Chapter Eight

-Suspicions-

In the middle of the night Link woke up to the sound whimpering. Navi was sound asleep on his pillow. Link silently got up and approached the bed. In the faint light of the single burning candle he saw the princess tossing and turning in her sleep. She whispered pleadingly for some invisible being to stop. Link climbed onto the bed and sat beside her wondering if he should wake her or wait. He watched her tremble as she fought with whatever demon she was facing in her nightmare.

The princess suddenly sat up, waking up sobbing. She nearly screamed when gentle arms wrapped around her. Now fully awake she remembered that she was sharing her room with the boy named Link. She wiped away her tears.

"I'm sorry for waking you," she said.

"That must have been some nightmare you were having."

"I had that dream again, however some parts of it changed. It's almost inevitable now. Every time I sleep it comes back."

"What kind of nightmare was it?" asked Link as he got closer to her.

"That dream I told you about earlier, although this time I clearly saw that the man in black was Ganondorf…The part with the man in green never happened, instead Impa and I were fleeing the castle. Ganondorf was chasing us…and I saw you! You were at the town's entrance. I turned to you and said something but you didn't react. Then Ganondorf's horse nearly made you fall as he passed by…He eventually caught up to us and killed Impa's horse. Impa and I both fell in the mud. A bunch of moblins suddenly appeared and surrounded us. Impa tried to fight them off but she couldn't…She fell to one knee and looked at me. She yelled at me to run but I couldn't move, that's when that evil desert man pinned me to the ground holding a bloody sword. When I woke up he was about to kill me," Zelda said in a trembling voice.

"I'm sure Impa would have stopped him if you hadn't woken up," he said after a long pause.

"I think this might be more than just a dream. I have this feeling that it will take place very soon. Sooner than we can imagine…"

"No it won't happen," interrupted Link.

Zelda starred at the boy in confusion. Was there something he knew that she didn't?

"It will never happen because I won't let that demon get a chance to even touch you," he whispered in her ear.

Zelda looked at him in the eyes as he did the same.

"Is that a promise?"

"I promise, Little Princess."

"Hey! I already told you not to call me that. I have a name you know."

Link smiled "I know…Just trying to make you upset about something else. Try to sleep now."

"I'll try," said the girl as she lay back down.

Link stayed beside her until she fell asleep, before returning to his make shift bed. As he closed his eyes before falling asleep he vowed to himself that if ever something happened to his best friend, he would kill the desert man.

When the little girl woke up, he had already left. She knew it was childish of her to yell at Impa for not having waken her…but still if only she could have gotten the chance to say thank you or good-bye at least. Who knew she might not ever see him again and Zelda felt awful because it would partly be her fault.

Three days passed and Zelda wondered how Link was doing and if he had managed to convince the Gorons into lending him the Spiritual Stone of Fire. The girl sighed and turned away from her window. She shrank back surprised to see Ganondorf standing not too far from her. How had he gotten in without her noticing? She scolded herself inwardly for her lack of cautiousness. An error like this could be a fatal one.

"What do you want?" asked Zelda bitterly not even bothering to use the protocol in addressing him.

"My…quite a foul mood for a fair young lady. Your father wanted me to see you that is all."

"My father?" questionned the princess. It's more like he wants to know what I'm up to.

"Why yes. You haven't left your chambers in three days now and your father is begginning to worry."

"Well that's a first…" mumbled the girl.

"Besides since we are to be bethrothed next summer, might as well get to know each other better don't you think?"

Zelda held back a smile. She had difficulty trying to imagine such an imposing, evil looking man doing small talk with a child.

"What do you wish to know?" Zelda asked as she went to her working table.

"For instance do you have any friends? I don't think I've seen you with anyone other than that Sheikah woman. But then again there was this young boy in green that I saw you with in the garden a few days ago. Who was he?"

Zelda sat down and began to work on a piece of embroidery she had previously started. "That was just a visiting nephew of one of the stable caretakers. I was supposed to go riding with Impa that day and his uncle had sent him to me to find out which horse I would like. He left yesterday I believe."

"I see…So you don't really know him then…Must be hard not having anyone your age around here…I'll make sure to find a lady in waiting your age once we are bethrothed…Anyway shall I see you at the dinning hall for supper?"

Zelda fought the urge to insult him, but held back. "I will be there. Now if you can please take your leave so I may work until supper."

"Very well then your highness. I look forward to your presence this evening," the Gerudo said as he made an exagerated bow. He then left, closing the door behind him.

Zelda sighed and silently prayed for Link's quick success.

The next day the princess spent the afternoon in the gardens with her guardian. It was while reading that Zelda's prayers were answered. The boy in green followed by his fairy came running to her.

"I have it!" the boy exclaimed joyfully once beside Zelda. "See?" he asked as he showed her the shiny red stone.

"You did it, I knew you could," said Impa.

Link put back the stone in his pocket. "Darunia believes you Zelda. He said that Ganondorf tried to take the Goron's Ruby away from him. When he saw he couldn't have it he got angry and blocked off the cave where the Gorons get their food. He also let loose some kind of monsters called Dodongo to kill whatever Gorons happened to be in the cave."

"That's horrible. How are the rest of the Gorons doing?" asked Zelda.

"They are all fine now. Link reopened the cave and slayed all the dodongos, including a big giant one that seemed to be the leader," answered Navi.

"You did all that by yourself?" asked Impa.

"I don't mean to brag but yes. It wasn't an easy task either," answered Link.

"Hmm…You are a brave boy indeed. Your sword skills must have improved greatly in that cave huh? Maybe one day you can be a knight," said Impa.

"So now there's only one stone left right? Do you know where it is?" asked Navi.

After a moment Zelda spoke. "I think the Zoras have it. If I remember what Ruto said during her rambling of last week, it's some sort of heirloom handed down from mother to daughter in the Zorian royal family."

"Zora? Is that another race of rock people?" questioned the young Kokiri.

Zelda laughed. "I almost forgot that you were a Kokiri. No wonder you never heard of them. They live just a little east of Kakariko. They are a race of mer people that are loyal to the crown of Hyrule."

"East huh? Maybe I can reach it before sundown. I'll come back here once I have it then we can go to that Temple Of Time. Come on Navi let's go! Soon we'll be back home!"

The boy waved goodbye as he ran off with the fairy trying to catch up to him. Zelda turned to Impa.

"Do you think my dream was wrong and that he is the Hero Of Time?" she asked.

"No I don't think so. The boy doesn't seem to be able to control time. And in the prophecy it says he can turn day into night in a blink of an eye," replied Impa.

"Whoever he is I think he has a big role to play in the future."

"Maybe you are right. But for now lets just concentrate on keeping all this from reaching Ganondorf's ears."