Author's Note: Yes, yes. That last chapter was very dramatic, I know. It probably could have been better, but the story itself is about to raise three levels in coolness. Prepare for new characters, new plot elements, new thrills, chills, and… okay you get the picture. I'm finally deciding how the story will finally get real interesting, so stick around. This chapter and the next will BLOW. YOU. AWAY! (I hope)
Anyway, enjoy this chapter and review. Thanks!
Chapter 4: Alliance
Zelda cried. Tears mingled with raindrops as both cascaded down her face. She stood at the gates of Hyrule Castle Town, staring out into the field. The same storm billowed across the land. The wooden drawbridge to the city was crumbled and pieces were waterlogged, lying at the bottom of Zora's River. Looking behind her, toward Town Square, she saw that the town was desolate and Hylian corpses roamed the dark, wet cobblestone streets like zombies. In the distance, behind the town, was the castle. But not the castle Zelda knew. It was horribly reconfigured from its white, stone walls and beautiful, green spires into a grotesque, black pillar, floating above a new moat formed of fire.
This was not Hyrule. It may have the same land formations, the same city structures and names, but this was the twisted world formed by the wicked heart of an evil man. There was no hope left. No hero, no king. No way to restore Hyrule to peace and beauty. All that Zelda had left were her tears. Or was there more? Staring down into the blackened Zora's River the town was founded beside, she no longer saw a hopeless, eleven-year-old princess, but a battle-hardened Sheikah.
Even without a hero, she would still fight. She would still carry the hopes and dreams of Hyrule. Though she was a princess, she was now also a Sheikah learner, a student of the shadow arts, and if nothing else, she would fight back. As she prepared to assault Ganondorf's Castle, a melody caught her ear. The lullaby Impa played for Zelda as a young child. Staring off as far as the Lost Woods, Zelda saw Impa playing her one-handed ocarina.
Suddenly, a light shot out of the forest and parted the clouds. Light shone across the field, and the light from the forest became a boy. The boy was a Kokiri. He wore green clothes, a fairy floated at his side, and he carried the Spiritual Stone of the Forest. Suddenly, a cucco crowed the shrillest crow ever heard.
Zelda woke early. Out her east window she barely saw light touching the tops of the hills. Impa was already preparing her clothes for the ceremony.
"When did we get cuccos at the castle?" Zelda asked, rubbing her eyes.
"We didn't," Impa replied. "What are you talking about?"
"That crow," Zelda answered. "Didn't you hear it?"
"No."
"Oh. Must have been my dream."
"Another dream, Princess?"
"Yes." Zelda proceeded to relate her dream to Impa. By the end, Impa was smiling.
"What is so great about it, Impa? If Ganondorf caught the boy, why am I still having prophetic dreams about him?"
"Precisely," Impa replied.
"You think maybe… the boy's still alive?" Zelda asked.
Impa nodded and Zelda sat straight up excitedly. "I told you the goddesses would protect their chosen hero," Impa said. "Now, it is good that you are awake. The ceremony will be early this morning, so breakfast with your father will be canceled."
"Why so early?" Zelda asked.
"Because your father decided that Ganondorf could leave as soon as the treaty was signed. Ganondorf grudgingly agreed, I suppose."
Zelda got up and got ready for the day, humming the lullaby Impa played. Things were looking up. Ganondorf was leaving, the Kokiri boy was still alive, and finally there might be peace in Hyrule again.
Peace. Zelda wondered if she even knew what true peace was. She was born in the midst of a war that was just now ending. She could not even find inner peace. Or had she found it and that was what was making her so happy? Impa was always pretty happy despite her menacing appearance. Perhaps Zelda could begin learning the shadow arts now.
There was a knock at the door while Impa was brushing Zelda's hair.
"Yes? Come in," Zelda said.
The messenger girl entered the room and curtsied. "The treaty ceremony will be in half an hour, my lady."
"Thank you," Zelda said. "You are dismissed."
"But that is not all, my lady," the girl said. This response defied order, and either the girl had something important to say, or she was planning a revolt. Being a ten-year-old girl, the answer had to be the former.
"What is it?" Zelda asked.
"Your father, the king, wishes that you do not attend."
"Not attend?"
"Yes, madam." The girl curtsied again and left the room.
"I wonder what that was about," Zelda said.
"Your father probably just doesn't want you to disrupt this event as you have every other one since Ganondorf has arrived," Impa replied.
"Impa!"
"You know it's the truth, Princess. Now, let's head to your courtyard. We can do your studies there, and…" Impa paused.
"And what?"
"And there's a window looking into the ceremony room from your courtyard, Miss Zelda."
"That's true!"
Impa gathered up some scrolls and books and they hurried to the courtyard. It was still very dark outside. Light still had not reached over the castle walls to the inner courtyards. Along the way, Zelda thought she heard a high-pitched cucco crow, just like in her dream.
"When did we get cuccos, Princess?" Impa joked. So Impa had heard it as well. This crow was not in Zelda's imaginings.
When they reached the privacy of Zelda's courtyard, Impa put the books and things on the windowsill and sat the princess down. "You should meditate for the next twenty minutes, Zelda."
"But Impa, I think I've found inner calm and my true self already."
"Really? You think? If you'd actually found it, you would know for certain."
"But I have never been this happy or determined in my life!" Zelda responded.
"Why? Because you know who you truly are? Or because Ganondorf is leaving and the goddesses are with you? Zelda, inner calm does not come from outer sources. Now meditate, Princess."
Zelda sat in her meditation position and thought. How could she have been so stupid? Impa was right. She didn't know herself. She was just so easily cast about by surrounding events.
As she began studying herself, her thoughts once again turned to plans to stop Ganondorf. He was after the Triforce. He was already too powerful for Zelda, Impa, and probably the Kokiri. They would need more power, or a different kind, to defeat him.
It seemed just a short time later when a trumpet sounded, announcing the start of the ceremony. Zelda hopped up and ran to the window. All she saw inside were a couple guards wearing ceremonial armor, lining the walls. She realized Impa wasn't in the courtyard again.
As her ears calmed from the blast of the trumpets, another loud sound came. This time, the shrill cucco crow again, coming from behind her. She turned to face the source.
Light was now shining from over the wall, right down on her. The glare of the sun half-blinded her, but she could make out the shadow of a figure in the courtyard entryway.
"Who!" she said, trying to control her thoughts. It was dark, Impa was missing, and someone had come to her courtyard. There were so many guards along the path to this courtyard, either this person had free passage through the castle, or they were really good at sneaking around.
The stranger didn't answer, so she asked again. "Who are you? How did you get past the guards?"
Suddenly, a bright ball of light came out from behind the figure and a female voice said something inaudible. Then, she heard the voice say, "You're scaring her!"
The figure took a few steps toward Zelda. Zelda suddenly realized the voice was coming from the ball of light. A fairy! "Is that… a fairy!" As the figure stepped into the light, she saw it was a boy her age, in a green tunic and a green hat. Both articles of clothing were soaked, and the boy was carrying his boots in his hand. "Are you from the forest?"
It was him! The Kokiri boy from her visions! He was very much alive, and had finally arrived! The boy nodded in response to her question. He seemed uneasy and a bit afraid. The hero was afraid? What should she say?
"Then…" she started. "Then… You wouldn't happen to have… the Spiritual Stone of the Forest, would you?"
The fairy flew behind the boy and he walked forward, pulling out the green, shining stone she'd seen so many times in her visions from a pack on his back. One of the three keys to reaching the Triforce was here, in the possession of the hero, just as the goddesses said.
"Just as I thought!" she said. She laughed out of joy.
"I had a dream…" she said. She had to tell him in order to prepare him for his mission. "In the dream, dark storm clouds were billowing over the land of Hyrule... But suddenly, a ray of light shone out of the forest, parted the clouds, and lit up the ground… The light turned into a figure holding a green and shining stone, followed by a fairy…"
The boy seemed very interested in the story, and his fairy said, "That would be us." Zelda found the fairy very interesting, but was somewhat uncomfortable around it. Never had she seen a fairy in person before, and the whole idea of conversing with one was somehow odd.
Zelda just continued speaking. "I know that this is a prophecy that someone would come from the forest… And, yes, I thought you might be the one…" Suddenly, she realized she didn't know his name, and for all she knew, he didn't know hers. "Oh!" she said just as suddenly, and the boy was startled into a jump. "I'm sorry! I got carried away with my story and didn't properly introduce myself! I am Zelda, Princess of Hyrule."
The boy's eyes got wide in excitement. Apparently they had been eagerly looking for her. The boy didn't return an answer. Was he mute? Did his fairy have to speak for him?
"What is your name?" she asked.
"L-Link," he responded. "My name is Link, Princess."
"Link…" Zelda said aloud. She recognized the name, though she didn't know anyone by it. "Strange… it sounds somehow… familiar." She decided to get back on topic. This boy didn't seem like he knew anything about the Triforce or the stones. "Okay then, Link… I'm going to tell you the secret of the Sacred Realm that has been passed down by the Royal Family of Hyrule. Please keep this a secret from everyone."
"Sure," the boy answered. He seemed to be slowly overcoming his shyness.
She recalled the tales her mother told her from childhood. "The legend goes like this. The three goddesses hid the Triforce containing the power of the gods somewhere in Hyrule – the power to grant the wish of the one who holds the Triforce in his hands."
"Oh, cool!" the boy said. "So, I could get, like, a ham sandwich, or a… fruit of some kind… man, I'm getting really hungry. When was the last time I ate!"
Using the Triforce to get food? That was the most irreverent thing Zelda had heard outside of Ganondorf. This was the hero?
"Link, would you take this seriously?" she said. "My goodness. You Kokiri are quite… what's the word? Rambunctious?"
"Uh… I wouldn't know," Link said. "That's a big word."
A big word! This boy was no hero! Well, if this was the goddesses' choice…
"Anyway, Link, back to the legend. If someone with a righteous heart makes a wish, it will lead Hyrule to a golden age of prosperity. If someone with an evil mind has his wish granted, the world will be consumed by evil. That is what has been told. So the ancient sages built the Temple of Time to protect the Triforce from evil ones."
"Temple of Time?" the boy interrupted. He obviously had much to learn.
"Yes, that's right," said Zelda. "The Temple of Time is the entrance through which you can enter the Sacred Realm from our world. But the entrance is sealed with a stone wall called the Door of Time. And, in order to open the door, it is said that you need three Spiritual Stones."
"Door of Time, Spiritual Stones," Link said, as if he were memorizing it.
"Right. And another thing you need… is the treasure that the Royal Family keeps along with this legend… the Ocarina of Time!"
"So what's with all this 'Time' stuff?"
"What?" Zelda started wishing the boy were still too nervous to talk. Every time he opened his mouth he seemed less and less a hero.
"Temple of Time, Door of Time, Ocarina of Time… couldn't they come up with other titles?"
How could she phrase this so he would understand? "I guess it is a theme, Link. Perhaps it means that they have withstood the weathering of time."
"What's that? The Weathering of Time. How does that fit in?"
Zelda was just about to do something violent when the fairy said, "Link, give it up."
Zelda cooled down and said, "This story is only what has been told, as I said before."
"By who?" Link asked.
"What?"
"That is what has been told by who? How do you know it is real?"
Of all the unbelieving, irreverent things to say, Zelda thought this was the worst.
"It is real, Link. It is the oldest tale in Hyrule! There are shrines, pedestals, and temples all over the world dedicated to this belief."
"So who told you?" he asked.
She thought she'd made the point clear, but since he wanted details… "My mother."
"Oh." Finally. "What's that?"
"What?" He didn't know the word 'mother'? Oh, but he was a Kokiri! "Oh! You don't have a mother do you? Just the Great Deku Tree."
Zelda now felt sorry for him, though she no longer had a mother either. She couldn't imagine what it was like not to have one. Maybe this boy wasn't so bad. She'd almost forgotten he was a Kokiri. He wasn't stupid, or irreverent, just extremely sheltered.
"No, not him either," Link said in reference to the Deku Tree. "He was cursed, and he died."
Now the boy was all alone in the world. Perhaps that is why he was chosen.
"Oh. I'm sorry," Zelda said. Who in the world would have cursed the Great Deku Tree? "Wait…" She could think of someone. "Do you know who cursed him?"
"Yes. A bug." A bug! "Wait! No!" he corrected himself. "The Great Deku Tree said it was a man from the dessert."
"Dessert?" What was that supposed to mean?
"Desert, Link!" the fairy corrected.
"Oh! The desert," Link said.
"A man from the desert?" Zelda said. "I think I know who. There's only one man from the desert that I know of."
"Who is it?" Link asked eagerly.
"He is in here." Zelda waved her hand in the direction of the window. "I was spying through the window just now. The other element from my dream, the dark clouds, I believe they symbolize that man in there! Do you want to see him?"
"Yes, I do," Link answered. He stepped up to the window and peeked in.
"Can you see the man with the evil eyes?" Zelda asked.
"I think I know who he is," Link said after a moment.
"That is Ganondorf, the leader of the Gerudos. They hail from the desert far to the west. Though he swears allegiance to my father, I am sure he is not sincere."
"I'll say," Link replied.
"The dark clouds in my dream… They must symbolize that man!"
Suddenly, the hat Link wore popped off his head to reveal a baby cucco. It gave a loud, squeaky cock-a-doodle-doo, and Link jumped backward.
"What happened?" Zelda asked, startled. "Did he see you?" Oh no! If Ganondorf knew the boy was here, there would be trouble.
The fairy swooped up the chick and took him to the ground. Then she started whispering to it harshly.
"Don't worry," Zelda said, more to reassure herself than Link. Then she remembered Ganondorf was leaving today! Link's hat was off when Ganondorf saw him, and Link's shoulders barely came above the sill. The boy's face could easily pass as Hylian. Ganondorf had no way of knowing, and he couldn't do anything about it anyway. With new courage, Zelda said, "He doesn't have any idea what we're planning… yet!"
"What are we planning?" Link asked.
"To stop him from taking Hyrule from my father, of course," she answered, as if it were obvious.
"Didn't you tell your father about him?" Link asked.
"Yes. I told my father about my dream. However, he didn't believe it was a prophecy. But… I can sense that man's evil intentions! What Ganondorf is after must be nothing less than the Triforce of the Sacred Realm. He must have come to Hyrule to obtain it! And he wants to conquer Hyrule… no, the entire world!"
"You 'sensed' all of this?" Link asked. Zelda felt a little mockery in his speech.
"Well, yes. I've also found some of it out for certain myself."
"And your father still doesn't believe you?"
"Link, my father will not… cannot believe me. Now, we are the only ones who can protect Hyrule!"
Link started laughing. Why was he laughing? Was that funny?
"What is so funny?"
"Oh no! I'm not laughing at you, Zelda. It's just that you're telling me that two children are the only hope to save the world from an evil sorcerer! I mean, all I've got is a sword, a shield, and a slingshot!"
"A slingshot?" Hadn't she compared Link to a slingshot only yesterday?
"Yeah. But I won an archery game with it!"
"You what?" Zelda laughed now. The goddesses seemed to enjoy irony. A slingshot that won an archery game. There may be hope yet.
"Now what's so funny about that?" Link said.
"No, no," Zelda said, afraid she'd offended him. "Just ironic."
"Okay." Zelda wasn't sure he understood the word. Though they grew up in different worlds, Link and Zelda weren't all that different. She was thinking the same thing as he: that two children could not defeat a sorcerous man like Ganondorf. And according to her dreams, it was going to get worse before it got better.
"Link, I am afraid," she said. "I have a feeling that man is going to destroy Hyrule. He has such terrifying power! But it is fortunate that you have come. We must not let Ganondorf get the Triforce! I will protect the Ocarina of Time with all my power! If I have anything to say, he shall not have it! Your mission, Link, will be to find the other two Spiritual Stones! Let's get the Triforce before Ganondorf does and then defeat him!"
The plan she just explained to Link was the best one she had come up with. It was the only one that seemed to have much of a chance. Alone they couldn't defeat him. Together they couldn't defeat him. Even Impa probably couldn't stop him. Their only chance would be to obtain a greater power, and by getting the Triforce they could stop him from getting it, and use it against him. She would get the Ocarina and hide it, and Link would get the other stones from the Gorons and the Zoras.
"One more thing…" Zelda said. She picked up a quill and a sheet of parchment from the sill, and then wrote a letter to allow Link passage up Death Mountain to see the Gorons. No one without a note from the Royal Family was allowed, due to the terms under which Darunia, leader of the Gorons, agreed to sign the Hundred Years Peace Treaty. "Take this letter," she said when she had signed it, and handed it to him. "I'm sure it will be helpful to you."
"But I didn't get you anything, Princess," Link said. This wasn't a gift; it was an aid in his journey!
"No, we did, Link!" the fairy said. She reached in his pack and pulled out a flat, black box. She started trying to carry it to Zelda, but couldn't hold the weight and just dropped it in Link's hands. Link handed the box to her. It was about as heavy as a brick that size might be.
"Actually, it's from Navi and the Great Deku Tree," he said.
"Link!" the fairy cried.
"Navi?" Zelda said.
"Me!" the fairy said.
"Hmm…" Link said. "I know!" He picked up the baby cucco that was now roaming the grass and placed it on top of the box. "Keep him! He'd just end up getting hurt with me!"
"Oh. Thank you," Zelda said, though she wanted nothing to do with a baby cucco.
"His name's Chub."
"Okay." Zelda noticed Impa was standing at the entrance to the courtyard. How long had she been there? "Well, good luck," Zelda said to Link. "My attendant will guide you out of the castle. Don't be afraid to talk to her."
Link about-faced and headed toward the entrance. When he noticed Impa, he seemed a bit uneasy.
"That's my attendant and bodyguard," Zelda explained.
"Oh," Link said. He walked up to her.
"I am Impa of the Sheikah," Impa said. "I am responsible for protecting Zelda. Everything is exactly as the princess foretold."
"Okay," Link said. "I guess you believe her then."
"Yes I do."
"And you heard our whole discussion?"
"Yes I did."
"I didn't even see you!"
"You are a courageous boy… Link was it?"
Link nodded.
"You are heading out on a big, new adventure aren't you?"
"Yep. Lookin' for Spiritual Stones."
"If the castle soldiers find you, there will be trouble. Let me lead you out of the castle."
"Sure!" Link said. Then he ran back over to Zelda. He picked up his hat that Chub had knocked off.
"Almost forgot this!" he said.
"Goodbye, Link," Zelda said. "And good luck on your quest! May the goddesses protect you!"
"I will be gone for a while, Princess," Impa said. "Cover for me."
"Yes, Impa."
And that was all before Link, Navi, and Impa left. Zelda turned her attention back to the window. Oddly, there was absolutely no one in there. No one.
"That's strange," Zelda said. "The ceremony should not be over yet!"
Zelda decided there was only one thing to do now. She sat down to meditate, and put her gifts aside. The plan was going into action. Link was leaving to collect the stones, and when Impa returned they would get the Ocarina of Time and hide it from Ganondorf.
Why should Zelda wait? Because she's a worthless little brat. Or at least that's what Link thought of her for sure. Sending the boy with hardly a clue to search for the Spiritual Stones of Fire and Water. Perhaps that was what she was. Perhaps he had every right to think that of her. Anytime things went awry in her little plans, she had to cry. Is this who she was? A useless crybaby princess who thinks she's so much better because she receives visions?
Link.
Suddenly, she remembered where the name came from. She had uttered the name, "Link," in her dream, when she played the Ocarina.
She listened to Chub chirp for a moment, but then heard a loud, high-pitched hum in her ears. She tried covering them, but the sound was coming from within. She fell backward and everything turned black.
