Link made his way into Hyrule Market and looked around. The once bustling city was now nothing more than a ghost town. Link had never seen the place so deserted. The doors to all the buildings were shut and there was no light coming from any of the windows. Link was also stunned by how quiet the city was. Except for the back alleyways, Hyrule Market always had the sounds of a thriving city in it. To Link it was as if some disease had infected the city and wiped out all life.

As Link made his way deeper into the city, he could hear the distant sounds of voices. He looked up to see dozens of knights making final preparations on the outer wall. Barricades were being set up behind the entrance just in case the enemy broke through the drawbridge. Link also watched as knights were bringing quivers of arrows and barrels full of bombs and spears up onto the castle walls.

Link now turned and made his way toward the Temple of Time. He hadn't set foot in the temple since returning to the past, and he was a little reluctant to now. He didn't know what memories being back there would bring up. He wasn't even sure why he was heading there in the first place. It was like he was being drawn there by instinct. As he passed by the four gossip stones sitting outside the temple, he wished that he still had his Mask of Truth. He wondered what kind of advice the stones would be able to give him.

The first thing Link noticed upon entering the temple was the altar where the three spiritual stones were to be placed to gain access to the Master Sword. The altar was empty now. Link and Zelda had long ago taken the three stones and destroyed them to prevent anyone from ever trying to open the Sacred Realm again. Link was really regretting that decision now since it also prevented him from getting the Master Sword. Back then though they believed that no one could ever be as bad as Ganon.

Link walked over to the altar and placed a hand on it. He stared at the indentations in the altar where the Kokiri's Emerald, Goron's Ruby, and Zora's Sapphire belonged. Link couldn't help but wonder as he stood there if there was another way to get the Master Sword. With a heavy sigh Link tapped the altar a few times and headed to the door. He walked back outside and took one last look at the temple before walking into the city again.

As soon as Link was back in the city he headed over to the wall. As he approached he had a better view of everything the knights were doing. The barricade that they were building behind the entrance was being built in a semicircle out of thick bricks. As Link looked beyond that he could see that the portcullis had been lowered and three knights were inspecting it. Link now looked up on top of the wall and saw the Captain of the Royal Guard giving out orders to the other knights. Link decided to go have a talk with him and headed over to the stairs on his left that lead up to the top of the wall.

When Link reached the top of the wall he froze in his tracks. Since the Kokiri Forest was directly south of the castle, he had a clear view all the way to the forest. The entire southern region of Hyrule was covered in thick, black smoke. Link looked at where the smoke was currently rising from and saw that it wasn't too far away from the Kokiri Forest. Both anger and despair were welling up within Link as he stared out toward his home.

"Grim sight, isn't it?" asked the Captain of the Royal Guard when he saw Link staring out toward the south.

"Yeah, it is," Link replied dismally. "The worst part is that it won't be long before those fires reach my home. So how go the preparations on the wall?"

"As well as can be expected. I mean, this is where all the fighting will take place. If the wall is breached we're sunk."

"You don't really mean that. You can still put up a fight if the wall is breached."

"That's merely an illusion. I mean, you've been in the castle dozens of times. Does it really look like the castle was designed to withstand a siege. This wall serves as protection not only for the city, but for the castle as well."

"You can't be serious."

"Just think about it. At least we have the advantage though. They can't use ladders because of the moat, so the only way in is through the drawbridge, which will obviously be up. Even if they manage to get through, they'd still have to get passed the portcullis and the small barricade we're setting up down there. After that we'll be reduced to fighting in the streets, and it will have to be in the streets that we make our final stand."

"But the castle can't be that defenseless."

"Damn you're thick. Why do you think there's a giant gate blocking the only road to the castle, and a fence after that which surrounds the moat? If any fighting is to be done at the castle it will have to be out in the field. The only way we could attack from the castle would be to separate our forces and have them attack from the many balconies. If they can breach through the defenses here though, then it won't be hard for them to break through the castle's defenses and then the fighting would have to take place inside the castle where we would eventually be overwhelmed. Now do you understand?"

"I never knew how vulnerable the castle was. No wonder Ganon was able to destroy it so easily."

"What did you say?"

"Oh nothing; just mumbling to myself. Well Captain, I bet you just can't believe that by tomorrow night Hyrule Field will be filled with our enemy."

"Tomorrow night?"

"Yeah, didn't you know?"

"I knew the attack was coming soon, but not that soon. Sorry Link, but I've got to get back to work. We've got a lot of work to do."

"Wait, before you go I need to ask you something. Was Alexis out here before inspecting the wall?"

"Who?"

"She's tall, has long brown hair, wears golden armor."

"Oh yeah, the chick in the golden armor. I saw her leave the Temple of Time a little while ago and head toward the castle. She came no where near the wall. Why, is something wrong?"

"No, just checking up on something. I'll let you get back to your work."

As the Captain ran off Link turned back to stare toward the south. The black smoke was continuing to rise. Link knew that all of his thoughts should be focused on the upcoming war, especially with what he just learned, but he couldn't get Alexis out of his mind. All other thoughts were immediately replaced with thoughts about Alexis.

"She lied to us," Link finally said to himself. "Why would she do that? Why did she go to the Temple of Time? Nothing is making any sense. Could she be in touch with the Sages? No, she would've told us if that were the case. . .or would she? That voice. . .where is that voice from? Who is she really?"

Link continued to stare toward the south as he said this. He then slowly turned his head to the left and saw Death Mountain. He now turned his head to the right and saw the entrance to Lake Hylia. Not knowing what else to do, he turned back toward the Kokiri Forest. As he stood there staring at the forest, he couldn't help but wonder exactly what was going on. As he started to wonder whether the Kokiri were still safe, a smile slowly crept along his face.

"No, she couldn't be," he said with a certain excitement in his voice. "It's impossible, but that voice is unmistakable. How though? The Sages maybe. But why wouldn't she have told me? There's only one way to be sure. If she is who I think she is, then there's nobody else who can do what I'm thinking of. I'll have to wait till tomorrow though. I don't have the time to set my plan into motion right now. I better start heading back before they start to wonder where I am. I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner."

Now with a certain spring in his step, Link made his way off of the wall and through the city toward the castle. Already ideas were forming in his head on how to prove who Alexis really was, but he tried to push them aside for the moment. He could think about that later on that night. Right now he had to concentrate on training the recruits.

As Link approached the castle, he stopped and for the first time looked around at all the people who had been drafted. There were a lot of familiar faces. Link immediately spotted Talon, Ingo, and the Carpenter Boss and all of his workers. Link remembered seeing Talon and Ingo heading for Kakariko Village though, but figured that they must have just been setting up a place for Malon. After all, the king had decreed that all able-bodied men were to report for service.

Link now turned to where Gerik was training and saw that in addition to the ten people he had been training earlier, there was now a group of about twenty others standing around them in a circle. Link knew that Gerik wouldn't take on that many people to train, so he guessed that the Royal Guards were sending the recruits to train with Gerik after they had taught the recruits the basics. No matter how much they trained from now till tomorrow night though, Link knew they would not be ready to take on fully trained soldiers. Their only hope was to keep them from breaching the wall.

With that thought in mind Link headed over to the archery range. Link decided that he would leave the hand-to-hand training in Gerik's hands, and he would teach them how to fire a bow. He believed that if he could at least teach these people how to shoot straight, then it might not even be necessary for hand-to-hand combat. He had to wonder though whether any of them had even fired a bow before in their life.

The archery range was made up of twenty targets. The targets were life-size mannequins made out of straw. There were targets painted in red on their chests and foreheads. They were attached to wooden poles in the ground. Dozens of arrows already littered the area around the mannequins, and there were very few arrows sticking out of the mannequins themselves. Whether it was poor marksmanship or they had been removed by hand, there were absolutely no arrows anywhere within the targets painted on the mannequins.

Not liking what he was seeing, Link turned to the recruits who were learning how to fire a bow. There were twenty of them standing there, one per target, and they each had a full quiver of arrows next to them. Looking at them, Link could see that many of them were nervous. It was nearing noon, so Link knew he better start training them. Some way or another, he had to train several hundred people how to fire a bow in less than a day and a half.

"Alright everyone," Link shouted out to the twenty archers, "I'm going to be your instructor. Now I need to turn each and every one of you into top-notch archers by tomorrow night. That doesn't give us much time. Now I'm going to take a shot, and I want all of you to watch me carefully. Watch how I stand, how I aim, and how I draw my bow."

Link walked over to the closest target and pulled his bow from around his shoulder. He planted his feet firmly into the ground and pulled an arrow out from his quiver. He placed the notch of the arrow into the bowstring and pulled back. He held both the arrow and bow firmly in his hands and aimed at the target. Everyone watched intently as Link released the arrow. The arrow flew straight through the air and hit the bullseye of the target on the forehead.

"Okay, now I don't expect all of you to do that right off the bat. I just want you to get the hang of it first. Now when you're aiming, keep both of your eyes open. I know you just saw me fire with only one eye open, but that's because I know which eye is my dominant eye. It'll take too long to teach you how to find your dominant eye, and since you could be accidently closing your dominant eye when firing, it'll just be easier to keep both eyes open. Now let's see what you guys can do."

"Um, excuse me sir," asked one of the recruits, "but where exactly should we aim for. I know that there are spots painted on the targets, but that's assuming they're not wearing any armor."

"You bring up a very good point. The spots painted on the targets are ideal for unarmored foes. The enemies we will be facing won't all be unarmored. Most will be wearing chain mail, but there will also be others in full-body armor. For those wearing the full-body armor, there are only two weak spots; the neck and under the arms. There is no miracle in this kingdom that'll have you able to hit those two spots, so don't even bother. Save you arrows for everyone else. For those wearing the chain mail, if the arrow has enough force it will pierce the mail. If your not confident in the strength of your arrows though, then aim for the head.. Now if there are no more questions, let's see what you guy's got."

All twenty recruits now turned to face their targets. Together they all pulled an arrow out of their quivers and notched them into the bow. They drew their bows back, aimed, and let loose the barrage of arrows. Link winced as the arrows flew in all directions. Only three of the arrows actually landed on the targets, but two of them weren't even close to the bullseye. The other arrow though, had hit the bullseye perfectly. Link didn't notice this though because he had his head buried in his hands.

"Okay," Link said as he slightly raised his head out of his hands, "that wasn't bad for a first try. You all fired the bow correctly, so there's nothing more I can really teach you. All you can do now is practice your aiming. If it helps, you can picture somebody you really hate and would love to shoot with an arrow. Just keep shooting, and when I think you're good enough I'll come over and send you to get some training with a sword. Good luck."

Now free to fire at will, the twenty recruits drew their arrows and fired one arrow after another at the targets. Link watched with increasing interest as the arrows were starting to get closer to the targets instead of hitting the ground around them. One by one, Link looked down the row of targets to see how everyone was doing and stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing one of the targets in the middle. He was in complete shock to see that one of the recruits had so far made six perfect bull's-eyes.

Wanting to meet this amazing archer, Link made his way over to where the archer stood. He had been standing behind the archers to see how well they shot, so he couldn't see the archer's face. All he could see of the archer from where he currently stood was that the archer had long, red hair. Thinking that he had seen that long, red hair somewhere before, Link stopped dead when he tapped the archer on the shoulder and she turned around. It was Malon.

"Malon!" Link shouted out in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, when I ran into you guys the other day and learned just how serious the situation was, I decided to help out. I mean, the king did ask for any women who knew how to fight, and as you can see I'm an expert with a bow. Since Ingo and my dad were coming to fight, I came also."

"There's no way your father would've gone along with this."

"No, at first he was against the idea. I just convinced him otherwise. I'm a grown woman and I'm capable of making my own decisions."

"But this is going to be too dangerous. You should head back to Kakariko Village now while you've still got the chance."

"Oh no, not you too. Listen, judging by what you yourself told me, if you guys lose this battle then Kakariko Village won't be safe. There won't be anywhere that's safe. I'll probably end up dying anyway, so if I am going to die I'm going to die fighting. Besides, other than you who can shoot a bow. Me, that's who. Whether you like it or not you need me."

"I refuse to stand by and watch one of my friends get killed. Sure you may be good with a bow, but what happens when they breach the wall and a bow is no longer useful and we have to resort to swords. I seriously doubt that your skills with a sword are even half as good as your skills with a bow."

"No, you're right. In truth, I've never even picked up a sword before. I know how to pick my battles, and I've already planned everything out. I'm not going to be foolish enough to try training with a sword now, so if the wall is breached I will immediately retreat back to the castle. You have my promise on that."

"No, I won't allow it. I want you to pack up your things and go back to Kakariko Village."

"Link, I'm staying. Now you and me have been good friends since we were kids. Don't ruin our friendship over something this trivial. I'm staying no matter what you or anyone else says, so you better just accept it or consider our friendship over. I know you're worried about my safety, but you seem to have no problems with having Zelda fight, or your other two friends I saw you with. Face it, you need my bow."

Link started to say something, but stopped. Malon just stood there staring at him with one of the most serious looks on her face that Link had ever seen. He looked at her, and then lowered his head in thought. The thought of her, or any of his friends dying, was a lot to bear. Even so, she did have a point that her bow was greatly needed. He also had to admit that she had a point that he was letting his other friends fight.

"Alright," Link said reluctantly, "you win. You can stay and fight."

"Yes, I knew you wouldn't disappoint me," Malon replied happily as she gave Link a big hug. "Well, since I'm not going to be training with a sword, and I don't think I need to train with my bow anymore, how about I help you train the recruits? We can split them between the two of us and we can train them twice as fast."

"Sounds like a good idea to me. I just have one question though. When did you become such a great archer?"

"I've been practicing with a bow since I was a little kid. Surprisingly, you run out of things to do at the ranch pretty quickly. This was just something I did to pass the time. Who knew it would be needed to save Hyrule. Well, we better get to training. We've got a lot of work ahead of us."

"Yeah, you're right about that. Look out!"

Link quickly tackled Malon to the ground as a fireball flew past them and collided into the hillside. They both got up off the ground and looked in the direction of where the fireball had come from. They saw Zelda and Alexis standing far off in the distance.

"Sorry about that," Zelda shouted. "I lost control of that one."

"Yep, we definitely have a lot of work ahead of us," said Link.