Chapter 2 – Of Runaway Lovers & Link Travels in the Mine Tunnels
"Horoko! Horoko! You need to stop!"
"We have to hurry, Lilana. C'mon, keep pace!"
Lilana felt the hand that she was holding tug her to go faster and she angrily pulled away, stopping in her tracks. All she could see was the dark shapes of buildings all around her. The Royal City didn't look grand at all in the late hours of night.
Horoko stopped and grabbed her hand again. "Let's go!"
As they ran through the streets, heading toward the southern door, Lilana thought about the nice small building she had been in earlier. It had been the most nicest little inn. She had slept in a nice, little room with a nice comfortable bed made of straw. Now she was up in the middle of the night, running until she all out of breath.
She once again turned around and looked farther back to the only lit room in the entire city. It was a little light coming from the top tower of the King's castle. "I bet Princess Zelda is sleeping soundly tonight," she said sarcastically.
Horoko sighed to himself and then stopped. He turned around and laid his hands on her shoulders. "It's the only way Lilana."
He then kissed her softly on the cheek and she immediately felt a lot better. "I'm sorry, Horoko. I guess I'm just a little irritable when waking up."
"A little?"
"Shut
up!" she laughed.
Once that was done, they continued their journey through the city until at last they reached the giant door that led to the outside. The door was really a drawbridge and of course it was lifted up and closed, as it was nighttime. Horoko turned to his left and reached the end of the drawbridge and the beginning of the great wall that surrounded the city. He moved little more to his right, which then led into a small alley between the wall and some buildings. Presently they came to a small door hidden from seeing eyes.
It took out a little key and unlocked it.
"Where did you get that?" Lilana asked.
With a wink, Horoko replied, "Hey, it's me! Now watch your step."
They walked through a short tunnel as they traveled within the wall and soon came to another door. It was unlocked from the inside. Horoko opened it and Lilana immediately saw the Great River before her. They themselves were standing on a small ledge outside the wall and outside the city.
"Now we must walk along this ledge and reach the back of the city wall." This is of course because the Great River flowed from the north and then turned toward the west once it passed through the Royal City. In other words, the Great River was like a backwards "L" and the Royal City was right inside the backwards "L".
"Wait. What is that sound?"
Suddenly as if from nowhere, a horrific tremor with a thunderous roar hit the city with rage. Horoko immediately fell into the river and Lilana unable to stand, fell to her knees and held on to the doorknob of the door they had just come through.
Then the shaking stopped. Though outside the great wall, Lilana could hear noises of babies crying throughout the city. And though she could barely hear it, she could still hear the rumbling of the quake. It seemed to be heading to the northern mountain range.
She heard a splashing coming from the river. "A little help here?" Horoko called out.
Link breathed a breath of relief as he finally reached the top of the hill overlooking his father's expedition site. It was about midday and he had long left the Green Fields of West Hyrule and now was in the midst of dirt filled land. Down from the hill, hundreds of diggers were at work. Link saw diggers working in digging holes, coming out of holes, other workers studying pieces of rock inside one of the many tents scattered across the site, and more busy doings.
What caught his eye more than anything else was the pack of warhorses standing nearby the biggest tent. Link could tell at once by looking at the lead horse that its owner must have been a very important person. It was a huge, fierce looking, black horse. Link could only wonder who its owner was. The next thing that caught his eye were the obvious riders of the other horses. They were soldiers and each one had the look of a heartless killer. And they were guarding the site, making it a place wanderers should avoid.
"Hmmm," Link said to himself. "That armor they are wearing is not one I am familiar with. These soldiers are not of the Hylian army. I'd better get down there without being within their sight."
Leaving Eponal atop the hill, Link cautiously headed down the hill and headed down towards the site. There is really no point going into detail of how he got to where he went next because it isn't all that interesting. All that is needed to know is that he spent the rest of the day sneaking around the site looking for his father. After overhearing one of the workers' conversations, he found out that his father was underground in one of the many tunnels scattered across the site. He then proceeded to that hole which led to the tunnel and climbed down the ladder that led to it.
As he descended deeper underground, the air suddenly felt cold and damp. When Link reached the bottom of the hole, he realized the tunnel was more like a mine. Wooden linings held it up, similar to mines and lamps hung on each lining down the tunnel. Link slowly headed down the mine and soon came to another hole that led deeper underground. He climbed down the ladder that was there and headed down. The next mine at the second level was similar to the first and Link continued traveling this way until two levels lower. Then Link finally reached the deepest tunnel. Straight ahead of him, he saw a line of light near the ground.
Link thought that
light was strange. What could it be?
He quietly rushed toward the
light and realized that he had come to a curtain blocking the end of
the tunnel. The line of light was coming from the bottom. There were
some voices coming from the other side.
Link knew at once that once of the voices was his father. The person he was talking to was a voice he did not know. He leaned closer to hear what they were saying.
