Disclaimer: I do not own The legend of Zelda


He had long lost track of time when he heard the old door creak yet again.

The Hylian girl entered with a trio of guards at her sides. One of them unlocked the cell and the other two herded him out.

He struggled against them as they took tight hold of his arms while the third clamped a metal collar around his neck. Attached to it was a thin, but sturdy and long chain. As if the entire situation wasn't enough of an embarrassment. At least shackles might've saved some of his dignity.
They handed the end of the chain, which was attached to a handle of sorts, to the Hylian girl. They followed as she made to lead him away. He had to wonder, though, why hadn't they bound his hands? Was is that they thought him too weak to try anything?

He considered, for a fleeting moment, to lash out and fight back, but thought better of it. It was doubtless that the guards would love it if he gave them a reason to give him a thrashing or worse.
He let his eyes wander as they led him out of the chamber that held his prison and through what seemed they an endless maze of corridors. Woman peeked out of every room they passed. A few of them even followed them for several minutes before losing interest and returning to whatever it was they had been doing before.

The floors of the place were strange. They had walked on inclines and declines and flat floor, all within the same hall. This made the halls a confusing mess to him. How on Din's great earth did anyone find their way around?

he saw light that was not from the torches on the walls up around the bend in front of them. The air quickly grew warmer and he saw a fair amount of sand on the floor he saw a square section of stone that let both the air and light in, and must have been the source of the sand on the floor as it had no glass.

He strained to look outside but was pushed roughly along and given a command to keep moving.

Our home runs deep in to the rock. The Girls soft voice said.

The hall they had taken had a few sparse windows set into the rock. All of them glassless like the first.
Despite having some exposure to day light again he could help but squint when they came to a large doorway and they pushed him outside.

They now stood on what must be the rooftops of the great maze inside. More buildings cut from rock sat all around them. Frankly he would not be surprised if those levels too were connected together with the others.

Bridges and towers interconnected much like around them, much like inside. Some bridges went higher and some lower around a bridge in the middle. A short distance off appeared to be a large market place. And women bustled all round the roof below.

They took a set of stairs set into the stone of the buildings, taking them to the roof of that layer of buildings.
From there they continued. along that level until they took a path right along the edge of the rooftops.

Not far from here. And our home runs as high as it does deep, as you see.

They stopped at a thin door that had quite clearly only recently been outfitted with large locks and bars. One of them pulled it open while the girl spoke. "This will be where you sleep and spend your time when you are not in my company." She said, leading him inside.
An unlit torch was to the side of the door. A small, very low table sat in the center of the room, on the table sat a small wooden bowl and a strange looking piece of fruit; and a bed that was little more than a mattress on the floor in the corner.

The room itself was about the same size as the cell, perhaps a tad bigger if he looked hard.

"We will leave you and return to our duties. " One of the guards spoke. "We know you will be wise enough to get help should you need it." That was all they said before the three of them turned on their heels and left, shutting the door behind it.
Once they were gone she snapped her fingers, producing a ball of flames in her hand. She transferred the flames onto the large standing torch. "There," She said, brushing her hands together. "That should burn nicely for a long while. I too shall leave you now. Soon it shall be evening. Rest tonight."

After a small while he crawled around in his new surroundings. The only possible weakness he could find in the walls was two small, thin slits that acted as a windows that were set high into the wall.

The bowl on the table contained water and there was nothing else in the way of food or water aside from the strange fruit next to the bowl.

He bent down and picked up the strange fruit. It was soft under his fingers and he wondered for a moment if perhaps it was rotten. Any fruits he was familiar with had gone bad if they were soft like this, except perhaps tomatoes. This certainly wasn't a tomato. It was purple instead of red and had a sweet smell to it.
It was strange to him, but, he concluded, if they were going to make him do physical labor for them it wouldn't make sense for them to make him sick with rotten fruit.

He took a tentative bite, It was fairly sweet though he would not say he was a fan of the skin.


She was right when she said it would get dark soon. Leaving him with the knowledge that his perception of time had been rather messed up after everything that had happened. And the knowledge that it got very cold, very quickly out in the desert. It had seemed that once the sun had set, the hot air had turned.

He could see his breath despite how close his face was to the fire of the torch as he dragged the heavy thing closer to his bed.
He pulled it as close as he dared before rubbing his hands together and wrapping himself tightly with the thin blankets of his bed.

He tensed as he heard the heavy locks on the door being opened and a cloaked figure entered. A small pit of fear settled in his stomach as the dark figure slid the door closed behind them. What would any of them want with him during the dark of the night?

"Don't be afraid," He relaxed, if only slightly, as a pale hand emerged from the cloak and pulled the hood down. "I'm here to give you this." She produced a large bundle from her the cloak and dropped it at the end of his bed. It was a thick blanket rolled up tightly.

"I recalled that you have probably never had to endure a night as cold as this. I figured you may need this." Her eyes flicked from him to the torch and back.
"It- it wouldn't do to have you lose any fingers or toes from the cold." Her tone tried to be cold, though her voice still had hints of warmth to it and he saw the slight flick of her fingers a split second before the fire sprung subtly higher and seemed to burn stronger. "In time I'm sure you will become used to it. Though that will never negate the risk of hypothermia so make sure you stay bundled up, okay?"

She padded back over to the door. "Goodnight...Uh...Sleep well." She slipped back out into the night, locking the door behind her. He reached out and snatched up the blanket. It was slightly tattered and worn, but it was thick.

She was certainly a strange creature. One moment speaking coldly and the next doing him acts of kindness. Perhaps her acts of kindness were merely out of her own interest, but something strange in the back of his mind thought perhaps they were genuine. Likely not, but what ever slivers of hope that came to his mind he would hold onto.
He muttered a quick prayer for courage as he wrapped the new blanket around himself.

He would need whatever courage he could get if he was going to face whatever fate was going to throw at him.