Nabooru finished her tale as the first light of dawn came in the windows.
"When we went back to where we saw the Stalfos, we found Naala and our fallen. The stalfos, even the ones we managed to destroy, were gone. Not a one fragment, nor a single discarded blade, save those of Gerudo. It was as though we were attacked by an army of shadows."
Despite the import of the conversation, Zelda was having trouble keeping her eyes open. She had been awake for hours, and her eyelids were beginning to droop, when Saria said, with a yawn, "I think we should continue the council tomorrow... It's late, and if I'm not mistaken, I'm not the only one exhausted." Zelda agreed, somewhat reluctantly. She wanted to hear how Sando came to be in the Haunted Wasteland. She resolved to ask him at breakfast.
Zelda dreamed again that night, the same dream as before, the same shocking clarity. Hyrule in ruins. The bodies. The blood. Ganon. She woke, screaming again. She lay abed, staring at the moon, breathing slowly. She was in her castle, surrounded by guards, behind thick walls and locked gates. Link was in the room down the hall, Biggoron's sword sharp and ready. Darunia, Nabooru, Impa, even Ruto, all competent fighters in their unique styles, were in adjacent rooms. Sando was in a room opposite Link's own, and according to the Spirit sage, was more than capable. And if all these fighters weren't enough protection, there were more than twenty Royal soldiers on this floor of the castle, ready to barge in and check on any disturbances inside her or any other room. Then it hit her- She had just screamed. Loudly. Where were the guards? They had come in the night before... Weren't they obligated to check on her if she made a commotion?
The door on her room opened slowly. What she saw on the other side was a horror she had only seen in Link's tales and her own nightmares. Two tall stalfos, grinning wickedly, bones eerily silver in the moonlight, advanced into the bedchamber, holding bloodied swords. Two royal guards slumped in the hallway, the ones assigned to her room. Their armor was ripped and torn, likely work of the heavy blades the skeletal warriors hefted.
Zelda rolled out of bed, rushing to her wardrobe, looking for a weapon, something, anything. All she found was a ceremonial dagger. She opened her mouth in horror as the two stalfos dashed forward and leaped into the air, swinging their swords. Raising her blade in a woefully insufficient block, the blade was shorn off at the hilt. She closed her eyes, waited for the blows to fall. They didn't. The rattle of metal on bone echoed across the night. Zelda opened her eyes once more and beheld Link and Sando, their weapons protruding from the chests of the creatures. Bracing their feet against the backs of the foe, they wrenched their swords free, sending the stalfos spinning away, crashing into the wall. The rest of the sages and Malon stood in the doorway. Impa stepped forward, a frown upon her face. "Ganon walks these lands once more. He sets his sights now on the castle itself, and he is looking for you, Zelda. These Stalfos are his scouts. Many more are coming, and he will be with them. We must not be here when they arrive. I have roused the castle already, and the city is evacuating. You would do well to get dressed, Zelda... But I advise something comfortable and light, and suited well for travel." Zelda winked slyly. "I have just the thing..."
Riding like the wind from the Castle stables was a group of riders so diverse most onlookers thought they were dreaming. Impa in the lead, Link and Malon on Epona next, Darunia rolling beside them. Then came Saria and Ruto, Rauru behind them, and bringing up the rear, Sando, Nabooru, and Zelda, in clothing she had not worn for years. The princess was dressed once more in the skintight bodysuit of Sheik, but there was no concealing who was behind the mask this time.