As soon as everyone was awake Zelda and I prepared to leave. As we were saying our good-byes, Malon approached me and asked me to take Epona with me. Ingo seemed a little upset but he held his tongue. I was all but speechless so Zelda had to help me. "We would be honored, Malon. It is kind of you to aid us," she said. I nodded her my thanks as well and smiled. Then I turned to leave and beckoned for Zelda to do the same. Once we were back on Hyrule Field Zelda and I mounted Epona. I was worried that she couldn't handle the weight but she seemed to be all right. As we rode Zelda began to speak.
"You and Malon seem very close. When did you meet?"
"The day before I met you, actually. She helped me sneak into the castle without even knowing it. I wouldn't say we are all that close, though. I haven't really had much time for socializing lately."
"I suppose you didn't, did you. I apologize. I can not help but feel that it is my fault. I put you in danger."
"Don't worry, I'm doing this because I want to help. It was my choice, not yours." The river barred our path at this point. I had taken the bridge to avoid it thus far but now I had no choice. "We have to leave Epona here.
"By herself?" Zelda asked. "Whatever for?"
"This river is in our path."
"You obviously don't know very much about horses," she said. "Just cross the river with her." I do know this horse, I thought to myself. Epona hates water. Despite my feelings, I tried to get Epona to cross the river. Much to my surprise, Epona did cross. "You see. Horses aren't afraid of water." I was more than a little confused, but I didn't pay much attention to it. I figured that she wasn't afraid of water yet. I didn't know how right I was.
We rode Epona all the way up to the waterfall and then dismounted. I played the song and caused the waterfall to part. "We won't be long Epona. Not more than a day. I promise," I said. I jumped across the gap that was once covered by the waterfall and turned to Zelda. "Can you make it?" I asked her. She nodded and leaped nimbly across.
"You're pretty fit to be living in the lap of luxury."
"I've had quite a bit of exercise during my travels with Im..." she trailed off seeming preoccupied.
"Don't worry. With you and me on the case, she'll be found before you know it." She smiled but I could tell it was just a front. I wished I could comfort her but I simply didn't know how. "Come on," I said, "there's another princess we have to find."
The inside of Zora's Domain was very quiet, as was often the case. This time, however, it seemed to be too quiet. The silence appeared to reverberate off of the cavernous walls until it began to engulf the princess and me. It had the effect of putting me completely on edge and I believe it did the same for Zelda. It occurred to me that this was her fist time to visit this place. She could be just feeding off of my anxiousness. I've got to keep calm. It was easy to tell myself this, but extremely difficult to accomplish. Something was causing my sixth sense to go wild. Then I saw something out of the corner of my eye. "Princess! Get down!" whether I shouted or acted first is still unclear to me. All I am sure of is that as soon as my muscles could respond I grabbed Zelda and pulled her to the ground so quickly that my hat flew off of my head. Even so, I would have felt better if I was a little faster. As I attempted to evade the oncoming attack, I could feel the rushing wind as it swept by, taking with it a few stands of my hair. What in Hyrule was that! The sound it made was familiar, but I couldn't seem to place it. I could still hear the whirring sound ringing in my ears. I tilted my head up and saw a silvery blue blade fly by. I tracked it as it floated down towards the water. I told Zelda to find a hiding place as I rose to my feet. The blade disappeared into the serene depths of Zora's Domain and suddenly, everything was quiet. I stood facing the ledge in the direction that the blade came from. The entrance to the cavern was to my left and a narrow hall was to my right. That thing flew like a boomerang... I thought. I suppose I should get some long-range weaponry ready. I took out my slingshot in my right hand and my own boomerang in my stronger arm. I saw the water stir in one spot and immediately cocked my left arm into a throwing position. In the next second I saw a glint of light. A blade was flying towards my right side. I instinctively raised my right arm to defend myself. The blade hit the slingshot out of my hands and into the water below me. Suddenly finding myself vulnerable, I ran towards the hall. Whatever is attacking me is very good at hiding. There may be more than one of them. Maybe I should try some magic... I stopped running near a small torch whose fire had gone out. Zelda was hiding near a doorway a few paces away.
"What's going on?" she asked.
I dodged an incoming blade. "Uh... not much..." I quickly ducked to dodge its return voyage. "You may want to run inside."
As she ran inside I gathered my energy. I saw, out of the corner of my eye, ripples in the nearby water pool. They're in the water! Just then a tall slender blue figure leaped out of the water. I released all of my stored energy with a loud yell. "DIN'S FIRE!!!" The swirling flame caught the figure in mid air. A Zora? Why did it attack me? My sixth sense was still active. There were more enemies out there, lying in wait. I ran into the shop to check on Zelda.
"You can use magic? I am quite impressed."
"I wish I had time to appreciate the compliment. Can you teleport out of here?"
"Certainly. I shall take us back to the horse." She waved her hands and a bright green light appeared over her head. "Stay close," she said. As the spell surrounded her, I stepped away. "What are you doing!!" she yelled.
"Stay safe," I said as she disappeared. I ran out the door, sword unsheathed. A Zora jumped out from around the corner and I smacked it away with the flat end of my sword. I ran towards the king's chamber. I saved his daughter, I thought. He'll explain everything. When I reached the chamber, the King was sitting on his usual spot. His chamber was full of very militant looking Zora. The King began to speak as more Zora filed behind me.
"You return to the scene of the crime. Tread softly, human. We have you surrounded. Now, I want you to tell us what you did with the princess."
"Princess Ruto? I haven't done anything to her. I came here to find her."
"Lying filth!" spat one of the Zora. "We should burn him alive like he burned our comrade."
"Look, just calm down. I think we can help each other," I said.
The King thought to himself for a while then said, "You cannot be trusted. If you didn't take the princess, then you are of no use to us alive. Kill him." Every Zora in the room inched towards me. I tried to remain calm and prepared to fight and slay them all if I had to. It never came to this however. I saw a bright orange light appear and float up to the top of the room and ignite. The Zoras all leaped to the ground to reveal Zelda standing in the doorway. "Shall we?" she asked nonchalantly. We ran to another one of the doorways that ended in a waterfall and without faltering dove right in. On the way down, I was made aware of a new enemy; one strong enough to overpower the entire group of Zoras. This was no ordinary warning, it was like a feeling of despair and dread. I knew immediately who it was. "Ganandorf... He's here..." I said softly to myself.
I instructed Zelda to take the warp to Lake Hylia. Perhaps she could hear the seriousness in my voice because she made no argument this time. I tread water for a short time and tried desperately to locate Ganondorf. I could still feel his presence but I could see nothing. Soon, Zora began pouring down the waterfall in pursuit, and I was forced to either withdraw or attack them all. And what kind of a hero would I be if I committed genocide? I dove as fast as I could for the warp tunnel and disappeared inside.