Author's Note: Sorry! Mudora took too long of a break! It was clearly an accident, I promise. One week I just took a load off. The next was foresee-ably busy. And this last week I've spent my free time re-reading my past chapters, to refresh my mind and try to keep out contradictories. Now, Mudora sits here writing the day before he promised you a chapter! Anyway, I hope I haven't lost my readers' interest by this point. Let's get started!
Mudora actually posted this story 7.2.05, but had to remove due to inconsistencies. That's what I get for taking such a long break! XP New things will be typed in bold for those readers who already read the chapter. These are important additions!
Chapter 5: Flight from the Castle
Zelda stood in the sky again, where she had spoken with Link as an adult in her last vision. But Link wasn't there. Instead, three golden statues flew down from above and surrounded the princess. The figures appeared to be female, and Zelda knew they were images of the goddesses.
A loud voice surrounded her. The images' lips didn't move, but she knew they were speaking, sharing one soothing, feminine voice. "We expect great things from you, Zelda, the Princess of Destiny. There is more to you than you know. Do not doubt your capabilities, for we are with you. And now, we bestow unto you some of our own power."
The statues began emitting colorful auras. One of red, one of blue, and one of green. The energy that surrounded them shone brighter until everything turned white…
"Wake up, Princess," teased a deep voice. Zelda was lying in her courtyard. The sun was now over the courtyard, and as she opened her eyes she saw Ganondorf kneeling over her. "Where is he?"
"Who?" Zelda asked as she sat up. Ganondorf's yellow stare pierced into her and gave her a shiver.
"The boy. The Kokiri. I saw him here!"
"He's gone, Ganondorf," she said defiantly. "You'll never catch him now."
"And the Ocarina?"
"What about it?"
"What have you done with it?"
"Nothing. I thought your girls were checking the treasury."
Ganondorf laughed. "Someone's been a busy little girl! Anyway, I've been to the treasury. It's not there."
"Not there?"
"Don't toy with me!" he said as he raised his hand to smack her. Suddenly he stopped. As the courtyard grew silent, Zelda heard several sets of footsteps marching toward the entrance from the outer courtyards. "We'll continue this conversation later," Ganondorf whispered. He then jumped away from her and disappeared in a swirling explosion of fire.
"Zelda!" King Hyrule was standing at the entrance to her private courtyard, along with several of his personal guards.
"Father?" she said as she got on her feet. "Why are you here?"
"The ceremony came to a quick end, Zelda. Where is Impa?" he said authoritatively.
Where are you, Impa? She thought. It was now bright within the castle walls, which meant Zelda had to have been out for at least an hour.
Princess? A thought entered Zelda's head. It sounded like Impa's voice.
"Zelda?" the king said. "Answer my question! Where is your bodyguard?"
"She is here, Father," Zelda replied. She was trying to think quickly. "She is just hiding. You know, as the Sheikah tend to do."
Impa, what's going on? Zelda thought.
I am not doing this, Princess. You are intruding on my thoughts.
Of course! Zelda thought. I just had another vision. The goddesses offered me some of their powers!
"Well, Impa!" the king shouted. "Come out where I can see you, now! There are things you need to know!"
Impa, where are you? Zelda asked again.
I am in Kakariko, teaching the boy to play his ocarina.
Why are you doing that?
I am teaching him the Royal Melody. That way, he can prove his connection to you!
"Zelda, what is going on?" the king asked.
"Umm…" Zelda had no response.
Impa, my father has come to my courtyard asking to speak with you!
That is not good, Princess! I will be there shortly!
Shortly isn't good enough, Impa…
"Zelda, you cannot be left unattended," her father said. "Especially now!"
"Why, what happened?"
"A Goron messenger has come from Death Mountain. He arrived last night, just before the raising of the gate. He says that Ganondorf blocked entrance to their mine. So during the ceremony, this was brought up under the conditions he must sign in the treaty. When he protested, I had guards surround him, and then he vanished. But not before burning the entire treaty!"
"He burned the treaty?"
"Yes!"
"And what do you mean by vanished?"
"He disappeared in a flame! Then, all the Gerudos dropped smoke bombs, and once the smoke cleared, they were gone!"
"This is terrible!" Zelda said.
"Yes. What's worse, they broke into the treasury. Everything inside is a wreck, but it doesn't appear anything was taken."
"How odd…" she said. She was contemplating whether or not she should tell her father about the encounter with Ganondorf moments ago.
"Yes. Other than that, there is no trace of the Gerudos anywhere in or around the castle. They couldn't have gotten far. I've sent soldiers out across the field to search for them."
"Excellent," Zelda said. "Now, I believe I will retire."
"Not so fast, Princess," the king said. "Where do you think you're going? Where is your attendant?"
"She went out on an errand for me," Zelda explained.
"An errand? Her job is not to run errands. We have pages for running errands."
"It was a very personal errand, Father."
"Those can be dealt with as well, Zelda. You cannot allow your bodyguard to leave your side for a moment! It is her duty as a guard and a Sheikah to watch over you. Now, I will set six of my best guards to watch you, and when Impa returns from her errands, I will have a discussion with her."
"Yes, Father." Zelda knew what a "discussion" was. And it wasn't good for Impa.
Zelda gathered up her schooling materials from the sill, the black box given her by the Deku Tree, and Chub, who was playing with the water around the moat and returned to her quarters. Each of the six guards assigned to watch her stood outside her room; two at the entrance and one at each window. Zelda just sat in her room thinking.
Where would Ganondorf have gone? Home? No, he would much rather stay nearby to take Hyrule. Would he chase down Link? No, he had no clue where the boy went. All in all, he would probably stay close to the castle and prepare to lay siege.
And what of the Ocarina of Time? It should have been in the treasury, unless her father had it. Some protector she'd turned out to be. These were times when Zelda needed Impa, to help her think and plan. She decided to wait until Impa's return to think anymore on the matters.
She sat in her room alone, but wasn't so lonely. Chub's soft chirp was warm and comforting. She decided to see what the gift in the black box was. There were latches on either side of the box on the bottom. She unlocked them and opened the box. Inside was a large book, almost as big as the box. On the cover were the words, "The Book of Mudora".
She pulled the book out and opened the front cover. On the inside were signatures: Mudora, and the Deku Tree as dictated to Navi. Obviously, these were the authors. She flipped the page and began reading.
"In a land beyond sight
The sky shines gold, not blue.
There the Triforce's might
Makes mortal dreams come true.
"Creation of Hyrule…
"Before life began, before the world was formed, three goddesses descended upon Hyrule's chaotic state. Din, the goddess of power, Nayru, the goddess of wisdom, and Farore, the goddess of courage. With her flaming arms, Din cultivated the land…"
Zelda knew all of this. Why would the Deku Tree want her to have it? She skimmed through the pages a bit. Through it all were things covered in Impa's history class, but put into more detail. Zelda spent several hours reading this book. Each section was headlined as the first. "Creation of Hyrule", "The Mysterious Prehistory", "The Gift of the Goddesses: the Master Sword", "The Discovery of the Sacred Realm", "The Sages Awaken and the Knights are Chosen". Zelda discovered many things she did not know before this day. She learned Mudora was one of the original sages. Finally, she reached a section of great interest.
"The Ocarina of Time and the Sealing of the Sacred Realm"
This section spoke of the Spiritual Stones and the Ocarina of Time being entrusted to each of the Hyrulean races. Rauru dwelled in the Temple of Light within the Sacred Realm, and the Sacred Realm was sealed with the Master Sword to protect the Triforce. Finally, Zelda read this passage:
"Instead of the artifacts of the seal being entrusted to sages or knights, they were entrusted to the protection of the leaders of each race and their people. The Emerald of the Forest was given to the forest-folk. The Ruby of Fire was given to the Gorons. The Sapphire of the Water was entrusted to the Zoras. And the Ocarina of Time was entrusted to Romanon, father of Aranon the sage, and king of Hyrule. But when the war of the Triforce began, the Ocarina was given to the royal composers, Sharp and his brother Flat. These two fled the war and found refuge with the Sheikah clan…"
"The royal composer brothers?" Zelda thought aloud. Suddenly, she snapped out of the book and realized it was growing late. Impa had surely returned by now. Zelda reached out with her thoughts.
Impa, where are you? Are you okay?
I'm fine, Princess, but I don't know how much longer… Your father caught me on my return, chastised me thoroughly, and placed me in solitary confinement, promising a hearing tomorrow morning.
That isn't good, Impa! If you're found guilty of neglecting me, you can be punished with anything up to death!
Yes, I know.
Where are you?
In the dungeons.
Right, I'll be there shortly.
No, Princess…
Zelda cut off her connection to Impa, and peeked her head out the window. The sun was setting.
"Is everything alright, Princess?" the guard who stood under her asked.
"Yes, it's fine," she said. She walked over to her door and opened it. She addressed the two guards posted there. "Can one of you two escort me to…"
"Sorry, Princess. You are not allowed to leave your room, by order of the King."
"Oh. Of course." She went back and entered Impa's secret drawer, where she kept all her Sheikah supplies. Daggers, needles, flash pellets, grapnels… Zelda grabbed several items and put them in a black satchel. Then, she changed into her training leotard. She grabbed some bandaging equipment and wrapped it around her face. If she couldn't get to Impa as the princess, she'd have to get to her as a Sheikah. Then she realized that if she were to aid Impa in fleeing the castle, she would not easily return to her chamber. She'd just have to leave with Impa. She grabbed the book, put it back in its protective case and put the case in the bag. Then she grabbed hold of Chub.
"No noise," she said, as if the bird could understand her.
She went back to the window, closed her eyes, and threw a flash pellet at the ground. There was a bright flash of light, and the guard below couldn't see a thing. She took this opportunity to jump out the window, over the guard, and down to the inner courtyards. It was dark within the castle walls again. Perfect. She made a run for it, holding onto the satchel to keep it from shaking and making noise. She ran into the shadows. If Link could sneak through the shadows, certainly she could.
Keeping to the darkest corners of the courtyards, she avoided guards and slowly made her way to her courtyard. She had to get inside again, and one of the windows around her courtyard belonged to a room with stairs leading to the lower levels, where the dungeons were.
She arrived in her courtyard, and went to the window. There, she set Chub down and pulled out a dagger and started scraping the window, until finally she dug a slit right through the window. Then, she turned the slit into a large circle. When the circle was completed, she tried to grab the circle of disconnected glass, but it fell into the room and shattered, making a loud crash. She picked up Chub again, jumped in the window and ran down the stairs.
The stairs ended in a dark, damp cellar of black and grey stone. There were cells of prison bars on either side of the main walkway, and there was a guard, sitting at a table, playing with cards by the light of a candle. His back was turned to Zelda, so she snuck up on him. What was she to do about him? Suddenly, after all this time of silence, Chub chirped softly.
"Wha-?" the guard said as he turned his head toward her. She dropped on the ground behind his chair. He just barely missed her. She knew if she could use the shadow arts, she could do something. But had she found herself? Perhaps she could, after all.
She set Chub on the floor. I am nothing but a bratty Princess, she thought as she mimicked the shadow symbol. She felt the energy flow through her. She removed her hands from the position, and the energy vanished. No?
Picking up Chub again, she rolled under the table, and then looked around the dungeon. She could see most of the cells, but it was so dark. She couldn't see Impa. Which cell was hers?
Impa, where are you? She thought.
I'm in the dungeon, Princess.
Which cell?
You're here? I'm in the very back.
Zelda crawled out from under the table and crawled along the floor all the way to the back. It was very dark, and the guard was involved in his card game, so he didn't even notice her.
Finally, she reached the very back and found Impa in her jail cell.
I'm right here, Impa. Don't speak, there's still a guard.
Right. Did you bring a lock pick?
I don't know. I brought some of everything.
Okay, it should look like a long, thin piece of metal.
Zelda searched through the satchel. It was too dark to see, so she had to feel. Finally she found something that felt like it might fit the description. She pulled it out and handed it to Impa.
That's it, Impa said. Impa reached through the bars and picked the lock on the cell. The door opened with a loud creak.
"Hey! What's going on?" the guard said. He stood up, grabbed the candle, and drew his sword.
Cover your eyes, Impa said. She grabbed one of the flash pellets and tossed it on the ground.
