Chapter 3.

They climbed flight after flight, higher out of the dungeon. Zelda could hear the sounds of distant thundering, and see the walls tremble with the force of impact.

"What's going on up there?" she whispered to Zig, the masked figure carrying her.

"Captains giving 'em hell, I expect," said Zig, "That can't last forever though. We need to get up to the ship as fast as we can and get you out of here."

"Ship? There's no ocean near the castle."

"Not that kind of ship," replied Zig. Before Zelda could ask what he meant, the other masked man cut them off with a sharp hiss. They came to a sudden halt on the landing.

"You hear that?" said the leader, "Damn! Moblins! They're not far off. You'll have to take the boy too and go on ahead. I'll catch up."

Zig took the boy and slung him over his free shoulder. The skinny pirate seemed completely unaffected by the added weight. Up the stairs they went, two at a time, in an urgent sprint. Zelda had just enough time to see a group of moblins rush onto the flight of stairs. Then, they disappeared around the corner.

"Will he be alright?"

"Who, Gwen?" replied Zig, "Oh yeah, I wouldn't worry about her. She can handle herself pretty well."

"That is a girl?"

They raced through the halls of the castle cellar. Zelda knew they were only a few floors away from the ground level. There were more people, cooks and servants and other laborers. They were running about, trying desperately to gather whatever belongings and scrambling for places to hide. A thundering boom rose about the place. The walls trembled, sending dust down from the ceiling.

"What is that awful sound?" whimpered Zelda.

"Cannon fire, princess," said Zig, "It was the only way we could get you out of here."

"Oh my!" gasped Zelda.

"Don't get all squeamish on me, princess."

They continued through the kitchen and the scullery. They bounded up the spiral staircase and through the open trap door into the halls of the ground level of the castle. Tapestries and suits of armor went flying past as they cleared the side halls and made their way towards the main entrance.

"We're going out the front gate?"

"That's the plan," said Zig, "They'll be watching all the back entrances. There will be guards, but when it comes down to it no one will suspect that we're crazy enough to just waltz out the front."

"That's mad!"

"Wait till you meet the captain, and then you won't feel so surprised about that."

Through one more arched doorway, the great hall gaped around them. Hylian guards were everywhere. One of them saw Zig coming in. The guard raised his spear and pointed, shouting, "He has the princess! Get him!"

"I've got to put you down for a second, so stay close and don't get caught!"

Zig set the princess down and shifted Link into a more comfortable carrying position. They boy's head bobbed. Zig's right arm was free now. With a flick of his wrist a long, triangular blade shot from his sleeve. The guards descended on him like a swarm of locusts, but the he was ready for them. He danced around their clumsy spears with ease. Metal flashed as he struck, snapping spears and rending guard after guard unconscious.

Zelda gasped, trying her best to stay at Zig's heels. A guard sprinted at her. She screamed. Zig was there in an instant. He brought his blade like a cudgel down on the guard's helmeted head, knocking him out.

"Make for the gate, Princess!"

The three of them, Link still slung over Zig's arm, sprinted out of the castle. In all the commotion, the guards had not yet been able to seal the gate. It stood ajar just enough for them to squeeze through.

Outside, the walls of the castle were ablaze. Hundreds of screaming figures scurried back and forth like the silhouettes of ghosts drifting through the smoke and flame of a hundred structure fires. Archers and ballista lined the bridge leading from the main courtyard to the castle gate, firing bolts of tremendous size at some phantom foe out in the misty sky.

"What now?"

"Look!"

A behemoth object, like a falling moon came down through the sky. At first Zelda thought they would be crushed. The humongous thing did not flatten them, though. It hovered over them gently, the floating of a helium balloon. The thing was huge and round, made of wood with massive iron straps and bolted studs. A droning hum accompanied it, and wind poured off it in gale force.

Zig rushed past, grabbing Zelda's arm and dragging her. There was a trio of explosions- Boom! Ba-Boom! –fountains of flame like dragon's fire spewed from iron tubes at the crown of the massive thing. The cannons decimated the Castle gate, collapsing the great wood and iron doors into a cloud of rubble and dust. For a flash, the fire lit up the sky. Zelda saw that it was a sailing ship hovering over her, impossibly, in the midnight sky.

As Zig dragged her beneath the flying ship, a hatch on the underside popped open. A ladder made of ropes came lulling down like a great brown tongue.

"Climb!" cried Zig, pushing Zelda forward. The ladder swung treacherously in the wind. The princess gripped the ropes hard and climbed as fast as she could.

Zig was just behind her, climbing expertly despite the handicap of Link on his left arm. Zelda glanced back at them, and saw by the light of the fires that the boy was still there. They were almost home free! It would be a dream come true to get away from Nyarlath and know that she saved the brave boy who tried to help her.

Boom! Ba-boom! Boom!

The cannons thundered at the sky again. The ship shook violently. The rope ladder twisted, swayed, and then lashed like a whip in the wind. Zig's footing slipped. His grip on the boy was lost. Link plummeted.

"No!" cried Zelda.

Out of the cloud of debris that showered down in the cannon's wake a single figure sprinted, tatters of gauze wrap on its wrist trailing like streamers. Gwen caught Link just before he hit the ground.

Zelda and Zig let out a cheer as Gwen caught the boy. Gwen drew a cylindrical device from some hidden spot and pointed it into the sky. A little arrowhead with hooked edges fired out the end of it. It brought with it a long chain of shiny metal, which burrowed into the hull of the flying ship. The chain was contracted, pulling the pirate and her burden up into the air.

"You owe me big time, Princess!" shouted Gwen as the hookshot pulled her past. All Zelda could do was laugh and shed a tear of joy at the sheer relief. She and Zig climbed the rest of the ladder. Moments later someone was pulling them inside the hull of the massive airship.

"Alright, everybody on board?" shouted Gwen, passing Link off to another pirate, who disappeared down the narrow, wooden hall. "Good. Inform the captain. We can make our escape!"

The pirate pulled the wrappings away from her face, shaking out a mane of white hair. Zelda finally got a look at the face of her rescuer. Gwen was brown-skinned, with eyes of deep red and a slender pink scar running the length of her right cheek. Confidently, she strode through the crowd of pirates, who were rushing about fiddling with barrels, tweaking complicated looking knobs and levers, and mending pipework where holes were letting jets of searing steam into the air.

"First Officer," said one of the pirates, addressing Gwen, "We have sustained minor damage to the hull and the starboard turbine, but she's still sky worthy. The captain requests your immediate presence on the bridge."

"Aye!" replied Gwen, "See to it that the princess is kept safe in the captain's quarters, and don't let her out for any reason until we're clear of Hyrule Castle. We just might be in the clear, boys!"

A cheer went up among the pirates. The one to which Gwen had been speaking took Zelda by the hand and led her deeper into the airship's bowels.