Chapter 2: “…What?”

    Green woke to a very agreeable feeling.
    Someone was holding him gently in her arms and kissing him. He still felt a bit groggy, but…
    If it was Ilia, caught up in some backwards sleeping princess fairytale…
    He struggled and mumbled something, his eyes reluctantly opening.
    The eyes looking down into his were a brilliant green, not Ilia’s hazel. So it wasn’t Ilia who had fallen for him. Who was it, then?
    The eyes blinked, and a familiar giggle came to his ears. “Hi, Link!”
    Link tore himself away, almost falling over backwards. He came to rest in a crouch two feet away from the person.
    The person with laughing eyes, glossy brown hair, a blue Kokiri tunic, and a fairy bobbing next to her head…
    “… Rana…?” Link breathed, seeing small black spots swarm over his vision momentarily.
    “Yeeees?” she responded, laughing.
    Link lunged for her. Caught her slender body to him, buried his face in her neck and inhaled the smell of the forest that she had. Her arms flew around his shoulders, and she pecked his ear.
    Pulling away just enough he could see her, he asked. “How are you here?”
    “Walked, silly! Actually, Malon gave me a horse – well, I earned it – but she’s in Kokiri Village.”
    “No… aren’t you… dead? Hello, Naeri.”
    “Hello. It’s good to see you alive.”
    Rana laughed. “Huh? No, why? Ohhh… you mean that battle with Ganon, and how I passed out? Um, well, the Great Fairies showed up about two seconds after you left, and by the time Zelda got back, I was okay.” She leaned into him, her head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. If you thought I was dead for the past…”
    “Ten years.”
    “That’s a long time…”
    “Yes…”
    For just a moment, they held each other. Then Link remembered.
    “Colin! Ilia! Epona!” He jumped up. Rana jumped up too.
    “Oh, I wondered why you were unconscious. Is it monsters?”
    “It’s always monsters, my love.” Link kissed her one more time, then took off running. “Guard the village!”
    “Right! …Don’t you need your sword?”
    “No time to get it!” Link called back. “They already have too much headstart!”
    He ran, harder than he’d run before, wondering how long he could keep it up, wondering where the monsters were going with their captives. Wondering…
    Wondering what in the world was the inky black wall, covered in glowing hieroglyphics, that barred the way into Faron Woods.
    He stopped, and stepped cautiously towards it…
    A giant black hand reached out of a circular glyph and dragged him into darkness.

    Behind the black curtain, the world was a hazy brown blur. Gold and neon green lights hurt his eyes. Then, a giant black creature, the owner of the hand gripping his throat, blocked out the light. Its face was shaped like a disk, with a fringe of tubes beneath it.
    Link kicked and struggled weakly. His Triforce was burning, searing on the back of his left hand.
    The creature flung him away as if the light of the Triforce hurt it, but the pain did not stop. His head hit the ground hard, but this time he didn’t black out.
    Painfully, he crawled to his hands and knees. His head was spinning, and his pulse roared in his ears. His eyes felt like they would fall out of his skull.
    Suddenly, he recognized the pain. He was transforming into something else.
    The change hit him, his limbs cramped, and he screamed, a scream that changed into a roar that he did not know.
    Then, finally, merciful darkness washed over him.

    He woke slowly, cold, and bruised.
    Blinking, he saw dimly a stone prison cell with a strong, barred door.
    He got to all fours.
    All fours?
    He looked at himself and started. He had been a Deku, a Goron, a Zora, and a demon, but never…
    A wolf?
    His right forepaw was chained to the centre of the cell. He bit at the chain, scratched at the floor fastening, and panicked. He ran around in frantic circles, lunging away from the merciless grip on his wrist, but the chain didn’t break.
    When he stopped, his wrist aching, and his teeth jarred, he smelt something… different. It wasn’t stone or metal or frightened wolf.
    A small creature floated out of the darkness. It was only about a foot and a half tall, though it appeared taller from the giant headdress-like headgear it wore on its head, either of stone or metal; he couldn’t tell which. It had orange hair in a ponytail, and a curvy body with tiny hands and feet, pale green with a dark covering that might be clothing, written over with bright green runes. Its eyes were yellow and red.     They blinked.
    It vanished, with an impish giggle.
    It popped up right in front of Link. “Found you!” it chirped. Its voice was as high pitched as Navi’s, but sharper.
    Link backed up, growling.
    “Aren’t you scary,” the creature giggled. “You might want to behave, if you want me to let you out of here!”
    Link toned down his growl just a little.
    “That’s a good little wolf,” it said, patting him under the chin. He barked, and the creature backflipped. It didn’t need to stand on the ground, he noticed, and it was very quick.
    “Well, do you want me to let you out, or not?”
    Link sighed and sat back on his haunches.
    The creature tittered mockingly, moving its hands horizontally so the palms faced each other. Green, crackling magic grew between its palms, and then winked out as it swiftly drew its hands apart.
    Down on the floor, his chain shattered at the third link. He jumped backwards suspiciously, then relaxed a tiny bit.
    “Well, then,” said the thing, drifting backwards, “I bet you’re wondering where you are now, aren’t you?” It laughed, coming apart into tiny, red and green bubbles, which condensed on the other side of the barred door. “Well, if you can get over here, I might tell you…” It yawned, stretching luxuriously, and waited with a mocking little smile.
    Link got to his feet and looked around. There was a pile of hay in one corner of the cell. He tore it to pieces, and his watcher giggled. The rest of it was pretty much bare. There was an air shaft too high for him to reach, and… wait, what was that?
    One of the cell bars was cracked, and the one next to it was partly broken… and it was made of wood…
    Link charged it, smacking his head into it. One of the bars bent, and, encouraged, he gave himself another concussion before pressing against it with his broad shoulder. His actions felt quicker, more impulsive.
    The bars snapped, and Link rolled head over heels out of the cell, springing to his feet with a startled bark.
    The creature had vanished. Link glanced back and forth warily – and something soft plumped on his back.
    Dancing around in frantic circles, he tried to dislodge the cackling little thing. It grabbed both of his ears and pulled, painfully.
    “Well, I guess you’re smarter than you look. Now…” it adjusted its position so it was lolling on its stomach, much in the same way he had sometimes seen Rana studying a flower, “I’ll make you a little deal. I’ll help you out of here, but, in return, you have to obey my every word! All right?” It sat up and giggled. “Not that you have much choice!”
    Link growled even as he lay down in defeat.
    “Yes, I thought so. Now, go forward, and into the next cell.”
    Link trotted down the hall, and peered into the cell.
    “Oh, go on! It’s not going to grab you.” The creature kicked his sides like he was a horse. He went in cautiously, and it kicked him impatiently again. “Don’t you see that tunnel?”
    He did, and clambered into it. It led him a long way, before spitting him out into a wet corridor. He looked left and right and waited for his rider to tell him what to do.
    “Well? What are you waiting for? I’m not going to do everything for you!” It sighed. “Go right.” He galloped off, catching glimpses of small, black things that didn’t seem to be rats…
    “Stop!” his rider squeaked, as they came to an intersection. “What’s that?”
    Link jumped backwards hastily. A ghost? A ghost dressed as a soldier?
    “Oh…” moaned the ghost, in a paroxysm of fear, “Where did these… things come from? Am I safe?”
    Link walked slowly closer, but the ghost didn’t seem to see him.
    The creature on his back tittered ironically. “Well, well! He can’t see you, you understand. Some soldier, huh! Very interesting! Maybe I’ll tell you more in a bit. Have you figured out where we are, yet?”
    Link shook his head and continued on. Though he went down dead ends, and his rider sighed impatiently and yawned more than once, it gave him no hint as to where to go next.
    Finally, they came to a tall, circular tower. Link looked up, tiredly, wondering how much rest he had gotten while unconscious. He had been dragged through the wall about something like nine the previous evening; he wondered what time it was. Hopefully, it was the next day, but it didn’t feel like it.
    He ran up the stairs, dodging black monsters. Where the stairs were broken or missing there were great big gaps that the creature helped him jump across by floating to the other side and letting him target it.
    They made it to the top, and Link was assaulted by small, ferocious black bats with red eyes. He leaped in the air and crushed one between his strong jaws. The thing on his back clung to him, gripping the longish fur on the back of his head. It hurt a little, but Link ignored it as best he could. It had let him out of the cell. He wondered a bit that it wasn’t using magic to take out the other bats.
    There was a door at the top of the tower, even higher up than he could go, but there were the remnants of wooden floors above him… he jumped as high as he could, using rubble to boost himself, and made it to the exit.
    He found himself on a narrow balcony, overlooking a walkway. A vaguely familiar crest lay beneath his feet. Farther away, a huge tower sent buttresses in all directions, to bits of wall, to other towers like the one he was in. Tattered flags hung from flag staffs. The central tower was gleaming white, but the general air of neglect stung wherever he looked. The sky was pitch black, with glowing golden clouds fluttering across it as if in a high wind. Bits of black stuff floated up into the sky. He wondered… had he been taken to some distant and cursed kingdom?
    He backed up a little, and looked again. The crest was too familiar for that to be correct. In fact… It was…
    It was the crest of the Royal Family of Hyrule.
    Link looked again, shocked, and yet awed. If Zelda had been reconstructing the castle, she had done an incredible job. But what had happened to the sky?
    By this time, his rider had become impatient. “What are you standing around for? There’s someone I want you to meet. In that tower… over there.”
    Link looked. It was not the central tower it was pointing at, but a slightly smaller one, on the perimeter of the outer wall. He took one more long look and took off running.
    Was the creature taking him to meet its master? Perhaps someone who could explain the sky? Perhaps some villain, and he was walking right into an elaborate trap for the Hero…
    Goodness, he was slow. That was as likely an explanation as any he was going to find. He pledged himself to be on his guard.
    Attacked by huge black bat-like vultures with enormous neck crests, he ran faster, not wanting to get injured before the real fighting began. Of course, he would run out of energy faster.
    He made it to the tower, and inside a tiny window, which opened into a spiral staircase. A broad pair of double doors shut the way ahead.
    “In there,” whispered his rider.


Chapter 1: Ten Years of Grief    Contents    Chapter 3: The Princess Explains Again