Chapter 5. Another World

Nearly an hour after sunset the Wizard of the Black Wind stopped his black tornado at the edge of the desert. There was some grass, and some mountains further on, but nothing else.

"What are we doing here?" Zeld asked, keeping up his be-as-annoying-as-is-physically-possible game plan. "There's nothing here, I expected a big scary black wind fortress."

"I only took you across the desert to lay a false trail," Vaaltos said. He waved a hand and the black tornado shrunk away until it set them on the ground, though Vaaltos was the only one with his feet really on the ground, since he was still carrying Zeld with one hand. "Actually, we will be leaving this world."

"Oh, really?" Zeld asked politely. Then he realized something. "Wait, leaving this world? Are you going to-"

"I'm not going to kill you," Vaaltos rolled his eyes, then threw the prince to the ground. "I think you know more about the Triforce of Wisdom then you're telling, so I'm going to hold you prisoner until you tell me."

"No torture?"

"Not if you tell me."

"So you will be torturing me then."

Vaaltos ignored him. He raised a hand and some of his black wind swirled into it, forming into something that looked like a giant black tuning fork.

"Is that supposed to make me talk?"

"No," Vaaltos glared at him. "It's supposed to open the way."

"The way," Zeld repeated incredulously.

"Shut up." Vaaltos gripped the tuning fork and thrust it into the air in front of him. Zeld was about to comment of the futility of the action, but stopped when he noticed that the prongs of the tuning fork had abruptly gotten shorter, as though they'd been pushed into something.

Then Vaaltos twirled the fork and, accompanied by a tearing sound, light appeared in the path of the prongs. It was a thin sparkling, like the surface of a bubble, but strange and distorted. It almost looked as though it were reflecting different scenery.

"What is that?" Zeld asked. "What are you doing?"

"I'm opening the way." Vaaltos swept the tuning fork in a large circle, spreading even more soap film across the landscape.

"Yeah, and that just makes so much sense."

"Come on," the Wizard picked up the prince and carried him over to the film, setting him on his feet in front of it. "Go through."

Zeld looked at the film, then at Vaaltos. Something dawned on him. Something bad. But he couldn't let Vaaltos know about it. "You've got to be kidding me," he said.

"Nope, get going."

"I am not going into that- that- hole in reality!"

"Oh, too bad." Vaaltos picked him up again. "I guess I'll just have to toss you through."

"No! Wait!"

But Vaaltos ignored him and threw him into the hole.

zzz

"There are rumors that a Great Fairy lives on top of Death Mountain," Kobold said, gesturing toward it. "But it's dangerous up there, and it's getting late."

"I don't care," Link said firmly. "If you think the Great Fairy will grant me magic, I have to go see her."

"Then at least stay here for the night."

Link looked at him, then back at his house. "Erm, it's not that I don't trust you, but..."

"What? Oh no, no. I wouldn't- I'm- I'm not...that kind of guy..."

"I know, I'm sorry. But..."

"You can stay in the inn if it will make you feel better, but I still think you should wait until morning. There's no way you can make the climb in the dark anyway."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Link sighed and leaned forward, resting her chin on her knees. "I just really want to hurry."

"You care a lot about him, don't you?" Kobold asked softly.

"I don't know. A little. Maybe. I just met the guy. But we got along really well, and he's, well, he's cute."

Kobold laughed. "So you are a teenager."

"Sue me." She sighed again. "It's weird, you know? At first, when he got kidnapped by those Gerudos, I went after him because it was just the right thing to do. I didn't even think about it, I just did it because it was what I should be doing. But then I met him. And I realized...I don't know. That he's more than just the Prince I guess. He became a person to me. And now I want to save him because... Well, because it's what I should be doing."

Kobold patted her on the shoulder. "You are very foolish."

She shot him a venomous look.

"The sign of a true hero," he smiled at her.

zzz

Zeld wriggled around and managed to sit up, then was lifted off the ground and held aloft once again by Vaaltos. "Where is this?"

"Welcome, your Highness, to the graveyard of Termina."

Zeld looked around. He was surrounded by tombstones, weeds, and darkness. "Yep, this is a graveyard all right. But who's Termina?"

"Termina is a place, not a person. And it's where we are. Look over there," he pointed to a group of lights far off in the darkness. "That is Clock Town. The biggest city anywhere."

"No it's not," Zeld said.

"Of course it is. That city's bigger than any in Hyrule."

"I don't know about that. Kakariko's pretty big."

"It's nowhere near as big as Clock Town. All the races live there, in one place. The Zoras, the Gorons, the Dekus, the ReDeads-"

"ReDeads?"

"They're a race. Sort of. Now."

"But they're nothing but magic in the shape of walking corpses!"

"So?"

"Good point." Zeld was silent for awhile, looking around. This world wasn't really all that different from Hyrule. It got dark at night, the people lived in cities, they were buried in cemeteries, there were stars and a moon in the sky… The moon... "Oh. My. God," was all Zeld could say.

"Saw the moon did you?" Vaaltos grinned. "Yeah, it's pretty scary."

"Does it always…glower like that?" The full moon glowered down at them.

"Yep, ever since it got turned around."

"The moon got turned around?"

"By some crazy kid with a mask. It was a long time ago though, no one here really notices it anymore."

Zeld couldn't understand that, but they were entering the town and he had more important matters to deal with…

zzz

Link flopped onto the tiny thin bed in her room at the inn. The bed was too flimsy to take that kind of punishment, but Link wasn't in the mood to care.

She sighed deeply. "Another night without Zeld…" she said aloud. Then she realized that sounded like a sex thing and blushed involuntarily. She sighed again and closed her eyes.

I am doing waaay too much sighing lately...

zzz

"Hey! Help! I've been kidnapped! Somebody help me! Hey you, help!" No one was paying any attention to Zeld's frantic cries. Vaaltos was walking through the town, the picture of calm, still carrying Zeld by the ropes which bound him. A few people nodded in greeting as he passed, others smiled or said hi, but none seemed to find it strange that he was holding a struggling prince.

"Goddess," Zeld swore. "Do you have these people under a spell or something?"

"No, not really," Vaaltos said calmly. "They just don't particularly care what I do."

"'Keep your head down and it won't get blown off?'"

"Exactly."

They were now approaching the clock tower in the center of town. Rather unsurprisingly, it was almost completely covered in black wind. Only the clock face was still visible beneath the niellen column.

"Home base?" Zeld guessed.

"Bingo."

It was dark inside, probably because all the windows were blocked by wind. There were ReDeads and Wolfos and other creatures Zeld didn't recognized moving around, seeming to go about tasks, but they, like the villagers, barely noticed the Wizard and his captive.

"I think I'm going to keep you in a cage, suspended from the ceiling," Vaaltos mused.

"Oh joy," Zeld muttered. "Have I mentioned lately that I hate you?"

"Yes."

zzz

"Please tell me that cage is not made of black wind," Zeld's voice said.

"Of course it is," a male voice Link didn't recognized replied. "What did you think?"

"Oh, I don't know, how about…steel?" Zeld asked. He sounded sarcastic and bitter.

What's going on? Link mused sleepily. How come I can hear Zeld and this weird guy in my head? Am I dreaming? Wait, I never know I'm dreaming when I'm dreaming…

zzz

"I'm hungry," Zeld announced once he was shut in the black cage. "Are you going to feed me?"

Vaaltos rolled his eyes. "Maybe tomorrow. I'm going to go re-think my plan, you just keep quiet and don't provoke the Wolfos." With a wake of his hand the lamps were snuffed and Zeld was left alone in utter darkness.

He sighed and leaned back. This was bad.. Very very bad. So bad he couldn't even express it in words. But he tried. "Well, this sucks," he said aloud.

"At least you don't work for that guy," a voice said.

Zeld stared helplessly at the speaker.

zzzzz

Another short chapter. But the plot is thickening...