Chapter Four
Link entered the castle courtyard cautiously. I've got to get in, kill Ganon, rescue the royal captives, and get out as soon as possible, thought Link. He approached the two foreboding doors. He grabbed the handle and swung the door open. It creaked eerily. He stepped in and proceeded down the closest hall, leaving the door open behind him. It was completely dark.
He opened the first door and peered inside. There was a bed and table, but no people. He could see the first signs of dawn appearing through the window. Link closed the door and opened the one across the hall. Same results: nothing. He opened every door in the hall and found nothing out of the ordinary except the lack of people.
He returned to the main hall and proceeded down another corridor. He found nothing in that hall either. He did the same with all of the halls finding not a soul in the place. There was only one place left. The throne room. He opened the doors leading inside. The room was flooded with light coming from the many windows in the room.
Everything looked normal from his point of view. Except the actual throne. It was crooked. Link walked over to it. I wonder, he thought. He grabbed the back and pulled it from the wall. There was a passage! Link grabbed one of the many torches decorating the room, lit it, and began to descend the stairs into the secret passageway.
Link went down only for a short time, but it seemed like hours. He reached the bottom. It was and empty room. Great, Link thought. A dead end. He began to examine the walls for any trap doors. He stuck his hand on the wall and walked around the perimeter, searching for any switches. His hand hit a bump. But not just a little bump. It seemed as if the whole section of wall was depressed. Link set down the torch and pushed against the wall. It began to push back. The wall opened to another, smaller room. Against the far wall was a swirling black and purple vortex.
"That's not suspicious," Link said sarcastically to himself. "But, should I go in?"
Link walked over and peered inside. There was only an endless tunnel of black and purple gases. Link took one step back, tensed up, and jumped into the portal. It sucked him in and all around him went black. He floated for a while and was thrown out into a stone room.
Link stood and dusted himself off. He immediately saw the princess chained to the wall in the same fashion he had been chained. He ran over, drew his sword, and cut each chain. She fell into his arms, unconscious. He laid her on the ground and poured some water from a bottle onto her forehead in an effort to revive her. Zelda's eyes flickered open.
"Where am I?" she asked.
"You're in a dungeon. I had to come through some strange portal to get here. Where is your father?"
She seemed to think for a moment and then she remembered. Tears welled up in her eyes. "He's dead. Beheaded right before my eyes." She sobbed.
"We've got to get out of here before someone finds us," said Link, trying not to let the image of his king being beheaded into his mind. "Can you walk?" he said looking around for an exit.
"Yes," she said.
Link helped her up and looked around again. There was nothing but the portal he had come through. "We'll have to go back into that thing," said Link gesturing towards the swirling passageway. Zelda nodded. They walked slowly over to it. Link looked at Zelda to make sure she still wanted to go. She nodded and they jumped into the black chasm.