Chapter 4
Progress was slow for Link and Zelda, as it would be for several hundred meters more. They had to be extra sneaky, for the entire western side of the castle was visible for miles and miles from the highest watch; a place Ganondorf may very well have be at this moment. It was clear that he would be looking for them; if anyone could still foil his dastardly wickedness, he knew it was them.
" :( ," Link cried out in a sudden wave of grief.
"Don't despair," Zelda said, patting his shoulder. "If Ganondorf realizes we're not in the castle, maybe he'll set out to find us in such a hurry that he won't have time to massacre the population of Hyrule." With that, Link cheered-up a bit. Zelda continued, "Besides, if we do find Ocarina's mask, we can change the timeline so none of this ever takes place. Like that time with the moon and all. Remember, Link, you're the Hero of Time; the very title seems to suggest that you're not even supposed to stop evil on the first try."
Link took all of this to heart, greatly encouraged. But it didn't make the present task much easier. He could find no further cover in any direction for a good twenty meters; a risky distance to traverse out in the open. "!" he explained to Zelda.
"My, that is quite a distance," she said, noticing the large boulder he indicated. She pondered for a moment, considering a possible option. "I could use magic to teleport us both behind the rock, but it's risky business. We might both materialize as a unified pile of goo."
"^" Link said, unafraid of the odds.
"Okay," Zelda said reluctantly. After a few seconds' hesitation, she beamed them both up. They materialized safely in front of the rock. "Whoops, wrong side!" Zelda said as they both darted around behind the rock as fast as they could.
"That was bad," Zelda proclaimed on the other side.
"$" Link pointed out.
"Oh, I wondered what that feeling of added weight was coming from," Zelda said as she removed Link's shield from behind her back and handed it to him. "I don't think I'll be trying multi-person teleporting again for a while."
A thunderclap split the air at that very moment. Both heroes gasped and drew in closer to the boulder, afraid that this was some sign that Ganondorf had spotted them. More lightning and thunder erupted throughout the gloom-filled sky, and the wind picked up again, howling on toward the castle. Link ventured a glance over the rock, and Zelda followed suite. A great dark whirlwind was manifesting above the castle's precipice, and a fantastic lightning storm erupted between the sharp stone peaks and the low center of the swirling cloud. Suddenly an overwhelmingly bright light burst from the height of the castle, and both Zelda and Link covered their eyes, temporarily blinded. When their eyesight returned, they could see a small, shimmering purple glow just above the castle's peak. As they watched it slowly grew to a large flaming purple sphere, wreathed in lightning. They gasped and ducked once again as a narrow slit, like the pupil of a reptile, appeared in the center of this oblong magical manifestation.
"Great," Zelda said, barely audible over the intensified weather, "now he has a big magic eye."
Link remained unusually silent, narrowing his eyes with incredible contempt for Ganondorf's latest mischievous deed. Being extra sneaky was about to have to get that much more extra. They crawled over to a ditch, continuing their slow progress as they must. From their new cover, they looked back to try to surmise whether or not they had been spotted. But the eye was looking off in another direction, casting a spotlight wherever it searched. Link, with his marksman's eyesight, noticed a little leaf flutter under the gaze of the eye. A horrible screeching pierced the air as the eye suddenly fired a tremendous, blinding beam of magical energies at the mere observance of movement, instantly singeing the harmless leaf from existence. Link gasped in horror.
"Link!" said Zelda. "This way! We made it."
Link wasn't sure what she meant initially, but when he turned around he noticed that she had snuck over to precisely what they had been looking for: the entrance to an abandoned mine shaft.
! Link thought. While Ganondorf's magic eye was still busy COMPLETELY ANNIHILATING other signs of movement, the two safely crept into the shaft. At last it truly seemed that they could once again outwit Ganondorf. But a greater challenge remained in their path, specifically figuring out how they were supposed to find this mask they'd never heard of.
