To Hyrule Castle!

"How are you going to get there?" Link asked the two strangers. "Do you have horses?"

They glanced at each other and a few moments passed as Enia gnawed uncertainly at her lip. Once again, Link got the distinct impression that they were having an entire conversation with each other. "We don't have any horses, but we can keep up anyways," Enia said vaguely.

Link was confused. "How? It's hours away and I'm going to be going all out."

"Don't worry about it," Enia snapped. "We can keep up!"

Link leaned away from the unexpected fire. "Sorry," she muttered. "Where we come from people are naturally stronger and faster."

"You're positive you'll be able to keep up?"

"We'll tell you if we need to stop." She grinned brightly at him.

Link shrugged and swung up into Epona's saddle. "Ready?" he asked. They nodded; Enia looked eager. "Yah!" Link yelled, clicking his heels against Epona's sides and twitching the reins. His horse's powerful muscles bunched beneath him then she took off like a rocket, the long grass whipping around her legs. With a wild whoop, Enia took off after them, quickly catching up with Samik right beside her. They ran lightly but powerfully, and they kept up with Epona easily. Enia had a look of fierce joy on her face. She hurdled a fallen log, took a few steps, and immediately tripped. Link reined Epona in, but she had already rolled and popped back up again, laughing with her friend.

"I'm okay!" she shouted. "Keep going!"

Link shrugged and urged Epona on. Just who were these strangers? They laughed and joked about everything as if nothing was serious to them. They ran as silently as hunting cats and could keep up with a galloping horse. They hesitated and gave vague answers whenever Link asked them about who they were and where they were from, then changed the subject. He wanted to talk to Princess Zelda about them, to see what she thought about the strangers. The princess always had good instincts about these sorts of things.


The horse thundered across the grassy plain, her smaller companions streaking along beside her. The grass swayed from their passing and small animals darted away, startled. It was several long hours before the castle suddenly appeared in the distance, riding a tall hill up to meet the horizon, but neither of the strangers seemed tired. Still, the girl, Enia, stopped to stare at the majestic building in awe. "Wow…it's so…" she couldn't find the right word to finish.

Samik stopped behind her. "Amazing?"

Enia nodded.

Link reined Epona in about ten feet in front of them. "It's even more impressive up close."

Her face lighting up, Enia starting running again with Samik alongside. Link nudged Epona's sides and the horse responded instantly. Hyrule Castle grew steadily larger until it towered above them. Link pulle dup before the drawbridge and swung lightly down from the saddle. Enia craned her neck to stare up at the blue-shingled rooftops and gray stone towers. "Double wow," she breathed.

Link smiled slightly at her amazement. "Come on, the inside's even better." He looped Epona's reins lightly around a post and led the way across the bridge. On the far side, he stepped back to let Enia and Samik enter first. They walked side by side through the archway, identical looks of wonder on their faces.

"Wow…" Link heard Enia breath. "Just…wow."

Link stepped past them. "Come on, the castle's this way." He saw Enia's hand creep into Samik's as the followed him.

Link pushed his way through the churning crowds, ignoring the hawkers calling out their wares and the people asking for money for one charity or another. Strangely, all the conversations seemed to center around one topic: how an evil chicken feel from the sky. Link glanced back briefly at the two strangers who were trying to look at everything at once; he wondered how they were tied into it all.

They came to the center square. There were just as many people there as always, but they were all huddled around the edges, as far away from the bubbling fountain as they could get. Link looked at the fountain; there was nothing odd about it. It was the same as it'd always been.

Shrugging, Link walked straight through the clear part of the plaza. On the far side, he paused and looked back; Enia and Samik were no longer with him.

They were standing by the fountain, looking at something in Enia's hands. The only thing Link could tell about it was that it was white. "What'd you find?" he called back.

"A clue," Enia answered, smiling slightly. She lifted the tip of the object to the corner of her mouth; it was a white bird's feather.

Link knew that if he pressed, she wouldn't answer him, just give him a mysterious answer or snap at him. So he shrugged and turned around, running up the stairs towards the guarded double doors. Enia and Samik scurried after him, Enia tucking the feather into a pocket of her pants.

"Damn, that's a big door," Samik said when he saw it.

Link grinned and beckoned with his hand. "Come on."

The guards stopped them, of course. Standard procedure. "State your name and your business."

Link rolled his eyes; they asked him that every time he came to see the princess. "My name is Ganondorf and I've come to kidnap the princess."

The guard on the right sighed and switched his spear from one hand to the other. "Very funny, Link," he said with exasperation.

"Wait, if you already knew his name, why'd you have to ask?" Enia asked.

The guard shrugged one shoulder. "Standard procedure."

"So can we go in?" Link asked.

"Who are they?" the guard said, indicating Enia and Samik.

"They're, um…" Link wasn't entirely sure how to describe them.

"We're heard about the princess's problem with the chicken," Samik answered smoothly. "We're looking for him too and we know how to help."

The guard had paled at the mention of the chicken, but now he nodded and stepped aside. "Go ahead."

"Thanks," Samik said. He and Enia walked past Link and into the courtyard of the castle.

Link stayed where he was, confused. "Wait…the chicken?"

"You didn't hear about that?" Enia said over her shoulder. "Huh. Well, you'll find out soon enough. Come on."'

Sighing, Link followed them.

Enia: Bing bang boom, done! Yay! This chapter was originally going to be called 'Meeting the Princess' and was going to end when the three of them were leaving Hyrule Castle, but I decided that was going to be way to long! So I'm splitting it up. Also, I've heard that parts of this are confusing and I can see why. I'll try to clear them up.

Teemo, Arin, Fred, and Darrel are characters from one of my stories. I accidentally opened a Portal between their world and Link's and Darrel went through, forcing me to send Teemo, Arin, and Fred after him. But then I accidentally dropped the legendary Mystic Pen in the Portal. And, since I'm an impulsive idiot, I jumped in after it, taking Samik, my best friend/boyfriend, with me. But we ended up in a weird Distortion World (not really)/Gap Between Dimensions thing and had to fight the Imprisoned to get through the final Portal. Which is what those Author's Notes were and now that I think about it, that wasn't the best way to do it. But oh well. After that it's pretty self-explanatory, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

CRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Enia: Not again! I'm going to kill those two!

Samik: She stormed away. I fear for Dorfy and Darrel's safety. I wanna go watch this. So bye, review please.