The thunderous rampage of the storm rages on, bearing down upon the battlements with lashings of rain. The Princess clings to the corners of her dress to hoist it from the puddles that threaten to seep through her tailored ball gown as she and her Attendant peer over the Castle walls.
"Hello? Anybody there?" she waves eloquently into the sheet of rainfall.
Impa leans into the gales and spies a gathering of armoured soldiers at the foot of the drawbridge. They squint through the storm and gasp at the sight of the stranded maidens.
"Your Highness!" one cries despairingly. "Are you alright?"
"We're just fine, thank you soldier!" Tilda yells back. "Except for the irritable nuisance of a bloodthirsty demon roaming the Castle, everything is just spiffing!"
"Impa!" a nondescript rookie shoves his way through the barrage of men and arrives at the edge of the moat. "Impa, is that you?"
Tilda turns to her companion. "Are you familiar with that one?"
Impa shakes her head grumpily. "Just an errand-boy…"
"Impa, I'm coming to get you!" he declares and dives from the bank of the moat.
"Faito, no!" Impa reaches her hand over the battlements.
The soldier slams into an invisible shield that slings him backwards into the panic-stricken battalion. They scatter in all directions, willing him to take the fall into the surrounding shrubs.
"It's an impenetrable enchantment!" Impa warns, a little too late. "There's no way of entering the Castle!"
"So you do know him…" the Princess smirks.
"Search the town for someone learned in the art of magic!" Impa instructs the boys below. "Maybe they can dispel the barrier!"
"And what of you, Your Highness?" their leader calls. "And His Majesty the King?"
"We'll be fine!" the Princess assures them. "Now do as she says! By royal order!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
The rain-soaked soldiers give a unified salute before descending upon the nearby Castle Town. Faito rubs his bruised buttocks and approaches the drawbridge with caution. He points his spear to the squalid sky above and delivers his promise.
"By the strength of the Goddess Hylia herself, I swear I will save you from this siege! For the honour of His Majesty, his fair lady…and the woman I love…"
Impa presses her fingers against her forehead hopelessly as the young recruit vanishes into the sleet. Her companion eyes her with a smug grin.
"I never doubted your beauty, Impa; but I am overwhelmingly impressed by your ability to bewitch and ensnare the most handsome of suitors."
"He's not a suitor, Your Highness..." Impa insists with a groan.
"Not yet." Tilda teases. "Should we both survive this perilous night, perhaps an engagement is in order?"
She escorts her Attendant by the arm as they retreat from the relentless storm into the deadly danger of darkness.
