Zelda slipped a finger beneath her collar to scratch her neck. After her first attempt to escape, Ghirahim had put a wicked-looking amber-colored collar around her neck. If she strayed too far from Ghirahim, the collar would bring her down with a painful shock. Zelda knew this to be no bluff because she had tested it herself by trying to escape a second time. Ghirahim told her that he was amused at her persistence but warned her that if she ever made a third attempt, there would be much more painful consequences. As an illustration, he showed her a moblin whip that was used on human slaves. Zelda decided not to test him any further.

She was no longer in the palace. Ghirahim had put her in a tent located in the midst of a moblin war camp. Ghirahim assured her that the moblins wouldn't harm her unless he ordered them to. Zelda wasn't exactly comforted by that. She supposed that her quarters were Ghirahim's way of unnerving her. She was a Queen used to being pampered so he must have assumed that being captive in less hospitable quarters would break her spirit. He didn't know what she had already been through with Zant and Ganondorf. She would bide her time until the opportunity presented itself, and then she would find some way to sabotage Ghirahim's plans.

Ghirahim was a wildly unpredictable person, which caused Zelda to be even more on edge around him. She had seen him pummel a slave to death with his fists after the slave spilled some water. Another time, a slave had been blocking Ghirahim's way in the entryway of a tent. The slave hadn't seen Ghirahim coming, but Ghirahim had simply tapped the terrified slave on the shoulder and politely asked him to move. Zelda suspected that Ghirahim's unpredictability was intentional. It allowed him to retain his aura of mystery. It also made things difficult for Zelda. If she wanted to attack him, she would have to figure out more about him, but he was making that very difficult.

Ghirahim was currently taking her on a tour of the camp. It was massive. Tents were stretched out across the horizon as far as the eye could see. Ghirahim wanted her to see just how large his moblin army was, just in case she still had any thoughts of resisting. One look at the size of the camp was all Zelda needed to know that Hyrule would stand no chance if this army were to invade. The sight was imposing, but the stench was nauseating. Moblins were disgusting creatures, and the odor of the camp reflected this fact.

The worst part of all were the human screams of pain and terror that Zelda could hear in the distance. She knew that moblins took human slaves but being this close to their suffering was terrifying. Much to her dismay, Ghirahim led her closer to the source of the screams. It was coming from a cluster of large tents. Ghirahim threw open the flap to one of the tents. Zelda peered inside and saw blood-covered moblins doing the most awful things imaginable to the human captives. She turned around and vomited. Ghirahim smirked at her as he closed the tent flap.

"These are the torture tents" he explained. "The moblins already had a nice setup when I arrived, but I did teach them some tips for keeping their captives alive longer. Demonic magic has its uses, after all. As dimwitted as they may be in other things, moblins are surprisingly adept learners when it comes to making humans suffer."

"Why are you showing me this?" demanded Zelda.

"Leverage" replied Ghirahim. "You are very important for my plans but you also have the potential to be very troublesome for me. So, I will put the terms of your captivity to you very simply. If you are anything less than co-operative, I will put you in here for a few hours. I need you in one piece but there are ways of making you scream without drawing blood or breaking bones. Care for a demonstration?"

"No, that won't be necessary" replied a trembling Zelda. She was more terrified than she had ever been in her life. "I won't cause you any problems. What do you need from me?" Zelda hated letting this monster believe he had won, but she saw no other choice. He had total power over her, and it wouldn't do her any good to antagonize him.

"Right now I just need you as bait" said Ghirahim. "You have the Triforce of Wisdom embedded in your hand. I had considered simply cutting off your hand, especially with those fabulous fingernails, but alas, I have good reason to believe that doing so would cause your piece of the Triforce to disappear or even shatter. It's bound to you, and the only way to safely unbind it would be to have it merge with the other two pieces of the Triforce. Once your lover shows up to rescue you, I will merge my piece of the Triforce with yours and his. And if you don't fight me, I will let both of you go about your lives in peace. You can even remain in Hyrule Castle as a puppet leader, under my direction of course. That's how generous I am with those who help me."

"What makes you think my lover will be able to rescue me?" asked Zelda. "There is an army of moblins between me and him, in case you hadn't noticed."

Ghirahim chuckled. "Oh, I know all about Link. I doubt he will be stopped by these dumb beasts."

"But what if he is?" asked Zelda. "Link is a skilled fighter, but all it would take is one arrow that he doesn't see coming. If Link dies, and the Triforce of Courage disappears again, that would be a setback for your plans. Do you really want to risk that?"

Ghirahim nodded thoughtfully. "I know you are only saying this because you want to protect him. But nevertheless, you're right. I don't want to risk it. I will see to it that Link arrives safely."

Zelda breathed a heavy sigh of relief, grateful for the small victory. Whatever else may happen, she knew that at least Link would live.