

"Silence! Insolent pup!" King Igos rose from his throne, raising two swords much like his bodyguards had, but Horus knew the Stalfos King had a trick up his sleeve. Chuckling as he randomly thought of the field day Luna would have with that metaphor, he realized too late that this only angered the king.

"Crap."

"You dare ridicule me?! Pay! Pay for your insolence!" Horus reacted quickly to the swords being swung at him, using his Roc's Feather to leap backwards, where he made a rough landing in the ribcage of the Stalfos he had eliminated not even a minute ago.

"Not gonna make sense anytime today, are you?" Horus shouted, deciding that if Igos was angry anyway, he might as well not bother with respect, "Then bring it! I'm the son of Pierce Falconer of Rauru! I'm not afraid of some walking bag of bones swinging some rusty swords about!"

"I will teach you to fear me!"

Phiorra watched as Igos stood, drawing his two swords. She heard the skull in her bag curse and swear, demanding freedom, but there was a much more important matter on her mind. Setting down the rapier and drawing her bow again, she aimed at Igos, trying to distract him with a few pelted arrows. They didn’t really do much damage, but as Igos was swinging at Horus, the occasional shot to the head to knock a swing off target.

Eventually she ran out of arrows, so she raised her hand, more coming in a burst of light as she summoned another bundle. “Sir Horus! It’s not working! Should… I use light arrows?” She asked, nervous about using them on someone like this.

"You can shove those light arrows up your-" Horus couldn't finish his sentence when the king attacked him and he had to dodge, countering horizontally in an unguarded moment. Luna closed in from behind, casting a Blizzard upon the king to slow him in his advance, and it worked, creating an opening for Horus to stab him in the ribs.

The next time he wanted to attack, he was stomped in the stomach by two swords he hadn't seen before. King Igos' trick up his sleeve... he had two more arms than his bodyguards! "I knew it! My memory is not THAT bad!" In both of his additional arms, he held more swords, making it significantly more difficult for Horus to attack him. Fortunately for him, he had the advantage of an ally.

Luna came up from behind, sticking her still frozen dagger in the king's ribs from behind. What happened after that was a little strange, even for Ikanan standards. Something occurred that Horus could only describe as an explosion of magic, and it sent him right back to the floor. "You'd think I was having a goddamn love affair with this place..." he muttered as he got to his feet, but since his Sense wasn't warning him anymore there was no rush. "Luns, are you okay?"

"Fine," Luna said from behind, "I think he's back to normal."

King Igos folded his two additional arms under his ribcage again, after setting his swords aside, and looked around. "...did you two break the curse?"

“Oh my…” Was all Phiorra muttered as she heard what Horus said before he was attacked, blushing profusely. She saw Luna and stopped firing arrows, nervous that a stray shot could go through the ribs into her teammate. Luckily, the fight was over soon after, when a magical explosion Luna had somehow cause made the big stalfos return to normal.

Phiorra nervously moved closer to Igos, but still didn’t fully lower her weapon. “Does… this mean I’m not going to get execu- OUCH!” She yelped, immediately reaching into her bag and pulling out the skull that’d just bit her rear. “S-so rude!” She said, rubbing her rump.

“Well what’s a skull to do when he wants freedom?” It said, the body quickly coming over and snatching the head away, putting it back on.

Luna returned the other skull to its master, who now also seemed to be back to peaceful, while Igos lowered his head in a pensive manner. "No one is going to be executed. That is no way to show gratitude to your saviors."

"That's quite different from what you said before, Your Majesty," Horus said, picking up his sword and sheathing it. "What's going on here? Why are there only Redeads out there and is every single Stalfos in here hostile?"

"The Stone Towers... you know them, yes?" Horus looked at Luna, who sighed in frustration at his ignorance.

"The Stone Towers are the enormous structures we passed when we entered Ikana fifteen years ago. I don't know much about them, but I know what and where they are."

"Atop the Stone Towers lies Stone Tower Temple... a place containing a great evil." Igos sat back down on his throne, his bodyguards re-assuming their place at his sides. "The curse on the castle and its inhabitants that you just broke, I believe to have originated from there."

"So..." Horus made a helpless gesture with his head. "You want us to-"

"If you would climb the Stone Towers and close its doors, the curse on Ikana itself might be broken. Then my men will handle the Redeads outside... and things will return to normal. Would you be so kind, Horus Falconer?"

"Well, I do hate sitting still. Is there a reason your men can't do it?"

"The curse," Luna said. "The castle is safe now, but I think that once they come outside the castle, the curse affects them once more."

"...well, fine. Stone Tower Temple at the top of the Stone Towers. No big deal. Can we take the front gate out? The exit from the well is blocked off."

"Naturally. But wait. I have a reward upfront." Igos snapped his bony fingers, and one of his bodyguards suddenly pulled out a bag of rupees, which he handed to Luna. "Fifty rupees. It's not much, but please take it. I hear you're saving up to move. They might help."

"...thank you, Your Majesty. We'll see what we can do. Come on, ladies!"

Phiorra let out a sigh of relief when Igos was back to normal, and already explaining what had happened. Phiorra had no idea what this Stone Tower Temple was, but she was sure it had to be a tough place, or else you wouldn’t have to climb a tower just to get TO it. The priestess took the rapier back up again, holding it tightly. “K-King Igos… Would I be able to use this sword while I aid Sir Horus and Lady Luna to this Temple?”

The skeletal king nodded. “Consider it your reward for helping break the curse upon this castle.” Phiorra smiled and put the rapier at her side. Unfortunately, her leg was still screaming in pain, especially with adrenaline dying down. So when Horus said they should set out immediately, Phiorra spoke up.

“S-Sir Horus? Maybe it’s not such a good idea… My leg will need a few days to heal… I won’t be able to walk on it for too long as it is now… We should rest for a bit…”

King Igos frowned. Or rather, as much like frowning as a skull can achieve. "How long would your healing take? I can't wait around forever for you to heal up when my domain is in danger like this."

Phiorra thought briefly. "W-with ice magic like what Lady Luna has, it shouldn't take more than three days for it to be able to function."

"...Very well. I'll have a guard escort you to one of the rooms. There should be a bed to rest on. Or at least the remains of one."

Phiorra nodded and followed the guard he had lead her, worried about this stone tower, but her resolve to help these people couldn't be stopped. Only delayed.

~End of part 2~

To be continued...