The cool night breeze lapped at my skin as I sat on the edge of my mattress. My entire body felt dry, like someone had squeezed all of the life out of me, and I was no more than a bag of old skin. In the days that I had spent here, I had grown considerably skinny and pale. I was hungry and cold, and the worst part was that I couldn't do anything about it. Until now.
Ever since I had gotten that note, I was anxiously awaiting the night. Now, looking out my cell window, I gazed at the moon, wondering when it would cast its blue light on me. My eyes hadn't strayed from the window in hours, and I was slowly twirling the piece of glass in my hands. But once the moonlight hit, it would all be worth the wait. All I had to do was be patient. It's not like the moon would just stop and skip my cell.
Suddenly, a glint of light filled my vision, causing me to blink violently. Shooting up to my feet, I dashed over to the window with the piece of glass clutched tightly in my palm. From behind the bars, I could see the almost full moon high up in the sky. Its light was cast right on my face. Without any hesitation, I held up the glass to the light. When the moonlight hit its crystalline surface, a bright, shining glow emanated from it, reflecting the bluish light back out into the night.
I held the glass steady as I waited for something to be triggered from my action. But nothing happened. I waited and waited for something—anything—to appear or respond, but there was nothing. Maybe the note was a fake, its only purpose to feed me false hope. It was probably sent by Garvin or Zelda to mock me. Just as I was about to return to my mattress to sulk, a small flash similar to mine appeared in the distance just above a nearby tower. At first, it looked like any other star in the sky, but suddenly, it began to subtly wave back and forth.
I squinted, trying to see through the misty night. Without warning, a shadowy figure soared right for me. As it neared at an alarming speed, I stumbled backwards and fell to the floor. I tried to stifle a shriek, but it came out as a weak cry. My entire body tensed with fear as the sound of my cry echoed through the hallways. Before I could wait for any reaction, the figure hit the bars on my window with a metallic clang. So much for staying quiet.
"Maven?" the figure whispered, "Maven, it's me, Link!"
"Link?" I gasped. I squeezed my hands through the bars, reaching out to touch him. My fingers barely grazed the tip of his hair, but it was just enough to let me know that I wasn't dreaming. I stared up at his face in relief. After a week of torturous boredom, I was finally going to be set free. Even though I couldn't completely see him, only the moonlit edges of his figure, my relief didn't falter. All of a sudden, I remembered the note and the piece of glass, which were still in my hand. "It was you who sent the note, wasn't it!"
"Of course! Didn't you see the L?" he said.
I slapped a hand to my forehead, and groaned. How could I have been so stupid? Who else would send me a note signed with an L? "Yes, I did, but I wasn't sure who it was. I should've known. Oh, I'm so dumb."
"Right, of course you are," he replied sarcastically, "because you're definitely not the one who lifted the curse off of the Yeti and saved the magical object."
"Ha-ha. Very funny, Link," I sighed, "Now get me—"
Suddenly, the faint patter of footsteps entered my field of hearing. It didn't seem too close, but judging by the rate the footsteps were echoing through the halls, we didn't have much time until whoever was moving arrived.
"Link? You heard that, right?" I asked under my breath.
"Yeah," he breathed in response. "That guard can't see me, or I'll be caught. We need to get out of here, now."
I nodded frantically, a prickling sense of fear crawling up my neck. "Yeah, okay. So…what's the plan?" As I waited for a response, the footsteps grew louder and louder with each passing second.
He scratched at his temples, avoiding eye contact with me. The moment I noticed his nervous habit, I gritted my teeth, a newfound stress building inside me. "You don't have one, do you?"
He shook his head slowly. "I don't. At least not now. I had one before, but we don't have the time for that. I really—"
"Now's not the time, Link," I hissed, "Just get me out of this place. I'm dying in here!"
"Alright," he said. Calming his senses, he repeated, "Alright. I have one idea, but you may not like it."
I watched in confusion as he pulled a large metal ball attached to a thin handle by a chain out of his bag. The moment he began to swing it wildly over his head, I scrambled to the far edge of my cell like a terrified animal. As soon as I reached a safe distance, the wall exploded before my eyes. Chunks of stone sprayed everywhere, and I shielded my face with my hands to block the dirt out of my eyes. Once all the dust had settled, I found Link among the wreckage, pulling himself to his feet. Along with all the chaos going on in the cell, my ears tuned into the sound of a parade of footsteps pounding against the ground. I could see the growing glow of multiple torches and lanterns around the corner, and I knew there wasn't much time to lose.
Suddenly, Link dashed up to me and wrapped an arm around my waist. Pulling me to the edge, he equipped a clawshot from the depths of his bag. He quickly aimed into the night and launched it. The metal claw soared into the darkness, and with a distant clang, it latched onto something sturdy. Link gave one hard tug on the chain just to be safe. We were about to jump when a couple of shouts came from behind us. Right on cue, Link coiled his legs and with one powerful push, he sprung off the edge. My arms shot to his neck, and I clung to him for dear life.
As we shot through the air like an arrow, the wind screamed in my ears. My greasy hair whipped wildly around me, and my tattered clothes hugged my body. The scene around me was all a blur as we flew by tower after tower. Suddenly, in my line of vision, I saw one tower in particular that was surging towards us. I watched in terror as we neared it at an extremely fast speed. In the corner of my eye, I saw Link's legs sticking out straight, and as we hit the wall, his knees bent to cushion the impact. The abrupt stop took me by shock, but before I knew it, the two of us were climbing up onto the roof.
Link was the first to pull himself up, and quickly spun around to help me up afterwards. My arms were too weak to support my entire weight, so having Link was a huge help. The moment I got to my feet, I looked behind me to see a massive complex all around me. Peering over the edge, all I could see was a black abyss, the bottom nowhere to be found. We clambered up the side of the roof, occasionally pausing to save one another from slipping. We only had a few feet between us and the highest point of the roof, when a loud clang erupted right beside me. My head whipped to the side to see a long, brown arrow lodged in between two tiles less than a foot away from me. Another clang to my left caused me to jump in surprise, and I almost tumbled backwards. Spinning around, I saw the glint of dozens of arrows in the distance.
"Link!" I shouted to my rescuer, who was stepping up to the top of the roof, "Get down!"
His eyes widened in fear, and I knew he was seeing what I had seen. Without a word, he leaped over the top onto the other side, ducking behind the peak. I scrambled up and over the top as metal clinks and clangs sounded all around me. Leaning over to face Link, I shouted frantically, "Where do we go now?"
He scanned the area for a few short seconds before turning back to me. "Alright," he said seriously, "On the count of three, we're going to get up and sprint for that doorway. It'll lead to the sewers, and we can escape into the town through there." He held his finger across his body to my left. I followed the tip of his finger and drew a mental arrow towards a small, wooden door on top of the building beside us.
"Okay," I said with a nod. More banging came from behind us, and some arrows arced over and landed in front of us.
"3…2…1…" Suddenly, Link shot up and immediately sprinted towards the door. I sat there, unsure whether it was safe to get up or not. But I couldn't let myself get separated from Link. With a burst of courage, I jumped up and dashed after him. I heard the whizzing sound as arrow after arrow zoomed by my head. But I didn't slow down. Despite all the pain inside my weak body, I ran as fast as I could.
Just ahead, I saw three soldiers land on the roof, blocking our path. Link didn't even slow down as he approached them. With one swift movement, he ducked beneath the first soldier's swinging sword and crouched behind him. A strangled scream erupted from the man's throat as an arrow lodged itself straight into his heart. The second soldier sprinted at him from behind, his sword pointed forward. Link quickly evaded the blow and unsheathed his own sword. It only took a few hits before the soldier went down. The final soldier stared him down in pure horror, and without thinking twice, he jumped onto the next roof and fled for his life.
I continued forward to meet with Link when I felt something hard slam into the back of my head. I crumpled to the hard surface, my face smacking against the tile. Before I could roll away to escape, a rough hand grabbed my hair and yanked my head back. A blade shot right to my neck, the sharp edge pressed against my skin. Just one move and my throat would me sliced clean open.
Holding his shield up to block the arrows, Link extended an arm towards me and cried, "Let go of her!"
"Drop your weapons first!" he shouted back. Holding up an arm, he signaled to the archers, who ceased their fire and lowered their weapons.
Link nodded in response, setting his shield at his feet. When the soldier's sword did move away from my neck, Link proceeded to set his weapons and bag down. I desperately wanted to yell and him to stop, but I didn't want to risk cutting my throat. Even though I felt nervous, I knew they wouldn't possibly kill Link. Maybe they'd hurt him, but what would Hyrule be without its hero? He could easily take down the guy holding me, and the archers couldn't shoot him. Couldn't they?
"Now kick them off the edge," the soldier ordered.
Link looked down at his weapons and back up at the soldier. "But—"
"Now!"
I couldn't let Link kick his weapons off the edge. If he did, he'd lose the Master Sword, the blade of evil's bane. Without his sword, he'd be no match for the twilight that was upon us. Were these Zelda's orders? How could she be so cruel? She said herself that she wanted what was best for her kingdom. So why was she going to such ridiculous lengths?
I watched as Link tried to stall as much as possible, winding his foot back for the kick as slowly as possible. Without alerting the soldier who was holding me, I carefully lifted my hand up from my side. Closing my eyes, I reached into the depths of my soul, trying to channel the power of my Triforce. If I could just burn my captor's hand like I did to Garvin's neck, I could stop Link from kicking his weapons off the edge.
My fingertips were almost brushing his skin when he bellowed at Link, "Are you deaf, boy? I said kick them!"
Link didn't even hesitate this time. He drew his foot back all the way, and I knew that there was no time to waste. I closed the gap between my hand and the soldier's, my Triforce symbol erupting in a golden light. My fingers closed around his fist, and his skin immediately stared to sizzle. I squeezed his hand as hard as I could, not letting go for a second. With a shriek, the soldier dropped his sword and leaped backwards, cradling his hand.
Before he could react, I jumped to my feet and swung one foot around in a half circle, my heel connecting with his jaw. Turning to the archers, I saw that they were quickly nocking their bows. My right fist surged with energy, bathing my hand in a bright light. Lifting my hand in the air, I flung it towards the wall that the archers were perched on. Nothing seemed to have happened at first, but the next second, the entire wall exploded in a torrent of fire. My mouth hung open in shock as I saw fire and rubble spew on impact, and I looked down at my hand, which was fading back to normal. Did I really just do that?
"Maven!" I spun around to see Link rushing towards me, his equipment all tied onto him again. "Let's go!"
I nodded violently, my hands trembling from the shock. My body was weaker than ever, but I had to keep going. I sprinted after Link once I regained my senses. We quickly reached the edge of the roof, and without hesitation, we leaped onto the next one. I barely managed to clear the gap, but once I realized I was safely onto the next platform, I continued forward. We were almost to the door that Link had pointed out, when a group of about a dozen soldiers burst out of it. We skidded to a stop and turned to face the other way, only to find an even larger about of guards right on our tail.
I scanned wildly for a way to escape, but there didn't seem to be any way around. And we certainly couldn't fight all those guards away. "Link? You got any ideas?"
He shook his head nervously. "You?"
"I'm thinking."
"Well think faster!"
I racked my brain for any possibilities of escape. We were standing close the outer perimeter of the castle, so if I could find a way to escape, it wouldn't be too far to freedom. Both sides of us were blocked off, and the other two sides dropped off into the black abyss below.
Clutching Link's hand in mine, I said, "Link, you're going to have to trust me on this."
"On what?"
"You'll see." A sudden glow emanated from my hand, spreading onto Link's hand. Squeezing harder, I noticed that the Triforce on his left hand was starting to glow too.
"Maven, what're you—"
Cutting him off, I yanked him to the side. The two of us dashed down the side of the roof as the soldiers gave chase. They were only a few feet away, and the gap between us was narrowing by the second. Link's eyes widened in fear as we took our last few steps off the edge. Our bodies soared through the air before we plummeted downwards, the black abyss swallowing us whole.
