She is just opening her mouth to speak when they hear it. Deep, dark laughter with a tinge of insanity to it. The sound echoes around the Mirror Chamber, sending chills up Midna's spine. Zelda stumbles out of her tent with her bow and a quiver of arrows. Link pulls Midna up with him, one hand holding hers, the other picking up his shield.

"My dear Midna," drawls a familiar voice, "Were you so angry with me that you neglected to think things through properly? I must say, quite a careless mistake on your part."

"Zant," Midna hisses. Link whirls around, searching for the source of Zant's voice, but he is nowhere to be seen.

"Ah, hero chosen by the gods, you can't reach me just now. I'm safe in the Palace of Twilight."

"What are you doing to my people, Zant?" Midna demands.

"Oh, the Twili Tribe is fine, little Twilight Princess. In fact, I think they're much happier now. Anyway, I realized you and your friends would try to stop me from seizing power a second time, so I arranged for you to be taken care of. Have fun with that." His voice faded gradually until it was gone completely.

Suddenly, the air goes cold. The only sound Midna can hear is the beating of her own heart. Her eyes dart around, searching for the hidden enemy. Her breath comes in nervous gasps. Link squeezes her hand reassuringly. "Don't worry. We killed Ganondorf. Zant's minion should be no problem."

That's when the portal opens in the sky, giving off an eerie glow. Zelda nocks an arrow and aims right at the portal, ready to shoot. Link lets go of her hand to draw his sword. Midna takes a breath and summons a sphere of energy in her palm.

The figure that descends from the portal is from the Twili Tribe, Midna can tell that immediately, and she guesses from his muscled build that he's male. Zant's assassin is at least a head taller than her, and wears a black hooded cloak that covers his face, hiding his identity. For a moment he stands perfectly still, as if considering who to kill first. Then he launches himself towards Zelda, producing a knife from somewhere in his cloak. Zelda releases her arrow, but a dome of Twili magic surrounds the assassin, and the arrow glances off harmlessly. Midna knows this technique—it protects against projectiles. But she can tell his magic is not nearly as strong as her own.
Before she considers what she's doing, Midna moves in front of Zelda, because she is not going to let the Princess of Hyrule get hurt again. She throws her orb of energy straight at the assassin's chest. He stumbles, slowing down, and Midna breaths a small sigh of relief. But he straightens and pulls back his arm in one motion, throwing his dagger at Midna.

Link jumps in front of her, knocking the knife aside with his sword. The assassin darts to the right and grabs Zelda before Midna can even blink. He's holding a knife to her neck and backing away slowly, towards the portal. "What do we do?" Midna breathes. She can't hit the Twili with an energy orb without hitting Zelda, and moving to attack means Zelda's death. They reach the portal, and the assassin shoves Zelda underneath it and holds her until she disintegrates into the Twilight Realm.

"Apparently he was sent to take care of all of us," Link says under his breath as the assassin turns toward them, drawing another dagger. All at once he charges, sprinting so fast Midna can barely see his legs move. Suddenly she is frozen in place, her muscles gone numb, her mind blank with terror. He is a few feet away from her and her legs won't move no matter how hard she wills them to.

It seems like time slows down.

The assassin is right in front of her when she sees movement to her right. A flash of green throws itself in front of her. Link plants his feet squarely on the ground and flings out his arms to either side, shielding her body with his. Midna opens her mouth to scream as she hears the sound of impact, the pained yell as the dagger enters his stomach.

Link drops to the ground, gasping, while the assassin backs up. Midna falls to her knees at Link's side. The assassin, for whatever reason, doesn't want to kill her today. He reaches the portal and looks back once.

He disappears into the Twilight Realm, the portal closing behind him.