Chapter 10:
The next day, Link awoke from his sleeping pallet at the sound of a loud clank. He opened his eyes and slowly rose and slid off of his pallet. For a second, he wondered what was going on. His questions were soon answered when he heard the snickering of a guard. "Rise and shine kiddies, if you can, that is, ha ha ha," the guard laughed sadistically as his disturbance had caused Tetra's magical energy pallets to disappear, prompting the princess to fall to the ground with a thud and a grunt. "What's wrong, baby?" the guard mocked, leering. "Can't fit two people on the pallet? Too bad. I'd have loved ta see it."
"Be careful I don't incinerate you for annoying me, Ezio," the young girl snapped, taking the guard aback. Link could see an almost sadistic gleam in her eyes, as if she were daring the guard to come in and try to have his way with her.
Ezio simply gave a humph. "Okay, princess, have it your way, not that it'll do you any good. The time has come."
"It has, has it?" Tetra questioned mockingly. "I thought that our execution wasn't scheduled until dawn."
Link looked out and saw that it was still dark outside. "The prince is changing things up a bit," the guard answered. "He wants you at the gallows as quickly as possible. He wants to show you two some things before you die."
The guard then laughed again as he unlocked the door to the cell. The door swung open but the guard was not concerned that he was outnumbered by Link and Tetra. Link saw why when he saw two shadows in the doorway. There were flickers of light that indicated that they may have been sorcerers. Ezio was quick to notice that Link was appraising the situation and grimaced. He may have been arrogant, but he was not stupid. He stepped up to the door and inserted the key into its slot. Turning the key, a clank sounded. Ezio then swung the door inward and bellowed, "Everyone out. And don't you dare think about doin' anything ta me. I've got backup."
Link's eyes did not leave the two shadows in the corner, the hero suspecting that those two were the backup that Ezio was referring to. However, he did not believe that they were the only ones to accompany the guard to the dungeon. Tetra gave a humph as she stood up and made her way out of the dungeon, Link following her lead. As they left, Ezio chuckled. "Man does the prince have a surprise for you," the laughed.
The prisoners simply grimaced as they followed the guard out of the dungeon. As they made their way out of the dungeon, Ezio was joined by two Hylians dressed in long red robes, who followed behind Link and Tetra. Two Knights of Hyrule also quickly joined them, these soldiers being armed with what looked to be glowing swords, rather than the halberds that most of the Knights had wielded.
The journey to the gallows, which were situated in Hyrule Castle's courtyard, was free of any incident, for the time had not yet come for Link and Tetra to make their move. As they had come up from the dungeon, they had heard the sounds of wailing and groaning coming from various cells as guards were dragging prisoners from their cells up to the courtyard. They were bellowing, "Come on you swine. You've got a date with the gallows, if you're lucky."
Link and Tetra said nothing as they were led up to the castle. Ezio, however, was not so quiet. "Prince Daphnes decided that he needed to clean house, so to speak. You're fortunate. You won't be the only ones dyin' at dawn." He then continued to take them through the dungeon and up to the castle's ground floor.
Once they entered the castle' ground floor, they heard the sounds of crying and moaning. The voices sounded young, as if they were only children. "Looks like the guys are havin' fun this morning."
Link seethed as he walked by, knowing exactly what the nobles were doing. Glancing over at Tetra, she seemed strangely non-responsive to the cries of the children. Seeing Link's glance, she lowered her gaze. "Sadly, you get used to things like this in Hyrule Castle," she said wistfully. The two were then led to the front gates of the castle, two guards looking at Ezio and saluting as he walked towards them. Ezio stopped for a second but the guards quickly swung the gates open and bellowed to him, "Get a move on!" A bead of sweat formed at Ezio's brow as he and the other escorts ushered Link and Tetra out of the castle and into the courtyard.
Link and Tetra heard a raucous cheer as the two of them entered the courtyard, followed quickly by the robed guards and Knights of Hyrule that had been tasked with escorting them. Looking ahead, they saw a gallows set up in the middle of the courtyard. The gallows was large, large enough to execute two dozen people at once. As they arrived, Link could already see more than a dozen people hanging from the gallows. Some were still struggling to breathe while others looked to already be dead. Link was barely able to suppress a gasp at the scene. "Damn, I got here too late," Ezio lamented. "I really wanted to see them gasping for air as they died."
"Well, you're too late," came the voice of Prince Daphnes, causing the group to look up at a section of stands where prince and his court were seated. A dozen nobles were seated close to the prince. Link did not recognize any of the nobles near the prince, suspecting that the more recognizable dukes were out performing their duties elsewhere. Link noticed that his Ordon Sword was sitting next to the prince's throne, as was his magical sack that hopefully held the rest of his equipment. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning streaked from the prince's hand and struck Ezio in the chest, reducing him to ashes. "Tardiness can be deadly," the prince quipped before reclining back in his throne.
Link's eyes were wide with shock at the scene. He looked over at Tetra, who merely shrugged and looked down at the ground. "Don't let it get to you," the princess told Link in a melancholy tone. "This type of thing is commonplace in Hyrule. It's been this way for a decade. You should already know that given the prince's indiscretions."
Link had to admit that Tetra had a point. Still, the callous way that Daphnes killed Ezio troubled him, almost as much as Tetra's seemingly casual reaction to the guard's death. Perhaps she harbored a great deal of hatred for Ezio, who from what little Link had seen, loved poking fun at her.
After a few moments, the prince rose again and proclaimed, "Well, since our guests of honor are already here, albeit a little late thanks to the now late Ezio von Faron, and that the prisoners from the morning are already dead, it's time to get this show on the road. After all, it's dawn."
Just as he said that, the sun began to peek over the horizon. Light began to shine onto the land and it became easier to see. The sunlight gleamed off of the armor of the Knights of Hyrule and other soldiers that were standing guard in the courtyard. As the dawn's light shown over the courtyard a feeling of hope and optimism came to Link. Despite having a plan, he had felt that his chances against Daphnes and the royal court were slim to none. Now, that gloomy feeling had been washed away. The fact that Daphnes was keeping Link's weaponry close by also helped give him confidence that the prince had made a grave error and that victory was not just a futile dream. Even Tetra seemed to look a little livelier as the sun shown across the courtyard.
After a few seconds, Daphnes stepped forward onto a platform in front of his throne that overlooked the entire courtyard and the gallows. He was dressed in a regal purple robe and a crown. He had a sword at his hip, which Link suspected was a magical weapon. As he stepped forward, a large golden triangle glowed from his torso. The triangle seemed to take up most of his torso and the golden glow shown forth from him. "The Light Force," Tetra muttered.
"Quiet you!" one of the soldiers snapped as he struck the girl in the back, causing her to fall forward.
Link went to stop the guard from further abusing the girl when Daphnes held up his hand and yelled, "Wait!"
The guard stopped and turned to Daphnes, bowing and saluting him. "You can have fun with her later. First, we have to get through these proceedings."
"Yes, sir," the guard answered, bowing.
After waving off the comment, Daphnes looked down at Link and Tetra. He gazed at Tetra first and said, "Princess Tetra, you have been formally charged with sedition, conspiracy, and aiding an enemy of mine. How do you plead?"
Tetra gave no answer. After a few seconds, the prince said, "Very well. I find you guilty of all of those crimes. The sentence is death by hanging."
He then turned to Link. "Now, we have the main part of these proceedings," he said with a sinister grin as he focused his gaze down on the hero. "Link."
The hero looked up at the prince, scowling. Daphnes grinned. "You have been charged with sedition, assault, assault with a deadly weapon, countless weapons violations, battery, murder, and a whole list of other charges on the docket that I can't remember at this moment. How do you plead?"
Link gave no answer.
"Giving me the silent treatment like Tetra, huh? Fine then." He then pointed at Link and proclaimed, "I find you guilty of sedition, assault, assault with a deadly weapon, countless weapons violations, battery, murder, and the rest of the charges on the docket. Your sentence is death by vivisection after slow torture. The sentence is to be carried out immediately."
Link gave no reaction to the prince's judgment as two Knights of Hyrule stood and began to move towards him, their helmets retracted to show the glee on their faces as they each drew serrated knives. "Don't worry, kid, this will hurt more than you can imagine!" they said, barely able to contain their excitement. Looking into their eyes, Link could see nothing human in them. They did not even look like animals. There was nothing but evil in the hearts of the two Knights coming over to vivisect him. The Knights looked over to two other guards who were dressed in what Link guessed was a form of army uniform. It consisted of a blue and white shirt and white pants. The two guards, who were armed with pistols, did not look to have any swords or armor. He then surreptitiously glanced over to Tetra, who gave him a dark look and a curt nod. The time had come.
She looked up at Daphnes and scowled. However, there was a look of concern in her eyes. "Stop this, Brother," she pleaded. "He deserves better than this!"
"So did many of my other victims," Daphnes retorted derisively, grinning at the girl. "But they still died, crying in utter agony as their sentences were carried out. Hell, if he remains conscious after the initial incision, that's when the real fun will begin."
That was when Tetra grinned. "No. It begins now," she said darkly.
Daphnes began to wonder what his younger sister meant when Link suddenly charged towards one of the guards, shoulder-first, barreling into him and knocking him to the ground. The two fell to the ground. The dazed guard did not realize that Link was going for his pistol and made no attempt to stop the teen as the teen drew the pistol from the guard's holster and turned, targeting the nearest Knight of Hyrule. He pointed the weapon at the Knight and pulled the weapon's trigger. A loud bang echoed forth over the courtyard and a bullet rocketed from the barrel of the gun. The bullet found its mark in the Knight of Hyrule and managed to knock the Knight down. Link did not know whether or not the bullet had pierced the Knight's armor, and he did not care. He simply knew that one Knight was down and that he would have to deal with the next one, who was already pointing his halberd at Link. As the Knight was about to fire, though, a stream of flame erupted from Tetra's hands and engulfed the Knight, setting him ablaze. The Knight ran around the courtyard, screaming as he burned. Link glanced over to Tetra and nodded in thanks. Tetra smiled and then turned to focus on Daphnes as Link went over to the fallen Knight and took a small bomb and lighter from the Knight's pouch.
The hero looked to his right and saw a squadron of Knights coming his way. Using the lighter, he lit the bomb and tossed it over to the Knights. The resulting explosion took down several Knights, allowing Link to focus on other enemies. Gunshots soon rang out as several guards readied their rifles or pistols and took shots at Link, dirt flying into the air as bullets struck close to the hero. He took cover behind the gallows, allowing the bullets to ricochet off the wood. Link looked around to see if he could find any discarded weapons lying around him, but he could find none. Just then, an explosion of flame erupted from the center of the formation of troops firing on Link. Tetra had saved him again.
During the fighting in the courtyard below, Prince Daphnes looked on in shock and rage. He had suspected that Link would try to mount an escape attempt, but he had expected it to be during the night while he had been in the dungeon not just as he was going to be executing the hero. Just to be safe, though, he glanced over at Link's weapons and items to make sure that they were still there. They were, but he had a feeling that Link and Tetra would be going for them soon. He was proven right when he noticed Tetra glance towards him. She then extended her hand and a field of blue energy surrounded the magic sack and Link's sword and shield. They immediately flew through the air and rocketed towards the half-Hylian hero. The weapons and sack landed right next to the hero and he immediately grabbed them just as two Knights of Hyrule were targeting him with their magical halberds. Link grabbed his Mirror Shield and raised it, the shield intercepting the green blasts of magical energy, the blasts splashing against the shield and being reflected back at the firers, felling them, for their armor was of little use against magical energy blasts. Link then drew his bow and arrow from the sack and scanned the area to look for targets while Tetra fired a volley of lightning bolts at a squad of Knights of Hyrule, felling them with single hits. Link, meanwhile, focused on a squad of soldiers that were targeting the princess, targeting the leader and felling him with a single arrow. The other soldiers then turned to fire on Link but the hero ducked behind the gallows, using them for cover as the soldiers fired wildly at him. The hero prepared another arrow and peered out to take down a soldier, ducking back just in time to avoid the return fire.
As for the onlookers and audience in the stands that had come to watch the executions, most of them were now yelling in terror as Link fought back against his captors and were now fleeing the courtyard in an attempt to get out of what was now turning into a warzone. They did not stay to watch Link fell a soldier with each twang of his bow. Even more terrifying, for them, was the fact that Tetra was basically on a rampage, having killed more than a dozen Knights of Hyrule already. Her fire and lightning barrages were quickly thinning out the ranks of soldiers in the courtyard.
The nobles that were sitting with Daphnes went over to the prince, who was still watching in shock and rage at Link and Tetra's defiance. One of the nobles cried, "My lord, you must call in all available soldiers now! Our forces are getting…" but he never finished his sentence, for Daphnes turned to the noble with inhuman speed, drew out his sword, and stabbed the noble in the heart."
"Shut the hell up!" Daphnes cried, prompting all of the other nobles to freeze and kneel on the ground before him. "I'll handle this my own way!" He then looked at each and every one of them and continued, "But you do have a point. My forces are being depleted down there. That means that there's only one thing I can do."
He then grinned as with a single wave of his hand, he sent the eleven remaining nobles flying from the stands down to the courtyard below. The nobles were in shock as they flew through the air and landed on the ground with a thud. They were slow to rise as a dozen Knights went to engage the hero and Tetra, targeting the girl with their magical halberds. This would only end in disaster for them, though, since Link quickly joined her, holding up his Mirror Shield. Sure enough, the Knights opened fire on Link and Tetra only to have their magical bolts reflected right back at them, each Knight falling to his own fire.
Once the Knights were felled, the nobles looked back up at Daphnes, who merely laughed and told them, "You were the ones who wanted to have more forces to take down the two prisoners. You're the best qualified to do so!"
The nobles scowled and they knew that Daphnes had simply sent them down to the courtyard to face the duo since they were complaining to him, but he actually did have a point. Each of the nobles were of noble blood and the magic of the Hyrulean Royal Family still flowed through their blood, even if their ties to the Royal Family were twisted and distorted. Still, they were concerned about the prospect of facing down the hero and the princess since Link had a Mirror Shield and Tetra was showing that she was a very talented and powerful magician. Some of them were wondering if she was not actually channeling some of the Light Force inside of her. One of the nobles, a man in his early thirties with blonde hair and blue eyes extended his hand forward, targeted Link with a lightning attack. Five bolts of lightning erupted towards the hero, only to strike the Mirror Shield and be reflected back at the noble. Since the noble was a magician, the noble was not killed by his own return fire. However, the bolts of lightning did manage to paralyze him, which allowed Link to deploy a Bombling his way. With the other nobles fleeing the mechanical bomb, the lone noble could do nothing as the bomb hit him and exploded, blowing him to pieces.
The other nobles quickly responded by powering each other up with a variety of magical spells that enhanced their speed, strength, and defense, while others fired less direct magical spells at the duo. One spell tried to cast a death spell on Link that took the form of a dark mist but Tetra used her own magic to catch the spell and disperse it safely. Another noble cast an Earth spell that sent a fissure through the ground towards the duo. Link was quick enough to avoid the fissure and the energy erupting through the crack in the ground, but Tetra was forced to raise a Nayru's Love shield. The fissure struck her and sent her flying, even though no damage was inflicted on her. The spell continued towards the gallows and struck it, tearing through it and collapsing the entire structure. As for Tetra, she landed on her back and grunted as she hit the ground with a thud. "Damn, that one hurt," she cursed.
She then rose and gritted her teeth, focusing on the nobles that had attacked her. She retaliated against them by firing several fire beams. The nobles raised magical shields to protect themselves and the beams bounced off of the magical force fields they erected, but one of the nobles, a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes much like Tetra, was too slow to react and a beam managed to hit her. Instead of setting her ablaze, though, the beam simply melted her into a puddle of liquefied flesh, blood, and bone, woman screaming as she died. The other nobles, seeing the gruesome nature of their comrade's demise, gaped at Tetra as she dared them to face her.
Link looked on in surprise as well. He was not only surprised by the fact that she had cursed when she had been hit by the earth spell, but was also shocked at the gruesome nature of her fire spell and the demise of its target. Still, she was fighting on his side and she was not launching random blasts up into the fleeing onlookers, something Daphnes or someone like him would have done. Still, the brutality of her attack unnerved him. However, he knew that she would likely need help fighting the more than a dozen nobles that were arraying themselves against her. He was about to join her when he heard a loud bang from behind him. He turned and saw a squad of soldiers lining up and drawing out their rifles in order to open fire against them. These soldiers were not clad in armor so they would be easy to take down. Seeing smoke rising from the barrel of one of the rifles, he quickly drew out his bow once more and began firing arrows into the ranks of the soldiers, starting with the first soldier. He felled the first soldier with a single arrow and quickly targeted the second, felling him. With each twang of his bow, he took down a soldier. Of the eight soldiers that had come out, three were now down. A fourth twang of his bow took down another soldier as an arrow protruded from his head. The other arrows retreated to search for cover from Link. The hero would not have any of that, though, and he took out a bomb. He lit it and tossed it over to the soldiers. When the bomb landed among them, they saw its fuse burning and rose up to flee the resulting explosion. The bomb detonated and its concussion knocked down the fleeing soldiers. He did not know if they were dead or not and he did not really care. They were out of the fight for the time being.
Meanwhile, Daphnes watched as Link and Tetra were slaughtering the guards and Knights that he was sending at them. He grimaced. If this kept up, he would run out of soldiers. He knew that he would have to handle this himself. Seeing that Tetra was busy with the nobles, he saw Link dealing with the soldiers that were firing on him. He then grabbed his sword and shield and then closed his eyes for a second. Once they opened again, he was no longer clad in his usual uniform, but was now covered in shiny gold armor from head to toe, his head covered by an ornate helmet. He then leapt into the air and descended down into the courtyard, landing right in front of Link. The prince glared at the hero. He drew his sword and pointed it at Link, prompting Link to draw his own blade. "You won't escape now, hero," Daphnes stated arrogantly. "Tetra's bogged down against the nobles and I've ordered my soldiers to block all the exits. It's gonna end hero, right here, right now."
The prince then charged towards Link, holding his sword high, which caused Link's eyes to go wide with shock. The prince had not cast a spell on himself and it seemed as if he was simply going to challenge Link to a swordfight rather than use his magic against him. The prince rushed the hero and swiped downward, trying to bring his sword down on the hero's head and bisect him. With blinding speed, Link drew his Hylian Shield and raised it, catching Daphnes' blade on it, a loud clang ringing out over the courtyard. Link pushed back against the prince using his shield and attempted to push the prince off balance so he could get beneath the prince's guard and strike, for despite the fact that it looked like he had an opening, Link knew better.
Daphnes soon showed Link that his caution was wise as he drew a dagger with his left hand and proceeded to thrust it at the hero around the shield. Link moved his Ordon Sword to intercept the thrust and managed to knock the blade away. A subsequent thrust went for Daphnes' dagger hand in an attempt to sever it. The prince managed to pull back his hand far enough to avoid it being cut off, but Link managed to make contact with the blade, his strength being sufficient to knock the smaller blade out of the prince's hand.
Daphnes quickly backed off, his left hand still tingling from having his dagger being knocked out of his hand. However, the damage had been done. Link was using his Hylian Shield, a strong defense, but one that would undoubtedly have difficulty defending against magic. He quickly put it to the test as he backed away a few steps and formed a ball of fire over his hand. As the ball of fire formed, Link immediately went evasive as he charged towards the prince in a zigzag pattern, trying to reach the magician before he got the spell off or, at the very least, hoping to cause the prince's spell to go wide. Daphnes thrust his hand forward and the ball of flame leapt from it, prompting Link to move to his side, allowing the ball of flame to sail past him and explode well away from him. Once it exploded, he continued his charge towards the prince.
Daphnes, however, was no fool. Immediately after firing off his ball of flame, he began to form a dome of flames around him, a fire spell that he had seen Queen Zelda of his time use. The hero backed up and the dome of fire continued to expand for several more meters before dispersing. However, the time during the spell's casting and activation was not spent idly by the Hero of Twilight. Link had gathered several Deku Nuts and once the dome had vanished, he tossed two of them right at Prince Daphnes. Daphnes did not recognize the nuts as a threat until they hit his armor and detonated, emitting a bright flash and a loud crack. The flash and crack of the nuts stunned the prince and Link quickly charged the dazed prince, drawing his Megaton Hammer, for he knew that his Ordon Sword would not be able to penetrate the prince's heavy plate armor on a slash. Only a thrust with the armor-piercing tip of his sword would do it, and that would only work if he could put some real force behind the thrust. As such, though, when he arrived, he swung his Megaton Hammer right at the prince's head, knowing that he would at least knock down the prince, if not inflict some real damage to him.
The hammer struck the prince in the head and a loud clang rang out as metal smashed into metal. The prince fell to the ground like a sack of bricks, falling onto his back with a thud. Link quickly put away his hammer and drew his sword, knowing that this was his chance. He then jumped into the air and thrust his sword downward, using his strength as well as gravity to aid his thrust. The armor-piercing tip of his sword bit into the golden armor of the prince and went on through. He was surprised at how far the blade seemed to be biting into the prince's armor and flesh, for his sword easily pierced the prince's armor and was going further and further down into the prince. Daphnes spasmed upwards with the stab and he coughed blood as the sword bit into his flesh. He stared at Link in utter shock. "How?" he struggled to gasp.
Link did not answer, merely twisting his sword in order to inflict more internal injuries to the prince. He was so close to finishing the prince and he did not want to give Daphnes a chance to recover, assuming he could, which was a safe bet due to the Light Force. The prince spasmed with the twist again. However, he still managed to muster the strength to raise his hand and fire a ball of magical energy at Link. The ball of energy erupted from his hand and struck Link directly in the torso. Normally, such an attack would have destroyed Link's torso and blown the hero apart, but due to the injuries suffered by the prince, the blast only managed to knock Link off his feet. It inflicted no damage to Link at all. Still, it gave the prince a chance to rise, Link's sword still embedded in his chest.
"Damn…you…Link," the prince cursed, spitting more droplets of blood. "Why…why couldn't…you have…just…died like you were supposed to?"
He then grabbed the hilt of Link's sword and grimaced as he pulled it out of himself. As he was doing so, two Knights of Hyrule came to assist him. "No!" the prince yelled. "Get him!" he cried, pointing at Link.
The Knights proceeded to engage the hero, who took out a bomb and tossed it over to the Knights, prompting them to flee before the explosive detonated. Link also backed away to make sure that he was not caught in the blast, too. The Knights quickly fled the hero's bomb and managed to escape its blast. However, their intervention had given Daphnes the time he needed to pull the sword out of his chest. He grimaced as he pulled the sword out of him, grunting and groaning as it slowly exited his body, blood leaking from the wound. Eventually, he managed to pull the blade from his body and he lurched forward with relief as soon as the blade was removed.
Once the blade was removed, the prince's would began to close. A sucking sound was heard as the skin closed over the wound and after a couple of seconds, the wound was completely closed. Daphnes then threw the Ordon Sword at Link, blade first, prompting the hero to raise his Hylian Shield to catch the incoming blade. The sword bounced off of the shield and fell to the ground. Link went over to grab the blade and then looked over at Daphnes. Despite the fact that his wound had been healed, at least on the outside, the prince was still breathing heavily and he also looked to be sweating. It looked as if the internal injuries from the stab were healing more slowly, or the blow to his head was more serious than he had originally thought.
Daphnes went to move forward only to stumble and nearly fall. He shook his head and blinked his eyes. His vision was still blurry from the hammer blow and he was having difficulty focusing on Link. He knew that he had to do something fast. He then remembered that he had the Ocarina of Time with him. If he used that, he could play the Inverted Song of Time, he could slow down time to the point where he would have a clear edge over Link. He then reached into his armor and pulled out the blue ocarina and tenuously placed it to his lips, the prince still feeling the effects of the hammer's blow.
The Hero of Twilight took advantage of the prince taking out the ocarina and sheathed his sword once more and pulled out his bow and arrow. Looking across at Daphnes, he could tell that the prince had the Ocarina of Time. Remembering Zelda telling him that she could play magical songs on it, he did not want to risk Daphnes turning the tide of this fight by playing a magical song. Wasting no time, he took out an arrow and notched it to his bow. He then pulled back on his bowstring and let fly with the arrow. The arrow rocketed from the bow and almost instantly crossed the distance from Link to Daphnes. The arrow pierced the prince's armor and bit into his flesh, causing the prince to stagger backwards and drop the ocarina just as he had begun to blow into the instrument. However, the prince was not finished. No longer having the ocarina, for the time being, Daphnes extended his hand forward and unleashed a devastating volley of lightning bolts. However, since he was still feeling the effects of the blow from the Megaton Hammer, he was unable to properly aim his bolts. The lightning went wide of Link, and instead, fried two Knights of Hyrule who were coming up to blindside Link from behind.
Link, believing that the end was near, quickly took out a bomb and tied it to an arrow. Daphnes, knew that he was in trouble, so he did the only thing he could in his addled state. He raised his hands to cast a new spell. Fortunately, this one was successfully cast. A blue magical crystal formed around his body and the prince unsteadily went over and picked up the ocarina. Link had seen this spell before. Much like the dome of fire, it had been used by the Zelda of his time. He grimaced. He only hoped that the shield had a time limit as Daphnes put the Ocarina of Time to his lips and began to play, hoping to complete the Inverted Song of Time before his shield was put to the test.
As for Link, he the last thing he wanted was for Daphnes to get an edge by playing a magical song. As such, he quickly took out a bomb. He knew that its explosion would not inflict damage to Daphnes, but if the bomb blast could send the prince flying, he would keep Daphnes from being able to play the ocarina and possibly inflict more damage simply from the act of falling to the ground improperly. At the very least, it would not give him a chance to get a hold of himself and recover from his current injuries. He then proceeded to toss a bomb at Daphnes. The bomb struck the shield and detonated upon impact. The explosion sent Daphnes hurtling through the air. He crashed into the ground with a thud but the shield protected him from sustaining any damage. However, the force of the impact had startled him enough that he had dropped the Ocarina of Time once more.
Link then tossed another bomb at the prince, the explosion pushing him backwards, away from the ocarina. Just as with the first one, the prince did not take any damage from the blast, but it kept him pinned down. Link then tossed another bomb at the prince to keep him off balance. Each explosion caused the prince to stagger farther and farther away from the hero and kept him off balance, unable to launch a retaliatory attack on the hero. Link hoped that the shield would not stay up for too much longer, though. He was beginning to run low on bombs and he did not want to start using more of his Bomblings, Bombchus or Water Bombs just yet.
Link soon tossed another bomb at the prince, the explosion sending him flying through the air once more. He landed on the ground with a thud again. He attempted to rise, but another explosion soon had him flying through the air once more. He soon hit the ground again. This time, as he struggled to rise, the blue shield disappeared. He was vulnerable once more. He immediately tried to cast a healing spell on himself but he found that his magical reserves were beginning to run low. He must have been subconsciously using them to keep himself alive when he had been stabbed.
The prince then rose and drew his sword. He charged Link once more, taking numerous hacks at the hero. However, since the prince was still disoriented from the pounding he had taken earlier, his charge was disorderly and his attacks were off balance. Link managed to sway away from each of Daphnes' sword swings. Daphnes then raised his sword to strike at Link again but the hero raised his shield and thrust it towards the prince. The hero caught the prince's blade on his shield and with the thrust, knocked the prince off balance. Link then swung his sword hard and struck the prince in the abdomen. The sword was not able to pierce the prince's armor, but did dent it and send the prince reeling. A subsequent blow was intended to cleave the prince's head, but the helmet was strong enough to blunt the blow so that there was only a small rend in the helmet, with the sword not managing to cut the prince. However, the blow did knock Daphnes to the ground, dazing him. Despite his daze, he knew that he was not going to defeat Link in this condition. There was only one thing left for him to do. He grimaced. "I should have done this from the beginning," he seethed.
He then rose and stared at Link, who was drawing his bow and arrow. He soon grinned. "You've had your fun, hero. But your time has come. Now you will know the full might and power of the Prince of Hyrule!"
As soon as he had made his proclamation, a golden light shined forth from his torso. His torso began to glow and a triangle formed on his torso. The Light Force was activating. Link wasted no time firing an arrow at Daphnes. The arrow streaked from his bow to Daphnes' body, but when it struck the prince, it glanced off of his body and burst into flames. Daphnes went on to cackle. "There's nothing you can do to me now, hero!" he cried as golden flames began to emanate from him as his entire body began to glow. "This is the true power of the Light Force! This relic is stronger than either the Triforce of Wisdom or the Triforce of Courage. There is no way you can defeat me!"
Link was not about to give up, though. He took out a Bombling and set it down right in front of him. The insect-like bomb skittered over to Daphnes, who merely grinned and stood firm. The Bombling struck the prince and detonated, the flame from the blast covering the prince and the cloud of smoke obscuring him for several seconds. However, as the cloud cleared, the prince was still standing in the center of the cloud. It was also clear that he was completely unfazed by the explosion. "Now do you see hero?" Daphnes called. "You can't beat me. Now you're going to join all the others who opposed me in death!"
The prince then drew his sword, which was also now glowing a bright gold, and charged Link with incredible speed. It was only Link's own quick reaction time and his skills that allowed him to perceive the prince and manage to evade the thrust, which missed him only by millimeters. Had he known about the Inverted Song of Time, he would have been more thankful than ever that the prince had not been able to play it. Link backed away as the prince performed a sideswipe with his sword. Believing that the blade would have cut through his Ordon Sword, and possibly even through his Hylian Shield, Link jumped backwards and managed to avoid being cut by the sword. As he landed, he almost tripped over a piece of metal lying on the ground. Looking down, he saw that it was a discarded shield from either a soldier or a Knight of Hyrule. He picked up the shield just in time to raise it to try to block Daphnes' next attack. The prince performed a thrust that easily managed to pierce the shield, barely missing Link's arm. Link released the shield just as quickly as he had grabbed it as Daphnes pulled back his blade and then swiped at the hero, cutting the metal shield in half. This, however, gave Link time to grab some Deku Nuts and toss them at the prince, hoping that the nuts would work where nothing else in his arsenal would.
The nuts detonated and, surprisingly, the prince's attack stopped as he gave a loud cry, covering his eyes and flailing around himself wildly. He even began firing streams of flame all over the place, incinerating discarded metal shields, swords, and even some still living Hyrulean soldiers. Seeing that the nuts were effective weapons against the prince, Link tossed another nut at him. The detonation of the Deku Nut continued to blind the prince, giving Link the chance to run away from the prince and make this a ranged battle. However, this turn of events also gave him hope. If the Deku Nuts could blind him, then the prince was not completely impervious. A powerful enough weapon could still take him down, either a powerful enough weapon, or a weapon designed to get through the prince's defenses. And Link strongly suspected that the prince's own magic could be reflected back at him and damage him, much like Twinrova's magic had done with her. The only issue would be how to get the prince to fire a powerful enough blast of magic that it could break through his defenses and possibly even kill him.
As for Daphnes, it did not take him long to recover from the Deku Nuts. As soon as he had, though, he closed his eyes for a second and began to power himself up. He clenched his hands into fists and began to grunt and groan as he bent his knees, as if preparing to lift a heavy weight. His groans soon became a long drawn out scream as golden flames surrounded him. His hair billowed in the wind as it shot straight up as his body was seemingly set ablaze. His eyes glowed a bright gold as his body was now simply gold energy. He soon found Link staring at him, holding out his sword and pointing it at the prince. Daphnes merely laughed. "It's over now, Link," the prince bragged. "Even your Mirror Shield won't be able to stop this!"
Daphnes soon spread his hands out and the glow that was his body soon became so bright that it practically blinded everyone on the battlefield. Even Tetra and the nobles, who were still fighting, had to close and cover their eyes for fear of even letting a hint of light entering into their vision blinding them. Link, however, was able to take it and continued to look into the light. He knew that he should have been blinded by the light but he was not. While he still shielded his eyes, he was still able to see Daphnes from a slit in his fingers, being careful to keep track of the prince. He did not ask any questions as to why he was still able to see, he just readied himself. He glanced back and made certain that he was ready to grab his Mirror Shield to intercept the blast. He knew that he would have to be quick, for if he was too slow, Daphnes' attack would kill him, and probably do a great deal of damage to Hyrule Castle Island.
Not too far away from Link, Daphnes was in the last stages of powering his blast as his chest was now glowing a blinding gold and white. As soon as he was ready, he cried to Link, "Now you die!"
As soon as he cried those fateful words, he unleashed his attack, a massive stream of white gold energy erupted from his chest, creating a massive groove in the ground. As he heard Daphnes' cry, Link instinctively grabbed his Mirror Shield and held it out in front of him. The blast quickly crossed the distance between the two combatants and it collided with Link's Mirror Shield, the entire blast being drawn to it like a magnet, rather than the parts that were wider than the shield continuing on their destructive path to destroy Link and probably a noticeable portion of Hyrule Castle Island.
As the beam collided with Link's Mirror Shield, it pushed hard against the hero and he staggered backwards, struggling against the awesome power of the beam. Still, Link managed to plant his feet and pushed back against the blast. As such, it was not long before it was not only the shield that was pushing back against the beam, but the beam, itself, that was pushing back against it. When Daphnes saw this, he was astounded. "What the…?" he grunted as he realized that he was now fighting part of his own attack. He pushed more energy into his beam, not realizing that he was doing exactly what Link had hoped for. The hero had known that Daphnes could only be beaten by his own attack, and now Daphnes was foolishly pushing all of his energy into one massive attack in the hope of killing Link when with a little more patience, he may have been able to wear down the hero and then kill him without exposing himself to danger.
Still, he was not about to give up. As he pushed more energy into his beam, he continued to push against the energy that was being reflected right back at him. "Die, die, DIE!" he cried at Link, who was also struggling against the tremendous power of the beam. "Just $&#%ing die!"
Just as he had cried that curse, though, his own power seemed to give out and he suddenly found himself facing down his own attack. He had only one choice left. He pushed all of his remaining magical power into a Nayru's Love Shield. The blue crystal formed around his body as the tightly focused beam was streaking towards him. The beam soon hit the shield and splashed against it for a moment before breaking through and striking Daphnes directly in the chest. As soon as it struck him, the beam pierced him and there was a massive explosion. Metal, debris, and bodies that were anywhere close to Daphnes were hurled through the air as a massive crater formed in the courtyard where Daphnes had been standing. There was a massive cloud of smoke that was obscuring the place where Daphnes had been standing.
As for Link, he had managed to remain standing and was now looking into the center of the dust cloud, waiting to see the result of the reflected attack. He was hoping that Daphnes was either dead or close to dead, for if Daphnes had survived and was still able to fight, then his only hope of defeating the prince would have failed.
After about twenty seconds, Link began to see an object glowing from the center of the dust cloud. He began running towards the object to get a better look. As the cloud cleared, he found that the object was a triangle about the size of a human torso, maybe a little smaller. He guessed that it was the Light Force. Did that mean that Daphnes was dead? He hoped and prayed that it was the end of the evil prince, but there was a nagging feeling at the back of his mind that the prince might not have perished just yet.
He made his way over towards the Light Force so he could grab hold of it in order to make sure that none of the other nobles could get their hands on it. As he headed over to it, though, he felt a wisp of wind that should not have been coming. He instantly drew his sword and turned, managing to catch a blade. The blade he caught was a broadsword that looked to be chipped and burnt, for smoke was rising from the sword. Link looked at his attacker and saw that it was none other than Prince Daphnes. The prince's armor was rent, with multiple tears in it. Entire sections were missing, with others barely hanging on by a thread. It was clear that while Daphnes was still alive, he was not in very good shape. If he continued the fight, he would be in danger of being killed. "You bastard," the prince cursed. "You forced me to use all of my magic to keep myself alive. Even now, I was forced to use all of the power of the Light Force that my body could handle in order to stay alive. Discarding the Light Force for a time was a calculated gamble to get you to lower your guard, but it was one that was well worth it. Now, you will die, hero."
With that, Daphnes went to thrust his sword into Link, but the hero was too quick. He raised his Hylian Shield and managed to catch the prince's damaged blade. A piece of metal broke off from the tip and it began to look blunted. Still, the prince continued on the offensive, swinging at Link wildly, for the attack had taken its toll on the prince and his fatigue was showing. Link caught each strike with either his own sword or his shield, pieces of metal breaking off from the prince's blade with each strike.
After two more strikes, Link counterattacked, performing a sideswipe that managed to cut the prince across the torso in a section of his body that was no longer armored. The price cried as the blade was raked across his torso and he glared at Link, gritting his teeth. He looked down at his torso and saw blood leaking from the cut. He then launched into another volley of swings and stabs. This would prove fatal for the prince, though, for Link immediately caught his first blow on his shield and then, just as the prince withdrew his blade and was about to perform another attack, Link swiped at Daphnes' sword arm, severing it close to the shoulder. The arm fell to the ground, the prince's sword still in its grip. Daphnes gave an agonized cry as he lost his arm. He would have staggered backwards but in one fluid motion continued from the swipe that took off Daphnes' arm, Link pulled back his blade and thrust it forward, stabbing Daphnes in the heart. Daphnes cry stopped for a second as he practically went into shock, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. He then mustered all of his remaining strength and gave a loud cry. As he yelled, the structures and stands bordering the courtyard began to crack and collapse. Those too close to the stands were crushed by the falling debris, as were those still sitting in the stands, too scared to dare trying to flee the scene despite the fighting. The nobles' battle with Tetra was interrupted as some falling debris fell too close to the combatants, one of the nobles being crushed by a falling column. Daphnes' voice rose in pitch and volume until suddenly going silent when Link withdrew his sword and with one crisp motion, beheaded the prince, the prince's head falling off of his shoulders. His body then fell to its knees, and then collapsed onto the ground. Then, all was silent and the tremors stopped, or seemed to, for Link could swear that he still felt some vibrations in the ground.
Once the prince was dead, the fighting stopped as each of the combatants realized that something had happened. They looked over towards the center of the courtyard and saw Link standing over the fallen and headless body of Prince Daphnes. They soon noticed the prince's head not too far away from his body and saw the hero give a sigh and almost slump near the fallen prince. It was clear that he was relieved that the fight against Daphnes was over, but that the battle had yet to be decided, for he and Tetra were still outnumbered. He then turned towards the princess and saw that she and the others were staring at him, their eyes wide with shock and some of them with their mouths hanging agape. None of them seemed to be pleased at the prince's passing, though.
As Link looked out over the battlefield, he saw that it was littered with bodies and equipment from the fallen soldiers. He also noticed the Ocarina of Time lying on the ground, the instrument still glowing. He went over to it and picked it up, placing it in his belt. After picking up the ocarina, something else caught his attention as he felt that the tremors from before had not stopped. Something was going on. As he looked up and noticed a squad of Knights approach, he saw that one of them wore gold armor that was far more ornate and decorated than that of the other Knights. He suspected that this had been the Captain of the Guard and faced the Knight. As soon as the captain's eyes met Link's, the soldier cried, "Kill him!"
The other Knights were not ready to oblige, seeing the fallen headless form of Prince Daphnes lying on the ground. "What are you standing around for?" the captain roared. "Kill him you fools! He must still be weak from fighting Prince Daphnes!"
Some of the Knights and soldiers looked back at him as if he were an alien from Planet X. "Are you freaking kidding? There's no way we're takin' on the guy who killed Daphnes!"
Several Knights promptly quit the battlefield and fled the scene. Others, however, were emboldened by the captain's call to action and they targeted Link with their rifles and magical halberds. Link knew that he had little choice, so he placed a series of Bomblings on the ground and released them in the direction of the Knights and soldiers and then dove for what little cover remained. If nothing else, the bombs would force the soldiers to break ranks and give him an opportunity to assist Tetra, who was still holding her own against the nobles, but seemed to be beginning to lose ground. The soldiers did not break ranks, though, and continued to fire at Link. He drew his Mirror Shield and used it to protect himself from the halberd blasts while he was confident that he was far enough away from the rifles that they would not be able to hit him with any degree of accuracy. Still, he quickly found a hiding place in the wreckage of the gallows. Soon, he heard a series of explosions and cries as the Bomblings arrived at their targets and exploded. This gave him the opportunity to open his magic sack and take out his Magic Armor. He took it out and put it on, covering himself in the red and gold armor.
Once he was clad in the armor, he emerged from cover and he made his way over to Tetra, who was engaging in her own battle against the remaining nobles, there were only four, now three of them left since the lead noble was melted by a flaming beam unleashed upon him by Tetra. However, the other nobles soon swarmed Tetra, unleashing a flurry of magic spells her way from fire spells to lightning bolts to bolts of dark energy. She raised a shield over herself, but it was not Nayru's Love and Link could tell that the shield was having trouble holding against the onslaught.
He went to lighten Tetra's burden as he drew his bow and an arrow from his quiver. He targeted the closest noble, a tall Hylian man with red hair and green eyes, and pulled back on his bowstring. He then released the string and the arrow rocketed from the string, crossing the distance between Link and the noble in the blink of an eye. The arrow struck the noble in the back and felled him. This caused the other two nobles to turn to try to face their attacker, giving Tetra a chance to launch her own attack on them, and attack she did. She extended her hand and unleashed a volley of lightning bolts at the two remaining nobles, instantly reducing them to ashes.
Once the nobles had been dealt with, Link and Tetra stopped and looked around the courtyard, scanning for other enemies. All they saw were bodies and debris. They were alone. Link gave a sigh of relief but did not take off his Magic Armor just yet. He did not want to escape his battle with Daphnes alive just to be taken down by an intelligent sniper. Looking over at Tetra, he saw that she was breathing heavily. She then sighed and fell to her knees, prompting Link to rush over and catch her before she fell to the ground. "Thank the gods that's over," she heaved as he held her. She then looked up at him and smiled. "And thank the gods you managed to defeat Daphnes."
He then released her and the two of them looked around the courtyard. There was no sign of anyone still present in the courtyard, either inside of it or inside the stands. The two of them even looked up at the castle's walls to see if there was any sign of troops staging near the walls to rain arrows or bullets down on them. They saw that the walls appeared to be crumbling, with cracks and rends in the brick and mortar that had not been present before their planned executions. Just then, they felt the ground rumble. The two glanced at each other and Link could see Tetra's eyes go wide.
"Link, we have to get out of here now!"
"What's happening?" the hero asked.
"Daphnes must have cast one final spell to take us with him," Tetra answered. Link then remembered the loud cry that the prince had given before being beheaded. He had initially thought that the cry was one of anger, pain, and resignation, but in the back of his mind, he had been concerned that it could have been something else when the tremors had not stopped entirely after the prince's death. He looked over to Tetra and saw the girl close her eyes. She then opened them up again and said, "He did cast a spell. He linked the entire Hyrule Castle Island to him during your fight with him." She then paused and stared into Link's eyes. "Link, he used the power of the Light Force to cast this spell. I can't stop it."
"I have the Light Force," Link offered. "Could you use it to try and stop the spell?"
"No," Tetra answered, shaking her head. "I could only slow it down, and only if I hadn't burned my entire magical energy against the guards and nobles. Link, we have to get off this island. The entire island will be destroyed! There's a boat in the castle's basement in a secret area that leads out to the great sea. Follow me!"
Tetra then began to run towards the castle, whose structure did not appear to be very sound. Link, however, hesitated to follow her, looking out over the courtyard and into the town square, itself. "Wait, what about the civilians?" Link called over to the princess. "We have to warn them or something!"
"Don't you think the tremors and shaking are alerting them to the fact that something bad is going on?" Tetra retorted a little more harshly than she intended. "Link, there's nothing we can do for the civilians. We have to save ourselves. Daphnes' personal boat is the only way we can do it now!"
"What about the ships in the harbor?" Link asked.
"They'll be crawling with soldiers and castle guards and the last thing we need is to get into another fight," Tetra answered. "Besides, they're the best bet for the civilians to get off this doomed island. Now let's go! We don't have much time!"
Link nodded and followed Tetra, seeing her wisdom. He followed her into the castle, whose walls were beginning to crumble to the ground. He looked on the ground for any signs of shadows indicating falling rubble. When he saw a shadow get larger, he made certain to not be under it, for a large piece of stone or other debris was almost always soon to come crashing down to the ground.
Link followed Tetra into the castle, where they were met by several armored guards. These guards were armed with swords and bows and arrows. Not wanting to get bogged down in a lengthy battle, Link took out a bomb, lit its fuse, and tossed it over to the soldiers. The bomb struck the soldiers and detonated, blowing apart one of them and scattering the others. While his Magic Armor protected him against any attack, he checked on his Rupee count and saw that it was decreasing rapidly. Besides, while he was protected from enemy attacks, the same could not be said about Tetra, who was still winded and likely had not recovered enough strength to use Nayru's Love yet.
The duo headed to a stairwell and rushed down the stairs, which were crowded with people trying to escape the castle. They had to push their way past the crowd, Link carefully holding onto the Light Force and keeping an eye out on Tetra to make sure that she could get through the rush of people.
After going down to the basement level, they made their way down a corridor. Rats squeaked and went to nip at the duo's heels but were dispatched with single swings of Link's sword. When a fork in the path came, Tetra took the path that led to the right. Link followed her, both of them being careful to avoid any falling debris since Link did not want to risk running out of Rupees while he had the armor on.
As they traveled down the path, Tetra closely scanned the wall. There were no decorations on the wall save for a single suspiciously placed curtain. Link focused on the curtain but Tetra looked back and told him, "No, it's not there."
She then went to stone a few meters away from the curtain that looked to be an ordinary brick built into the castle. She then pushed it in and suddenly, a crack formed along the wall. The entire basement began to tremble more than it previously had and dust began to fall from the ceiling. After a second, Link realized that it was due to the escape pathway opening rather than Daphnes' spell. A section of the wall soon slid backwards and then split as it revealed a secret pathway to another part of the castle.
The duo darted down the narrow corridor, Tetra leading the way. Link drew his slingshot on the off chance of encountering more rats or some Keese, but there were no signs of activity in the corridor. The corridor eventually opened into a larger cavern. There was what looked to be a small river entering into the cavern. There was a dock a few dozen yards in front of the two and at the dock was a boat not much larger than the motorized patrol boats used by the Hyrulean Navy. The boat was made of metal and had an engine sticking out of the rear. In addition, it also had a cannon positioned at the rear of the boat, along with two other smaller cannons that seemed to be designed for anti-personnel use on each side of the boat.
Rocks were falling from the ceiling and crashing all around the dip as they made their way to the boat. Link made certain to stay close to Tetra to make sure that he was able to keep her safe. On one occasion, he had to pull her out of the path of a falling rock. Pulling her back and onto the ground, the rock missed her by inches. After it fell and she got back up, she thanked Link, saying, "Much obliged."
Link smiled and nodded. The two then continued towards the boat, which was being buffeted by waves produced by rocks falling from the ceiling into the water.
Once they arrived at the dock, the two quickly boarded the boat. When they did so, Link quickly went to the rear of the boat to see if it was tied. Seeing that it was, he drew his sword and cut the rope, knowing that they did not have the time to simply untie it. Once the rope was severed, Link went over to the main control seat but found Tetra already sitting in it. She produced a key from her dress and inserted it into the ignition slot. She then turned it and the boat's engine came to life. She looked back at Link and asked, "Are we unbound?"
Link nodded, still surprised to see that Tetra seemed to know how to operate the boat as well as she did. "As a princess, I was taught how to operate all escape craft," she explained to the hero with a knowing smile. "Daddy never guessed that I would use this boat against him. This was Dad's personal boat until he left for the Mushroom Kingdom and gave it to Daphnes."
Link did not care about the history of the boat, only that they managed to get out of the castle in once piece. "Hold on Link, we're getting out of here!" the princess called as she gunned the throttle.
A spray of water erupted from behind the boat as the motor rose in volume as the boat began to accelerate away from the dock and travel down the narrow channel that led to a light at the end of the tunnel. All around them, rocks fell from the ceiling and into the water, producing waves that buffeted the relatively small boat. Still, the boat was able to power through the waves and emerge from the tunnel into the open sea.
Tetra still maintained full throttle as they escaped the tunnel, flying out of it at full speed. Once they were at least a kilometer away from the island, Tetra throttled the boat back and she rose from her seat to look at Hyrule Castle Island. The island was trembling and many of the structures on the island were beginning to fall, including Hyrule Castle, the largest structure on the island. She could see several shapes emerging from various ports on the island, boats that belonged to the wealthy citizens of the island or to the soldiers. She and Link also clearly saw some ships departing the main harbor, with at least a half dozen ships at least the size of frigates emerging from the harbor. They seemed to lack direction though, since Daphnes had been slain in combat less than an hour earlier.
The duo continued to focus back on the island as Hyrule Castle began to collapse. First, the outer ledges and bridges collapsed, falling off the sides of the towers. Then, the main tower began to fall, breaking and falling into the main castle, itself. This caused the battlements to fall. Dust and debris were ejected from the castle as the tower fell. Soon, the other towers fell, collapsing into piles of rock, throwing out dirt and debris as they fell. Anyone unfortunate enough to be caught inside the castle was likely already dead. It was not long before the entire castle collapsed, leaving nothing but a pile of stones and fallen columns. However, it did not end there.
Tetra soon powered the throttle and took the boat farther away from the island. The island continued to shake. Soon, cracks began to form in the structure of the artificial island, itself. Sections of the island soon fell into the sea as what was left of the remaining structures on the island also collapsed. Piece by piece, the island broke apart, with many pieces sinking into the sea to find their way to the bottom of the ocean.
As the island broke apart and sank, gigantic waves were produced and Tetra had to turn the boat into the waves to keep it from capsizing. The boat rode the waves, reaching the crest of each wave before traveling down the wave and into the other one. More than once, the deck was practically flooded, with Link having to hold onto the rails and brace himself for the waves. Tetra, however, merely strapped herself into the pilot's seat and rode it out. Link was not certain how safe that was considering that if the boat capsized, she could be trapped if the straps were difficult to untie. After a few minutes, though, the last pieces of Hyrule Castle Island fell into the sea and the waves stopped. The worst of it was over.
Once the island had sunk completely, Link took off his Magic Armor, not wishing to lose any more Rupees than he already had. He had a feeling that money would be pretty hard to come by in this Hyrule so he wanted to save what he did have for an emergency. Once he was out of his armor, he looked over at Tetra, who was staring at the location where Hyrule Castle Island had once been. "An island that stood for one hundred years, the greatest achievement of mankind, destroyed in mere minutes by a capricious and vengeful teen," she said wistfully.
She then turned to face Link and he could see the stress in her eyes. Everything that had happened to her and all the pain she had felt was finally coming to the surface. He felt it too. He knew that chances were that a lot of people died in the sinking of the island. While he did not have any sibling of his own, he viewed some of his friends as younger siblings and he would do anything to protect them. Despite Daphnes' evil, he had a feeling that deep down, Tetra had still loved her brother. Going over to her, he asked, "Will you be alright?"
It took a moment for her to comprehend that Link had asked her something. Eventually, she turned to him and nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine." She then looked out at the fleeing ships and hoped that none of them had picked up their boat and would come to investigate. For the better part of half an hour, she watched as the remaining boats and ships that had fled the island went their separate ways. Even the warships that had escaped did not travel as a fleet to one single location. Link could not help but notice that Tetra seemed to grin as she saw the ships split up. Feeling his gaze on her, she explained, "The taskforce that escaped the island is fragmenting. There are many high-ranking nobles in King Dad's court. Many of them are still alive. This may be the best thing to happen for Hyrule in a long time. The military at home will need guidance. Many may have served Daphnes, but inwardly despised him, not acting against him because of his power." She then gazed at Link and noticed the Light Force glowing in his pocket. He took it out and placed it on a seat he was standing near. Tetra then reached out her hand and magically called the relic to her. The Light Force then disappeared into her chest. "The Light Force is a relic passed down through the generations of Hyrule's Royal Family. With Daphnes dead and my older sister trapped beneath the sea, I am its inheritor."
She then studied Link, who gave no indication of his thoughts on her taking the relic. He eyed her with curiosity but did not bring up the subject of the Light Force. More important things were on his mind. "So what should we do now?" he asked.
"First thing's first, we've gotta go someplace where we can get our bearings."
"Where is that?"
Tetra then smiled. "Kakariko Island," she answered. "It has a town and it may also have maps of the previous Hyrule that we can overlay with maps of the Great Sea."
"What will that do?" Link asked.
That was when Tetra gave a happy grin. "It will allow us to find my older sister and the Triforce of Wisdom and Courage. Those relics, combined with the Light Force, will allow us to restore Hyrule to its former glory. And once that's done, we'll finally have an army that can help us face down my father and his forces." With that, Link and Tetra set course for Kakariko Island.