When the sun came up, I slipped out of Link's grasp and crept to my clothes, pulling them back on. I gathered up his as well and put them next to him. My body felt sore; I finally used muscles I'd long been neglecting. The rabbit had been forgotten about, and flies buzzed over its body. I turned away with an unpleasant grimace. Straightening, I looked around the land, sighing when I saw the castle. Next time I saw it, I would be bearing down upon its walls, aiming for attack. I sighed and rubbed my arms with my hands to warm them against the cold chill. A premonition? Maybe. Link groaned behind me, and I turned around to look at him. He was sitting up, and his wound from the arrows had mostly healed and scabbed over. He turned around and nodded once in my direction. I turned and sat down on the ground next to him. "Are you ready to go?"

"Eh, at least let me dress first."

I laughed. "Probably not a good idea to go riding horseback nude."

Link chuckled and shook his head as he grabbed his pants and stood up to put them on. I respectfully averted my gaze. He finished dressing and called over Epona. We wrapped up our clothes and climbed on, too nervous to be hungry. Link sat behind me again, but he sat closer, and wrapped one arm around my waist. I found the close contact comforting, and I wrapped my hand over his as we ran.

I kept looking over the castle. I couldn't help it, I was feeling on edge. And for good reason, too.

It wasn't long before riders came after us, but it wasn't shrunken little goblins on boars. These were massive suits of armor astride armored, jet black horses. They waved enormous broadswords in the air in our direction. Epona screamed and ran faster, but they were still catching up. Link swore and unsheathed the Master Sword, and it caught the sun, gleaming like a diamond.

"Zelda! Get yer sword out!"

I nodded, crouching low against Epona's neck as I pulled my sword from my belt. The guards flanked either side of us, edging in. Link gripped a handful of Epona's mane and jerked her to the left, swinging his weapon at the head of the knight. The knight wavered, but returned the blow. Link caught it with the Master Sword, gritting his teeth and having to use both hands to hold his blade steady. I turned to the right and brought my sword up to deflect the powerful swing by the knight there. It wasn't a very good swing of mine, but it was enough to knock his blade off balance. Link shouted and broke contact, swinging the Master Sword over his head and gritting his teeth as it met the side of the knight's blade. I lifted my arm to deflect the next swing from the knight to our right, but I didn't move fast enough, and he slashed at my side.

Pain and a thin line of blood flared instantly and spread. I gasped and clutched the wound for a second, pulling my hand away and seeing the ribbon of blood. I grabbed Epona's mane and swung her to the other side, Link losing contact with his knight. He reached around and grabbed Epona's mane, whipping her back towards the left and pulling so she would slow down. The knights stumbled a few yards ahead of us and turned around, but we were running left. Towards the castle. "Link, go right!!" I screamed.

"Not yet!" he hollered back. We beared down on the castle, catching the eye of other riders, who started taking up the chase. Now he jerked right, thumping his heels into Epona's sides. "Run, girl! Run!" Epona was doing her best, but she was no match when the guards got her left hip. She screamed and kicked, stumbling to the right, regaining her balance, and limping. Another guard came running up to her right and swung, cutting her on the front leg. Epona screamed, reared, and fell. We tumbled off her, Link wrapping his arms protectively around my body and taking the brunt of the fall on his back. I got up and helped him up, only to be knocked down by the flat of a blade hitting my back. Link grabbed the Master Sword again and drove it into an uncovered spot on the rider's horse. The horse screamed and reared, throwing its knight. The other rider hopped down, and two others ran up, also hopping down. Link struggled to his feet, barely dodging as one aimed to punch him in the face.

"Zelda, stay down!" he shouted. I stabbed at the knights who kept reaching for me, but my muscles were poorly developed, and one knocked my blade aside and walked up, grabbing me by the throat and squeezing. I gasped for air, clawing desperately at his hands. Link looked over and bellowed, "LET HER GO!" He stepped forward, and the knight pointed his sword at my heart, pricking the skin in a tiny dot. "Step forward and she dies," a low, hissing voice growled. Link stopped, blood running from a gash in his forehead and a split in his lip. The knight loosened his grip on my throat, and I sucked in lungful after lungful of air. "Ganondorf has requested her presence at his castle. If you follow, you both will die."

Link hesitated, looking at me. I could only nod once. "Go, please. Go to… that place, and tell them." He looked away, furious, growling every swear under the sun. I closed my eyes and went limp on the guards. They weren't happy, but I was submitting to their commands, albeit as unwilling as possible. I was propped up onto an armored horse, and the knight hopped up behind me. "Go after him and kill him," he ordered a second one. I jolted upwards and started struggling, trying to hop off the horse and run after Link. The knight grabbed me by the arms and struck me in the back of the head, and I passed out.

When I woke up again, I was on a bed in a dismal room. I groaned and sat up, a wave of dizzyness throwing me right back down again. The doors to the room were shut, and I had no doubt that they were locked. I was still dressed, that was a relief. My clothes were smeared with blood, and while the gash in my side had quit bleeding, it still burned with pain. I forced myself up, and I wobbled uneasily to my feet, looking around. There wasn't much to the room besides the bed, and a tiny window. I ran to it and looked out, but all I could see was dead ground and the distant image of Death Mountain. No sign of Link, dead or alive. I sat down on the bed again, unable to stop trembling in worry and fear. What was Ganondorf planning? Was Link safe? Sitting wasn't helping to calm me down, so instead I paced nervously around the perimeter of the room. On my third or so lap around the room, the door abruptly opened and a knight stepped in, bearing a sword. He observed that I was indeed awake, and nodded. "His Lord Majesty wishes to see you."

I followed the guard through my old castle, not realizing until we got to the main hall that I'd been staying in my old room, of when my father was alive. We arrived before the throne, which Ganondorf had redesigned in stately black lacquer and white satin pillows. He looked up when he saw me and smiled. "Zelda! I'd been wondering where you'd gone all these years. Gallivanting with a farm boy, not something I would have pegged you as doing." I clenched my teeth and stared at him with hate. Ganondorf noticed and shook his head. "Don't look so resentful. I spared you your life. Do you know why?"

I did. "Because we made a deal," I replied. Ganondorf nodded. "We made a deal." He stood from his throne and walked towards me, grinning. I couldn't help but flinch and step backward, poking myself on the knight's sword tip that I did not know was there. "Do you know why I want to keep that deal?"

"No."

Ganondorf sighed and clasped his hands together with the forefingers extended and pressed to his lip. "Well." He thought for a moment, brows knitted together. I waited patiently. "Not only do I wish to uphold our deal," I glared, but he held up a hand for patience, "but also, I will not live forever. Certainly, I will come back again and again, in different forms and places, but while I am here and now, I desire to rule this country as long as possible, even if it requires… offspring." He looked at me meaningfully, and my eyes widened.

"You remember that part of our deal was that you are to never touch me!" I shouted at him angrily.

Ganondorf grinned. "The deal has changed then, hasn't it, princess?" I flexed my hands and growled in my throat. Ganondorf merely laughed. "Don't worry, I'll be gentle." The thought of his hands on my body made me shudder, and I wrapped my arms protectively around my body.

"You remember that if you touch me, I said I would kill myself," I replied in a cool tone.

Ganondorf frowned. "You wouldn't dare."

"Are you so willing to test that theory?"

I watched anger flicker over his face, a stone thrown in the pond of his cool façade. Ganondorf growled, flexing his hands into fists. "Very well. You will succumb to me, though."

I snorted, shaking my head. "I doubt that."

He lifted his chin and gestured with one hand. The knight behind me grabbed me by my arms and half-dragged me back to my room, my prison.