Hyrulian Nights

Hyrulian Nights

Scene 6: Little White Lies

(Cut to inside of castle, Ganondorf emerging from his secret chambers. He slides the door shut carefully, but the princess comes storming in before he is finished. He slams it shut, pinning Kaepora inside the door frame.)

ZELDA: Ganondorf?

GANONDORF: Oh, uh, princess.

KAEPORA: Hoot! Ganondorf, I'm stuck!

GANONDORF: How may I be of service to you? (He spreads out his cape, hiding the door.)

ZELDA: The guards just took a boy from the market, on your orders.

GANONDORF: Your father's charged me with keeping peace in Hyrule. The boy was a criminal.

ZELDA: What was the crime?

KAEPORA: I can't breathe, Ganondorf.

GANONDORF: Why, kidnapping the princess, of course.

KAEPORA: If you could just... (Ganondorf kicks him back inside the door and it slams shut) Wow, that hurt!

ZELDA: He didn't kidnap me! I ran away!

GANONDORF: (Walking away as if shocked) Oh, dear! Oh, how frightfully upsetting. Had I but known.

ZELDA: What do you mean?

GANONDORF: Sadly, the boy's sentence has already been carried out.

ZELDA: What sentence?

GANONDORF: (with a sinister tone) Death. (Zelda gasps.) By beheading.

ZELDA: No! (She collapses to the floor.)

GANONDORF: I am exceedingly sorry, princess.

ZELDA: How could you? (She runs from the room crying.)

(Kaepora finally makes it out through the door. He files up and lands on Ganondorf's shoulder, coughing.)

KAEPORA: So, how did it go?

GANONDORF: I think she took it rather well. (They both get a sinister smile on their faces.)

(Dissolve to Zelda at night, crying at the edge of the fountain. Impa comes over to comfort her. She pets her.)

ZELDA: It's all my fault, Impa. I didn't even know his name.

(Cut to inside the dungeon. Rats scurry by, and we descend until we see Link chained to the wall.)

LINK: (to himself) She was the princess. I don't believe it. I must have sounded so stupid to her.

NAVI: (from a distance) Yoo-hoo! Link? Hello!

(Navi appears at the window at the top of the dungeon.)

LINK: Navi! Down here! Hey, c'mon... help me outta these.

(Navi stops, then begins jingling wildly, dropping to the ground. She wraps a cloth around her head and makes her eyes big in an imitation of the princess.)

LINK: Hey, she was in trouble. Ah, she was worth it.

(Navi flies up on Link's shoulders and takes out a small set of tools, then frees Link.)

NAVI: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

LINK: Don't worry, Navi. I'll never see her again. I'm a faerie boy, remember, and there's a law. She's gotta marry royalty, she deserves it.

(Navi finally frees Link's hands.)

NAVI: Ta da!

LINK: (Rubbing his wrists) I'm a... I'm a fool.

RESEARCHER: You're only a fool if you give up, boy.

(The Researcher from Lake Hylia sits in a corner of the dungeon.)

LINK: Who are you?

RESEARCHER: A lowly prisoner, like yourself. But together, we can be more.

LINK: I'm listening.

RESERACHER: There is a realm, boy. The Sacred Realm. Filled with treasures beyond your wildest dreams. Treasure enough to impress even your princess, I'd wager.

(The Researcher pronounces the word 'princess' with the accent on the second syllable, 'cess', just as Ganondorf did. The Researcher turns his back, and Kaepora sticks his head out of Ganondorf's "researcher" disguise.)

KAEPORA: Ganondorf, can ya hurry it up? I'm dyin' in here!

LINK: But the law says that only royalty can marry...

RESEARCHER: You've heard of the golden rule, haven't you boy? Whoever has the gold makes the rules. (He grins, showing a hideously bad mouth.)

LINK: So why would you share all of this wonderful treasure with me?

RESEARCHER: I need a young man with strong legs and a strong back to go in after it.

LINK: Ah, one problem. It's out there, we're in here?

(The Researcher walks to a wall and pushes open a hidden exit.)

RESEARCHER: Mmm, mmm, mmm. Things aren't always what they seem. So do we have a deal?

(Link looks at Navi, who shrugs her shoulders.)

NAVI: Oh, hmm.