Chapter Three: A Snuffed Flame
It's been an hour, and still the show goes on, and as amazing as ever, thought Link. Aren't they tired yet? The circus performers were still on their feet, doing great feats with zest. The little girl still sang, and the violins, along with other instruments which they took turns playing, still kept their beat and song. Right now they were making a sort of handstand, upside-down human triangle. There was one person on the bottom, balancing them all with her legs, which were in a splits. The next two balanced on her feet, then four and six and eight and so on. Link looked over at Zelda, and smiled. In her plain dress, short braids, and a daisy tucked behind her ear, she looked like a child from Kakariko Village or from Lon Lon Ranch. And yet, she seemed so happy- her blue eyes sparkling, her cheeks flushed, her hands pushing against her lap as she leaned forward in her seat toward the stage. Link turned back to the stage and gasped a little. There were now no less than fifty or so people balanced on the girl's legs. The girl seemed pained, and who could blame her. But she still smiled and kept a magic, mysterious sparkle in her eyes. How does she do it? Link thought to himself. Im glad I'm not in the circus.
Meanwhile, backstage, the green-eyed showmastress Enne peered out from behind a curtain. The taller of the clown girls came up and poked her shoulder. "Enne, c'mon. You've seen this before, thousands and millions of times. We need you for our next act, remember that." She paused. "Enne, I'm not joking, you're going to put everyone off of the plan if-" "Tweet- do you see something?" The clown girl looked out. "No..." "Out in the audience? You don't see anything at all?" The girl squinted, then opened her eyes wide. "Oh yeah, I see something. A kind of magic out there, I can sorta sense it. But what does-" "You see that?" "What?" "That boy!" "There are a million boys. Exactly which boy are you pointing out to me?" "That boy next to the Princess!" "What?" ".......?" "He's next, Tweet!" Enne looked up at her, and then went farther backstage. The girl looked out at the audience. She didn't see a princess........
Link and Zelda were still mesmerized by the feats of agility, strength, and grace that were conducted on the stage. A drummer, a figure with ribbons this time of bronze, beat upon a large silver drum. The blue- ribbons figure with the violin played as well. Together they did a slow, graceful dance in perfect syncopation. In the air, blue figures twirled while hanging from silver ropes. They circled above the musicians below on the stage, and occasionally one would drop down from the rope. They would dance just as beautifully around in circles before leaping back to their rope, which would fall from the sky to collect its rider and rise again. Lights of gold would augment the scene and it would all be so serene, so simple, and yet so complexly astounding, it was a gourmet taste for the eyes. It was- "Aieah!" Zelda buckled down in her seat, grasping at her head. Sweat droplets dotted her scarlet brow, and tears of pain caught in her eyelashes. Link head whirled around, shock painted clearly across his face, followed by horror. "Zelda? Zelda, what's wrong?" But before he could answer, she was lost in her pain. Pale, limp, and stricken, she slumped from her seat to the black floor. A droplet of blood coursed down from her mouth. "Someone help me!" Link screamed, holding Zelda's head and trying to elicit her. Heads from up and down the isles turned in confusion, and those sitting close by wore expressions of shock. The people on the stage turned their heads toward the scene, and wore not expressions of shock, but of transfixed phobia. Then a young girl with deep black hair screamed as a wave of golden light washed over her face. But it wasn't the lights.
The tent was on fire. People outcried as smoke wafted throughout the tent and flames rose in the striped sky. Stumbling over one another, diving over and under the seats, they all rushed to the exits. But it was no easy task. Poles that supported the tent streamed and crashed like rods of fire. Cords and ropes fell and imprisoned people, who screamed bloody murder as struggled to become free and in which few of the people who flooded past would pause to help them. Link was still in the isle, while people rushed all about them. He was sitting on his knees, with Zelda's head in his lap. "Zelda! Wake up! PLEASE WAKE UP!" Link screamed. But the call was for naught, as the sound of the crying people overpowered the volume even in his own mind. Link coughed brutally on the smoke that slowly filled the tent. Zelda wouldn't awaken. Finally, Link pulled her up so that she flopped over his shoulder and, straggling, he ran out of the row of seats. They were near the very bottom, and the tent had three section layers, so they had a long way to run. Fire continued to crackle maliciously around them, and people hollered over the commotion as they tried to escape. Link bolted up the steps, desperately trying not to drop Zelda as he bounced off of every ledge and railing. He was overheated from the run up the hundreds of steps and from the growing heat. Sweat poured from his skin in buckets. He was exhausted, but he had to keep running. Burning poles fell around him, their thuds bouncing him into the air, but still he pressed on. Cords gathered around him, but he still tried to move on forward to the exit. But the cords that were draped around Link snagged on two fallen poles. Still running, Link could feel the tension of the cords grow. But he knew that he couldn't stop. He and Zelda would both be killed. But then the cords reached their point. "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!" Link slipped on the step from the sudden pull and, like a giant slingshot, he was hurled across the entire tent all-the- way-to-the-stage-below. Zelda slipped from his grasp. She skidded on her stomach across the huge stage, then rolled violently a few times and then came to a halt. Injuries littered her body. Pale, bruised and bleeding, she lay there unconscious. Link however, had landed on his head and shoulders, and rolled a few times backward before stopping in an upright sitting position. A serious blow had been given to the back of his head, and all critical and logical thought trickled from his mind. He could hardly think straight. Feeling lightheaded and with a headache, he crawled over to where Zelda lay and sat down next to her. Link looked up. The world was doing somersaults. Blood trickled down from under his hair into his eyes, so that everything was stained red. Blinded by pain and exhaustion, he drooped onto his hands, supporting him, but they couldn't support him. He dropped down next to the princess. Weary, he was about to drop off into a ecstatically freeing and blissful sleep when a thought came to him. He had to save Zelda. He couldn't sleep now. Zelda was in peril! The tent had now become a deathtrap. In a few minutes there would be no escape. And Link knew that he was the only one who could save the Hyrulian Princess now. Summoning all of his strength, he drew himself to his feet and started to pull Zelda up as well. But in his exhaustion and lack of blood, he toppled backward with Zelda collapsing onto the floor next to him. Panting, but in no way defeated, Link pushed himself back onto his feet and grabbed Zelda's shoulders. Wiping blood and sweat from his face, Link gritted his teeth and pulled her to her feet. Wrapping his arms around her, he finally started to pull Zelda off of the stage. And then up the steps. One after the other after the other after the other after the other. It was an endless parade of black ledges. Sunlight had begun to filter into the tent- or was that the firelights? The smoke was an endless sea of black now- Link and Zelda choked continually. Steps, Fire, Smoke, Exhaustion, Blood- it was an endless torrent of pain and danger. But over the screams, a new set of voices was heard. They were deep, men's voices. "Scan the whole area, and let no seat or space go unsearched! We have to find the Princess Zelda!" This almost certaintly would have been a great star of hope for Link, but as he was so tired and woozy, he couldn't think of anything but the run, the pain- and how he had to save Zelda. Through the blood and the smoke, though, he saw people running down instead of up- he could see the outline of the exit now- and now the figures were seen to be wearing metal, and mail, and feathers, and the triforce... "Goddesses! It's the princess! A boy and the Princess Zelda!" "What?" "The princess!" "C'mon boy! Keep running, dammit!" Only a few more steps, Link thought. Another step...and another step......and one more....... And just when he thought he couldn't take another torturous step, Zelda was lifted out of his grasp. A strong pair of arms caught him by his chest and, holding him over a metal-covered shoulder, flew him up the rest of the stairs and out of the tent. Link closed his eyes and lay limp, not caring what happened to him. He could feel blood pour from his head to the ground as he was carried out. People all around were screaming, some were trying to calm the crowd. The atmosphere was clear now- Link choked on the fresh air as it came filtering into his lungs. Suddenly he was laid onto the ground, and someone was lifting his eyelids. Another person was smacking his face. "Com'n boy, wake up! Wake up, little boy!" Link moaned a little, and then opened his eyes. Small cheers were heard. Through his blurry vision, he could see that he was circled by a bunch of people, some of them as the men in metal, and some from the audience. "I can't believe you soldiers came in time to rescue this boy," said a female voice, awestruck. "Oh yes, absolutely! What would happen if he was stuck down there? He is a very lucky boy indeed!" "Well, save your compliments for him," said a proud but honest voice, whom was presumably a soldier. "He was the one who pulled the princess out of the tent! If it wasn't for him, who knows what would happen to Her Highness." "So the boy is a hero!" "A Hyrulian," Said a man. "Could tell by them ears of his. He would be a hero type wouldn't he be now?" But now a new voice sounded worried. "He has a major concussion. We can't let him drop off. If he goes to sleep, it's curtains." "LIIIINK!!!!" A familiar voice cried out. A small, light-haired person parted through the ring of people and knelt down next to him. "Princess! You cannot be over here! Do you not know how dangerous it is to be around a bleeding person?"
Zelda didn't seem to care. Fingers brushed through Link's damp hair, followed by a gasp, a whimper and a teardrop onto his cheek. "Blood..." she whispered. She then bent down low and wrapped her arms around his neck. Into his ear, she said, "Link, whatever you do, you gotta promise me that you won't go to sleep. Don't sleep Link. Please Link...." But with her plea, Link could find no energy to keep his eyelids lifted. They slowly drooped shut, and his head lolled to the side. Everyone but Zelda disappeared. She stayed with him, crying, begging him not to, until even she slowly drifted away into the wind and darkness, and he was all alone......
It's been an hour, and still the show goes on, and as amazing as ever, thought Link. Aren't they tired yet? The circus performers were still on their feet, doing great feats with zest. The little girl still sang, and the violins, along with other instruments which they took turns playing, still kept their beat and song. Right now they were making a sort of handstand, upside-down human triangle. There was one person on the bottom, balancing them all with her legs, which were in a splits. The next two balanced on her feet, then four and six and eight and so on. Link looked over at Zelda, and smiled. In her plain dress, short braids, and a daisy tucked behind her ear, she looked like a child from Kakariko Village or from Lon Lon Ranch. And yet, she seemed so happy- her blue eyes sparkling, her cheeks flushed, her hands pushing against her lap as she leaned forward in her seat toward the stage. Link turned back to the stage and gasped a little. There were now no less than fifty or so people balanced on the girl's legs. The girl seemed pained, and who could blame her. But she still smiled and kept a magic, mysterious sparkle in her eyes. How does she do it? Link thought to himself. Im glad I'm not in the circus.
Meanwhile, backstage, the green-eyed showmastress Enne peered out from behind a curtain. The taller of the clown girls came up and poked her shoulder. "Enne, c'mon. You've seen this before, thousands and millions of times. We need you for our next act, remember that." She paused. "Enne, I'm not joking, you're going to put everyone off of the plan if-" "Tweet- do you see something?" The clown girl looked out. "No..." "Out in the audience? You don't see anything at all?" The girl squinted, then opened her eyes wide. "Oh yeah, I see something. A kind of magic out there, I can sorta sense it. But what does-" "You see that?" "What?" "That boy!" "There are a million boys. Exactly which boy are you pointing out to me?" "That boy next to the Princess!" "What?" ".......?" "He's next, Tweet!" Enne looked up at her, and then went farther backstage. The girl looked out at the audience. She didn't see a princess........
Link and Zelda were still mesmerized by the feats of agility, strength, and grace that were conducted on the stage. A drummer, a figure with ribbons this time of bronze, beat upon a large silver drum. The blue- ribbons figure with the violin played as well. Together they did a slow, graceful dance in perfect syncopation. In the air, blue figures twirled while hanging from silver ropes. They circled above the musicians below on the stage, and occasionally one would drop down from the rope. They would dance just as beautifully around in circles before leaping back to their rope, which would fall from the sky to collect its rider and rise again. Lights of gold would augment the scene and it would all be so serene, so simple, and yet so complexly astounding, it was a gourmet taste for the eyes. It was- "Aieah!" Zelda buckled down in her seat, grasping at her head. Sweat droplets dotted her scarlet brow, and tears of pain caught in her eyelashes. Link head whirled around, shock painted clearly across his face, followed by horror. "Zelda? Zelda, what's wrong?" But before he could answer, she was lost in her pain. Pale, limp, and stricken, she slumped from her seat to the black floor. A droplet of blood coursed down from her mouth. "Someone help me!" Link screamed, holding Zelda's head and trying to elicit her. Heads from up and down the isles turned in confusion, and those sitting close by wore expressions of shock. The people on the stage turned their heads toward the scene, and wore not expressions of shock, but of transfixed phobia. Then a young girl with deep black hair screamed as a wave of golden light washed over her face. But it wasn't the lights.
The tent was on fire. People outcried as smoke wafted throughout the tent and flames rose in the striped sky. Stumbling over one another, diving over and under the seats, they all rushed to the exits. But it was no easy task. Poles that supported the tent streamed and crashed like rods of fire. Cords and ropes fell and imprisoned people, who screamed bloody murder as struggled to become free and in which few of the people who flooded past would pause to help them. Link was still in the isle, while people rushed all about them. He was sitting on his knees, with Zelda's head in his lap. "Zelda! Wake up! PLEASE WAKE UP!" Link screamed. But the call was for naught, as the sound of the crying people overpowered the volume even in his own mind. Link coughed brutally on the smoke that slowly filled the tent. Zelda wouldn't awaken. Finally, Link pulled her up so that she flopped over his shoulder and, straggling, he ran out of the row of seats. They were near the very bottom, and the tent had three section layers, so they had a long way to run. Fire continued to crackle maliciously around them, and people hollered over the commotion as they tried to escape. Link bolted up the steps, desperately trying not to drop Zelda as he bounced off of every ledge and railing. He was overheated from the run up the hundreds of steps and from the growing heat. Sweat poured from his skin in buckets. He was exhausted, but he had to keep running. Burning poles fell around him, their thuds bouncing him into the air, but still he pressed on. Cords gathered around him, but he still tried to move on forward to the exit. But the cords that were draped around Link snagged on two fallen poles. Still running, Link could feel the tension of the cords grow. But he knew that he couldn't stop. He and Zelda would both be killed. But then the cords reached their point. "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!" Link slipped on the step from the sudden pull and, like a giant slingshot, he was hurled across the entire tent all-the- way-to-the-stage-below. Zelda slipped from his grasp. She skidded on her stomach across the huge stage, then rolled violently a few times and then came to a halt. Injuries littered her body. Pale, bruised and bleeding, she lay there unconscious. Link however, had landed on his head and shoulders, and rolled a few times backward before stopping in an upright sitting position. A serious blow had been given to the back of his head, and all critical and logical thought trickled from his mind. He could hardly think straight. Feeling lightheaded and with a headache, he crawled over to where Zelda lay and sat down next to her. Link looked up. The world was doing somersaults. Blood trickled down from under his hair into his eyes, so that everything was stained red. Blinded by pain and exhaustion, he drooped onto his hands, supporting him, but they couldn't support him. He dropped down next to the princess. Weary, he was about to drop off into a ecstatically freeing and blissful sleep when a thought came to him. He had to save Zelda. He couldn't sleep now. Zelda was in peril! The tent had now become a deathtrap. In a few minutes there would be no escape. And Link knew that he was the only one who could save the Hyrulian Princess now. Summoning all of his strength, he drew himself to his feet and started to pull Zelda up as well. But in his exhaustion and lack of blood, he toppled backward with Zelda collapsing onto the floor next to him. Panting, but in no way defeated, Link pushed himself back onto his feet and grabbed Zelda's shoulders. Wiping blood and sweat from his face, Link gritted his teeth and pulled her to her feet. Wrapping his arms around her, he finally started to pull Zelda off of the stage. And then up the steps. One after the other after the other after the other after the other. It was an endless parade of black ledges. Sunlight had begun to filter into the tent- or was that the firelights? The smoke was an endless sea of black now- Link and Zelda choked continually. Steps, Fire, Smoke, Exhaustion, Blood- it was an endless torrent of pain and danger. But over the screams, a new set of voices was heard. They were deep, men's voices. "Scan the whole area, and let no seat or space go unsearched! We have to find the Princess Zelda!" This almost certaintly would have been a great star of hope for Link, but as he was so tired and woozy, he couldn't think of anything but the run, the pain- and how he had to save Zelda. Through the blood and the smoke, though, he saw people running down instead of up- he could see the outline of the exit now- and now the figures were seen to be wearing metal, and mail, and feathers, and the triforce... "Goddesses! It's the princess! A boy and the Princess Zelda!" "What?" "The princess!" "C'mon boy! Keep running, dammit!" Only a few more steps, Link thought. Another step...and another step......and one more....... And just when he thought he couldn't take another torturous step, Zelda was lifted out of his grasp. A strong pair of arms caught him by his chest and, holding him over a metal-covered shoulder, flew him up the rest of the stairs and out of the tent. Link closed his eyes and lay limp, not caring what happened to him. He could feel blood pour from his head to the ground as he was carried out. People all around were screaming, some were trying to calm the crowd. The atmosphere was clear now- Link choked on the fresh air as it came filtering into his lungs. Suddenly he was laid onto the ground, and someone was lifting his eyelids. Another person was smacking his face. "Com'n boy, wake up! Wake up, little boy!" Link moaned a little, and then opened his eyes. Small cheers were heard. Through his blurry vision, he could see that he was circled by a bunch of people, some of them as the men in metal, and some from the audience. "I can't believe you soldiers came in time to rescue this boy," said a female voice, awestruck. "Oh yes, absolutely! What would happen if he was stuck down there? He is a very lucky boy indeed!" "Well, save your compliments for him," said a proud but honest voice, whom was presumably a soldier. "He was the one who pulled the princess out of the tent! If it wasn't for him, who knows what would happen to Her Highness." "So the boy is a hero!" "A Hyrulian," Said a man. "Could tell by them ears of his. He would be a hero type wouldn't he be now?" But now a new voice sounded worried. "He has a major concussion. We can't let him drop off. If he goes to sleep, it's curtains." "LIIIINK!!!!" A familiar voice cried out. A small, light-haired person parted through the ring of people and knelt down next to him. "Princess! You cannot be over here! Do you not know how dangerous it is to be around a bleeding person?"
Zelda didn't seem to care. Fingers brushed through Link's damp hair, followed by a gasp, a whimper and a teardrop onto his cheek. "Blood..." she whispered. She then bent down low and wrapped her arms around his neck. Into his ear, she said, "Link, whatever you do, you gotta promise me that you won't go to sleep. Don't sleep Link. Please Link...." But with her plea, Link could find no energy to keep his eyelids lifted. They slowly drooped shut, and his head lolled to the side. Everyone but Zelda disappeared. She stayed with him, crying, begging him not to, until even she slowly drifted away into the wind and darkness, and he was all alone......