Disclaimers are in Ch. 1 as always. Questions, comments, ideas? Email or review them to me. They can be a big help, believe me.

Ch. 11

Ask me where have I been

And I'll tell you: "Things keep on happening."

I must talk of the rubble that darkens the stones;

of the river's duration, destroying itself;

-Pablo Neruda

Link left the Gorons two days later, carrying the same Deku staff as before to help him balance and steady himself. The whole city came out to watch him go, and many came up to try and pat his shoulder, as pounding his back was out of the question in his weakened state. A Goron warrior had shown him how to strap the sword to his back, and he felt more content with the feel of the blade now.

Rocko came up to see him with the group of racers. "You will return, won't you?" He asked. The racers and young ones behind them looked on hopefully.

"If I'm ever in the area," Link assured them, to their cheers of delight. Lastly, Darunia came forth, and put a hand on Link's shoulder.

"You have a great power inside of you, my friend." He said. "Never doubt that. When the road looks long and hard, and the odds seem unbeatable, just remember what you have done, and how far you have come, and you will succeed."

Link nodded back, and bade farewell to them all, before turning to head back down the long winding path he had come up. The young Gorons followed him down in a wave, singing an old traveling tune that is known well in the land of Hyrule, which Link took up on his ocarina. This is how they came to Kakariko: A Hylian young man playing an ocarina, with a group of singing Goron behind him. The soldier at the mountain base gate looked on in astonishment, and could only watch as Link turned to wave at the youngsters once again, before they all broke line and began to roll back up the path from which they had come. Link put his ocarina back on the belt, and stepped forward to greet the soldier.

"What in all Hyrule happened to you?" The guard gaped. Link grinned, shrugged, and continued on, anxious to see his horse again.

Epona neighed happily, and nudged him forcefully, half scolding him for being away for so long. Link smiled, and scratched her mane, glad to see her and solid, flat ground again.

"Hey, girl. Ready to do some more traveling?"

She tossed her head and stamped her feet impatiently.

"Me too," He confessed. "I've been cooped up too long I think."

He led her from the small stable out into the sun, where he saddled her and checked her shoes before they left. He was more than anxious to be out in the fields again, and led her back through the village, gaining the attention of some of the young children with his rough bandaged look, and the sword on his back. Under the village sign again, he met the time guard, who took one look at him, and nearly burst with enthusiasm.

"Ding Dong, Di- You met the Great Leader of the Gorons!" He guessed upon seeing his state. Link grinned, and pulled out a rough looking scroll, which he handed over. The guard unwound his right arm from his spear, and took it, reading it over.

"Wow! You came through for me!" He waved the autographed scroll around. "Tell me about it. Were they big? Were they nice?"

"Why don't you go find out?" Link said, "There's a whole group of them heading back up now. If you hurry, I bet you could catch up to them."

"Really?" The guard asked hopefully.

"Absolutely," Link reassured, turning to leave.

"Incredible!" The guard boomed, before dropping his spear to race up through the village towards the mountain. Link shook his head at the enthusiasm.

"Come on, Epona. I don't think I can stand anymore of this place," He said fondly. Epona snorted her agreement, and both of them left the village to step out onto the Hylian fields.

*************

The going was much slower now, since Link was exhausted by too much jarring, and he walked most of the time to stretch his long-dormant body. It was frustrating to be out of control of his body, and he worked hard to gain it back. The morning after he had left the mountain found Link down an old wagon trail in the fields. It was a long distance from one landmark to the next in the Hylian fields, aside from the few scattering of trees, and he forced himself to relax. Any trouble he would encounter out here would give itself away long before it was upon him.

Leaning upon the Deku stick he had taken, Link paused for a moment to look at a roughly drawn map that one of the Gorons had given him. It gave the basic outline of Hyrule, and Link was able to vaguely place himself.

"Okay, Epona, we're here... And," He moved his finger up. "Death Mountain was here... So... we're heading towards..." He moved his finger in a vague side-ways direction. "West," He shrugged. The dream he had had while healing in the infirmary came back to him, and he nodded. "West it is. Gonna be sandy Epona, hope you can handle it."

Epona knickered, and nibbled at the map.

"Hope I can handle it," Link admitted.

Epona, naturally, kept any comments to herself.

*************

Link kept his boots pointed towards the setting sun while they walked, knowing that sooner or later they would come to the desert. It wasn't the best way to travel across the vast expanse of Hyrule, but he had no other choice, and the farther he went, the less landmarks there were, until the only sign of life were the scrubby hedges that survived in the harshest of environments.

Link wiped his brow. "Its getting pretty hot," He warned Epona. It was getting to the point where he was speaking directly and matter-of-factly to his own horse, and Link paused to wonder if that was a sign of losing one's mind. Can't be too far off, he decided. I'm not exactly the perfect picture of a sound intelligence. The sun was setting now, casting the barren field in a red-orange tint, and Link finally stopped his progress for the day, leading Epona off the trail towards a small glen in the hills. Here, he made a cold camp and a meal of day-old bread. Epona munched contentedly on the short-cropped dry grass of the western fields, and swished her tail every once in a while to ward off bugs. Link sighed, and relaxed back against her saddle he had removed. His body was aching again, and he knew he had overdone it again. He was not naturally patient enough to wait for his body to heal, though, and he relented to the fact that his body would probably never fully mend.

That night, under the stars, Link thought about the Kokiri in the cool, dark forests, and of the secret hiding places and meadows he had played in as a child. It had a soothing effect, and he loosely clasped his ocarina in one hand as he drifted off to sleep.

*************

Morning was a tedious affair, as his body was stiffened with pain again, and he had to try the stretching techniques that Darunia had taught him to loosen his muscles and prevent strains in his back and limbs. Epona, in her rebellious way, had wandered off during the early morning, and Link spent a good few minutes finally getting her to come back.

"You're the most stubborn creature I've ever met," He informed her. She shook her head at him as if to disagree, and snorted. Link laughed, and turned to gather up his supplies, freezing suddenly in his tracks though, at the deadly echo of a bowstring being pulled taut behind him.

"Halt."

It was a low, and deadly trickle of a whisper, and he immediately stiffened his body. Until he knew what he was up against, there was no point in trying to struggle. For a moment, all was silent, and he trained his ears for the slightest sound. Abruptly, he heard the soft rustle of carefully trained feet coming towards him, and he felt the sword on his back being jerked from the casing. Link heard the footsteps again coming around his side, and he wondered if ironically he had come all this way only to be apprehended by a Hylian soldier.

However, when the aggressor came into view, he couldn't have been more surprised. In front of him stood the tallest, darkest woman he had ever seen, and he blinked to make sure this was real. Her features were incredibly exotic, and she was dressed in a slight outfit of pantaloons and partially open vest. A long, curved scimitar hung from her sash, and the bow she had slung back up over her shoulder again. He could only watch helplessly as she turned his Goron blade over in her hands, and made small sounds of approval.

"Tell me," She finally said, in a low, deadly voice. "Where did a kid like you get something like this?"

"It's mine," Link said fiercely, taking a step forward. The blade was instantly whipped around and he found it prodded sharply in his stomach.

"I said, halt," She shouted, a red fire blazing in her unusual eyes. Hylians by nature had a variance of usually blue-to-bluish gray pupils, with a few lighter or darker shades of the color rarely coming up, and that was the most highly diversified that he'd ever seen. However, the woman before him had almond-shaped golden eyes, which were sharp and keen and watched him with a hostile suspicion. He wondered who she was, and if, quite possibly, he had just stumbled onto Gerudo land. He felt slightly unnerved at the idea. Although Link had not traveled much, he knew, as most Hylians knew, the Gerudos were not a bunch to mess with, and could be dangerous. And this one certainly looked deadly enough.

She watched him for another moment menacingly, before turning her eyes back to the blade, and then to Epona.

She hissed. "And a fine horse, too. Who did you steal these things from?"

"I told you!" He gritted out, "They're mine!"

"Not any Gerudo belongings," She continued, ignoring his answer. "But nonetheless, taken from some rich Hylian fool. There is only room enough for one kind of thief in this world, and that is a Gerudo." She carefully slid his blade into her sash also, and pulled the bow over her shoulder again. "Let's go," She ordered, notching an arrow to aim at his chest, "You can tell your story to the Queen." Link secretly felt it a waste of time, though, since she said it in a way that did not give him much of hope that he would be believed by anyone.

*************

Several times as they traveled, Link walking in a straight line ahead of her bow, he tried to imagine some way to escape the bad predicament he'd found himself in. But each time he had to forcefully remind himself of the stories he'd heard about the Gerudo, their disgust of men who they viewed weak, and their deadly fighting skills. Link decided that the best he could do was wait for an opportunity to arise later, and followed her instructions as she guided him none-too-gently for the time being.

By mid day Link was stumbling along, and the Gerudo halted their progress to observe him closely.

"Guess you didn't manage to sneak away scott-free after all," She said sarcastically. Link said nothing, and permitted her to poke and prod him, though he gritted his teeth to keep from shoving her away. His anger rose by the second at her rough attitude, but finally she stopped, and ushered him to continue. He did so gratefully, though still his body ached. It would not do good to start a fight he knew he couldn't possibly win with her now.

The sun was starting to set when Link had his first taste of the desert plains, as he was poked and prodded down a hill where even the driest grass ended, and he stepped out onto cracked, plated earth. Here, only the scraggliest of bushes rustled in the hot, arrid wind, and the breeze moaned across the bare terrain. Ahead, in the dying light, he cloud just see a rise in the trail. A skeletal wooden fence came into view, the first sign of tamed wilderness in several hours. Link felt himself start to stumble, and gritted his teeth, grudgingly admitting that at the moment he was sorely in need of the Deku staff tied to Epona's saddle.

"Gerudo Valley," The woman finally spoke. She had kept silent for most of the journey. Link peered forward in the remaining sunlight to see the hills which had gradually risen into rocky ridges, enclosing a canyon path that ran through. She roughly pushed him in the direction of the path, and he stumbled several feet, before forcing himself to stand up straight. The fence he had seen in the distance was actually a rickety enclosure that ran around the ridge the trail led up onto. Link passed it, and found the tall, sun-blemished wooden sign that pointed roughly down the road:

Gerudo Valley

There was a crossed skull painted on above the words, and Link wondered if it was supposed to be frightening. His captor didn't give him long to wonder about it though, and pushed him on, and into the opening between the two ridges.

Now, the sun had set, and the land was turning dark, except for the bare, green-less ground which seemed to reflect the moonlight, a sight he had never experienced before. After the moon had risen, he was able to see a little better, and tried to look down the narrow trail. Ahead, he could see an opening into a larger space, where large, dark shapes loomed, which he quickly discovered to be rock formations and cliffs. The trail went on for a while longer, until Link found himself halting in front of a low-slung plated bridge across a gap in the earth, though the bridge was not what caught his attention.

Below, far far below, where the moonlight didn't quite reach, there was the dark surge of fast moving water, and he could faintly hear the dim roar of waterfalls. There was no telling how long he would have stood there in awe, but soon the Gerudo woman shoved him painfully in the back again, to make him move. Link stepped out onto the swaying bridge, and moved quickly, only looking back once in worry to see if Epona was doing well. He didn't need to worry, though, for Gerudos are some of the best known handlers of horses in Hyrule, and are skilled with any breed. The Gerudo carefully led Epona out in front of her, keeping her eyes trained on Link.

He sighed. Like I'm really going to make my escape about now on this bridge. He kept moving though, and carefully made his way across, to the other side, where he was forced to wait for Epona and the Gerudo. Once the woman had safely made it across with his horse, she signaled that he should continue, and Link warily turned to continue up the trail. They passed a single sign in the dark that Link could not make out the words on, and he supposed that even if he could all it would be was a warning for no trespassing. The Gerudo couldn't have been any more different than the Gorons, he realized, as finally, they took a bend in the road, and he was led to a place where natural steps were carved into the stone, leading up to the Gerudo's fortress. The building was low and crouched in the darkness, reminding Link of a deadly animal readying for a pounce. It seemed to be one large building with dozens more added on by halls and tunnels, and looked unsteady to his eyes. He was startled to see more Gerudo seem to appear out of nowhere in the darkness, carrying light-weight long spears in a most confident manner. The features he could make out were mostly angered upon seeing him, with a mixture of wary curiosity, and one Gerudo, more formidable looking than the rest, came up to his captor.

"What's this?" She demanded of the younger. Link realized she was some kind of authority. The younger saluted.

"I found him sneaking around out in the plains on my patrol," She answered in a clipped, official fashion. "He has a sword and a horse that are far too good for the likes of him." She added in a disgusted tone. One Gerudo stepped up to reach out for Epona's reins, and the young horse suddenly reared, and kicked out a sharp hoof at the strange person. She leapt back with a surprising speed, and turned angrily to Link, as if he were to blame.

The Gerudo with authority turned to look at Link, but it was impossible to see any features in the dark. She signaled for the younger Gerudo who had brought Link in to take the horse.

"Take her to the stables. I'll take care of him," She said, and turned back to Link. "Come with me," She said in a warning tone, "And don't try anything funny." Link followed after her into the closest opening of the adobe fortress.

*************

Inside, the walls and floors were lined with red stone, and torches hung on the walls, casting a strange luminescent glow onto the crimson interior. Link suppressed a sound of pain as once again his body jarred when he took a bad step. He'd been walking all day, and his body was beyond pain. He wondered aimlessly if any of the healing that had been done before had come undone now. His head pounded sharply, and he felt sick. Halting in a large room with a heavy wooden table and crackling stone fire-place, the Gerudo signaled him to sit down, which he did gratefully. She eyed him up and down, and then left the room. Link looked around, and saw there were no guards in the room. It was probably just as well, from the display he'd seen earlier. Now, he just focused on not being sick, and rested his head against the table.

Some time later, he felt cool, rough hands touch his forehead, and he jerked back in surprise.

"Fever," A deep, feminine voice grated. He vaguely recognized the next voice from the one who had brought him into the room.

"He must of had a bad run-in with whoever he chose to steal from, the fool."

"Only if that person decided to pick him up and throw him off a cliff. These wounds are severe. You'll probably have to ask him how they happened. No Hylian did this."

There was silence for a moment, before he was roughly hauled up to his feet. He let his eyes lift to meet the startling rust-gold ones of the Gerudo in charge, and blinked blearily at her. She sighed in disgust, and let him drop back down to the bench he'd been on previously.

"Fix him," She said sharply. "He needs to be ready to see Queen Arruba."

"Understood," The first voice said, and he listened to loud footsteps retreating, before he heard a sigh.

"'Fix him', she says, like he's some kind of broken tool." The voice was annoyed, that much he could make out, and he tried to lift himself to see who his new captor was. The rough hands descended on him again, and he was dragged up again.

"Untreated wounds? Foolish boy, no wonder you're so sick."

Sick? He tried to remember where he was, but the sharp pain was too much, and he started to shiver, his teeth clattering. The voice sighed again, and he felt himself being pulled forcefully forward towards a new destination, somewhere down a long hallway. There, he was made to lie down on a low, hard bed, and his hood was pulled from his head. The rough hand touched his temple again, and he heard more footsteps as whoever his new captor was moved around in the room. Link jerked under the feel of something cold and wet applied to his forehead, and began shivering anew. Jumbled thoughts and emotions raced through his head, and he vaguely thought he heard a voice, as if from a long, dark tunnel.

"Stubborn fool... You do yourself no good from all of this fighting... just lay down your sword ..."

...no.

The echo of laughter made him shiver again, and he wondered fuzzily how severe the fever he had was. Would he die, here, in a worthless struggle?

The laughter became sharper, more mocking, and his body convulsed, wracked with pain and cold, until he could hear a vibrating chatter, that soon became the teeth rattling in his skull. It was more, though, like the staccato of hoof-beats, and he just had to wonder when it would all end.

"I like you, you're tough. But now you have seen true power... and it is pointless to resist..."

No...no...

The hoof-beats became louder, until they were rapidly thumping around in his head, causing him to twist in pain. Would this fever ever end? Was it a fever?

Was it real?

"You are weak... and now you will die!"

No!

But it was of no use. The fire engulfed his body, but it was bitterly cold and aching, and he stiffened against the pain, agonizing that he could not get out. The hoof-beats changed to become more, and he recognized it as his own frenzied heart-beat, and it made him twist to try and open his eyes.

He was in a room... in the fortress of the Gerudo...

"Are you so sure about that?"

Yes! YES!

With a cry born of desperation, Link fought against the force that tried to overcome him, finally tipping into feverish half-wakefulness, to hear voices.

"Hold him! He's going into convulsions! Boy, if you can hear, hold still! Hold still if you want to live, damn it!"

Link heard, and struggled to listen, forcing his body to stiffen. He still shivered, but tightened his muscles to stop it. There was a sudden pressure at his clenched jaw, and he felt something cold and hard prying at his teeth. He weakly tried to unclench them, but he was frozen in his state of fever, and slowly the tool pried his mouth open, and something hot and slippery was poured in. He choked on it for a moment, and then swallowed convulsively, feeling the stuff pour down his throat. He felt queasy for a moment, but it passed, and he was finally able to relax his body slightly. His heart pounded in his ears, and his teeth chattered almost painfully, but he was alive.

"Good boy," He heard the voice from before say, and he could not understand it well enough to be surprised by the relieved tone. "Good kid."

Link felt something like a coarse blanket cover his sweaty body, and soon his shivering halted, and he slipped into a natural sleep.

*************

Link did not dream again that night, and by morning the fever had broken, leaving him weakened and dazed. The Gerudo who had been with him before, who was obviously a healer, came by, and he study her fuzzily as she check his forehead again. She differed from the other Gerudo women in only that she dressed in a full tunic and kept her hair wrapped tightly in a severe bun. Otherwise, her eyes were the same almond-shaped gold color, and her ears sported large brass hoops.

"Good, you're recovering nicely." She said in a neutral tone, and brought over a cup. "Drink all of this. It will help with the dizzy spells. You're being brought in front of the Queen today," She said this with a healer's natural disgust at seeing any patient strained during recovery. "So you'll need all the energy you can get." After this, she left him, and he took the time to sip from the cup and peer around at the healer's quarters. It was even less sparse than the rooms Gorons kept, with only the barest essentials, and some medical supplies. Link sighed, and reached a shaky hand up to rub his face, wondering just what he had gotten himself into now.

Later, a younger Gerudo came in with a platter, and set it down on the floor roughly, obviously disgusted she had to feed a male prisoner. Link only watched her with a vague curiosity, and waited until she left to pick the food up. He was not hungry in the slightest, but he knew he needed to eat to keep his energy up, and managed to get down a little bit of the stale flatbread before the Gerudo who had taken him inside yesterday- was it yesterday? arrived, and ordered him to stand.

She spent a moment looking him over, making sure the healer had done her job.

"The Queen awaits your audience." She finally said in a dangerous tone, and he rose on shaky legs to follow. They walked down several winding corridors, until she led him to a door, the first he'd seen in the fortress, and rapped on it three distinct times. After an almost inaudible reply from inside, she swung up the door, and stood to the side, motioning for him to enter. He did so carefully, and found himself in a brightly-lit room filled with several weapons hung on the wall and statues lining the throne. In front of him, two well-armed Gerudo thieves stood on either side of the crimson carpet that led up to the high-seated Gerudo he immediately recognized as the Queen.

She was not decked out royally, or in a Queenly fashion, as rulers usually were, but instead went by the tradition of Gerudos, wearing only what she needed, and no more. The only outward sign that she was a Queen, in fact, was the heavy-plated necklace that hung from her neck and sported a large red gem that flashed with color in the torch-light. There was also an air of formidable authority about her that gained Link's attention, and made him straighten up his sore body automatically. She gazed down at him unblinkingly.

"What is your name?" She finally spoke, in a deep, rough voice.

"Link," He responded, already feeling slightly woozy from the trip to the room. The queen leaned forward, and watched him with bright, fearsome eyes.

"And Link," She continued. "How was it that you came upon Gerudo land?"

"I didn't know it was," He said. "I didn't know you'd claimed authority of Hyrule's land in the west."

"There seems to be much that you don't know," She said sharply. "This land has always been ours." Link nodded slowly, and shrugged. He was not really in the mood to be humble or soft-footed with this arrogant woman. The Queen leaned back, and watched him intently.

"When my western patrol brought you in, she gathered your belongings to present before me. How is it that you had such a fine weapon and mount? Surely both were stolen from a rich owner?" She said this in a dangerous tone that dared for him to disagree. He did.

"Both are mine," He said in annoyance. "My horse is from Lon Lon Ranch, and my blade is a gift from the Gorons." The last was mostly true.

"From the Gorons?" She said in a disbelieving voice. "How did a simple boy like you meet the Gorons, much less receive a gift from them?"

"It's complicated," Link said tiredly.

"Oh? Well, I would not mind hearing it, so go ahead, take as long as you need." Link sighed, and closed his eyes for a moment. He didn't trust the queen or her people, and to tell them could risk his life or his quest, or both. He took a deep breath, made a decision, and opened his eyes, staring rebelliously into those of the Queen.

"I'll fight your best warrior for my freedom," He said, in a loud, clear voice. The guards looked at him in surprise and contempt, and the Queen lifted an eyebrow.

"You?" She laughed. "You are nothing. You aren't even well enough to pick up a blade!"

"So you deny the challenge?" He called out, "I didn't imagine the Queen of the Gerudo thieves to be a coward!"

The room fell silent, and he knew he had said the right words. Dangerous words, but the right ones. The Queen leaned back in her chair, and her eyes were cold flecks of fire.

"You are clever," She said, in a low, steely tone. "But I will accept the challenge for your life-"

"And my belongings!" He said.

Her jaw worked furiously, but she caught herself. "I offer more to you, foolish boy. If you manage to defeat the finest Gerudo warrior, then I will personally grant you freedom to come and go, and membership to our society."

One of the guard's voices rose suddenly. "But Queen Arruba! You can't possibly-"

"Silence!" She shouted. "Do not presume to tell me what to do! Have you forgotten your place?" The guard who had spoken up looked down in shame, and all quieted. She turned to Link, and fixed him with a stony look.

"If you lose, you die, and that which belongs to you, will become the property of the Gerudo. Do you accept?"

Link nodded.

"Good," She clipped, and nodded to the Gerudo at the door. "Take him down to one of the cells. The battle will commence at sunset!" Link was caught by the shoulder, and dragged towards the door, but before he left, he turned to see the queen one last time, and to shoot her a look full of strong defiance.

"Be ready, Queen!" He said, with more confidence than he felt. Something hit him in the stomach, and he doubled over, and was dragged from the room into the hallway and down another flight of stairs, where he was thrown into a cold, hard cell, and the click of a turning key sealed his fate.

*************

Some time later, Link woke to the sound of the cell door being opened, and he wondered in a muddled panic if he had slept right up to the fight. However, the Gerudo only put down a clay bowl of water, and retreated back to the other side of the cell, where she closed and locked the door. She watched him as he lifted the bowl to drink from it.

"Do you really think you could beat any of us?" She sneered.

Link ignored her, and sipped from the cool, earthy tasting water. She lashed out her arm and hit her spear against the cell bars in a threat, but he focused on the water, and she eventually gave up her taunt in disgust, and left the room. He followed her with his eyes, and then set the bowl down. There was no one guarding him? He sighed. Of course not... who could get out of here? Just to make sure, he stood up, shakily, to test the bars, and found them solid and unmoving. He tried to door, and even slipped his hand though the bars to reach for the lock, but it was no use, and he slipped down against the wall to try and think.

*************

The greatest problem was simply that he could not beat the best Gerudo. Or even, the worst. Link knew he had fought off horse thieves, and even somehow won a Goron race, but to battle a Gerudo thief one-on-one... especially in his state... Link sighed, and tipped his head back, studying the dark cell wall above him. He stood up to try each brick of rock in the wall, from the immediate wall to the far one, but found no weaknesses. He finally sat down again, his fingers raw from probing all of the tightly sealed cracks in the wall. The only way to get out was to fight. He sighed again, a shuddering sound, and closed his eyes, letting his mind drift as he thought over the coming battle. In his mind's eye, he could see a fighting Gerudo, and tried to focus on her. Her fighting style was like nothing he had ever seen before, and he peered forth through the mists to see her outline whipping around in a deadly arc. Link concentrated all of his senses on trying to memorize the sketchy fighting techniques she used, and he felt himself slipping into the mists, too, trying to hold up his arms in a fighting stance. She turned slowly, and her eyes were a sharp yellow. The mask she wore over her mouth fluttered as she began to laugh a cruel laugh at his struggle...

Link jerked up in the partial dark to hear the commotion outside, and he blinked blearily, trying to remember where he was. His heart started to beat quickly as soon as he remembered, and he came forward to the bars to peer out into the hallway. Several shapes came running by, and he barely recognized them as Gerudo thieves, armed and running. Somewhere outside, he could hear loud voices, and a suppressed explosion that made the cell bars rattle. Another few thieves came by, one in the lead yelling something unintelligible to the rest. They were all carrying weapons, and none bothered to look his way. There were several more faint explosions, and Link wondered if the fortress was under attack.

After a few more minutes, he heard the soft patter of feet, but only one shadow appeared against the low torchlight, and he tried to peer down the corridor. A shape seemed to abruptly sift from the wall, and he saw it was because of the dark soot-colored hooded-cloak the form wore. Link expected whoever it was to run past in the partial darkness, but instead, they came to a halt by the cell door, and seemed to peer in at him. He backed away, and looked for some weapon, but the bare chamber offered no defense, and he turned back, ready to fight with fists if necessary. He was surprised when the form came up to the cell door, and started to toy with the lock. As the figure worked, it's hood fell back slightly, and Link could only vaguely make out the young feminine features.

"You!" He breathed, wrapping his hands around the sturdy cell bars to lean forward in shock.