By the afternoon, Link and the princess had ridden down from the mountain into the fields below it. To save daylight, they opted to take a more wooded path through the field that would take them through to the Lanayru province protected by the cover of trees. Now, as the sun streaked the land golden they rode quickly over the grassy earth. Zelda was taken by the sight of it and the large, sparse trees gave way to berry patches, wild roses and flowering bushes. The air smelled of good soil, sunshine and the profusion of blooms and plants that abounded. Zelda was enthralled.
"I had never known these fields to be so rich and beautiful. I am almost grieved that I have never seen them before today." She said.
Link glanced back at her.
"It is beautiful, it's been a while since I've been here myself. I used to ride here sometimes when I wanted to be alone and stay out here all day. You can get lost in this part of the field for hours… and you really can't go more than a few steps without running into berries or fruit trees." He said, and he slowed Epona to ride across from Zelda.
"You know, we're not going to make it to the lake before nightfall, do you want to stop for a while? I know there are a few really good plum trees around here, they might still be a little tart but then anything's better than Goron food." He said.
Zelda laughed softly as she pulled Midge to a stop. The two of them dismounted their horses and allowed the weary animals to wander and chew the lush grass that carpeted the field. Link directed Zelda past enormous lilac shrubs and rose bushes to a grouping of small trees, their branches heavy with the burgundy fruit. The picked a few handfuls of them and then sat in the grassy shade as they ate, tossing the pits into the bushes. Zelda looked to Link as she finished her final plum. Her eyes went to the bandaged strip beneath his gauntlet. She reached over and gently took his hand. She slowly undid the straps, pulling back the burnt leather and unwrapping the bandage; she examined the skin beneath it.
"This burn is bad, and though you've said nothing since this morning, I know it has pained you. If you wouldn't mind accompanying me, I am sure that in a field this lush I could find something to ease the sting and help it to heal." She said, looking gingerly up at the boy.
He agreed, and she helped him to his feet.
Link trailed behind the princess in the reddening sun as she scanned the various plants and bushes that grew about the ground. It took her only a few minutes of searching before she knelt and began to delicately pluck tiny, fragrant blue flowers from amongst the foliage. She closed her palm around them and then turned to Link, beckoning him to follow her further. They waded through a small path of sunflowers before they came upon the shade of three towering fir trees; beneath them grew bright yellow bushes, bearing spider-like leaves. Link watched her curiously. She glanced up at him.
"Impa taught me quite a bit about plants and their healing properties along with the rest of my schooling. Here..." She paused, and held out her palm for her companion's hand.
Link laid his upturned hand in hers. She crushed the blue flowers in her fingers and sprinkled his blistered palm, she then laid the leaves she had plucked over it and wrapped them again with the bandage.
"That should help. Arachnita is a good analgesic and the Shepard's Lily will hasten the healing." She said.
As she had stated, Link could feel the burn cool a little and could flex his hand a slight without it causing him too much pain. He looked to Zelda.
"Thank you… it already feels a little better." He said.
"You're welcome. I suppose this is the thanks I can give you for not dropping the shield." Said Zelda, a little grin forming on her lips.
The boy chuckled and pulled the leather back over his hand as the two began to walk back toward the horses. He watched her for a moment as they passed beneath the hanging branches of the fir trees.
"You know, it's mindblowing how smart you are... and you're probably one of the best archers I've ever seen. You should be proud... I really mean that. For whatever it's worth coming from someone... like me." He said.
Zelda turned her head and met his gaze.
"I value your confidence in me, Link. I hope I deserve it." She said.
"You do." He replied
Link thought for a time as the two of them began to maneuver back through the bobbing heads of the sunflower patch in the setting sun. After a moment he spoke again.
"You know what's weird? Even though we've only been traveling together for a short time... I feel almost like... somehow I've always known you. I guess in a way I have, but I just feel kind of like you were suddenly... always there..."
Zelda gave a little humming chuckle.
"Yes... it is strange isn't it? We know one another and yet we do not." She said.
He looked aside to her, their eyes meeting as they found themselves again amongst the plum trees.
As the sun descended, the two of them again saddled their horses and rode on, quickening their pace to cover extra ground before the night drew down upon them. As the stars rolled out in a velvety carpet through the sky, the two of them stopped and made camp. They had come almost to the edge of the wooded part of the field. Tomorrow's journey would lead them through the barren plain and across the Great Bridge of Hylia, where a pass to the lake waited in the hillside. Link and Zelda agreed not to light a fire that night as it might attract the attention of the Bulblin or Bokoblin that stalked the field. So they spread their palates close to each other and ate the last of the dried meat Link had brought from Roland's pantry. They talked quietly that night, staring up at the stars.
"What is the farthest you have ever been from home, Link?" Asked Zelda.
The boy reclined onto his back, lacing his fingers behind his head.
"It's hard to say exactly. I've been all over the place with Roland. I've been down to the port cities a few times. Roland's a pretty well known sword smith, sometimes he gets requests for certain things from places far from here. Usually we end up going with him." He replied.
Zelda turned to look at him.
"You and Khai?" She asked and the boy nodded.
Zelda looked back into the sky, the stars brilliant.
"I have been to the ports as well, I love the ocean. I have never seen something so infinite. Though, each time I was there it was on some political errand with my father and I did not do much other than sit beside him as he negotiated one thing or another. Did you get to see much of the city?" She asked.
Link grinned at the memory.
"Not too much, I was only fourteen the last time we went. Though, Khai made sure to make friends with the sailors as soon as we got there and even though Roland hardly let me out of his sight, we still managed to have a good time. I just wish I could've seen more. It always seems to go that way, though." He said.
Zelda hummed softly in response, and a lull passed between the two.
Link rolled his head toward her and then looked back into the sky.
"It's a beautiful night. The stars are incredible out here... I remember, one of the sailors we met told us stories about the shapes the stars made. Each one had it's own story... I wish I could remember them the way he told us." He said.
Zelda looked to him again.
"I know them, at least most of them, though I do not know if I could tell them like your sailor." She said, letting herself fall back on her bedroll beside him.
"Alright then, what about that one?" Said Link, pointing off into sky.
The princess told the boy the stories of the constellations as he pointed to them while their dialogue became perforated with yawns and pauses. Finally, after a sad and lengthy tale of a prince doomed by a witch-queen to wander the skies, she heard Link breathing deeply beside her. Zelda smiled, and pulled his blanket up over his chest. She lay down and within moments slept soundly.
In the morning, they awoke later than they had planned as the sun had already climbed to nearly past nine. It was cloudy that day, the sky the color of cream without any sign of rain. Link and Zelda dressed and placed the saddles on their horses once again. They rolled up the mats on which they had slept and mounted Midge and Epona, and then they rode on into the field, the trees diminishing as they went. In the bald, rocky part of the plain they proceeded guardedly, each with their weapons readied and scanning the horizon for figures far away. The hills folded enough that it would be difficult to see anything unless it should come close enough to engage it. As they passed quickly and vigilantly, their horses began to trot across stone bricking and the bridge at last came into view. The structure of it was massive; a large, cracked stone arch carved with intricate detail extended into the two weather-worn columns on top. Link and Zelda passed under and stared in awe out across at the vast, mist laden sea that lay beneath the bridge. Link stopped and jumped down from his saddle, rushing to the stone guardrail on the edge, placing his hands upon it and peering down into the magnificent lake. He could faintly hear the thundering of the waterfall in the distance.
"I'm sorry to stop but I've only seen this view one other time as we were passing over, I want to take it in for a second." He said, his eyes devouring the landscape with ebullience.
Zelda paused to look gleefully out on the horizon herself. This place had not changed since she had gazed last out across it. It's beauty was the same as she remembered and she found herself eagerly hoping now that the beaches had stayed as they were as well. She called to Link from atop her horse.
"You have been here before?" She asked.
"A long time ago." Link answered, not turning from the lake.
"Yolandae brought me, Khai and Rue with her one summer when she came to map the lake roads. I was eight or nine. I never forgot it. I remember really wanting to sit on this wall and look out over the lake but we were riding in the wagon and Yolandae wouldn't let us go near the edge. It feels… kind of nostalgic standing here." He said.
Zelda watched him for a moment longer and then spoke again, Midge pawing anxiously beneath her and her own excitement building.
"Come Link, we will be at its shore soon!" She said.
They pressed eagerly on, galloping over the bridge and then darting into the hand dug passageway to the lake bottom.
After over an hour of slow, careful climbing, they arrived down to the shores of Lake Hylia and they ran the horses now freely over the sand. Zelda, casting aside reserve, let out an exuberant laugh. She pulled the cord from her hair, loosening it so that it flowed long and untamed over her shoulders. They pulled the horses to a stop and Zelda slid down from Midge's saddle. After a brief pause, she dropped to the sand to remove her boots, rolling her leggings up past her knee and casting the leather breast plate and chainmail to the side. Link did the same, exhilarated by the cloudy, immutable lake trimmed with gargantuan fir trees. Zelda gingerly stepped into the water. It was still a little cold but enticing all the more. Never in her life had she felt so free. She found herself nearly unhinged by the idea. She looked down into the pristine depths. From where she stood, the ledge extended about three feet more from a sheer drop off deep beneath the water. She could still see bottom, dappled with the wavy, liquid light of the surface. She looked on as a large fish swam indolently by. Link came to her left and watched it lazily swish along beside her in tranquil delight. He stepped out on to the ridge, the cool water sublime on his aching calves. The two of them quietly regarded the stillness of the lake for a time. Zelda, overcome with giddiness, smiled mischievously and broke the silence as she splashed water in the direction of her companion. It soaked his back and with a start he turned toward the now cackling Zelda. He tried and failed to suppress a grin.
"Stop it, girl." He said, lightheartedly and Zelda splashed him yet again.
Link stepped backward in an attempt to dodge the flinging water but it hit him nonetheless. He looked down at the girl, the tips of her long, golden hair drenched as she smiled up at him. Somehow, in that moment, everything seemed to be in its place.
"Do it again and you're going in the lake." He said, laughing, and this time Zelda kicked the water at him, drenching his undershirt.
"Alright, fine, you want to play this game?" He said and he charged after her as she ran, giggling uncontrollably up the hill.
He caught her and threw her petite form over his shoulder as she squirmed and tried to free herself, though ultimately she acquiesced to laughter and Link tossed her into the lake. She surfaced, brushing the clinging, wet hair from her face and continued her fervor. Link knelt on the ledge with a wide grin as Zelda swam up to rest her arms on the rocks.
"I think I win this round, your highness." He said and he extended a hand to her.
She took it cordially, then waited for him to shift his weight and pulled him in beside her. He bobbed up and shook the water from his hair. He regarded her with a mixture of exasperation and delight.
"Well Zelda, I'm in the water, are you satisfied now... princess?" He asked.
Zelda nodded and began a backstroke.
"Come, swim with me. Who knows when we shall have the opportunity again?" She said.
Link smoothed the soaked strands from his face and followed her into the mirror-like lake, reflecting the ceaseless paper-white sky in its unpolluted clarity.
They swam a little ways around the raised islands and small bridges that dotted the shallows of the lake. Eventually, the two came upon a sandy alcove cut into the rock as the sun finally began to break through the afternoon clouds. They pulled themselves up the stony shelf and lay in the sand, catching their breath. Link rolled his head toward Zelda who looked back at him with a soft expression of joy as the sun refracted off of the water and walls of stone, casting waving light throughout. He regarded her features for a moment longer this time, really looking upon her since the first time he had beheld her in the field. This had been the first time he'd seen her this way. The tightness with which she had carried herself in the days before had some what dissolved, and she had never looked as beautiful as she did now; covered in sand, her hair wet and tousled. She raised her eyebrow.
"What?" She asked softly.
Link laughed clumsily and sat up, his undershirt covered in sand and adhering to his lanky body. He slouched forward and Zelda could see the small dimples on either side of his spine at the back of his hips. She smiled and scolded herself for looking.
"I was just thinking…" Link paused, and looked back to Zelda.
"You know, that was actually pretty smooth how you pulled me into the water. You honestly caught me off guard." He said.
Zelda smiled and rose to a sitting position.
"I watched the way you positioned your legs and grabbed your hand when you were the most vulnerable. I used your weight against you. It is a principle of unarmed combat." Said Zelda, staring up at the bridge in the distance.
Link looked inquisitively at the princess.
"Could you show me?" Link asked and Zelda nodded.
They each got to their feet and she took a firm stance.
"So, the secret is to use the inertia of your opponent's strikes to control their movements. The key is to stay calm and watch them carefully. Now, come at me." She said.
Link hesitated.
"I don't want to hurt you Zelda, I easily have fifty pounds on you."
Zelda laughed.
"Oh I assure you, you couldn't if you tried." She said.
Link looked incredulously for a time at this lithe, blonde girl before him. He came toward her quickly and was surprised in part when the princess swept to the side and sent him lurching into the lake. He caught himself and turned back to Zelda. The smile on her face was beaming. Link was a quick and easy student, picking up on her movements and flowing with her as she demonstrated them. In less than an hour the two were laughing and gently sparring one another with the basic motions Zelda had taught him as Link backed her again into the water and the two of them began to throw it at each other once more. The splashing and laughter stopped abruptly as Zelda looked to the bridge. Seeing her expression, Link whirled around to regard the sight that so pained her. Marching across the bridge was a great horde of armored Moblin soldiers and Bulbin cavalry.
"They are coming from the castle…" Said Zelda, solemnly.
Link watched the horde make its way over Lake Hylia, their crude war horns blasting as they passed. He turned to the now fraught Zelda. She looked to him and back to the bridge.
"We have stayed too long, we must go. I have been careless. I had nearly forgotten that so much is at stake…"
Link looked aside to the princess.
"I think you needed it... you seemed like you were having fun there for a second." He said.
Zelda regarded him for a moment before she nodded toward the shore.
"Come, we have quite a ways before we reach the Zoras." She said.
With that, the both of them dove back into the clear water, swimming for the beach on which their clothing and weapons lay. The ride around the lake to the thundering falls of the river took a little over an hour and now the two Hylian riders were faced with another dilemma. The slope was incredibly rocky and steep and taking the horses up to the pass would take the better part of the day. They would have to dismount, and lead the horses along on foot. Slowly, and with great care, Link and Zelda climbed the wall of gigantic water smoothed rocks that jutted from the side of the elevated river cave and entered the passage that would lead to the Zora Queen, and the last key shard.
As dusk fell, the pair finally reached the upper part of the river. The Zora village lay beyond one more tunnel and a climb up the side of yet another a towering waterfall. Exhausted from the trek, Link and Zelda made camp and slowly pulled their cumbersome garments off. They rolled out their palates a few feet from each other and sat down upon them. Zelda sighed as she stared into the fire she was quite pleased to be near. Though they were both famished and inwardly lamenting their lack of food, having the option to lie down felt wonderful despite their hunger. As they sat in the moonlit hush, Link let his gaze wander to the princess, who watched the flames with cloudy and contemplative eyes. He felt his nerves pull in his stomach and decided to talk to her at last about the dream.
"Zelda." He said, quietly.
She turned to him, her chin resting in her palm.
"When we were under the mountain with the Gorons, I had this really vivid dream. You were in it... but I can't remember much of the details. You said something about sending me home. You were crying… and I didn't understand why because I had a sense that whatever had happened was over. Zelda… do you remember that?" Asked Link.
Zelda sighed, and searched herself. She remembered her own dream of her existence as the masked, lyre strumming entity. She could see through what felt like a veil, a version of herself and a paler, fairer haired Link standing together outside of a burning castle. She had seen it once in a vision that she had mercifully forgotten. A torrent of something black flooded her senses as she peeked through the door of memories within her. She quickly shut it and looked again at Link.
She cleared her throat, more to reassure herself and break the silence than anything else.
"How tragic it is that we must seriously ask ourselves that question when we speak of dreams. Yes… I do think that what you described is a memory… I have seen visions of a boy...of you and I... meeting in various places. Like you, I can almost never remember the details, but sometimes the emotions linger. I...feel something in those dreams that gives me a sense of great remorse..." Said Zelda.
Link looked back to the fire, suddenly sorry that he had brought it up and fished for a moment through his sleepy mind for another topic.
"Do you want to hear something really weird, since we're talking about it?" He asked, gingerly.
Zelda nodded and he turned again to look into the fire.
"I've had this reoccurring dream since I was about thirteen. It's exactly the same every time I have it. There's this eerie town that I know I'm not from and every time I look up, I see the moon. But it's not really the moon, it's this horrible face that keeps coming closer and closer to the town. I relive the same three days over and over again trying to figure out a way to stop it… and there are masks… and this creepy guy in a clock tower…and this song that I keep playing over and over..." He paused, and looked back to the princess.
"Do you think that was just a dream? If it wasn't, than I would like to know what kind of evil magic could achieve... that." Said Link.
Zelda laughed softly and laid back onto her palate.
"Who could know? Perhaps it is a memory, though a very bizarre memory indeed." She said with a yawn.
She rolled in Link's direction, the blanket pulled around her head like a hood, and looked up at him through halved eyes.
"I would love to stay up with you a bit longer, though I am afraid I cannot. My eyes will not keep themselves open." She said.
Link smiled down at her as she finally closed her eyes, drifting into sleep almost instantly.
"Goodnight, Zelda." He whispered.
He sat up for a while, until he was sure the princess was asleep. He then laid himself down on his own palate beside her and watched the fire lick the remaining wood into coals. His vision began to go out of focus and finally, listening to the rustling stream, he closed his eyes.
He is hunting. He follows the tracks of a great boar in the dark as the snow falls fat and silent around him. The winter has been unkind and food scarce. Uncertainty permeates all matters of life as the tribe of Hylia grows suspicious of one another. It pains him, for he knows no love greater than that he has for his land and for his people. The knight pauses, the snow lit blue in the light of the full moon. He hears a rustling in the bushes and he readies his bow. From the trees emerges an enormous white wolf. It's eyes glow golden with otherworldly light, the power flowing from it nearly palpable there in the dark. The knight knows precisely who he stands before, and he drops to his knees before her.
"Stand, knight, let me look upon you." Her voice is like water, soft and whispering.
He rises, trembling as her presence fills his senses.
"I have a dire request of you. Dark times come, knight. I require a champion to deliver this land from that darkness. You, and you alone, are the most suitable of all beings to become the savoir of this world. This quest will span eons, and will dominate this life of yours and all that follow after. The demon, Demise grows ever more powerful. Soon his army will rise from the shadows to seek the power of the Triforce. If he succeeds, this world and all in it will be consumed by the fire of his wrath. He will raze the earth and make from it a nest from which only malevolence may spring. For he was created from the spirit of all that is evil in the hearts of men. He is the source of all monsters. Link, Knight of the Land of Hylia, will you be the defender of this realm for now and always?"
The knight is overcome, and he drops again to his knees. He pauses for a long time, the words of the Goddess are crushing. He is terrified. He swallows his fear, for he knows what he must choose and he answers with the the greatest sentiment in his heart. He says yes.
"Do not be hasty, knight, for you will suffer greatly."
He is silent. The only sound is that of the wind and his own panicked breathing.
The Goddesss looks on.
"So may it be."
Time shifts.
He is driven in shackles through the field by a trio of fellow soldiers as onlookers jeer at him, spitting on him as he passes. He feels a great sense of anguish as the people he had once protected mock him on his walk to the prison tower in the distance. He knows somehow that he has been betrayed and he hangs his head as the knights that had once been his comrades look sadly on. Suddenly, he is seated at a long table that appears to be the prison mess hall. He sits alone, friendless and surrounded by the very villains and murderers he has brought to this place. A greasy, filth covered old man takes a seat next to him, smiling with a nearly toothless grin.
"So it is true then. The young captain of the Hylian Knights has fallen."
The knight is silent, and the man grins viciously aside.
"You know, they say that you planned to kill Lord Dagianis and take the realm for yourself. They say too, that you think you're some kind of hero. The Goddess came to you in the form of a white wolf and told you that the end was coming, that you were the only one that could stop it, yes? Isn't that right? Isn't that what you said at your trial?" The man says.
The knight stares down at the table, fury twisting in his heart. The grimy man laughs sardonically.
"You think you're too good to be in here with the rest of us, eh? You think just because you're the one that drug me into this forsaken place for killing that girl that you're my better here?! Huh?! Answer me!" The man bellows but the young knight says nothing.
Incensed by the knight's silence, the man violently flips the table over as the room grows quiet. The knight feels his fists balling. The man laughs contemptuously in his face, his breath reeks of rot.
"You are a waste! So self-righteous and yet here you sit. Give it time, if we do not kill you, you will be just like the rest of us." He says
The knight's ire boils over and he stands. He picks up the stool he has been seated on and begins to mercilessly beat the dirty old man with it. He strikes with blind rage until three men take the young knight to the ground, bashing him in the head with a club. He awakens later, his hands chained to the ceiling as a man lashes him over and over again, flaying his flesh and he is left hanging there; in blistering pain and full of wrath. When the door is shut and he is sure he is alone, he weeps.
Time shifts.
The world folds into corruption outside the walls. There is perfect darkness in this cell and the weights around his neck and legs obstruct his movement. He prays for the land and its people who spurned him. He purges the hatred from him like black blood and he feels a sense of peace... perhaps he will die in armistice here.
Zelda opened her eyes to regard the bright pink sky of dawn as the birds began to sing again in the trees above the river. She was awake, but not quite, her dreams layering seamlessly into the waking life. She sat up, still between two planes that usually separated like oil and water when her eyes had opened. She lingered in the gap between consciousness, her mind not quite her own. She looked to the sleeping Link beside her. His breathing was quick, though still deep with unconsciousness. Her hazy eyes moved from his thick, dark eyelashes to his lips, to the white lacing at his clavicle. In his turning about during the night, the lacing had come undone and now exposed his shoulder as he slept. She smiled and languidly reached out to pull the loose shirt up, her fingernails lightly grazing his skin. Suddenly, he gripped her hand hard and it jolted her finally out of her otherworldly state of cognizance. He immediately released her as he came fully awake. She shook herself, very nearly mortified as he sat up with a look of vexation on his face.
"I'm so sorry... I was having a bad dream… you okay?" He asked, his voice still husky with sleep.
Zelda nodded her head as her brows furrowed.
"I'm fine. I think I am the one who should be sorry… What were you dreaming about?" She asked softly.
Link sighed heavily and came forward to rest his elbows on his legs; slouching and burying his hands in his sandy hair, the vision ebbing and blurring in his mind.
"It was just a really bad nightmare... I'll tell you about it later... I'm really sorry that I grabbed you like that..." He said.
Zelda laid a gentle hand against the boy's shoulder.
"Don't be troubled, I will not break that easily." She said.
As the sun rose, after they had allowed themselves time to fully awaken, Link and Zelda left Epona and Midge beside the river and began the arduous trek through the last cave and up the side of the waterfall.
After they had passed through the mile or so of the uphill cavern the two of them emerged onto the path that led beside the great pool. The lofty waterfall that boomed over the vine-covered mountainside, loud in the vapored air. The pool itself was filled with biers of great floating lilies and leisurely swimming Zoras who seemed to disregard their presence. Zelda led them to a stairway hidden amongst the rocks and motioned for Link to follow her. They climbed the carved stone stairs and came to a corridor that overlooked the falls, passing beneath a delicately shaped stone bower with the banner of the Zora people draped in fine folds upon it. Zelda was sure now she was heading in the direction of the throne room.
Queen Rutolla sat listening to a petty, tiresome dispute a top her throne. Upon seeing the approaching Zelda, she held up a hand in a motion of silence. The two arguing Zoras stopped abruptly and looked distastefully on at the approaching golden-haired humans. Rutolla stood to meet the princess.
"Princess Zelda, it has been years. You've grown up." Said the queen, embracing Zelda with finned, iridescent arms.
Rutolla looked now to Link who stood behind.
"Who is this Zelda? A friend of yours?" She asked, her neon-violet eyes staring fixedly at the boy. Zelda turned.
"This is Link, he has been my traveling companion since I fled with him from the castle a little over a week ago. I come bearing grave news." Said Zelda.
The Zora Queen looked quickly to Link and then back to Zelda. She motioned them through the archway from which they had entered.
"Come, let us sit down inside." Said Rutolla, and they started through the archway.
The two arguing Zoras called to their queen from behind.
"Your highness, our dispute!" The first one clamored.
Rutolla turned to them.
"Another time, gentlemen. I have a pressing issue I must attend to, your squabble must come later." She said, and she disappeared through the archway.
As the three of them walked back through the corridor, Link nudged Zelda and she turned her head to face him.
"How old were you when you came here?" He asked her and she smiled at the memory.
"My father sent me to become a court maid here when I was twelve. I stayed the entire year; Queen Rutolla taught me to speak many of the languages I know as well as music, astronomy and arithmetic. Also of course, lessons on how to behave in court." Said Zelda.
Both of them heard the queen laugh in reminiscence as they stopped in front of a door flecked with coral inlays.
"Yes, I remember those days. It was a painstaking process to mold this girl into the regal being she is today. If my memory serves me well, I recall that all she wanted to do was swim and catch dragonflies." She said, as she opened the door.
They entered the room, within it there was a small table around which were soft, inviting furnishings beneath sumptuous curtains. The mist of the many waterfalls catching the light of the afternoon sun and throwing a prism into the marble room. The three sat and regarded each other intently. The queen asked the two of them if they were hungry and both eagerly nodded. Rutolla rose and walked unhurriedly into a room through another archway. She said something in Zora to one of her handmaidens and moments after she had again seated herself, the handmaid reemerged and set plates of colorful cuts of fish and aquatic vegetables on the table before them. They readily thanked the girl and the gracious queen. Then they ate, trying not to rudely devour the food in spite of their raging stomachs. After they had finished and the plates had been cleared, Rutolla asked again after the news the princess had spoken of. Zelda explained the night she had escaped with Link from the castle, and the fate of her father. Queen Rutolla looked dolefully at the princess as she spoke.
"I see… this news pains me greatly. King Daphnes... is a dear friend of mine. You say that the book may hold some clue to restoring him?"
Zelda nodded her head.
"Yes, but we need the last key shard to retrieve it. I was told you were the one who keeps it." She said.
The queen regarded the boy for a few moments, Link's eyes falling awkwardly to the table in her intense violet stare.
"You must be him… The one foretold to come and claim the shard. It was foretold centuries ago that you would come, shortly after the key was broken my grandmother received the legend. The path to the temple that houses the key shard lies at the bottom of the lake. You will need a certain object to reach it." Said Rutolla, rising now from the table.
"Please wait here, I will be back momentarily."
In her absence, Link and Zelda sat quietly, each lost in thought. Link, still haunted by the terrible dream and Zelda, thinking on the strange feelings she'd had upon waking. She glanced to Link from across the table. His eyes seemed preoccupied and she let her own linger for just a moment. He really was rather handsome, his earnestness was unique as well. Link was the first boy she had ever really encountered outside of the palace, and she had watched him with a kind of fearful curiosity as they had gone about the task at hand. She'd never had anyone treat her as he did. Always, she was a title, an asset or a symbol; never just a girl. She had never talked with anyone the way that she had with Link. He had a sort of gentleness of character that set her at ease. She glanced over at him again and she found herself wondering once more about the meaning of her dreams. The boy, nearly always faceless, had been there so often and she wondered now if the version of herself she had seen had been related to his dream.
I wonder what he meant... to send him back...
As Queen Rutolla reentered the room Zelda abruptly pushed the thought away. Suddenly, she felt the echo of some deep sorrow. The Zora Queen took a seat again across from the two Hylian teenagers. She handed Link an object that seemed to be made of a thick, silken fabric. It felt almost like skin. Link looked up to Rutolla.
"It is a special kind of material my people have crafted for thousands of years. Set it about your face and it will allow you to breathe beneath the depths of the lake. It's fibers pull the oxygen directly from the water." Said Queen Rutolla.
Zelda glanced to the object and then to the queen.
"Your highness, where is mine? Link and I have been at each other's side for all of the battles fought. I will not let him go to the temple, and to the shard, by himself." Said Zelda.
Rutolla looked to the girl and shook her head.
"No princess, this last shard the boy must face alone… and I have yet one more lesson to teach you while you wait for his return." She said, softly.
She then handed Link a large, beauteous key.
"Come boy, I will have a boat waiting to take you downstream. You will need your strength and all of your wits to meet what waits for you beneath the lake... There is a truth there that you must know. Something my grandmother intended for you, pretty swordsman."
On the banks of the great river, Link now climbed aboard the small boat Rutolla had sent for him. Zelda knelt fretfully near him and sighed loudly.
"I do not like this... I don't understand why I cannot come. I have been with you all this time..." She said, her eyes dropping to the ground.
Link sensed her apprehension.
"Zelda..."
She looked up at him, her disquieted eyes meeting his.
"...I'll be fine. I'm sure it's nothing that I can't handle." He said with a reassuring smile that Zelda did not return.
She crossed her arms.
"Please be careful… I don't know how I would proceed if something should happen to you." She said.
With a last look at her, he took the oar and pushed himself away from the bank, the current taking him instantly.
"I'll be back Zelda, I promise I won't die!" He called.
The princess let out a frustrated sigh and watched him disappear into the mouth of the cave.
The river was rapid, and Link found himself now speeding along it, racing toward the lake at a much more streaming speed than he and Zelda had walked from it. In what seemed like only minutes his boat cascaded over the small waterfall that he and Zelda had climbed the day before and he held tightly the sides of his boat, trying not to capsize it as it fell over the falls. His eyes skimmed the calm surface of the water as he began to paddle forward, to the dark part of the lake. After nearly an hour of stroking with the oar, the tiny boat now lay above the foreboding depths. Link looked apprehensively down into the darkness. Faintly he could see the glimmering marble facade of the temple. He sat back into the boat for a moment and took a breath, pausing to feel the sun on his skin before he wrapped Queen Rutolla's mask about his face. The strange fabric clung to his jaw and cheeks like a second flesh and he dove into the water. At first, he stopped breathing out of impulse as he swam quickly towards the gleaming spires in the hazy blue-green distance. After a minute of exertion however, he took a breath through the mask of humid air, half surprised that his lungs had filled. He felt as if he were immersed again in the strange dreams that had rocked his brain in the nights before. The blurriness of his vision and his weightlessness confounded him. The landscape of the lake bottom was surreal and utterly alien to him as he floated along it. He passed scarlet and lavender corals, swimming slowly down the great basin in which the temple lay. He found now, with brief panic that his lungs did not want to expand at this depth, and he consciously focused on drawing breath as he finally came upon the colossal door.
Rutolla led Zelda through another hall to her private chambers. They entered silently, Zelda's thoughts still lingering on her absent companion. The Zora Queen disappeared for a moment into her wardrobe and came again, a delicate, flowing garment draped about her arms.
"Here, Zelda, you will need to be comfortable for me to impart to you what I should have in your time here. Though... then I believed you to be too young. Please dress, I'll meet you in the hall."
Zelda stood alone, puzzled by her words. She removed her armor and slipped the crisp, opalescent dress over her head, calmer and curious now as to what Rutolla had in mind for her.
What could she have wanted to teach that I had been too young to learn?
The Zora Queen took Zelda to room far off into a hall within the caves that lay inside the wall of rock. With her, Zelda noted, she carried a large crystal bowl. Rutolla and the princess stepped through a door into a room with ankle deep water on the white marble floor. The room itself was a shining deep-blue glass like place with a silver foil of vines ornamenting the walls. Rutolla walked to the center of the room and slowly sat down into the water. Zelda followed her. The Zora Queen set the crystal bowl in between herself and the princess as Zelda looked inquisitively on.
"When you first came here, when you were twelve years old, your father had told me beforehand in his letters that you were a wondrously bright and perceptive girl. Gifted, he thought, like his great grandmother and hers before that. I thought as I watched you, that you might have someday learned for yourself the sacraments of silence and, afraid of what doors I might have unlocked in your young mind, I let you go on without this valuable teaching. I trust you have had strange dreams regarding the state of your father?" Said Rutolla.
Zelda nodded.
"I have, and many others… But what does this mean? What can you show me that can aid me?
Queen Rutolla brought a stout, crystal wand to the side of the bowl and she began to run it rhythmically along its edges. The bowl started to hum.
"Water is the element of reflection, Zelda. In still water one can see themselves mirrored physically in another element. Silence mirrors the soul. I will teach you now, how to still yourself and look inward, to converse with your spirit. Close your eyes." Said Rutolla and Zelda did as she was told, the hum of the bowl closing over her in a wave.
Link surfaced in what appeared to be a mosaic antechamber at the top of the massive structure. He pulled himself up on the floor and stood in wonder at the elaborate tableau of indigo stones that bedecked the temple walls. He pressed on, up a short stair case and through the door. The room he stepped into now was cylindrical in shape; it's walls rising in a round, beautifully carved marble curvature. Link could see at the very top of the room two ledges with doors behind them. He could also see, mounted on the walls, great brass pipes molded to look like a flowering branch. He walked down the stair case and to another circular indent in the floor of the temple. He stood on the edge and looked down. He could see other floors beneath the water, each with a horizontal doorway that led to the next. He looked up again to the pipes upon the walls and the floors above.
I need to raise the water level to those doors, there has to be something down there that does it.
Link stared down into the dim light of the water, breathing and readying his muscles for the swim. It was then that he noticed a rusted chest in the corner. Cautiously, he walked up to it. He flipped the lid open and peered inside. In the bottom of the chest lay two heavy iron objects, each shaped something like a rounded cage. Link pulled them from the box and examined them. He looked at their shape and in speculation he placed his boot inside the iron frame. It fit around it like a horseshoe. Link smiled to himself and attached the weights to his feet, fastening them into place with the laces of his boots. He then wrapped the Zora mask around his face again and drug himself to the edge, tossing himself into the water. His stomach almost took as he fell down into the depths. He recoiled a slight as he hit the bottom, turning his attention to the door in front of him as his eyes adjusted to the liquid environment. His movements seemed so slow and otherworldly to him as he began to walk across the sand strewn floor. He turned the knob, feeling the rush of current ruffle his hair. The door led into a large tunnel, lined with brilliant anemones and glassy stones into a room that resembled an underwater cave. He could see another small metal box in the corner but as he made his way to retrieve it he noticed now that the room had at its ceiling, three mammoth Bari jellyfish that hovered about in the water. Link attempted to proceed slowly and not attract their attention, but he did not take his eyes off of the electric creatures nonetheless. Finally, he stepped slowly toward the box. He looked quickly down at it and back to the Bari that was drifting toward him. He readied his sword as he kicked the box open, there inside lay a small silver key. As he turned to pick it up he felt the electrified appendage of the Bari wrap his right arm in searing pain. Nearly dumbstruck with the blast, Link found his wits and stabbed forward where he thought the creature's head to be. It fought him, wrapping another tongue-like limb around his leg and giving him another jolt. Reeling, the boy slashed the Bari in half and quickly took the key and made his way, dazed and short of breath, from the room. He dropped down through the hole in the floor to the locked door below. His hands, getting used to the underwater gravity now, manipulated the key into the hole and he heard the lock clank open. He passed through and came to another tunnel and out into a stairway. He climbed it, finding himself above water again in a dry and well-lit room. He took the iron weights off and left them near the stairs. He walked to the set of enormous gears that extended into the walls before him. There was a lever next to them, he pulled it and watched as the great gears shuddered and began to turn.
This must be part of the mechanism that controls the water in the temple. I wonder if this is the only one… or if there are more down there through the doors...
Link turned, and saw another metal chest in the corner.
Zelda hovered in something like a void. She was neither awake nor sleeping and she could still faintly hear the humming of the bowl and the Zora Queen's chanting as she descended deeper into herself.
Down...
Down...
Down… She floats above the ground, once again in the white flowered field her mind has taken her in previous dreams. She is close once more to the swirling golden glow that haunts this place. It speaks.
"Are you ready now… Zelda?" It asks her.
She reaches for it and suddenly the two are one.
She sees a burning field strewn with the charred and bloodied bodies of her people. She seems to drift gracefully along and recognizes that she is no longer a physical being but some type of spirit as she moves about the melee. The enemy pelts the bastion of the castle with flaming balls of wood and tar. There are so many dead she cannot count them. Her presence seems to draw the monsters back as she somehow redirects their fire and holes are rent into the earth as the hordes fall helplessly into them. In spite of this, she is calm. She passes seeing life and death as the second self of the same entity. She has become an element. She can see without end all points in time and space far beyond her waking comprehension. She can feel the struggles of her knight and the approaching of the Demon King. She knows the knight will hold him off long enough; that he will weaken the demon, and that the knight will certainly die. And so, she shields what's left of her people from the flames and blades of the enemy. Though an individual's death is inevitable, in nature as well as war, the survival of her people is another matter entirely. Suddenly she is everywhere and nowhere as the earth cracks across with a loud shuttering groan. The lone, battered castle rips away from the land and floats upward and into the sky. Then she deals with him. Wounded by the efforts of the knight and the destruction of his forces, she pushes him like a stake into the ground and seals him away. After this she finds her knight. She becomes fleshly again as she comes to him. As she had when she'd spoken with him after his long imprisonment; when she had presented him with the holy blade she had crafted for him, and only him. She is saddened to see that he has already gone. He lies in pale repose, in a crimson pool upon a rock of the land he had so dearly loved. His fingers still rest lightly at the hilt of the sword. She feels something stir in her at the sight of him. She kneels beside the knight and pulls his fragile, mortal body into her arms. She had wished for some parting words with him, she had known him for so long, had seen into the richness of his soul. As he lies cold in her arms, she weeps.
Queen Rutolla's eyes were wide as she observed the entranced Zelda. Above the girl's head, the crystal bowl hung in the air, singing with the energy that flowed through it.
"Zelda... Come back." She said.
At first, Zelda did not move, and Rutolla called out to her again. Her eyes slowly opened and the bowl continued to float above the girl's head. The eyes that now regarded Queen Rutolla were not Zelda's, and she watched as the princess faded back into herself in trepidation. Zelda felt herself moving back into the living sphere of consciousness. The fire and carnage she had seen within the strange, brutal world of the vision staying with her, though she found it difficult to perceive as she awakened fully from the trance. The boy... he had been there hadn't he? She now looked up at the hovering bowl and she uttered a small gasp of amazement as the it fell to the floor, shattering. She looked to Rutolla who sat across from her in stunned silence. Carefully, she gathered a few shards of the bowl. At length, she spoke.
"Very good...do it again." She said quietly, dropping the shards into Zelda's palm.
Zelda looked to her hand then back at Rutolla as if she had gone mad.
"Do it again? How? I do not know what I did!" She cried.
The Zora Queen straightened.
"Calm yourself Zelda, close your eyes and reach in for it. It is a feeling, not a thought. It is shapeless." She said.
Zelda did as she was told and focused on what felt like the golden light from her phantom field, the light that had moved the imperceptible body the vision had given her. She willed it into her hand and when she opened her eyes, there hovered the shards of crystal above her palm. She stared at them and then at the Zora Queen who now smiled sweetly.
"It is said that there have been Zeldas before you who could move objects without touching them, queens who had mysterious powers connected to the Gods. They had great psychic prowess with which they led their kingdoms. Your father believed that you would be among them, and I see now that his inclination was correct. I commend you princess." Said Rutolla.
Finally, the boy had managed to turn all of the gears and the temple's water rose to the doors that had sat far from his reach for hours now. He untied the weights that had held him to the floor and began to swim hurriedly to the surface. He hoisted himself onto the first ledge and lay on his back. His skin was waterlogged and the thin chain mail rough through his drenched undershirt. He quickly pulled the Zora mask off, his lungs starving for a breath of dry air. He rested for a moment and then stood, unlocking the door beside him. To his frustration, there stood yet another box. He looked upon it, hoping to find a key this time instead of the damnable compass that had hardly worked he'd found a few rooms back. He heaved the weighty lid of the chest open and took the contents from inside. It was indeed another key, but this one was much larger and more ornate than the others had been. Link exited the room and looked across to the other door. The lock within it would fit the key he now held. As he jumped back into the water his thoughts wound their way to Zelda. He wondered now what Queen Rutolla had meant to show her. Had it been as long and as tedious as this? As he pulled himself up onto the ledge he found that he had missed her in this place. Her cleverness would have been useful through the mind-numbing sunken maze he had just fought his way through. Though, he was happy enough that she hadn't been subjected to the constant immersion in water, or the creatures that lurked there. As he stood alone now at the final door between himself and the Elemental Key, Link could feel something darkly familiar behind it. He paused for a moment, standing in silence as he felt his heart begin to beat faster. His pupils dilated as he turned the key in the lock and heard the door crack open. He stepped into a large room. The water ankle-deep on the white marble floor, the walls a shining deep-blue glass with a silver foil of vines running to the ceiling. There, in the center of the vast, dim room, on a marble pedestal lay the water shard. Link took a breath, calming himself and drew Dìoghaltas from her scabbard. He walked slowly to the pedestal and laid his hand upon the shard. He drew swiftly back, readying his sword and shield. However, instead of the blinding white light the other shards had emitted, this one instead seemed to seethe with a thick, black smoke that twisted in the air about the key fragment. Link watched tensely as the figure took shape. The phantasm opened eyes the color of blood that regarded Link with a hatred that he could feel across the room. To his terror, he realized now that the figure was that of himself. Though his hair and clothing were jet black and seemed to be attached to the dark smoke that still smoldered about him, his dark face was an exact copy of Link's. The figure moved slowly forward, flexing his hands and looking thoughtfully at them as he seemed to become more solid.
"It's been quite some time since the Zora Princess tethered me to this shard. I should have guessed that eventually you would come…You recognize me?" He said, his voice seeming to reverberate with many others within him.
Link shook his head, aghast as his twin drew near. The dark figure laughed mirthlessly.
"Of course you don't. You never do. You come to me with the same idiotic look on your face every time. I really don't know why I expect anything more from you..." He said.
He quickly drew his blade and charged Link who barely caught the blow as his dark twin barred down upon him. Link looked up at the perfect copy of himself, terror mounting as he held the dark boy back.
"I'm going to tell you a story Link, it's a bit long so you might want to sit down for it." He said, his crimson eyes alive with the purest abhorrence as he kicked the boy to the ground.
Link shot backwards and quickly rebounded to his feet, raising his guard though he found that his twin had turned his back to him. The entity turned and accusingly pointed the tip of his blade towards the boy as he began to speak.
"Thousands of years ago, we were betrayed by everyone we ever knew or loved and languished in a prison cell for four years. Four years of torture and misery. You cast me out to save yourself and cursed me to this half-existence. The traces of the demon, the residue of his malice, brought me to life. I awoke one day in the dark with all of your memories. I'm a fragment of your soul Link, the part that made you truly human, what made you unworthy. That, and that alone is why you can wield Hylia's blade and as soon as you took up that sword, you sold what was left of your soul... I followed in your shadow. The Gods, in their infinite cruelty, used you as a meat pawn for the Demon King to shred through and after he was done killing you I was left to wander the earth for centuries... then I found you again... Like you, I don't really die when my body is destroyed. But unlike the more fortunate of the two of us, I never forget... I never get to rest like you do. I live in the space between this world and the land of the dead because I am of neither. I am every last ounce of hate, lust and corruption that has ever been in you..." He said.
The dark twin came suddenly again, laying in to the horror-struck boy as he defended himself against the his twin's skilled and hauntingly familiar rage. In the barrage, the dark Link knocked Dìoghaltas from the boy's hand and the entity lunged for him. He straddled Link and began to pummel him violently with hard, vengeful fists until the boy saw flashes of light in his vision as he tried desperately to fight back. The dark boy wrapped his hands around Link's throat and pressed down, completely obstructing his breathing and pressing the veins in his neck strangling him with a look of twisted malice on his face.
"Why are you allowed to live without the knowledge of my existence?! Why are you allowed to exist in the light, exist with some purpose. I can't be alive or dead! Where is my respite?! I tell you this every single time and you forget me!" He brayed, tightening the iron grip on his throat.
Link, panicked and nearly losing consciousness, summoned all of his strength and kicked his assailing twin over his head. Each of them dashed for their weapons and now they circled one another, each waiting for the other to move. Link, panting, wiped the blood from his mouth and nose.
"What are you?" He said, through labored breaths.
His twin growled in exasperation.
"Have you not listened to a single word I've said? I'm you, you stupid child!" He said.
Link licked his still bleeding lips.
"What happens if you do manage to kill me?" Link asked, and the dark boy laughed malignantly.
"I don't know, let's find out. Maybe I'll finally be able to really die."
The twin charged at him again, Link sidestepped him and threw him off balance, landing a hit in his side. Blood the color of oil spilled out of him as he rushed forward, slashing fiercely at Link with vengeful ire. The boy caught his reflection's sword, their eyes locking as their blades ground together.
"Slave...Do you understand what this is, what you are? Do you comprehend eternity at all? It will never stop. I filter everything they won't let you feel. When your body feeds the worms or lies as ash, I persevere in shadow. The only thing that brings me joy is your suffering. I want what is yours and rightfully mine. What I wouldn't do to feel the sun on my face, for a moment that could actually be called living!" The dark Link lamented.
The blades slid past one another with a hissing ring. The dark boy quickly recoiled and came again. Steel clashed deafeningly as the two battled on. Finally, the entity managed to sweep Link's legs out from under him, sending him tumbling to his back on the floor. As the dark creature gripped his sword in both hands and prepared to strike the boy down, Link found an opening and drove his blade into his reflection's rib-cage. There was a lull as the boy quickly pulled his blade from the other's body and then he watched the perfect negative of himself stumble backwards, falling. Link leaned against his sword, trying to catch his breath. He could inexplicably feel his other self quickly fading. The blood colored eyes that regarded him now were like that of an angry animal.
"Remember this… death is anything… but an end to it…" Said the dark boy, and with that his muscles slackened and he died; his scarlet eyes fixed in some faraway place.
Almost instantly, his body began to dissolve into a deep purple flame that gave neither light nor warmth; black mist rising and dispersing into the air. Where he had lain, the final key shard appeared again as the thick, dark smoke cleared. Coming shakily forward, Link gathered the shard.
"I'm so sorry… I didn't know..." He said, to the now empty room.
Zelda, dressed once more in Impa's armor and against the better judgment of Queen Rutolla, now lead the horses back down the rocky slope toward the lake. She had began the trek down shortly after her final lesson with Queen Rutolla hoping to save she and Link some time and trying as well to reign in the buzzing, uncomfortable feeling that seemed to have taken her over. She had opened something in herself that she could never again close, of that she was certain. Though, her new found magical abilities excited her greatly. She had never really believed the stories of Hyrulean queens who could move objects with their minds. For once, she did not mind being wrong. Now, as the sun colored the sky a brilliant orange streaked with violet, she finally lead the horses down onto the beach. She untethered them from one another and let them wander free along the sand. She looked out across the sky illuminated lake and dread seized her heart when she saw Link's boat abandoned out toward the middle. She began to walk toward the water when out of the corner of her eye, on one of the small islands to her left, she saw Link pull himself from the lake and curl up on the rocks. She dove into the water and swam briskly to him. She pulled herself up onto the rocks beside the boy, relived when he opened weary eyes to look up at her. Her hand went to her mouth in alarm when she saw the blood all over his face and the perfect fingerprints in muddy purple on his neck. His tunic was covered in blacks streaks that resembled oil. He smiled drolly up at her and showed her the key shard, his breathing still ragged. She beamed and laughed gently with relief. She knelt and helped the boy up to sitting.
"Are you alright?" She asked.
He sighed as his breathing began to calm.
"Do you want an honest answer?" He asked, his voice hoarse.
"Always." Said Zelda.
Link stared out across the lake as the sun sank on the horizon.
"No… but I'll get over it… We should find the horses and look for a place to camp." He said, anemically.
Zelda slowly stood as he emptied the three shards out of his pockets. He slowly assembled them and one by one, the shards fused into the tri-colored Elemental Key as if they had never been separated.
With the long sought key finally one, they found Epona and Midge, drifting still around the sandbar that Zelda had left them near. Link whistled through his fingers for them and they came charging over the beach. The two mounted swiftly in the sunset. Zelda turned to the tired and battered Link. He looked aside to her, the blood on his cheek dark in the fading light.
"We should head up the pass while there's some daylight left, there aren't many places to camp on the beach where we wouldn't be seen. We should probably try to make it back to the trees." He said.
Zelda agreed and the two of them again began the climb to the top of the cliff where the bridge lay. Zelda, though brimming with inquisition, did not ask Link then what he had seen in the temple that had injured and troubled him so. Nor did she tell him of the tragic vision she had experienced. She instead, despite their collective melancholy, showed him with quiet relish the strange new power she had acquired in her brief and tormenting time in the astral plane. She picked up a pebble and orbited it about her fingers and Link grinned in amazement as he watched her. He laughed sleepily and shook his head.
"I don't even have the energy to ask you how you learned that... I don't think you've stopped surprising me since I met you." He said, as she continued to roll the rock around her hand in amusement.
They emerged from the path a little after the moon had risen, walking the horses up the steep trail. As they made their way to the bridge, they realized in sudden fright that the glow of torches was coming up along the pass that lead to the castle. Another army was approaching. Link and Zelda slapped their horses back down into the pass and then quickly hid on the cliff beneath the bridge. A great many Bulbin rode past, chatering in their squealing language. Carts filled with the bulky, iron clad Moblin squealing at the heels of huge, porcine mounts. Zelda honed in on a particular conversation as they passed above Link and herself. Her face paled, and her eyes went wide as she listened. Link turned to her, unnerved by her look of fear. He waited for the clatter of boars to pass and then he looked to the princess.
"What did they say, Zelda?" He asked, uneasily.
Zelda looked at him with grieved eyes, wanting desperately not to repeat what she had just heard.
"They said that they are marching to Faron… they are going to burn Ofaria to the ground... and kill everyone they can." She said, her voice trembling.
Panic-stricken, Link flung himself from under the bridge and whistled again for the horses. They came, their ears standing backward, up over the rocky trail. The two youths quickly mounted and sped off over the darkened field.