Chapter 6

After walking across the drawbridge, the four companions realized that they were in the castle town. There was a small guard house to the right of them. Within minutes, a guard wearing steel armor came walking out towards them. He had a medium sized sword and a big shield. The shield had a silver outline and the center of it was dark blue. It also had some strange designs on it. There was a picture of three golden triangles, two side by side and one resting on top. Link blinked in surprise. He knew what that was called, but he couldn't recall it's name. There was also a red pattern below that and it resembled a bird with it's wings stretched out wide. The guard stood in front of them and blocked their way forward.

"Hold it kids! Where did you travel from?"

Charlie scratched his head.

"Why does it matter? Are you having some sort of trouble?"

The soldier nodded slowly.

"We sure are. Gerudo soldiers keep sneaking into town without us noticing and they are causing all sorts of trouble for the villagers. We've heard reports of robberies and kidnapings for the past week or so."

Max frowned.

"That's too bad, mister. Who or what are gerudos?"

The soldier scuffed his foot in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, kids. Forgive my ignorance. I've got to remember that outsiders probably aren't aware of them. Gerudos are a bunch of women from the desert to the south. Our king signed a peace treaty with them, but they aren't honoring their part of the treaty. They push us around, act like they own the place. Then they have the nerve to rob our citizens! Captain Viscin has us on full alert. So I need to ask you again, where are you kids coming from?"

Link stepped forward.

"My name is Link. The other two are Charlie and Max and the fairy is named Navi. We are from Kokiri Forest."

The guard nodded understandingly.

"Ah I see. That's why you're all dressed in green. You're a bunch of forest kids. What happened? Did the forest get a little dull and boring for you?"

Link sighed and shook his head.

"No, but it's a long story. Is it okay if we pass now?"

The guard stood to one side.

"Be my guest. Just be careful once you're in the Castle Town market place. If you see any oddly dressed people acting strangly or committing a crime, report it to a town soldier at once!"

Link and his friends walked into the Castle Town market place. What they saw amazed them. There were shops and stalls set up literally everywhere. The whole Castle Town was a big bustle of angry shoppers and busy shopkeepers. The Castle town itself was made up of 25 two story houses, all beside one another. Looking at all of the houses from above, it resembled a half circle, the pathway to the castle and to the open field splitting the circle, with a large fountain decorating it's center. All around the sides of the houses, many stalls were set up. Sometimes, shopkeepers would barely leave room for the house owners to enter and exit their homes. Link and his friends could hear people from one of the stalls over the loud roar of yelling shoppers.

"This trinket for 65 rupees? I'll take it! What else do you have?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I'm out of supplies. You'll have to come back in a few days. I should have more beautiful trinkets by then!"

The shopper, who happens to be a old lady, was outraged.

"What? Why didn't you bring more supples with you the last time?"

The shopkeeper began shutting his stall down.

"Leave me alone already! Go bother one of the other shopkeepers."

Max began to look around at the all the different stalls. There were a lot of jewelry stalls, clothing stores and even quite a few food stalls. He happened to see one just ahead of him that was selling different breads and cheeses. He turned to his friends.

"Guys! Let's get some food over at this stall. I'm starving! Afterwards, we can find a place to stay and..."

Charlie cut him off in mid sentence.

"Max, I love how eager you are to get us something to eat and find us a place to stay, but we got one big problem. How are we going to pay? We haven't got a single rupee on us."

Max stomped his foot down in anger.

"Darn it! You're right, Charlie. Sorry about that. I didn't give that much thought."

Link sighed and put a hand to his head. He was starting to get a headache, likely from the prophetic dream he had. He looked around and saw a small bench near one of the stalls to sit on. He looked at his friends.

"Try to see if you guys can find a way to get some rupees. There must be a game you can play to earn some or something like that. Now if you'll excuse me. I need to sit down. My head is hurting real bad and I can't concentrate."

Link walked over to the bench and sat down. He put both hands on his head and groaned. Charlie and Max looked at each other.

"What's up with Link? He still hasn't told us much."

Max agreed with Charlie's statement.

"I know. Something is wrong with him"

He turned to Navi.

"You wouldn't happen to know what's wrong with him, do you?"

Navi gasped when she saw the eyes of Charlie and Max staring at her. Finally, she sighed and nodded.

"I believe I do. He had a prophetic dream and it's starting to affect his mind."

Charlie scratched his head.

"What the heck is a prophetic dream?"

Navi tried her best to explain it to the curious Charlie.

"Think of it as a very realistic dream. it shows you events from the future"

Max snorted.

"That's it? That's what's bothering Link? How is that affecting his mind exactly?"

Navi had a serious tone to her voice.

"There's more to it than that I'm afraid. It puts you right in the middle of the action, almost like it's actually happening. You feel pain if you get hurt, you can interact with anyone in the dream. These things alone is what affects the mind. I was lucky. I had a minor one before my homeland was enslaved. It never affected me too much. When I evacuated, the dream didn't bother me anymore. I'm worried about Link though. He was telling me about people we haven't even met yet. We have to find a way to suppress those dreams for him or he might go crazy over time."

The two kids were dumbfounded. They didn't want to see their friend go insane! Charlie was first to break the silence.

"So then, what do we do?"

Navi started to fly in Link's direction.

"For now, try to fulfill Link's request. Try to find us some money. I'm going to keep Link company for awhile."

Charlie and Max walked around the Castle Town, trying to find a way to make money. That's when they saw it. There was a large crowd of people around a stall. They managed to push their way through the crowd to see exactly what was going on. Standing beside a tall barrel was a tall brown haired man with a long moustache wearing a top hat and a fancy black shirt and red pants. He took off his top hat and bowed to the crowd of people in front of him.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Try your luck with castle town lottery! It only costs 1 rupee to play! First prize is a beautiful hand crafted wallet with 500 rupees inside! Wouldn't you like to win all that money? All you have to do is pay one rupee and I'll give you a number. If your number matches the number I pull out of this barrel, you win! Second prize is 250 rupees! Third prize is 100 rupees! Three prizes, three numbers! Get yours today!"

The man pulled out a bunch of marbles with numbers on them. He then opened the lid of the barrel and threw in all of the marbles. Charlie threw up his arms in despair.

"Oh man! This is so annoying! That wallet would solve all of our money problems entirely, but we don't even have a rupee between us to participate. I guess we'd better go elsewhere. Let's go, Max."

One old man saw the look of disappointment on the boys' faces and stopped them from leaving.

"Hold on, young fellers. Don't leave. I'll give you some money to participate. I was going to play tonight, but I'm tired. I might just go home. Here. Hold out your hands."

The kind old man handed Charlie and Max ten rupees each! Charlie gave him a beaming smile.

"Thank you so much, mister!"

The old man returned the smile.

"No problem. Best of luck, sonny."

The old man shuffled off. The man at the lottery announced a final notice to everyone.

"Anybody else want to try their luck? This is your last chance, folks! The drawing starts in five minutes!"

Charlie and Max ran up.

"We'll both take a number, mister!"

They both handed him a rupee each. He handed them two papers with their numbers written on them. Charlie's number was number 12 and Max got number 06. Fifteen other people had numbers as well. Shortly after they had their numbers, the drawing began. The man shook the barrel. For a few minutes, all that could be heard was the clanking of marbles. Then the man stopped shaking the barrel and set it down. He then took the lid off and reached into the barrel.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen! Out third place winning number is 36!"

Everyone looked at their numbers and groaned loudly. Nobody had that number. The man sighed.

"Nobody has 36? Okay. I'm going to do one redraw."

He reached into the barrel and brought forth another number. He smiled with delight as he looked at this number.

"My last ticket went out with this number. Number 12!"

Charlie couldn't believe his ears.

"Oh my god! I won third place!"

Max smiled.

"Way to go, Charlie! Maybe our luck is changing for the better."

He walked over to the man in the top hat. He handed him 100 rupees and shook his hand.

"Congratulations! I didn't think anybody was going to win today. I hope you enjoy your prize."

Charlie walked back over to where Max was. The man began drawing for second place.

"Second place winning number is...21!"

A nearby woman screamed with excitement.

"No way! Wait until my husband hears about this!"

She took off running. The man with the top hat watched her go.

"Well, she seemed very happy now didn't she? Now, for the last number. The first place prize drawing begins!"

He reached into the barrel and pulled out a marble.

"Okay. The winning number is 53!"

Everyone looked at their number and groaned once more. One person shouted at him.

"Come on! Pick 45 already!"

The man looked around.

"So, did that loud groan mean what I think it did? Does nobody have that number?"

Everyone shook their heads no. The man groaned.

"Alright! I will do another redraw!"

The man reached into the barrel and pulled out another marble. He looked at the man who spoke out earlier.

"Sir, this might make you angry, but the number is 44!"

The man cursed angrily and wandered off muttering to himself.

"Stupid lottery. I was so close! I never win on it, but I always come close."

The man looked at his players.

"Please tell me someone has 44!"

Everyone shook their heads slowly. The man sighed deeply.

"Alright. I don't normally draw this many times for first place, but nobody has won first place in quite some time. So, I'm going to draw one more time. I'd like to see someone walk away with first place. If nobody has this number, it's game over, folks!"

He reached into the barrel and got another marble and pulled it out! He looked at the number and began to cheer.

"Oh my god, folks! We have a winner for first place. It's the little blonde haired kid with glasses!"

Max stammered as the man looked at him.

"W-w-what? Me?"

He nodded happily.

"Yes sir. The winning number is 06! Congratulations, young sir!"

He walked over to claim his prize. His legs were wobbly. He was very excited because their money problems were now officially over! Charlie cheered loudly.

"Holy crap. I can't believe our luck! We got 600 rupees between us. Wait until Link hears about this!"

The man running the lottery shook max's hand.

"Congratulations, young sir! I've never seen anyone as lucky as you and your friend were today. Well, that wraps it up! Come back in a week when I will have even better prizes!"

Unknown to anybody at the lottery, someone else was watching the proceedings and carefully noted who won first place. The person went back into hiding and waited for her chance to strike at the unlucky winner!

Charlie and Max walked away from the stall and began to walk back to where Link was sitting. Suddenly, a beautiful woman with dark red hair and tanned skin walked in front of them. She was wearing a red outfit and it had strange symbols on it. She looked at Max and grinned.

"So, I saw you win all that money. You are a very lucky boy. Oh where are my manners? My name is Saska."

Charlie eyed her suspiciously.

"My name is Charlie and this is Max. What do want with us?"

Saska had a evil grin plastered on her face.

"I want all of the money you are carrying. Give it to me now or you'll regret it!"

Charlie shook his head defiantly.

"No! Leave us alone or we will call the guards!"

She laughed loudly.

"Those idiots couldn't catch a cold! I'm like smoke in the wind. I'm crafty at hiding myself in the smallest of places. Now last chance, give me your money or I will let my sword do the talking!"

She brought forth a curved sword. They looked around and turned around and started to run away. Saska just stood where she was, still grinning.

"Oh, this is going to be fun! Run away, kids. It won't do you any good in the end though. Nobody outruns me!"

Charlie and Max were running, looking over their shoulders the whole time. Villagers were running around in a panic. Some of them even evacuated to their houses. Max continued looking over his shoulder and he gulped nervously when he saw Saska running after them at a fast pace. He decided to try and alert the guards. He shouted as loud as he could.

"GUARDS!"

As luck would have it, two guards heard his yell and began to give chase. Saska cursed angrily.

"Dammit! I'm not about to give up on this chase. Not until I have that money in my possession!"

Max heard what Saska had said and he decided to try something else. He turned and began to run over to where Link was sitting.

Link still had his headache, but it was feeling slightly better. He was starting to wonder if Charlie and Max had any luck with finding money. Suddenly, he heard some kind of commotion. He began to stand up. Navi sat beside him on the bench. When she saw him get up, she knew something was amiss.

"What's wrong, Link. Do you hear something?"

He nodded.

"Yes. It sounds like a lot of yelling!"

He got up and looked around. Before he could take another step, he saw Charlie and Max running towards him, followed by an oddly dressed woman with a sword. There were two guards right behind her, yelling as they chased her.

"Stop, gerudo! You're under arrest!"

When Charlie and Max got closer to Link, they gasped out a cry for help.

"Link! Help us. Get that darn gerudo away from us!"

Link acted quickly and pulled out his slingshot. He let Charlie and Max run by. Then the gerudo ran by shortly after. She was closing in on them. A few seconds later, the two soldiers ran by. Link tried to take aim, but it was hard. There were so many moving targets. To make matters worse, they were running around in circles some distance in front of him. He decided to fire seeds blindly into the melee. He shot out four seeds. One of the seeds missed completely. One hit Charlie on the wrist. He yelped in pain. Another hit Max on is left leg. He winced, but kept running. The last one caught Saska on the back of the head. She screamed and fell to the ground. The hit stunned her. Max and Charlie walked towards Link. They were completely out of breath. Max glared at him.

"L-link! Just whose side are you on anyway? That shot to the leg really hurt!"

Charlie rubbed his wrist tenderly.

"So did the one to the wrist. You have to get better at aiming, Link!"

Link nodded.

"I know. Sorry about that. At least the last one hit the gerudo."

They walked over to the senseless gerudo. The two guards that were chasing her patted Link on the back.

"Thanks, kid! You did us a huge favor. We've been looking for her for a long time. Saska the gerudo is wanted for thievery and murder. That was a good last shot. Too bad the second and third hit your friends. What exactly was she after?"

Max pulled out a bulging wallet.

"She was after this. I won 500 rupees at the lottery. Charlie won 100, but she was more interested in me."

Link couldn't believe his ears.

"You both won...600 rupees altogether? Way to go, guys! I wasn't expecting to hear that!"

One of the guards nodded.

"Yes, she must've been watching you while you were at that lottery stall. We had similar incidents a couple weeks ago. She's going to be put away for a long time. She was always a slippery devil. Every time anybody got close to catching her, she would always vanish! These women are a master of camouflage."

They saluted and dragged the senseless gerudo away.

After their ordeal, The four friends found a food stall and bought a big loaf of brad and three huge pieces of cheese. It came to 65 rupees. Max paid the shopkeeper and they sat down on a nearby bench to eat. Link's head still hurt, but he didn't care. He was proud of his friends for winning so much money!

"I'm really proud of you guys. I never expected you to win all that money. Now that we got some food, our next stop has to be an inn. I've got to lie down and rest my head."

Charlie smiled between bites of cheese.

"No problem, Link. I still can't believe how lucky we were today. The only bad luck was that gerudo giving us the chase. I'm glad one of your seeds managed to knock that evil woman out. If it would've missed, she probably would've caught us and killed us."

Link smiled as he finished eating. He winced in pain as his head began to hurt even more.

"Ugh. No problem. I know I got to work on my aim, but I'll wait until I feel better for that."

After eating, they went in search for an inn. They didn't have to search long. There was an inn just beside the potion shop and not far away from where they ate. They walked in. Link greeted the man at the counter. He was a thin, lanky man with black hair and a green shirt.

"Hello. How much are beds for the night?"

"Ten rupees for each person. Your fairy can stay for free"

Navi smiled.

"Thank you very much, sir!"

Link paid the innkeeper thirty rupees. He got up and led them to the room. It was a large room with three beds. They were all very tired. They wished each other a good night and they all settled down to sleep. During the night, Link had his same recurring dream again. He was in front of the drawbridge to Castle Town, a white horse galloped out carrying a young girl and an older woman. Next came a dark evil horse. This time, the rider named Ganondorf didn't speak. He simply held out his hand and blasted Link in the chest with magic and galloped away. Link once again went down to the ground in pain. This time, Navi said something peculiar.

"In order to end your prophetic nightmares, seek out Princess Zelda"

Then the dream faded away and Link woke up in his bed. He finally had the answer to his problems. He had to find this "Princess Zelda" and ask her to help him with his nightly nightmares. Link tried to get to sleep, but it wasn't easy. He was afraid he was going to have one of those annoying dreams again. He hoped that he would be rid of them as soon as he found Princess Zelda.