Zelda

Outside Hyrule Castle

2:24 a.m.

13 days before Declaration

Zelda could feel her throat tightening as she ran through the cold night. The smallest hint of blood haunted her, though she was not sure if she was smelling it or tasting it. Lungs filled with needles and legs filled with lead, Zelda had to fight for every step forward.

In the hundred shades of darkness, she saw a figure stand and wave towards them. "Link! Over here!" it whispered.

The Hero answered its call, and ran towards the shadow stuffed in an alleyway just outside the castle bridge.

"I assume this is Princess Zelda?" the figure asked Link. Zelda was surprised that the stranger could identify her in the dark.

"Sure is." Link replied. Even in the complete darkness Zelda could picture the smile on Link's face.

The shadow reached out and shook Zelda's hand. "Hello there, Your Highness. My name is Rusl, and I'm the blacksmith of Ordon village. Telma sent us each a letter saying-"

The blacksmith was cut short by the jingle of rustling chain mail. He pulled Link and Zelda into the alleyway with him and waited for the footsteps the fade away.

"Why are they heading back to the castle?" Link whispered.

"They must have been on patrol somewhere else." Rusl replied. "Whatever you did in there Link, it definitely got their attention. They've been pouring in from all over since that bell went off. Now come on, we have to go while the normal patrol is gone."

"But what about Auru and Ashei? They helped us get out, they're still back there!" Link whispered louder than he should have.

"I'm not worried about those two. They've been in tough spots before, they can handle themselves. Let's go, we've got to get Her Highness to Telma's place."

As they left the alleyway and ran onto the street, Zelda could not help but look back on the partly-built castle, which was sure to be shrouded in darkness for plenty of time to come.

-

Telma's Bar
2:36 a.m.

Even around the corner of the bar, Zelda could see the light coming from it. The warm glow of the lanterns was a welcoming contrast to the frigid night. She read the sign outside the entrance: "Telma's Bar" was all it said. That was all it needed to say for her to feel safe.

Once inside Zelda was greeted by a red-haired man slightly older than herself. He wore a dark purple coat over a pink vest. His tan shorts ended with protective caps over his knees, and were followed by white and pink argyle socks going all the way down his shins. In his hand was a dark purple book with a dagger holding the page.

He bowed as she entered, slightly surprised at her filthy appearance. "Greetings and salutations, Your Royal Highness! I am Shad, an archeologist by trade and a proud member of-"

"Did you just say what I thought you said?" Telma's voice boomed from the back of the bar.

Shad readjusted his glasses back into place, "I did indeed, Telma. Link and Rusl have succeeded in rescuing Her Highness."

The bartender almost ran out to meet Zelda, but once she was face to face with the princess she could only stare in shock. Tears began to swell in her eyes as she stood in silence.

"Telma, I believe I have you to th-"

Zelda could not finish her thought before Telma had her arms around her, holding the young woman close with trembling hands.

"Thank the Gods you're safe, honey." the bartender quivered.

Such closeness was almost foreign to Zelda. As ruler of the kingdom, intimacy was not a luxury she could afford to have. Not even her parents, who she knew had loved her deeply, showed her great affection in the company of others. Yet this moment, this embrace of a mother bear and her adopted cub, was no more foreign to Zelda's heart than her own name.

Her eyes swelled with tears as she returned the embrace. To say that Telma's bar was where she felt safe seemed so inadequate now. Telma's bar was where she felt at home, and it was Telma-her dear friend and adopted mother-who made it feel that way.

"Thank you, Telma. For everything."

The spell wore off after a few moments, then reality set back in. "You must be starving, sweetie!" Telma exclaimed as she brought the princess to the back of the bar. "Shad! Get the princess something to eat! And some new clothes while you're at it!"

"What? Oh! Of course! But...where am I going to get clothing at this time of night?"

Telma waved her hand up the stairs to the bedrooms, "I've got some old dresses from when I was younger. They don't fit me anymore, she can wear those for now...Well don't just stand there like an idiot! Get a move on!"

Shad jumped at Telma's command, and quickly ran to get the princess some bread before heading upstairs to find clean clothes.

Zelda had to restrain herself from completely devouring the loaf of bread like an animal. In the three days she had been imprisoned she had been given very little to eat or drink. Her stomach had withered to the size of a grape, but the feeling of food in her hands was enough to revive her hunger a hundred times over. Yet she would not give in to these desperate compulsions; she would be a lady, whether she wanted to be or not.

"Hey! Auru and Ashei are back!" Link said as he looked out the window.

Within moments the man and woman from earlier entered. Zelda was finally able to get a good look at the man with the cannon; a man whom she had seen often as a child. He was gigantic; at least a full head taller than anyone else in the room. The heavy brown jumpsuit he wore bore the Holy Triforce on his chest. He had a balding grey head and symmetric patches of a beard along the sides of his mouth, almost like the tusks of an elephant. His wrinkled face created folds on his forehead, which greatly contrasted with the young and benevolent look in his eyes.

He gave a warm smile at the princess as he bowed. "It is wonderful to see you safe, Your Highness."

The woman on the other hand, was much less courteous. She went behind the bar and grabbed a piece of bread.

"Yeah, couldn't have made a louder exit though." Ashei said through mouthfuls of food. "We had to sneak by pretty much the whole fuckin' army to get here."

"You must forgive my companion, Your Highness." the older man said after a quick glare at Ashei. "She is very skilled in the art of combat, but her skill in the art of manners is...limited."

Ashei shrugged as she sat on top of the bar. With her meal finished, she let out a large belch.

Zelda tried not to notice. "Yes, well...it would seem the title 'Your Highness' is no longer appropriate, Auru. As of three days ago, I am...no longer the Princess of Hyrule."

From the looks on everyone's faces, she might as well have said she was a ghost. They all stared wide eyed at her, not believing the words coming out of her mouth.

"It is true. General Donphes has usurped my throne. Have the people not heard this yet?"

Telma shook her head. "You've only been gone a few days, sweetie. The only thing I've heard are rumors that you'd run away for some reason."

"What reason is that?" Rusl asked.

The bartender furrowed her brow trying to remember. "Something about Her Highness causing the castle's destruction, or being the reason why the soldiers are homeless. Things like that."

"That's crazy!" Link protested as he stood up from his chair. "Don't people know that the castle blew up because Gan-"

"At this point the truth is irrelevant." Zelda interrupted. "What matters is not how this all happened, but the fact that it is happening. Donphes has taken control, and has ordered for my execution. He is most likely going to send troops to find me soon, if he has not done so already. That is what we should be focusing on."

Shad appeared at the top of the stairwell with a green dress in hand. "This was the smallest dress I could find, but it is most likely still too big for Her Highness."

Telma shot him a look, "And you call yourself a gentleman, Shad. Give it here."

The bartender drew the curtain so she and the princess could have privacy while Zelda changed clothes. She removed all of her jewelry and hair ornaments, even the ones that were not broken. As Shad had predicted, the garment was large on her, but not large enough to be very noticeable. When Telma brought her a small hand mirror to look into, Zelda could hardly believe she was gazing at her own reflection. Her hair was ruffled and filthy, as was her face. The dirt underneath her fingernails was turning black, and dark bags dropped heavily under her eyes. In short, she looked like a peasant.

"Your Highness," Rusl asked from outside the curtain, "if this Donphes fellow knows that you're missing, then is it possible that there will be guards coming to search for you here?"

"I doubt it." Zelda replied, opening the curtain fully dressed. "As a matter of precaution, only a select few individuals knew that I was a resident here. Other than Telma and myself, the only citizens who knew my location were my three escort guards, and they..."

Zelda stopped midsentence, remembering the night she was interrogated. "and they led me right into the general's trap!"

A loud knock was heard outside the entrance door. "Open up! It's the Royal guard!"

Telma quickly closed the curtain again and brought Zelda to the far back of the bar. "You need to hide, Your Highness. There's a secret passageway to the castle at the far end behind a few crates. I'm not sure how much of the passage is still up, but you only need to get far enough in to be out of sight. I'll come get you when they're gone."

Just as the bartender had said, behind a stack of crates was a dark doorway into nothingness. Despite Zelda's reluctance to leave the light of the bar, she squeezed behind the crates and followed the path far enough into the dark to avoid being seen.

She heard Telma yell at the front door. "Keep your helmets on, I'm coming!" she unlocked the door and opened it, "What do you want?"

The lower voice of her escort reached Zelda's ears, "Zelda has recently escaped capture. We've received orders to search the house in case she came here to hide."

"Do you have any idea what time it is? Can't you come and waste my time later, like in the morning maybe?"

"We won't be long, no need to worry."

The door creaked fully open. "Make it quick." Telma said.

"Are you usually open this late?" one of the guards asked. Link and the others must have pretending to be customers.

"It's a bar." Telma replied shortly. "People always come in for somethin', at any time of night. But just because I can serve ale at this hour doesn't mean I can stand some guards tearing up the place. So do what you gotta do and get out."

Zelda heard the creak of the stairs and the floorboards above her. One of guards was looking upstairs in her room. Another one was looking further down the hall in Telma's room. The third guard was still in the bar. His chain mail jingled as he walked into the far end of the bar, only yards away from Zelda by the sound of it.

She feared the guard might hear her heart pounding out of her chest. Fears and doubts flooded her mind as she held her breath. What if she was discovered, would Telma and the others stop them? Could Telma and the others stop them? The guards could not go missing, otherwise Donphes would get suspicious and send more; he may even burn the bar down for good measure! Zelda silently prayed that the soldiers would leave; not for her own sake, but so that Telma and the others would not be harmed protecting her.

"No sign of her upstairs." one of the guards commented as he went back into the bar.

The man in front of her responded to the other guard. "I'm not seeing her either; she must've run out of the city."

"C'mon, let's get back to the castle. If Donphes wants to kill the bastards who helped Zelda escape, he'll need all the help he can get."

The sound of the door opening and closing was no comfort for Zelda. As silent sighs of relief echoed through the bar the princess came out with her face paler than ever.

"You okay, sweetie?" Telma asked.

"Captain Attics and the others are going to die...because of me."

"That pony tailed binge drinker stood up for you?" Telma asked, more offended than shocked. "Why didn't he have the balls to stand up to his flat-headed friend Donphes in the first place?"

Zelda ran to where Link was standing by the nearest table, "Please Link. I need you to stop the execution. Attics gave us our chance to escape, I cannot allow someone like that to die on my behalf."

"Why should we?" Ashei butted in, taking a seat at the table. "If this guy's buddies with Donphes like Telma said, what's the point in helping him? He's either an idiot who had a sudden act on his conscience, or he's a wishy-washy pussy who can't pick a side and stick with it. Can't trust a guy like that, yeah?"

"Anyone who has aided Her Highness is worthy of our trust." Auru replied. He took out a map of Hyrule and laid it out on the table. "I suggest Rusl, Ashei, and myself try to free these Loyalists while Shad, Link, and Telma escape with Her Highness into the Faron Woods. Ordon Village should be far enough away from Donphes for the princess to be safe."

Shad nodded and readjusted his glasses, "I agree full-heartedly, my friend. However, what do you propose should be our escape route? One would believe that using Telma's wagon as a cover would be both obvious and incredibly loud. The guards would find it long before we reached the city walls."

"We shouldn't have to worry about the guards." Rusl said. "Remember what the soldier looking for Her Highness said? 'If Donphes wants to execute all of Her Highness' supporters he'll need all the help he can get'. If they were willing to give up something as important as finding the princess, then they must have their hands full keeping the prisoners contained. If that's the case, then it's probably safe to assume that there are at least a few holes in their defences. You can take the wagon and smuggle Her Highness out of the city, while we rescue the prisoners."

Zelda smiled and slightly bowed, "Thank you very much, Rusl. However I would like Link to stay behind and aid in the rescue. I am sure we can all agree that he is stronger than all of us, and is therefore our best chance in successfully rescuing Attics and the others. If your theory about the guards is true, I will not need him protecting me if there are no soldiers to stop us."

She then turned to the young Hero, who had remained silent throughout the planning. "That is, of course, if he is willing."

Link looked down at the map, at the others, and finally at Zelda. The indecisive look in his eye transformed into the determined glow Zelda knew.

"I'll get the Captain and the others out." he nodded at her. "But I'll need you guys to help."

Rusl silently sighed, clearly not content with this change of plan. "I suppose I'll have to escort Her Highness myself, seeing as how Link and I are the ones who know the best ways to Ordon."

"You'll be going too, right Telma?" Link asked.

The bartender shook her head. "Wish I could honey, but I can't leave the bar like this. Somebody's gotta be here in case those guards decide to come looking for the princess again. Feel free to use my horse and wagon though. It's a little bumpy, but you'll get there in one piece."

She gave a teasing look to Link, "Long as the wagon doesn't catch on fire like last time."

"Wait a minute!" exclaimed Shad. "What about me?"

"I've got a good idea for what you can do, yeah?" Ashei smirked.

"Oh. How...wonderful."

Auru leaned with his arms over the table, "It is decided then. Rusl, you should take the princess out of the city now. Every minute we waste endangers her life as well as the lives of the prisoners."

For a moment the princess hesitated from leaving, but a smiling nod from Link convinced her to face the frigid darkness outside.

As Zelda and Rusl left the others in the back of the bar, Auru pointed to the heart of the map: Hyrule Castle.

"This is what we are going to do..."

Southern Hyrule Field
6:37 a.m.

The bumps on the dirt road shook Zelda awake, refusing her even the smallest wink of rest. The princess wondered if she could see her breath if there were a light nearby; but of course there was none to be found. She and Rusl could not afford to be spotted out in the open field, so they extinguished the lantern once they were safely out of the city walls.

Rusl was absolutely right about the guards; all of them seemed focused on the execution, and the wagon passed safely through Castle Town without incident. Unfortunately, Telma was also right about the ride being uncomfortable. Several times Zelda had to keep herself from slamming her head into the floor.

She looked in the direction of where the sounds of hooves came from. Somewhere only a yard or two ahead of her was Rusl in the driver's bench, although she couldn't even see his silhouette. Zelda was fascinated by how well Rusl could see through the night. Much like Link, he had an incredible ability to see where he was going, whether in the light or the dark. Zelda also noticed how neither he nor Link even mentioned the cold. Perhaps they did not feel it, or had built up endurance against it.

Yet another contrast to her weakness.

Rusl must have turned his head to the east, because he whistled in awe. "Sun'll be up soon. Look at the sky."

Zelda stumbled through the back of the wagon to the driver's bench. The blacksmith was right: the sun would be up within the hour, but the current eastern sky was beautiful just as it was. A euphoric painting of pink sky and purple clouds, each shape as unique as a snowflake.

Zelda could not help but smile at the sky. It was the reminder she had desperately needed since Zant's attack on the castle: even though she was stumbling through the darkness now, the sun would soon rise to light her way.