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Chapter Four

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"Where have you been?" said Alanna impatiently as Link finally approached the fountain at three fifteen. "You were supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago!"

With his free hand, Link motioned to the arm full of bottles he carried. "The line in the potion shop was long."

"You still think you're a hero don't you?" she replied disgustedly. "Look, you don't have to keep up your little act with me. I know you're not a hero."

Link sat down by the fountain and began to put the bottles carefully into a pack he was carrying. "I don't care if you believe me or not," he told her when he was done, "but I am the Hero of Time."

Alanna threw her hands up in disgust, something she had done many times since she met Link. "Fine," she said, giving up, "Anyway, Mr. Hero, we should be heading towards the palace."

They stood up in silence and walked through the town towards the castle. When the reached the edge of the town, they continued down the dirt path cut into the hillside. On the right wall, there was a leafy vine. The wall was at least three times Alanna's height. Thoughts of the tree she had been stuck in the first day she met Link filled her head. Maybe this wall wasn't as tall, but it was just as scary. She was glad she wouldn't have to climb it . . . .

"Up we go," Link said, interrupting her train of thought. Rubbing his hands together, he reached out to grab the vine.

"What are you doing?" Alanna exclaimed with a look of horror as Link put his left foot on the vine.

He turned around and gave her a look that clearly meant he thought it was obvious what they were doing. "Getting into the castle."

"Can't we just go through the main gate like civilized people?" Alanna asked, her voice beginning to quiver again. As she looked up, the wall seemed to grow higher and higher, looming like a menacing monster. No way was she climbing that!

"We could, but this is lots more fun," Link remarked turning back to the vine. He climbed a few paces, and then, as an afterthought, he added, "Unless you're scared."

Alanna opened her mouth to tell him that she wasn't scared but decided not to. It was perfectly obvious that she was. Her hands were shaking and she felt as if her legs wouldn't hold up much longer. She tried to steady herself, so she wouldn't look so scared, as she said, "Alright, let's go."

Link went up first. When he was at the top, Alanna stepped toward the wall. Setting her mouth in a firm line, she reached out and grabbed the first vine. Just don't look down, she thought, repeating the advice that her mother gave her whenever she had to climb something. Just don't look down. She began to climb, slowly, one foot at a time.

Alanna had never realized how difficult it was not to look down. She had to concentrate more on looking in other directions than she had to on climbing. First, she looked to the left, over the town that they had just been through. The market was still as busy as ever before. People hurried about the streets oblivious to her plight. To her right, she found Hyrule Castle. It's blue roof and turrets with flags waving seemed to mock her fear. The guard towers stood at every corner watching her progress, but unable to help because of the sparkling blue moat that surrounded them.

Alanna's eyes slowly drifted from the moat and before she knew what was happening she was starting down at the ground. It seemed miles below her, though in reality it was only a few feet. Pebbles below grew into sharp pointed boulders waiting to crush her when she fell. Her heart began to beat wildly in her chest and fear swept through her being like a chilling wind.

Her hands scrambled to keep a firm grip on the vine. Desparate to regain a cool head, Alanna looked up. Suddenly she found herself nose to nose with Link, who had been watching her progress from the top.

"Well hello again," Link said, reaching out a hand to pull her up. Forgetting her pride, Alanna grabbed it firmly with a look of pure relief spread across her face. With his help, she was soon safe on the top of the wall, not that she wouldn't have preferred to be safe on the ground.

Resisting the urge to hug Link with gratitude, she silently followed him as he crossed the wall. Soon they had reached the top of the main gate. It was a solid stone wall that, on ground level, held a gate guarded by two of the king's guards.

On this level however, there was something Alanna hadn't expected. A small square hole lead straight down inside the wall. Link quickly walk towards the hole and began to climb down the ladder that stuck out the top of it. All he ever does is climb, Alanna thought, though climbing down isn't nearly as bad as climbing up. She set her jaw firm against her protest of yet more climbing and decided to close her eyes on the way down so she couldn't look at anything while she was climbing.

Bracing herself for something terrible to happen, like the rung that she was about to step on breaking or maybe missing the rung entirely, she stepped onto the ladder. Her eyes were closed tight against the fear of seeing the ground.

Finally, with no major conflicts, she felt her foot touch the solid ground. Trying not to sigh with relief she hopped quickly off the ladder and onto the sturdy ground.

"Where are we?" she asked, realizing Link had never told her why they were climbing.

"Inside the wall, of course," he said. "This is an old guard house that everyone has forgotten about." For a forgotten room, it looked quite pleasant. There were no cobwebs in the corners. A lamp was hung beside the door, which Link now pushed open.

Alanna stepped outside and realized that they were inside the palace gate. The two of them now stood in a large courtyard, which looked like a rural field. Green grass was plentiful and flowers grew everywhere. Butterflies dotted the air with brightly colored wings. Alanna wouldn't have thought that she was in a castle courtyard had it not been for the cobblestone path that was cut along one side of the field. Guards stood along it, watching for anyone who was not supposed to be there.

Silently, Link motioned for her to follow him. He began to cut across the grass, avoiding the sets of guards on either side. Alanna followed, wondering why they had to sneak around like this if the princess knew him so well. He probably has never seen the princess, more or less talked to her, she thought. Not that she could say more for herself. She had seen the princess once or twice in picture books, but never in person. When she was a little girl, Alanna used to spend whole afternoons day dreaming about meeting her.

Her mind began to wander into these same daydreams when a jerk on her sleeve made her stumble suddenly to the right. She turned to see that it was, of course, Link. As she was about to demand an explanation, he put a finger to his lips and motioned to the guard she had almost knocked into. Quickly, Alanna returned her attention to following Link's path, which oddly enough seemed to be headed toward a wall.

When they arrived at the wall, Alanna began to wonder if there was a hidden chamber inside the wall, as there had been in the first. Even if there was a chamber inside, it would have led them farther away from the castle. The entrance to the castle was in the opposite direction. In any case, there was no entrance to the wall that she could see. She was about to ask Link what they were going to do next, when a voice called to her from on top of the wall.

"So are you coming?" the voice said. Alanna looked up and saw the face of a young boy with blonde hair. She sighed, releasing a breath she didn't know she'd held. Link's blue eyes sparkled down at her.

"How'd you get up there?" Alanna questioned, already suspecting the answer.

As she'd thought he would, Link replied, "Climbed, of course."

Alanna stamped her foot. "I'm sick of climbing. Why can't we just go through the gate?" She motioned to the gate only a few feet away.

Link looked very embarrassed said, beginning to tick off the reasons on his fingers, "Well, um, the guards for one thing, and well . . . ." He soon realized that he didn't even have enough reasons to fill one hand and he let his hand drop to his side.

"But I thought you were friends with Princess Zelda. Won't she let you in?"

His face was now flushed the color of a cherry tomato. He tried to avoid Alanna's eyes as he mumbled, "The last time I visited the castle, Zelda and I had a little argument." Alanna raised one eyebrow as Link continued. "She got rather angry at me and had me, well, barred from the castle." By now he was looking as uncomfortable as a cat in a dog pound.

Alanna doubled over with laughter. Between gasps of breath, she squeaked, "Kicked *gasp* Mr. Hero *gasp* out of *gasp* the castle!" Then the little control she had over her laughter was completely lost. She dropped to the ground with shrieks of uncontrollable giggles. She rolled in the lush grass of the courtyard lawn. Her sides ached with laughter.

Just when Alanna was beginning to wonder if she'd ever stop laughing, she rolled against something with a dull thud. Upon closer examination, it turned out to be a leather boot. A boot? thought Alanna. What's a boot doing in the middle of a courtyard? Unless . . . . Slowly, she tilted her head upward. Looking down at her was the unimpressed face of one of the castle guards, and he didn't seem quite as amused about this as she was. "Uh-oh," she whispered, all her laughter gone now.