The Inner Gambit of Darkness - Continued (Part 4)

Gwene and Galenus climbed up on to the platform with Nayru, looking around at all the paintings.

Nuala and Celeste followed them, their vigilance sharp.

Ignoring Dalikos, Lyn frowned as she walked up closer to the ferry. It seemed stable enough, calmly floating along in the dark waters below... Tentatively, she took a step upwards and on it, placing her weight on the boat carefully. It was sound and seaworthy, so, without further hesitation, she hoisted the rest of herself up onto the boat, taking a few steps towards the center before stopping and looking around.

"Any ideas on how to get it moving?" she asked bluntly as she looked around, though for some reason, her gaze couldn't be drawn away from the bell hanging over top of them...

"Well, we could use my-" He stopped when he saw the bell.

"Actually, if we ring that bell, somethings gotta happen right?"

"Worth a shot," Lyn said, taking out her bow and aiming it straight upwards.

Only one arrow was needed- her aim was perfect, and the arrow struck the bell, resulting in a loud, resounding ring. It sounded more like a gong, almost- loud and long-lasting.

Lowering her bow, Lyn frowned as she looked around, waiting for something to happen-

But she didn't need to wait long.

In only a second, the entire boat jerked forward, Lyn lightly stumbling as she caught her balance, and slowly began to move forward, sliding slowly through the blackened waters.

Dalikos grabbed onto the back of the boat to keep himself from falling out.

"I wonder how long this will take..."

Rolling her eyes, tired of Dalikos' complaining, Lyn whirled around to face him, scowling as she snapped, "It'll take as long as it takes. Stop complaining and..."

Suddenly, Lyn found herself trailing off as her eyes caught something in the shadows behind Dalikos...

Instantly, her hand went to the hilt of her blade.

And, without a second's hesitation, her blade came swirling out of its sheath as she lunged forward, bringing her blade down in a wide and powerful diagonal arc, right behind Dalikos. Her blade dug fiercely into the bones of the Stalfos which had leapt onto the boat from the shadows, attacking without warning- and the monster gave a dying screech as it stumbled backwards, cleaved nearly in half, eventually toppling over the side of the boat and landing in the water with a hollow splash.

Dalikos had his blade drawn when she drew her own, but he whirled around to see the stalfos fall in the water.

"Thanks for that. Now we know what we are going to be dealing with on this boat ride..."

"Watch your back," Lyn grumbled breathlessly as she took a step back towards the center of the boat, knowing that, if they were about to be ambushed, that would be the safest place to stay. She had already assumed a fighter's stance, wielding her double-handed blade carefully and ready.

A soft cackle sounded over the chopping water.

"My my my, such tenacity. It is so...delicious."

((I've spoken with Hillsy about this, and we've decided that the group in FoV has not met Veritas in Gambit))

Celeste looked around when she heard the voice, chills slipped down her spine at the words 'master of evil'.

((Woops! Wrong temple!))

"Whos that?" Konbei said loudly.

Nuala checked each painting again as she looked for the source of the voice.

From two of the smaller platforms, two circles of power appeared, one firey red and the other icey white. A witch rose from each of the circles, each carrying a broomstick.

A circle of frost exploded out from one witch; Kotake. She cackled menacingly at the group. "With my frost, I will freeze them to their souls!"

She threw her head back and cackled again as she began to circle above the group on her broomstick.

"And with my fire, I will burn them to the bone." Kotake cackled as she leapt on to her broomstick and erupted in fire, her hair becoming living flame. She then flew towards her sister in the middle and they circled above the group.

Then, a sudden snort of a horse could be heard from behind the group, Gwene and Galenus turned to find a tall dark skinned man with red hair and black armour, he was riding a black stallion they had glowing red eyes. It was Ganondorf.

He looked down at the two and laughed with an evil undertone, he moved his hand up to his face and it erupted in a blue flame, a helmet made out of a skull appeared there and two yellow eyes could be seen. The horse began to float as it reared into its back two hooves and neighed what seemed to be a war charge. He float up and hovered above the group while the two witches circled him.

Another Stalfos leapt onto the boat- but Lyn was quick, and sliced it in two with a single swing of her blade. Its top half toppled over the boat, and, with a scoff, Lyn quickly kicked its bottom half over the edge with the other.

It was then that she heard the voice- and though she at first tried to find where it was coming from, upon realizing that it didn't have a source, she scowled, unimpressed and unafraid.

"Then come down here and have a bite!" she snapped, unfazed as she swung her blade out challengingly in the air in front of her.

Dalikos spun his sword and held it at the ready, facing the other way from Lyn. He wanted to be ready if something came at them, from the back of the boat again.
----

(What about Deserax?)

There was a silence from the back of the ferry.

"...as you wish."

From beneath the deck a man rose as if on an elevator. He seemed to rise from the wooden planks themselves, rather than from a sort of opening. He was a fine looking man, with well tailored dark purple coat and pants, new black leather boots, and an off-white frilled shirt. His brown-red hair was short and frizzled, and his skin was pale. Yet it was his eyes that caught the onlooker's attention: one sclera was dark blue, the other dark purple; both disturbing eyes had slitted red pupils that glanced from Lyn to Dalikos and back again.

The man smiled and walked towards Lyn. When he was a sword's distance away from her he bowed, as all gentlemen do when greeting a lady.

"I am Veritas, and I wish to personally welcome you to my humble abode."

"Well, look at that! Ganandorf and the ugly step sisters!" Deserax said ,drawing his sword. He may have acted Naive, but he knew that Ganandorf meant business.

Lyn was skeptical; she didn't believe for a second that a scary voice coming from nowhere would actually follow through with its threats and appear before her. But even if it did, she wouldn't be afraid- so she remained quiet, slightly surprised, but unfazed as the voice spoke back, calm as ever, and a presence soon appeared before them from beneath the boat.

He was interesting, different- his eyes caught her attention, of course, but she was not stupid, nor was she vain- appearances hardly mattered to her, and as far as she was concerned, this was just another enemy standing in her way. And while he may have stood fearlessly in front of her blade, she held it with just as much daring as he stood there, not moving it away an inch.

Still, when he spoke, and bowed so politely, she figured she might as well respond, and gave an almost sinister grin. If he was trying to toy with her, or play some sort of cruel mind game, well, she was just fine with that- she could play along just as easily as he could.

"Oh, so this black pit is YOUR place? Some way you treat guests. Invisible floors and surprise visits from these worthless bags of bones." Lyn gave a chuckle. "I must say, I certainly do feel welcomed!" she added with a sarcastic laugh.

Celeste gasped and activated her Sage blade. Konbei already had his drawn and was rearing to fight their enemies. Nuala glanced at them both and stood between them, her hands tingling his dark energy.

Kotake cackled again and looked down at the Deserax. "Ugly?! What an outrageous boy, Koume! We must destroy him and his friends, ho ho ho!"

The end of her broomstick began to glow white with icy power. She quickly spun in a circle at fired the power at the group in a strong beam of ice. Konbei forced his own back back at the beam in the same form. He figured ice on ice probably wouldn't do much but if all else failed he could at least hold Kotake's attacks back while the others attacked her.

Deserax saw an opportunity and fired a pulse of fire at Kotake.