Chapter Twenty Seven
~Normal POV~
Tanner stares at Link with wide eyes as he explains cell phones. We all took turns explaining to him what's happened so far. Where I come from, what's going on in Hyrule at the moment and what The Legend of Zelda is in my world. He took it like Link did, silent and surprised, with the occasional questions. He's processed it now. But he doesn't question anything. I think what really made him accept it was when Link showed him his Triforce mark, verifying both that he was the goddesses chosen hero and that he was a Triforce holder. That was the thing he was shocked by the most, that his younger brother is now one of the most powerful people in Hyrule.
Tanner looks almost exactly like Link, just a few years older. Only he has dark green eyes and light brown hair. He's also a lot paler and skinner than Link, but Link explained that was only because he's been starved and deprived of sunlight like a vampire for a few months. Well, he didn't use the vampire analogy. I'm pretty sure he doesn't know what a vampire is.
"But what about the earrings?" Tanner asks Link.
"The goddesses gave them to me, said they'd protect me." Link shrugs.
"Have they?"
"Not really. The only thing they've accomplished is making me look cool."
Tanner snorts. "Yeah, real cool. Earrings, very manly."
"Hey, don't diss the earrings. For the Sheikah earrings are a coming of age ritual," Sheik says, tugging at his ears which sport small hoop earrings like Link's, except red instead of blue. "I've had them since I was 13."
"Maybe they wanted you to be more mature, Link." Navi says. Link swats at her, but she just giggles and dodges him.
"At least they only gave you earrings," I say. "In Ocarina of Time you got sealed in the Sacred Realm for seven years because you were too young to be the Hero of Time."
"Yikes," Link says, raising an eyebrow. "That's more like punishment. Is that what the Hero of Time meant when he said he was a 10-year-old stuck in a 17 year old's body?"
"Yeah. But don't worry, Zelda sent him back to his original time."
"I can't believe this," Tanner laughs. "It's insane. My brother's a reincarnation of the greatest heroes in the history of Hyrule. And in another world none of us are real people. Just characters in a... video game, right? And Link's supposed to break into the castle and kill an evil warlord who's taken over Hyrule. This is crazy."
"Yeah, I know." Link smiles at him.
Tanner messes up Link's hair. "Mom and Dad would be proud."
Link smiles sadly. "Thanks,"
We have dinner (Tanner is starving, though he won't admit it) and start talking about how to get into the Dark Castle.
"Same solution as the guard situation," Sheik offers. "He turns into a wolf and scares the soldiers."
"Ganondorf will have much bolder soldiers guarding the castle." Zelda says. "They'll only be annoyed."
"Then Sheik and Link can find some way to distract them, like when they sneak into the castle to see you." Tanner offers.
"Same thing, they won't be fooled so easily."
"Ooh ooh, we can throw stones at them and knock them out!" Navi says excitedly.
We all turn to look at her.
"You're a violent little fairy, aren't you?" Tanner says.
"Yep!" Navi says happily.
"How about a riot?" Link suggests. "We can start a riot, they'll go to see what's wrong and we can sneak in. Now that's easy, Sheik."
Sheik laughs. "That's the exact opposite of easy. How do we start a freaking riot? What even about?"
"We start a fight with one of the prisoners. The prisoner fights back, more prisoners get involved, soldiers get involved. Including the ones at the gate."
"If we can get it big enough, it might actually work." Zelda adds. "You'd need to insult a large amount of people."
Link grins mischievously. "Leave that to me, Princess. I'm gifted in that sort of thing."
"How is that less violent than my idea?" Navi grumbles.
~X~
My parents would ground me for life if they knew I'm doing this.
We snuck into Castletown around dawn, about two hours ago. Link scared the guards away, and now we hide in the shadows of buildings, waiting for Link's signal. This definitely isn't the Castletown from the games. Well, I guess it's pretty similar to Ocarina of Time after Ganondorf's attack. It's dark and depressing, with prisoners, who were residents a few months ago, everywhere. They all have the same look on their face; sad, weary and a little hopeless. Most are chained together in rows, but some walk around freely, with guards watching them all.
Link is disguised as a prisoner, his sword and shield stored with Tanner. But since Link is the only one who can wield it, Tanner's having a hard time carrying it around. He has to keep it wrapped in cloth or it burns him, which he learned the hard way. Link has a hood shadowing his face, and he's also traded cloths with Tanner. Mud is smeared on his face so no one will recognize him. He blends in well. It's almost hard to recognize him.
Link looks up at the window I stare out of. I'm low enough that I can hear everything going on. He smiles and gives me a small thumbs up. He's ready to start the riot. This has to be the craziest thing I've ever witnessed in my life.
No, scratch that. I've seen way weirder things lately.
He walks over to one of the tougher and meaner looking prisoners and purposely bumps him in the shoulder. The prisoner stops Link and demands an apology. Link retorts back saying that he shouldn't have to apologize for something he didn't do. The prisoner hisses something at him, and Link sneers something back.
"Listen kid, these guards are already pushing me over my limit. Taking over my home, taking my family from me, making me a slave. You don't want to get on my bad side."
"I'm not afraid of you, you're just a brick wall in boots." Link replies. Ouch. He's better at this than I thought he'd be. It's like he's become a whole different person.
"So you think you're a tough guy, huh?" The prisoner growls.
"Oh I don't think, I know." Link laughs.
"I could snap you in half, boy."
"I doubt it. With that pea-sized brain of yours, you probably don't even understand half of this conversation. Am. I. Talking. Too. Fast. For. You?"
The prisoner raises his eyebrows in rage. "What did you just say to me?"
"See I was right, you're not understanding a word of this. I said. Am. I. Speaking. Too. Fast. For. You. Oxhead?"
The prisoner growls in fury and goes to punch Link, he's too fast for him. He ducks and the prisoner's fist sails past his head.
Link laughs. "And you're slow too. Was your mother part sloth?"
The prisoner takes another swing, and Link dodges again. "Come on, Oxhead, I know you can do better than that!"
The prisoner has obviously had enough. This time he charges Link, and Link purposely doesn't try to get out of the way. He knocks Link down on the ground with an loud and painful looking thump. I wince. That's gotta hurt.
His plan works, amazingly. More prisoners get involved and try to get the prisoner off of him, though some of the more aggressive also try to fight Link. A mini battle starts between the prisoners who are on Link's side and those who are against him. More prisoners get involved. Then guards get involved, including the ones at the gate just like Link said, but the prisoners start fighting the guards as well. They must be pretty fed up with being slaves in their own town. This is probably a perfect chance for them to get back at the guards. Soon there's a full on riot going on, with every single prisoner and guard involved.
I look for Link, worried that he's getting trampled, but I can't see him. There's just a bunch of dirty heads and shiny helmets. Then I spot him. He's being dragged of by his shirt collar by the prisoner he started the fight with. Crap, this can't be good. I run off to get Sheik and Tanner. Link's plan may have worked, but it's also just backfired on him.