Chapter 29, Frozen domain.
Kakariko village.
Link woke up but he wasn't feeling refreshed, he had suffered from nightmares all night, in his nightmares Link was forced to watch as Darunia was killed over and over again while he was powerless to help.
Link rubbed his eyes in an attempt to wake himself up, once he felt awake enough he shook Navi awake, "What's wrong" mumbled a sleepy Navi, "Come on Navi, I don't want to stay here any longer that we need to" said Link thinking about everything that had happened yesterday.
Link quickly collected his things and then left the inn, "What should we do today Link" asked Navi as she flew around in the sunshine, "Well Sheik said that we should go to Zora's domain once we was finished here" said Link. "Oh right, I almost forgot about that" she said a little embarrassed.
Link and Navi left Kakariko village and joined up with Epona, "Come on girl, we're heading to Zora's domain" said Link as he climbed onto Epona's back.
Zora's river.
Soon they reached Zora's river, however when they did Epona suddenly stopped and refused to go any further, "What's wrong girl, there's nothing to worry about" said Link reassuringly, "I'm not too sure about that, take a look at this" said Navi from the river.
Link followed Navi and saw that the river wasn't flowing, it was almost completely still, "What could have caused this" asked a very confused Link, "I don't know, but what ever it is I think that Epona can sense it" said Navi.
With Epona refusing to go any further Link and Navi continued the journey to Zora's domain alone.
As the two drew closer to Zora's domain they began to notice something unusual, "Navi. Is it getting colder" asked Link, "Yes, and that worries me, this part of Hyrule never gets this cold even in the winter" said Navi.
The two continued on their way and with every step it became colder and colder, soon the river became ice, "I guess this is why the river isn't flowing" said Navi who was now taking shelter from the cold under Link's hat.
Link had a very bad feeling about this "Do you think that the Zoras are OK" he asked, Navi didn't answer, she just hoped that the Zoras wasn't being fed to a dragon.
After a few minutes Link and Navi reached the entrance to Zora's domain, just like the river the waterfall was also frozen, however much to Link and Navi's surprise there was a large hole in the waterfall allowing them to get inside.
"Who do you think did this" asked Link as he stepped through the hole, "I'm not sure, maybe it was Sheik, she did tell us to come here" said Navi, with that the two headed inside hoping for the best.
Zora's domain.
When Link saw what had become of Zora's domain he couldn't believe his eyes, Zora's domain was completely frozen, the water was solid ice and Link was sure that he could see some of the Zoras trapped beneath the ice frozen in place.
"What, what happened here" asked Navi who was horrified at everything that she saw, Link took a couple of steps forward, the air here was so cold that it felt as if his skin would freeze at any second.
"Do you think that Ganondorf did this" asked Navi, "I doubt that anyone else would do something like this" said Link as he walked through what had once been a beautiful place.
"I know that Sheik told us to come here, but what are we supposed to do" wondered Navi, "I wish I knew" said Link as he rubbed his hands together in an attempt to stay warm, the air in here was so cold that Link thought that he would freeze just like the Zoras if he stayed here for too long.
"Hey listen, do you hear that" asked Navi, Link listened closely and realised that he could hear the sound of something scraping and the sound was coming from King Zora's throne room.
Link ran up the staircase to the throne room and the source of the sound, when Link reached the throne room he found that it was in a similar state as the rest of the domain, it was completely frozen and sitting in the centre of the room was King Zora encased in ice.
Link heard the sound of something breaking and he turned to the right corner of the room to see what it was, Link was shocked to see Sheik digging through the ice, at her side was several broken kunai that she had ruined by using them to dig through several feet of ice.
"Sheik what are you doing" asked Link, Sheik didn't answer, instead she reached into the hole that she had dug and pulled out a young female Zora, then the Sheikah warrior collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion.
The Zora was barely an adult, she was wearing very elegant jewellery which included sapphire earrings, silver bracelets, anklets, and a choker, and a set of silver amulets, looking closely Link recognised this Zora as Princess Ruto.
"Ruto your alright" said Link, Ruto looked at the young Hylian for a second before she recognised him, "Link, the same Link that I meet seven years ago, I thought that you was dead" she said, Link honestly couldn't blame Ruto for thinking that after all a lot of people had died during Ganondorf's rule.
"Ruto what happened here, why is Zora's domain frozen" asked Navi, Ruto sighed "It happened a couple of months ago, my people refused to obey Ganondorf, we could never follow a tyrant such as him" she said.
"Finally he lost his patience, a horrible witch calling herself Kotake came here and said that we could either bow down to Hyrule's new king of suffer the consequences, when we refused she cast a powerful spell on our home, turning it into what you see now" explained Ruto.
"That's horrible, is there anything that we can do" asked Link, Ruto sat down on the ice "I don't know, the magic that she used was more powerful than anything that I've seen before, I have no idea how to break the curse" she said sadly.
"I do" said Sheik who was still trying to recover some of her strength, "Kotake wouldn't be able to maintain a curse like this by herself, it's far more likely that she has entrusted a powerful creature to maintain the curse on her behalf" explained Sheik.
Ruto stood up with a hint of hope in her eyes, "So if we can destroy this creature will my people be freed" she asked, "I believe so, yes" said Sheik, "Well then let's stop standing here and go" said Ruto, "Just one problem, where are we supposed to go" said Navi.
Sheik closed her eyes as if she was concentrating, "I can sense that there is a great power coming from Lake Hylian, that would be the best place for you to start" she said, "Aren't you coming" asked Navi, "I'm sorry, but in my current state I would only slow you down" said Sheik not even bothering to stand up.
"Don't worry, you've already done more than enough by freeing me, I owe you a great debt my friend" said Ruto, Sheik smiled kindly even though no one could see it.
Ruto turned to Link, "Come, we must save my people" she said, Link nodded and followed the Zora princess.
Zora river.
The group left Zora's domain and began to head down the river, Navi kept giving Ruto an odd look, the memories of how the young Zora Princess had acted seven years ago kept coming to the front of the fairy's mind.
"I'm surprised that your coming with us, I thought that you would prefer to stay at Zora's domain while we handle the curse" said Navi.
Ruto seemed to be greatly offended by this, "I am the Princess of the Zoras and therefore I have a duty to my people, I can not, will not, just stand by and watch while my people need me" she said with no room for doubt.
Ruto had certainly changed since Link had last seen her, before Ruto was rude, arrogant and bratty, now she seemed far more mature, dedicated and focused, she was determined to help her people despite the risk to herself, it seemed that living under Ganondorf's rule had forced her to grow up quickly.
Once they reached a part of the water that was no longer frozen Ruto checked to water only to pull her hand back as quickly as possible, "The water's freezing" said Ruto as she breathed onto her hand in an attempt to restore warmth to it.
The group continued on their way, the three of them was awkwardly silent so Link tried to start a conversation, "So, how have things been since we last meet" he asked Ruto.
Ruto sighed, "It hasn't been easy, Ganondorf has been ruthless in his attempts to bend us to his will, things become so bad that Lord Jabu jabu fled only a couple of years after his rise to power, we haven't seen him since" she said the memories was clearly painful for her.
Link couldn't help by feel guilty for all of this, "I'm sorry Ruto, this shouldn't have happened, I should have stopped Ganondorf" he said, however Ruto showed no sign of blaming him, "You was a child back then, we both was, what could either of us have done to stop this" she said.
Link appreciated what Ruto said but he still felt like he could have done more seven years ago.
After some more walking they reached the end of Zora's river where Epona was waiting, Link climbed onto Epona while Ruto walked down to the water.
Ruto once again checked the water's temperature and found that it was now warm enough to enter, Ruto jumped into the water and shivered slightly at it's coolness, "The river flows all the way to Lake Hylia, just follow me" she said as she began to swim.
Lake Hylia.
"Dear goddess, this is worst than I could have imagined" said Ruto with horror in her voice, Link had never been to Lake Hylia before but he could tell that it shouldn't look like this.
Lake Hylia was almost completely dried up all that remained of a once great lake was a small puddle, Link could also see what appeared to be a stone entrance to something at the bottom of the dried up lake.
"What's that" asked Link pointing to the stone entrance, "That is the entrance to the Water temple" explained Ruto, "Do you think that that's where the creature that Sheik told us about is hiding" asked Link, "Yes, I think that that is the most likely scenario" said Ruto as she made her way down the dried up lake closely followed by Link.
"Wait, if this creature is also responsible for drying up the lake than it must be really powerful" said Navi sounding a little worried, "I know but for the sake of my people I must face it" said Ruto her voice filled with determination.
Link and Ruto entered the Water temple followed by a nervous Navi, however unbeknown to them they was being followed by Ganondorf's newest servant Dark Link.