Author's note: Updated 16th of July 2023
Chapter 4
Screams swept across the hills. They reverberated against the barn, the houses, the trees, the mill, the hill, and the fences before they reached Rusl's ears and let him freeze.
He turned to the mayor who stood like petrified on the planks of his porch. ''The children?'' he stammered.
More screams arose, lower than those coming from Link's yard. The villagers gathered by the exit had turned around and fled before a massive creature storming into the hamlet. Scarcely resembling an oversized boar, the monster that came galloping down the hill had dirty brown skin patched with grey, and sliced the air with lance-like horns. Glowing red eyes beamed above its drizzling muzzle.
However, it was what rode on top of it that caught Rusl's eye, a monster he had hoped to never set eyes upon again. Green, veiled, and wielding a heavy club, the creature with similar eyes than the boar's was crouched over the large saddle and drove its mount onward. As soon as it noticed the men standing at the mayor's house, it lifted a claw into the sky and screeched a gurgling war bellow that briefly drowned out the children's intensifying shrieks.
Rusl roared as he drew the very sword he had made for the king and dashed forward to meet the attackers. Bo and Jaggle grabbed whatever farming tools they could lay their hands on and followed, bellowing along with him.
0
Link did not know where to look.
Boars and their riders stomped about hacking at whatever stood in their way; everywhere he turned he saw animal skin, horns, hooves. Blooming bushes that had framed his yard and adorned the border to the forest were torn to shreds, trees spewed their bark from vicious strikes and bared their tender inner coat. His small vegetable garden he had painstakingly tended to day after day was trampled and overturned. Somewhere, he heard Epona's frantic neigh.
Then he caught sight of two forms fleeing before the raised club of a rider. He made out Ilia's long white shirt and Colin's blond hair disappearing behind a spruce, the attacker on the pursuit. Roaring out, Link dashed forward, groping for Harold's sword on his back, and hacked at the boar's sides with all the ferocity he could muster. The animal turned to him in its blind rage, its rider shrieking.
''Link,'' he heard Ilia's whisper. Colin had his face pressed into her chest and was silent with terror, but Link could see him shaking. He took up a stance before them and raised his weapon protectively. His hand felt slick and his arm trembled. The boar towered high above him, so much larger than the wild boars he used to hunt in the forest. A horrible thought flashed through his mind; what if they had come to avenge their smaller brethren fallen at the tip of his arrows?
He did not see the shadow coming from the right until it was too late. A rider dashed past him, its club hitting him in the side of the head and briefly drowning out all sound. He found himself on the ground, his cheek buried in the dense grass and prickly ferns. His ears rang with high-pitched whistling. The sky and the earth were swimming into one blurry mass of colour, but before him he could see large, moving shapes. The outlines of a cart, a boar tethered to it. Green abominations scurrying around holding wriggling bundles which emitted that abhorrent whistling. The bars of a large wooden cage.
His eyes were forced shut by the intense nausea that overcame him. Only the deep, droning sound of a large horn awoke him long enough to witness the arrival of their leader. It was astride a mighty, blue boar coated in armour. Sickly green skin covered it from head to toe, fat composed its huge belly, wrinkles adorned its ugly head. On top of its skull throned a set of horns, a strip of red painted near each end. Its orange eyes were glowing and much too small for its full-cheeked face. Silently, they contemplated the content of the cage.
Then the ogre licked its lips with a beastly grin before driving its boar mount onward. The wagon and the other boars rumbled over the earth behind their leader, their screeches and hisses echoing around the once idyllic paradise that Ordon had been. Link tried to push himself up, but his arms would not follow his command. All he could do was stare at the monstrous beast astride the blue boar, and force his crippled body to stay awake. His eyesight was dwindling.
One of the horns, Link noticed drunkenly, was chopped off at the tip, forming a serrated wedge. The left one.
Time blurred then, his eyes losing and regaining focus, each instance gradually reawakening his senses. The first thing Link became aware of was the cold hovering around him. No sunlight oozed through the dark sky, and the cold wind chilled his bare arms. He noticed the absence of birdsong next, but it was the intense pain in his head that finally roused him completely.
He sat up and cradled his pounding skull, glancing around him to take in the mess. Grass was torn from hooves and clubs, branches and leaves were scattered all over the place. His training puppet lay in a heap around the tree trunks close to him. He moaned as he tried to remember what had happened, how he had come to be at the edge of his yard half-buried in the undergrowth, when suddenly he heard cracking branches and the screeches of the monsters echoing out of the forest.
They were still close. He picked himself up, squeezed his eyes shut to stem the surfacing, overwhelming dizziness, and stumbled towards the sound. Gradually his vision cleared, allowing him to move faster.
The children. Where were the children?
He began to run. The trampling was becoming fainter with every second, urging him onward. The forest path was a wreck and littered with gouges and prints, so it was easy to follow the trace of the kidnappers. Link felt his own heartbeat hurt in his chest. Fear unlike any he had felt before pounded through his body with every step he took; as he briefly stopped by a tree to catch his breath, he felt the bark of the oak crumble beneath his palm and realised that his body was quaking. And yet the thought of Ilia and the children trapped in that cage, whimpering with fear, goaded him onward.
Through the smashed gate he ran into the woods of Faron.
His arms and neck began prickling at the intense sensation of wrongness that arose as he approached. The soil had become dark with shadows creeping from the coppice onto the path. They were black, completely black, obsidian rays drifting over the earth like fog in a plain, seeming to reach out and grab every blade of grass, every pebble and stick, and consume it. As Link hurried along the trail, the air around him began to vibrate. It became stronger the further he ran, until he had to cover his ears to keep away the noise.
Then the road in front of him disappeared. Link stopped short as he saw the earth no more, only the charcoal fog creeping over the spot that had once been the junction to the Southern Road. The pole with the six signs had vanished, engulfed in the haze which, as Link slowly let his gaze wander upwards, loomed up large to form a gigantic wall of blackness. He could not hear his own scream of shock that was drowned by the vibrating air. He stared into the pulsing darkness criss-crossed by golden lines that slowly appeared at his approach. Patterns formed and coated the immense wall, fluttering with the unnatural substance that moved like gently stirred water. Link could not stop staring; his entire being was trapped in that mesmerising aura of black, was pulled towards it yet at the same time repelled by his very core.
He was so lost in terror at the sight of the giant wall that he did not see the dark shape reaching out from it. His chords vibrated once before his throat was enclosed, a sticky mass of snake-like limbs winding around his neck. At once they tugged at him, lifted him off the ground, and pulled him right into the black. He felt a harsh cold the moment he passed the curtain of darkness, his body engulfed by the wafting fog and burning like hellfire at the touch. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth while the strange, enormous hand pulled him into another world.
When he looked again, all was different. He wailed as he was confronted by a horrendous, monumental face, black with no sockets, no mouth, only bulging patterns that covered it like a mask. It was gripping him with its massive claw, holding him up into the sky as if inspecting him. Link choked, struggling in its grip, the serpent fingers of the monster clutching him by the throat and sealing every possible income of air. The atmosphere around him, too, was pressing and pushing itself around his body, shooting dots of blackness onto his skin, piercing it and slowly invading every inch of his being. He felt the foreign shards enter his veins, his muscles, his bones, his very heart which they bombarded angrily, squeezing the light out. He screamed as the agony intensified, his body twitching under the pressure of the air.
The monster held him at arm's length, watching the youth being tortured by angry shadows.
0
From a little distance, the black beast and the writhing Hylian were intently watched.
A yellow-red iris pierced the dark vibrating air, a subtle smirk spread over a black mouth parted only by a single protruding fang. The one eye widened as the scene down below changed, the resolute smile stretching with joy. Delighted, it watched how the hallowed, triangular symbol on the boy's left hand flared up with golden light and blinded the colossal creature, making it recoil and toss its prey to the ground. The boy continued to twitch and jolt, moan and scream, now crouching on all fours with the illuminated triangle still shining frantically.
At once the little Hylian changed. His legs elongated, teeth as well as nails sharpening inside his skin sprouting with fur. His back bulged, his head widened, his nose grew, his spine stretched, a tail formed, all accompanied by his yells of pain that slowly turned raucous, guttural, and beastly.
Before the single eye of the observer a wolf howled into the orange sky, its eyes rolling back with agony, before it collapsed to the ground and remained still, the golden triangle slowly turning grey once more.
The figure in the shadows smiled with satisfaction. That was what she had been looking for; a grey wolf trapped in Twilight, helpless and unknowing. She watched on as the shadow beast took one of the wolf's hind legs in its serpentine fingers, gazed up at the sky, and then slowly fragmented into tiny shards of black to join the other masses hovering around. The wolf split as well, and a childish giggle escaped her at the thought of his complete ignorance. How she loved it when everything went according to plan. Now she would just have to track down their whereabouts, and the poor little wolf would be hers.
0
''Link!'' Rusl bellowed as soon as he arrived in the destroyed yard. ''Colin!''
''Talo! Malo! Where ur ye?'' Jaggle joined in behind him before shouting out at the state of the clearing. ''Gracioos Nayru! Whit happened haur?''
Only Link's tree house remained intact, the rest had been trampled to smithereens. The small garden where the Hylian had lovingly grown radishes, carrots, and cabbage for everyday cooking lay in a mess of upturned earth next to his home. The protective gate visible in the distance was completely destroyed, as was Epona's stable. Hay lay strewn all over the place along with grain, dung, and straw.
Just two of the beasts had ventured into the village, but as it seemed, they had occupied the united men of Ordon long enough. Rusl gasped as he crouched down, gingerly running a hand over the bloodied edge of Harold's sword lying abandoned in the grass.
He ran a hand over his ashen face. ''goddesses, no…''
''Dear Farore, Link won't be happy…'' Hanch, Beth's father, mumbled from behind. The smith turned to him sharply.
''Don't you see? The children have been taken, you fool!''
''We must search for them at once!'' Bo said behind them. ''Hanch, go and see if your daughter is in the village.''
At those words the soft-minded Hanch seemed to notice the true gravity of the situation. Everyone could see his brain jump into motion, making him jerk. ''Beth? She was here with the others all the time. Beth! Where are you?!''
Rusl took the ensuing silence as his cue and dashed into the forest, his sword held ready. Jaggle and Moe followed, and Bo ran back to the village with the hysterical Hanch in tow.
The men had arrived in the yard only a few moments after Link had been dragged into the black wall that still towered ominously at the junction to the Southern Road.
''Din protect us…'' Rusl murmured, staring at the fog, holding his ears against the deafening noise.
But he was quickly driven out of his stupor as Jaggle yelled out. The smith turned to see a pair of glowing green eyes float out of the coppice, followed by another, then another. The monsters ploughed into him and pelted him with blows until he was driven to the ground.
''Rusl!'' Jaggle roared and sliced at the neck of the nearest bokoblin with his sickle. The monster gurgled, dark blood spurting out of its mouth and spraying onto Rusl's chest. The smith groaned in disgust while kicking the carcass away but was sent back to the earth by a second beast jumping on him from the side.
Moe came to his aid with his axe while Jaggle swung his weapon at the rest of them. To Rusl's misfortune the black-haired farmer was not a skilled fighter, his strike intended for the bokoblin instead burying the axe in a nearby tree. The creature took its chance, hacking at Rusl with its sharp rake and cutting a few deep gashes in his side. It was Jaggle who finished it off by slitting its throat.
''Rusl, ye aw reit?'' he asked and crouched down, Moe pulling the cadaver away from the smith. Rusl was panting heavily while he held a trembling hand to his side. It was bleeding profusely.
''Oh Farore…'' Moe mumbled, running a hand over his face.
''Do you see the children?'' Rusl grunted, but Jaggle shook his head.
''Nae sign of them. They must hae bin taken deeper intae th' woods. Aam sorry, Rusl.''
The blacksmith motioned for them to help him up. ''We have to search for them.''
''Rusl, ye're injured,'' the carpenter stopped him. ''Let's gie ye tae Uli, we'll swatch fur th' bairns ance yoo're patched up.''
''But Link…'' Rusl groaned while the men half walked, half carried him back to Ordon. ''He ran after them… I saw his trace.''
''Link has probably bin taken an aw.''
''No, he ran after them, he must still be around. Link!'' Rusl called, nearly dislodging himself from Jaggle's and Moe's arms.
It was only with great effort that the two farmers brought their blacksmith back to Ordon. Clouds had overtaken the sky above the disturbed villagers who were gathered around Bo's house. The mayor was busy calming his shouting townsfolk as the three men came stumbling along the path.
''Darling!'' Uli called as soon as she saw her husband bloodied and weary in the farmers' arms. She hurried to him as quickly as her pregnancy allowed.
''Have you found the children?'' Bo asked. Jaggle and Moe shook their heads, and all hearts of Ordon sank.
0
Blackness. Total blackness. Behind Link's eyelids, and in his mind black with unconsciousness. Even as it slowly fell away from him and light greeted his other senses, it did not make much of a difference. The scents of stale water, saltpetre, algae, and dust, with a dominant side of old stones and rusty metal, wafted around him. Those smells were sharp and easily distinguished, more than usual. But another one that seemed much too near embraced his nose. What was it? Saliva, wet fur… Dog?
He deduced that he was in some sort of dungeon with a sewer close by, but he could not remember how he had gotten there. Had those monsters taken him after all and locked him away? Rusl had told him once that, in Hyrule, when someone was arrested, they were locked in a dark room behind metal bars and left alone for the duration of their punishment. That thought left him wondering what atrocity he could have possibly committed to deserve such a fate.
He was lying on his side. As he tried to move, he felt his entire body ache terribly. What had happened to him that made him feel so sore?
His lids finally managed to separate, revealing a small prison cell bathed in an unfamiliar orange glow. The air was vibrating ever so gently, buzzing like the wings of an insect; he could only compare it to the glimmering of hot air on a stone in summer. Everywhere tiny quadrants of a black substance floated around, spinning on their vertical axis in slow-motion. He stared at them for a long while but decided he could not explain what they were, and let his attention drift away. A lone lantern shone dimly in a wet corridor outside his cell. No one was there, no guard or prison ward, not even one of the green, veiled monsters that had invaded Ordon.
He felt rather warm despite lying on the cold stone floor. Had his kidnappers truly been as kind as to wrap him in a blanket before imprisoning him? This seemed rather banal. But then, why did he not shiver with cold?
A jingling echoed against the walls as he began to move, followed by slight pain in his left wrist. He did not need to look at it to know he was in shackles. He brought his arms close and attempted to wrap them around himself. They did not, however, do what he wanted. His bones and muscles tensed at the once familiar motion until he had his lower arms close to his chest. But his elbows just would not go outwards.
He brought his hands up and looked at them.
A pair of massive, grey paws with sharp claws filled his vision, and he screamed. But what came out of his throat instead was a piercing, shrill whine of terror. He felt for his chest, touched fur, barked out and paddled with his arms and legs until he had come to a crouch. Now at last he saw his body, his own body covered in grey-white fur. He began breathing hard. He tried to stand up, but his legs did not listen to him. The shackle around his left wrist chinked loudly as he thrashed about and moved back in panic, coming to an abrupt halt as the chain stretched and restrained him.
No no no! This can't be! he thought. This is just a dream! Just a dream!
He rolled himself to a ball, retreating as far from the bars as he possibly could. His whole furry body was trembling with fear and disbelief, making his bonds rattle. He could not prevent himself from weeping, cries that turned to miserable whimpers in his beastly throat.
The prison cell remained cold and muffling, the black speckles flying around him with silent indifference.
Suddenly, a high-pitched voice echoed through the corridor and made him quieten. ''Poor little beast. Where are you?''
He looked up at the bars where the sound had come from, and saw a small, dark silhouette that slowly approached and became clearer.
He ran his eyes along a pair of black and white legs. Compared to his own they were small and short, yet clearly feminine. He traced the body further and made out broad hips, a flat belly, and long, very long arms criss-crossed with turquoise, glowing lines. She wore no clothes yet did not appear naked. Her face was shaped like a horizontal oval, deep glossy black skin reaching across her forehead and temples that switched to a white jaw and cheeks. At last he gazed into a single eye, yellow and red, the other one seeming to be covered by a strange grey headdress. The creature's lips stretched into a cheeky grin, a lone tooth sticking out of her mouth. She did not look Human, or Hylian, at all.
Suddenly she jumped high into the air, whizzed through the solid iron bars as if they weren't there, and landed mere inches before him. Propelling her face forward, she laughed out. ''Found you!''
Before he could stop himself, his head lowered and he began to growl.
''Oh dear me, look at you being all scary,'' she sneered and folded her arms. Link realised she was only as tall as a four-year-old, but her whole being seemed to pulse with a strange aura of menace. Her head was much too large for her body, the black crown upon it crushing her. Yet she stood as tall and unhindered as if she wore nothing.
''Are you sure you want to be doing that? Snarling and glaring at me?'' Suddenly she sounded complacent. ''Well that's too bad. I was planning on helping you, if you were nice…''
Link silenced and looked at her with hope. Her demeanour changed once again in the blink of an eye. ''Hehe, you Hylians are so obedient. Oh, but you're not a Hylian any more, you're a beast!'' She giggled and left Link standing with ghastly surprise.
She knew he was not supposed to be a wolf. But how?
Link backed away as the imp leaned forward and took a hold of his jaw, her stubby nose very near to his. Piercing him with her gaze, she murmured slyly. ''I can get you out of here, but there's a price, my little wolf. Once free, you'll do exactly as I say.''
Link tried to turn away, but she simply squeezed harder. Her hand was unusually strong for her size. ''Oh dear, are we losing our submission already? Agree, and I'll get you out of here. Don't, and I'm gone and I won't come back. What do you say, beast?''
With a last wriggle Link managed to free himself. He nodded, frowning at the shackle that enclosed his left paw and was firmly fastened to the stone floor by a large chain. The creature chuckled. ''What an obedient little wolf, hehe. Now hold still.''
She pulled her hands together, lowering her head and concentrating. Link watched how a red ball of light formed between her palms, growing larger before being tossed at the chain attached to the shackle. The magic collided with the metal that hissed upon impact and began to glow red as it heated up. Link whined, trying to move away from the burning steel, but the creature ran over to him and held him still.
''I said don't move!'' she hissed.
The magic burned through the metal that eventually ran down to the stone tiles. She promptly grabbed the chain as the fire was halfway through and pulled at it, making Link move along with her. The links snapped open, setting him free.
''At least you can follow orders," she said, turning away as if nothing had happened. "That's a start.''
Link growled to himself, shaking his free paw where the shackle still hung with two intact links attached.
The imp now turned to the rusty bars and burned two of them away. As Link approached, he looked suspiciously at the hole.
''Well? You'll have to squeeze through, I won't make it bigger just for you,'' she said, turned around and suddenly began to float into the air. Link looked up in wonder, his eyes following her. She did not possess any kind of wings, only that enormous crown on her head. As she turned around and scowled at him with arms folded, he quickly set his attention back to the bars.
With a lot of difficulty and a few lost tufts of fur he eventually managed it out into the corridor. Walking in his beastly form was strange but quite intuitive; the ground was now so near to him that he felt only half as tall even though the rest of his body was larger than his Hylian form. Additionally he now had a tail which, thankfully, moved of its own accord whenever he made a step, counterbalancing his weight by swaying left and right without the need to control it. Soon, he forgot all about it.
Slowly, he approached the black and white creature that stood at the end of the corridor glancing around a corner.
''Shush, get back, someone's coming!'' she hissed.
Link's long ears heard a door being opened a distance away, followed by shuffling feet and the gurgling of a beastly throat. He quickly trotted after the hovering imp into the cell next to his own where the guards had left the gate open.
Inside, he heard water rushing quietly. It was coming from a little barred hole in the ground. The imp was busy melting those away while Link glanced down into a quick stream. One after the other she snapped the bars away, and as the path was clear her fingers grabbed his ear. ''Follow me, and don't you dare make a run for it, I've got my eye on you.''
Link yelped as she shoved him right into the hole. His still unsure feet collided harshly with the tunnel's slippery bottom, and instantly he was taken by the strong current that pushed him down the slope. Dirty water washed over him, made him retch and cough and shudder. The imp was soon hovering in his line of sight above him, her small form not catching one single droplet of the brackish water.
They landed in a larger basin where Link was briefly dunked. Quickly he paddled to the ledge and heaved himself out, retching. His thick fur was now plastered against his body and had intensified its stench to near unbearable putridness. He shook himself, sending a rain of droplets against the walls and even the scowling imp who hovered nearby. She growled angrily while drifting away, wiping the water off of her skin.
''Very good. Are you done?'' she asked, rolling her eyes at him before landing on her bare feet and walking along the ledge.
Link followed with his head hanging low, trying vainly to endure his own state of foulness. As he watched the creature walk in front of him, he took a better look at the headdress she was wearing; the black crown was composed of two parts, one round cylinder that held the entire piece rooted to the imp's broad head, the other shaped like two long thick horns atop a wider, rectangular base. What he noticed as well was her thick orange hair hanging out of the headdress, bound together by a metal ring. As the imp briefly halted and looked back at him to make sure he was still following, he saw the front, horned piece of her crown decorated with countless lines and patterns, all dominated by two snake-like, bulging stripes covering the horns and meeting at the forehead.
The part covering the imp's left eye was, surprisingly, shaped and carved like an eye itself that stared at him every time the creature turned around. He felt daunted by that large crown on her head and wondered why she was wearing it at all. What race she was—with her black and white body, glowing turquoise lines, and exceedingly long ears that stuck out of her head nearly perpendicularly—he could not tell either. All he knew was that she spoke Hylian perfectly, with just a small trace of a foreign accent to be discerned.
The path in front of them was slippery from the moisture of the current flowing to their right. He had no idea where they were heading, and even less where they were in the first place. Sewers like these did not exist in Ordon, and the closest thing to a dungeon he had once visited was the keep of Palaguard Castle where his surrogate father had once been commissioned to replace the prison bars.
''I would like you to meet someone, little wolf,'' his companion said as they arrived in a larger room with a set of winding stairs moving hand over hand up a circular tower. The sewer seemed to turn here, for the current emptied itself in a round basin and was diverted into another tunnel to his left. A small stone bridge gave access to the base of the stairs where the imp was waiting for him.
''She's to blame for all this mess, that girl,'' the imp added.
Which mess? Link thought. The fact that I'm a wolf now? How he wished he could speak and ask her exactly what had happened.
''She's in a tower way up there, so you better hurry up. We shouldn't keep her Highness waiting, hehe!''
Suddenly, the little creature jumped right on top of his back and tapped his sides with her minuscule feet as if he were a horse. He barked and threw his body about to get her off of him, but the imp just folded her arms and laughed, perfectly rooted in place.
''Now now, calm down you stupid beast!'' she called and pulled harshly on his ear. The pain issuing from her clutch made Link whimper and crouch down involuntarily. ''Have you forgotten what we agreed on? I'm tired of walking, so you're going to carry me to that tower.''
Her feet pounded his sides again while she released him, and Link glared at her. He was getting tired of her insulting manners.
But he did not complain further. Swallowing his pride he started up the stairs with the pestering imp on his back, and was thankful that she was not very heavy.
The stairs led into what looked like the top of the tower. It was empty but for a few crates. Through a large hole in the roof, rain dropped in from above. Link glanced up and wondered if that hole was there on purpose, or if the roof had been damaged. Seeing the rubble on the grated floor, he went with the latter.
''Why are we stopping?'' the imp inquired. The wolf cast her a puzzled look before gazing about the room. There was no exit except for a closed door in front of him. Hesitating he stood before it, the handle out of his reach unless he managed to stand on his hind legs.
''Uh, do I really have to do everything?'' the creature groaned just as he was mulling over how much of a fool he would feel trying to open that door. She hopped from Link's back and turned the handle. ''Now hurry up, I want to get out of here.'' He just sighed and stepped through the door where he was greeted by heavy wind and rain tapping against his body.
He was standing on stone tiles with low walls to either side and the open sky above him glowing in a bright orange. The small, rectangular particles of black still floated around everywhere and encircled him, stinging a little every time they brushed past his fur.
''Uh, I just hate this stuff,'' came the imp's quiet, angry comment from behind his head, and he glanced back at her to see her wipe the rain off of her face and arms.
Lowering himself on his front legs, he squinted through the foggy rain to make out the path, then headed off. He did not see much around him except for the stones and parts of the walls to his left and right. His musings renewed about where he could possibly be, and he recalled the locations he had already been to; first a dungeon, then a sewer, and now on what seemed to be an immensely long stone bridge. This had to be the castle in Palaguard, for nowhere else in the southern provinces had he seen such colossal stone monuments. He knew the fortress had four thick circular towers and a fifth, square one dominating the centre court, which was surely the tower his companion wanted him to reach.
Yet, as he trotted along what he presumed to be the battlements, he noticed that they were much longer than the ones of Palaguard Keep. In the foggy air dusted with rain drops, he could barely make out long, thin shadows reaching into the sky, and the roof below continuing into the unknown. If this was not Palaguard's castle, which castle was it then?
Soon, the tower in question appeared out of the dark, foggy air and loomed above him. As he had by now expected, it was not square but bulky and round with a broken door leading inside. He passed the threshold, and the stormy wind calmed to ominous silence. The walls looked old and weathered despite being sheltered from the elements by a wooden ceiling somewhere above him in the darkness. It was quiet, cold, and unsettling; it made him shiver.
Another winding staircase led up, and an excited tap against his sides from the imp motioned him onward. Soon a wide, wooden double door appeared in front of them, half open. He heard his rider snicker as he pushed himself into the room.
In the shadows by the window stood someone. His fur answered his fear by ruffling while he lowered on his front legs and began to growl. A fireplace to his right crackled dimly and did little to warm the chamber, yet its light danced on the cloaked figure that stood in front of the glass, staring outside. He did not know how to feel about the stranger, for something radiated out of them that was both familiar and threatening at the same time.
''Well, hello again, my dear,'' the imp said, causing the lone figure at the window to turn around sharply. The hood hid most of the features but for the outlines of a young, very feminine mouth and chin. Link hurried to compose himself. The black cloak she wore made her look taller, bulkier, but now that he could see her, she did not seem dangerous in any way.
''Back so soon, Midna?'' the young woman asked, her voice oddly low and mature. ''I see you found the one you sought.''
The imp, chuckling childishly, leaned back and regarded the figure with satisfaction. ''You remembered my name. I should be honoured.''
The woman gave a slow nod. ''I have a good memory.''
Midna's small hand reached around to ruffle through Link's fur. ''I found him indeed. He's not quite what I had in mind, but I guess he'll have to do.''
The woman lowered her veiled face to look at Link, showing no reaction to Midna's last reply. Link found himself staring into the maiden's sapphire eyes, eyes that looked so worn, so hopeless and mournful that he had to blink. He had never seen so much sadness on a woman's features before.
''You were imprisoned?'' The dull eyes wandered to his left paw where a little of his blood had crusted on the iron shackle. She remained quiet, her hands clasped loosely in her lap.
''I'm sorry,'' she said at last.
''Poor little wolf, he has no idea what has happened, or where he is,'' Midna chimed in and sounded dreadfully sympathetic. ''I thought that, before we go, you'd like to talk to him. You know, tell him what a great monarch you are, and what you've managed to do as such, hehe. Being who he is, he deserves to know at least some of it. Don't you think, my Twilight Princess?''
Link could sense the tension rise in the chamber. For a moment the woman in front of him did not reply, and only Midna's quiet giggles could be heard in the vibrating air. He tried to find sense in the imp's words, but to him nothing made sense any longer. What was this all about? What on Din's holy earth had happened to him?
As the veiled figure spoke up at last, her voice remained calm and unfazed by Midna's obvious attempt to provoke her. ''Listen carefully, Wolf. This land in which you stand now, this very castle that I called home, was once the great kingdom where the power of the goddesses was said to slumber. This was once the kingdom of Hyrule.''
Link could not help but stumble. Midna on top of him clung to his fur painfully, but more agonising was what this mysterious woman told him. He was in Hyrule, the very land he had dreamed about and had wanted to visit for as long as he could remember. And now she was telling him that it was no more?
The woman seemed to notice his shock, for she looked at him with silent sympathy. ''Hyrule, you must know, is not what it was any longer. It has been overrun by a powerful king who rules the Twilight. In his desire to govern our beloved world, he has turned Hyrule into a realm of shadows.''
Her voice broke at the last word, but she regained control of her emotions before they made a noteworthy appearance. ''Dipped in this Twilight, bereaved of light, Hyrule's people have become spirits. They live on in this form, unaware that they have passed into a spectre life. All they know now is fear, fear of a nameless Evil unseen yet felt in the air.''
She turned again, glancing out of the window at the orange glow in the sky. Link followed her gaze, looked for the sun or even the moon, but no such orb was present. Not even a single star.
The cloaked figure addressed him once more, this time moving her gloved hands up to the hood. ''Hyrule has fallen to the shadows, but I remain its princess.''
Link's eyes widened as the figure finally revealed her face. She was very young, not much older than himself, and strikingly beautiful. Her eyes were as blue as an afternoon sky on a cloudless summer day, her face pale like the moonlight. Hazelnut hair embraced a magnificent, golden tiara, its centrepiece a deep blue stone that throned above her forehead. Despite her young looks, her eyes were clouded and tired, worn by the worry and despair she had witnessed. Link could only stare as she looked back down at him, her Hylian ears cocking a little as her lips faded into a minuscule, weary smile.
''I am Zelda, daughter of King Gustaf and heir to the throne of Hyrule. To save my people, I surrendered to the king of shadows who transformed this land into a netherworld.''
''You needn't say that in such a woeful tone, Princess,'' Midna broke through the moment and cut short Link's struggle to believe he was standing before the very princess of Hyrule. ''I mean, I find it quite liveable, this perpetual Twilight. And because of those powers of yours you did not transform into a spirit either, so why be so sad? You should be happy to be still alive.''
Link found himself growling at her. How dare she speak to the Hyrulean princess in this manner? Yet he quickly stopped after remembering his own first reaction towards the cloaked sovereign.
''Midna, I would give my life to see the light return to this land,'' Zelda said. ''I do not fully understand your reasons to side with us, but you have to be on your guard. The shadow beasts have been searching far and wide for you.''
Midna lifted from Link's back to hover a little distance above them, turning around and laying her chin in her palm as if pouting. Zelda watched her with a questioning look. ''Why is that so, Midna?''
''Well, what do I know?'' the imp replied. ''You tell me, Princess.'' She plopped back onto Link, causing him to puff from the impact.
Zelda locked eyes with him once more, feeding him a little welcomed reassurance. He wanted to smile, but upon trying his teeth bared in a hideous, threatening snarl, causing him to snort and shake his head in shame.
A creak and clunk echoed through the open door, and the princess's eyes darted upward. ''Time has grown short, the guard is coming to check on me. You must leave, quickly!"
Link hesitated, ignoring Midna's frantic spurs. Surely he could take on one guard. There had to be a way to help the princess escape with him.
Zelda knelt before him, her countenance brightening with hope. "Do not fear for my safety, Wolf, my presence here will keep the king of shadows occupied, for a time. You need to seek out the light spirits, and help them as best as you can. Right now, you're the only one who can."
Link had no idea what she meant, but he nodded nonetheless. With a last glance at his princess, he blinked once before running out of her dark prison cell.
From the base of the winding staircase, he could hear feet pit-patting on the stone tiles as the guard mounted the steps. Midna caught his attention by flying out of a shattered window a few feet above his head, and he followed quickly. As he stepped into the orange radiance with its black particles hovering around him, he took a good look at his surroundings. The rain had lessened, now finally revealing to him the largest, mightiest stone building that Hylians had ever created; this was Hyrule Castle, no doubt.
''So, my little wolf," Midna said as he slowly walked along the tiled roof towards her. "Know where we are now? Quite impressive, isn't it? Hyrule, the big, wealthy, powerful kingdom has fallen into Twilight. Hehe, how ironic. Well, I said I'll get you out of here, and a promise is a promise. Not all of Hyrule has fallen into shadows yet, and I'm sure you want to get out of this wolf body, do you not?''
Link perked up at her words. He would be himself once again?
''But don't forget, you're still in my debt. So until I release you, you're my servant. I'll be watching you all the time, beast. All the time. Now, let's see if this works.''
She snapped her fingers, and the world began to spin. Link felt cold enshroud his body while his feet lifted, the stinging black speckles now bombarding him from all sides. They surrounded his limbs, poked his tail and pressed themselves into his fur, slowly but surely hammering it to pieces. All became black as they entered his eyes, hollowing them out. Before he knew it, he was already gone.
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