Chapter 3. Kidnapped! Again!

A black cloud had appeared over the trees behind Link and Zeld, and now, as the Gerudo captain drew her scimitar away from Link's sword and stared, the cloud was reforming into a great black whirlwind preparing to touch down.

"What is that thing!" Zeld exclaimed, paying no attention to the fleeing Gerudos.

"Nothing good," Link replied, shouting over the wind. She shielded her eyes and stared up at the whirlwind. It was approaching the earth at a fantastic speed. "It looks like its going to touch down…" She followed the path of the swirling black wind and her eyes fell on… "Zeld! Move!"

"You called me Zeld," the prince grinned, not paying any mind to the rest of what she'd said. Then a curl of black wind swept down and swirled around him. "Hey! What the-"

"Zeld!" Link stared helplessly as the black wind surrounded him and lifted him firmly off the ground. "No!" she threw her sword aside, darted forward, and grabbed onto the prince's ankles. But rather than pulling him back to earth, she felt herself being lifted off of it.

zzz

"No!" Zeld heard Link's voice at the same time as he felt himself unbalance and lost the ground beneath his feet. He could see nothing but the swirling black wind, and feel nothing but it tugging at him from all sides and whipping his ceremonial cape around. Then he felt something heavy grab onto his legs and hold on tight. He hoped that it might pull him back down, but as he felt the weight and the tightness of the grip increase he realized that the anchor was being pulled up with him.

"What is this!" he shouted into the whirlwind. He and his anchor were being pulled into its center. "Who's doing this!"

"Zeld!" Link's voice came from near his feet. "Just hold on, I'll get us down!"

"How do you plan on doing that?" he shouted down to her. "You're hanging on for dear life!"

"It doesn't matter, I'll find a way! I swear, I'll save you!" At that moment the winds around them increased, pulling Link away.

"Don't let go!" Zeld cried frantically. "Just hang on!"

"Zeld!" He could feel her arms scrabbling to hang on and her fingers digging into his legs, but he didn't care.

"Link!" Now only her hands were still on him. She was struggling to keep her grip but the winds were merciless and tore her from him. "No!"

But it was too late. She was gone.

zzz

Link was aware of nothing but blackness, spinning, and wind. Thedark whirlwind buffeted her back and forth, keeping her disoriented and aloft. She tried shouting but the wind stole her voice away and carried it off to where it couldn't be heard.

What was this? It couldn't be natural, not the way it had stolen the prince. The prince! Of course, this was some kind of evil magic sent to kidnap the prince…again.

But if it had been sent to kidnap the prince, what would it do with her?

As though to answer her question the black wind suddenly grabbed her and thrust her to one side, until the wind was gone. Link had been expelled from the black whirlwind and now there was nothing to keep her in the air.

She fell for an eternity, a scream rent from her lips by the streaming air. Her eyes had teared up and she couldn't see anything, not that there was anything to see. She was falling with her back to the ground, and even though it was terrible not knowing how close the ground was, she was sure it would be even more terrible to know and to see it rising up to meet her. Just as she was starting to think that it would be better to just die and get it over with, there was a sharp, blinding pain in her back and she lost all sense of the world.

zzz

"…Zel……Zeld…" His hero called out to him from the darkness.

"Where are you?" Zeld cried. "Why can't I see you anymore?"

"…Zeld……Zel…"

"I'm right here!" he shouted. "Right here!"

"…Zeld……Zeld…"

"I don't even know who you're calling to anymore!" Zeld shouted. "Is it me or the princess that I am in my dreams!"

"…Zel……Zel…"

"Where are you and who are you calling!" Zeld was frantic, he had to know. "Tell me! Link!"

"Zeld!" Link, his young female hero, burst from the darkness and ran towards him. "I'm here Zeld! I'll save you, I swear it!"

zzz

"I will save you Zeld!" Link called to the prince, so far away in the darkness. "I will!"

Then she awoke with a gasp and sat up abruptly. "Aaaugh!" Pain shot from her back and through her body. Pain so bad it was accompanied by waves of nausea. Helplessly she fell back onto the bed and clutched at the sheets, begging the pain to stop. When it finally faded to a dull throb she became aware of a cool hand on her forehead and a soothing voice beside her.

"It's okay, it's okay, I know it hurts," the voice said.

Link opened her eyes, she had screwed them up in pain, and looked around. There was a man leaning over her from the left, with short sleek fair hair, red eyes, and a sun-browned complexion, a Sheikah. To Link's right there was a woman with reversed coloring, fair skin, red hair, and deep brown eyes. She was the one with the soothing voice and the cool hands.

"Felling better?" the Sheikah asked.

Link tried to nod but it renewed the pain, so instead she said, "Uh-huh."

"You're very lucky, you know that?" the Sheikah moved from her sight as he spoke. "A fall like that could have killed you."

"I know," Link said. "Where am I?"

The Sheikah returned with a damp cloth, which he placed on her forehead. "In Kakariko City," he answered. "More specifically, in my home." She noticed he wore a gold band on his left ring finger, although the bed she was in was barely big enough for one.

"But why-"

"Shush." The woman with the cool hands placed one over Link's mouth. "There will be time for questions later, your health is what matters now."

"That's right," the Sheikah agreed. "We've got to find out the extent of the damage."

"Damage?" Link asked. "What do you mean?"

"That black tornado came through town yesterday, somehow dodging all the buildings. You were thrown from it and landed on my roof," the Sheikah said. "You could be very badly hurt." He flipped back the sheets from Link's feet, which she suddenly realized were bare.

"Where're my boots?" Link asked.

"Right here beside the bed," the Sheikah answered. He noticed the look on her face. "Don't get excited, I just took off your boots and belt so you'd be more comfortable."

"Oh."

"He doesn't swing that way anyway," the woman said, slightly maliciously.

"Can you wiggle your toes for me?" the Sheikah asked, ignoring her.

"Why?"

"Just try it."

Link did and the two adults sighed with relief.

"You're even luckier than you know," the Sheikah said.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Link was getting aggravated.

"All right, calm down." The Sheikah pulled up a chair and sat beside the bed. "Now listen, when you landed on my roof your back hit the very highest point of it."

Link winced.

"Exactly. And since the backbone is connected to the legs, if you break it in the wrong place you can be paralyzed."

"Paralyzed!" Link exclaimed. She stared down at her legs.

"Don't worry, you're not. You wiggled your toes, remember?"

Link said nothing, but waved her feet back and forth, then tried bending her knees. "Uhn!"

"Careful!" the red-haired woman reached out in a futile effort to stop her from hurting herself. "You need to rest, you shouldn't move for a few more days at least."

"How long have I been asleep?" Link asked.

"You landed on my roof yesterday evening," the Sheikah said, "And now it's noon of the next day. We actually hoped you'd sleep longer."

Link said nothing, but reached foreword and threw the blankets off of her. "I've got to go," she said, struggling to sit up.

"You can't!" the red-haired woman put her hands on Link's shoulders and tried to guide her back to bed.

"I have to, I swore I would save the prince and now-"

"The prince!" the Sheikah exclaimed. "What do you mean?"

"Prince Zeld was snatched up by that black whirlwind and I couldn't save him. Again," she added bitterly. "I swore to him that I would save him and I will, no matter what."

The Sheikah was looking at her seriously. "My people tell a story, that says whenever our world is in danger a hero will be reborn to save it. That hero always has the same spirit, and the same name. Tell me, what is your name?"

"Lady Linkalla Vanguardian Lon Lon," Link answered. "But most people call me-

"Link." The Sheikah said it at the same time she did.

"What does this mean?" the red-haired woman asked the Sheikah.

"It means we have to let her go," he answered.

zzz

Zeld awoke face down on sand, with the feeling he'd been out for a long time. As soon as he was awareenough he struggled to sit up, but was impeded by ropes. Again. Zeld was starting to hate ropes.

"Greetings your Highness," a male voice said from above him. He was grabbed by a couple of the ropes between his shoulders and lifted up to face his captor. "I trust your trip was an unpleasant one," the man sneered. He was very tall, even taller than Zeld, and looked to be in his late thirties or early forties, although his hair was completely white.

Zeld processed the situation as quickly as he was able, which was fairly quickly, then put on a blank look and babbled. "No, it was fine actually. The black whirlwind thingie was pretty cool, and flying through the air was great. I was a little bit worried about my friend when I lost her, but she's completely insane so she'll be fine."

The man stared at the prince.

Zeld kept right on babbling. "Who are you by the way? It was kind of rude of you to pick me up from the forest like that. If you were trying to rescue me you were late, Link and I had that part handled, but if you were trying to kidnap me that's just weird. Kidnapping me from my kidnappers? That's tacky if you ask me. And hey, who are you?"

The man holding him shook him slightly to get him to stop talking. "I am Vaaltos, the Wizard of the Black Wind, and you are my prisoner."

"Ah," Zeld nodded knowingly, then looked the man up and down. He was wearing black robes with black embroidery and black fur on the cuffs. "Um, monochromatic wardrobe much?"

"What?"

"You don't really care if anyone knows you're evil, do you?"

Vaaltos swished his robes. "I think it's a good look for me."

"It's a good look for anyone who's evil." He looked at him again. "And middle-aged. What are you, forty?"

Vaaltos blinked. "You're going to be as annoying as possible throughout this whole thing, aren't you?"

"That is my plan, yes."

zzz

"It means we have to let her go."

"Yes!" Link cried triumphantly. She swung her legs over the bed and sat up. Then screamed with pain and fell back.

"Not until she's better though," the Sheikah added.

"I'm fine," Link protested. She sat up very slowly, trying to minimize the pain, but couldn't even get halfway up before she had to drop back down. "Okay, maybe not so fine."

The red-haired woman had pulled a large book from the bag she had hung on her chair. "There's a potion that is said to be able to cure just about everything," she said. "But it requires some pretty exotic ingredients."

The Sheikah looked at the woman. "Mara," he said seriously. "I know you. You have most, if not all, of those ingredients back home in your cupboard."

Mara grinned. "Okay, you got me. But I'm still short a forest mushroom. Those things spoil so quickly I could never keep one."

"I can pay," Link said, feeling helpless. "My parents don't know I'm doing any of this, but if I write them a letter I'm sure they'll pay you back."

"It's not a matter of money," the Sheikah began.

"Yes it is," Mara disagreed. "You write a note as soon as your back is better."

"Uhh, okay…"

"And you," Mara turned to the Sheikah, "flash off to the Lost Woods and get me a mushroom that looks like this." She held up the book and showed him a picture.

He glared at her for a moment. "Do you care more about money than the fate of our world?"

"You don't know that the fate of the world is at stake. Besides, if it is shouldn't you be getting our little heroine that mushroom?"

The Sheikah glared again, the grabbed something from a jar on the table near the bed, threw it on the ground and vanished in a flash of light.

Link blinked. "Woah."