Chapter Five

Link opened his eyes wider as he stared her down. She only stared back with a hideous scowl on her face.

"Why?" was the only thing he could say. "Zelda...why did you slay the village?"

Zelda looked down and then rose up the hatchet and began to run towards him.

"No, don't Zelda!" he said as she lifted her hatchet high and swung it down. He jumped out of the way and fell to the ground. "Have you forgotten who I am?"

She tried to strike him again, only this time Link stuck out his Master Sword and blocked himself. Zelda only pushed harder on him, hoping it would knock him to the ground and she would get a chance to strike him. That's when Link heard an evil laugh. He turned his head and saw Ida laughing right near them. "She's the one!" he pushed real hard on Zelda and then kicked her to the ground. He pulled up his sword and faced Ida. "You did this to her! You're finished!"

"Oh, I am, am I?" She snapped her fingers and pointed at Link. "Get him!"

Ninjas approached him. With a simple swing, he wiped them all out and set for Ida, but a wave of pain made him stop. He felt something going deep into his back. He fell to his knees and turned his head to see Zelda just letting go of the hatchet that was embedded in his back. Then Zelda fell to her knees also.

"Link...what have I done?" she said sadly.

"Zelda..." was all he could force out. She crawled over to him and with both hands yanked the hatchet from his back. He lay on the ground, bleeding.

"Link...I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened. I'm going to fight for you and bring you back to your health. I will destroy this Ida Dragmire...for you."

"Really?" he said to her as she gripped the hatchet again.

"No!" She raised her hatchet and stabbed his shoulder. She didn't leave the hatchet in him for long, this time. She grabbed the Master Sword from his weak grip and ran towards Ida. Then Link blacked out.

Chapter Six

Link opened his eyes to see him lying on a bed in the castle. He didn't see Saria at first because she was outside speaking with Impa. He tried to pull himself out of bed, but a sharp pain shot up his whole body forcing him to groan and fall back. Saria walked in.

"Don't try to get up, Link. You'll hurt yourself really bad."

"I already have," he said crossly. "Me getting up will actually make me feel better."

"But you can't!" she insisted, "Don't do it. Impa says you must stay in bed."

"I don't care."

"Stay in bed!"

"You can't tell me what to do, Saria!" He tried to get up, but Saria pushed him back down.

He yelled in pain. "What'd you do that for?"

"For you. You're going to kill yourself if you get up. Stay and maybe we could chat this out."

"Chat what out?"

"Let's see," she said sternly. "Maybe what happened at the Lost Woods last week?"

"Last week?"

"Yes, last week. You've been bedridden for at least ten days. Or maybe it was...I don't know I lost count I think on the third day."

Impa walked in the room. "Thank goodness, Link. You've finally awakened."

"Unfortunately..." said Link.

She looked at him fiercely. "Well, that doesn't matter now. I need to know...who was that child in the black suit? Did you see his face?"

Link hesistated, but then slowly nodded.

"Who was it?" Impa asked again.

He stood silent for a moment as he stared down at his legs. He still remembered the pain he felt when he was stabbed hard by the hatchet. But that didn't compare to the pain in his very own heart. "Zelda. It was Zelda who massacred Kokiri Forest and stabbed you in the leg."

Impa just looked at him as if he was crazy. "It's alright, Saria. He isn't fully conscious yet. The pain is really getting to his head."

"I'm not going crazy! It really was Zelda! She removed the mask on her face and I saw who it was. It's Zelda I tell you!"

"How can it be Zelda if she's sitting in her room waiting for you?" said Saria.

"What are you talking about?" Link said confused.

"They're right," a voice said from the door. "I'd like to speak to Link privately, please."

Impa and Saria nodded as they walked out of the room and closed the door behind them. Zelda looked straight in Link eyes, and he stared back in hers. Link began to shake; because the only thing he was worrying about was if Zelda was hiding the hatchet behind her back.

"What do you want, Zelda?" asked Link as he tried to keep her back, but she just sat down on his bed and stroked his hand.

"To talk to you," she swallowed hard. "I heard some parts about your conversation with Impa. A massacre...stabbed with a hatchet...I stabbed Impa? Link what does it mean?"

"You want to know?"

"I think I do know. While I was out that day, a shadowy figure pulled me into an alley and told me to close my eyes. I only did because I was afraid he was going to attack me. I felt the person touch my face. So I shot open my eyes just in time to see him touch his own face. As he removed his hand, I saw his face. He looked just like me. I asked him what was his plan, but he only replied 'Master Sword'."

Link's heart jumped. "So it wasn't really you in the Lost Woods. It was someone else."

"Yes, but what confuses me is when he said 'Master Sword'."

"It's because that person took the Master Sword and took off to...Ida!" His memory began to unravel. "It was Ida who appeared before us all. That man must be working for Ida."

"You mean Truda," said Zelda as they both remembered the new servant hired by the King. "I think Truda is on to something. We should"

"Do nothing right now," Link said finishing her sentence. "We have no idea what her plan is. Who knows! She might be out to do something good."

Zelda raised one eyebrow at him.

"Okay, maybe not. But let's just wait until we find out what she's doing. Is that alright with you?"

"That's fine with me." She stared at his shoulder that just began bleeding again. "I'll stitch up that wound for you. You shouldn't be walking about with a cut like that." She took up a jar with string in it. "Only if you want me to. I don't have to."

"That's fine." He closed his eyes as he felt Zelda stitching up his wound.

He still had his eyes closed after she had finished. She came back up about an hour later. "Did you drink your medicine?"

"Yes," he said opening only one eye, "But I'm feeling very tired right now. I don't know why."

She gently placed her hand on his cheek. "Sleep...go to sleep. The pain will all be over soon."

"Glad to hear it, because I don't feel like dying just yet." He then dropped loose as if he were asleep. She took her hand off.

"Don't worry, young Link. I'll ease your pain soon enough." A hatchet appeared from behind her back and she smiled evily. She then raised the hatchet high above her head. Then Link just opened his one eye to ask Zelda for a glass of water. He saw Zelda, with an evil look on her face, just about to slam the hatchet on his head. He rolled off the bed just in time. Then he crawled over to the corner and sank into the darkness.

"You're...you're not Zelda!" he screamed at her.

"That I am," she snickered. Link looked at her in a puzzled way. "Oh come on, Link, you can't tell me you actually believed that little story I told you? I totally threw you off, didn't I?" She gained on him. He tried to scramble away. "You can't go on any further. That medicine has numbed you entire body. Pretty soon you won't be able to move at all."

"Why are you doing this Zelda?"

"Ida Dragmire made me like this. And I'm proud. Just wait til the great Ganondorf hears that I killed the famous Link and stole the Master Sword. It's pretty clever of me, isn't it?"

"Since when is Ganondorf great?"

"Ever since he was born, of course." She looked at him sadly. "Aw, does your little wounds hurt?" She raised the hatchet once more. " Go now in peace!" She swung it down hard. Link, with every ounce of strength he had left in him, moved his body to the side, dodging the attack.

Scream, Link. Just scream til you die.

He took in a deep breath and let out a long, wailing scream. Only then Zelda stopped because what she heard was Impa voice.

"Link, what is it?" she said and she came running in. "Zelda? What are you doing?"

The King had just walked in. "Zelda!" he screamed, terrified at this development.

She only looked at Link, and between clenched teeth she said, "You may have gotten away this time, Link. But next time, you're dead meat!" She placed the hatchet in her hook belt and jumped out the window. Impa ran over to the window to see Zelda safely land on the ground and scamper away into the night.

"Link," she said, "Can you explain this?"

Link only weakly looked up at her. "I told you I wasn't crazy." And then he collapsed on the ground.