Chapter 3: The Princess Explains Again

    Link nosed the doors open and trotted in. On one side of the room was a fireplace, a tiny table, and a worn chair, on the other, a hard-looking bed.
    A black-cloaked figure stood at a wide window. It was far too small to be Ganondorf, but his skin crawled at its ominous appearance. A growl rose in his throat before he realized the back of the cloak was embroidered with the Eye of Truth.
    The figure gasped, a light, feminine gasp, and whirled. A pale face and intensely blue eyes peered at him from beneath the hood of the cloak.
    “Zelda?” Link said – or tried to say. What came out of his mouth was a cross between a growl and a yelp, and completely unintelligible to Hylians.
    The princess took two stately steps towards him, then sank to her knees. “Rana? The Twilight took you after all?”
    The creature on his back giggled. “Not at all, Princess.”
    Zelda’s quick eyes looked up and down, resting briefly on his left paw and then looking into his eyes. “…Link? You returned? Oh, is Rana safe, did you see her? How did this happen?”
    “Well, obviously he can’t tell you. But I can tell you he’s a wolf because of the Twilight!” his rider shrieked with mirth.
    “Midna, this is no laughing matter. I’m glad you are safe, but the shadow creatures have been looking for you.” The creature, Midna, floated up off his back, turning her back to the princess petulantly. “Why is this?”
    “I don’t know,” Midna replied sulkily. “You tell me… Twilight Princess!” Her voice was loaded with irony.
    Zelda turned her attention back to Link. “So, is Rana safe?”
    He nodded. She sighed, and drew back her hood. Link blinked in surprise. She was twice as beautiful as he had last seen her. “That’s good. I guess you don’t know anything about what’s happened. You’ve come back in the nick of time… Three days ago, I woke from a dream. The world was falling under a shadow of darkness, spreading from… the castle. This time, there was no light from the forest, no boy, no Emerald… but there was still a spark, though so dim as to be hardly seen. An even dimmer spark flew from the castle to the forest, and the first one exploded into a brilliant light…”
    “I still don’t understand it in its entirety –“
    “I do, a bit more, perhaps,” Link said under his breath in wolf.
    “- but that afternoon, black monsters appeared right on the bridge of the castle. My soldiers were completely overwhelmed… there hasn’t been much time to train them… The army of monsters made their way inside, surging up the stairs. I could feel them, from where I sat on the throne… I could feel them as well as if they were crawling through my belly up to my heart. They reached the throne room… a black cloud blasted into the room… My soldiers fought desperately, but they all died… horribly…”
    “Then, their leader came… Zant.”
    “Oh, yes, Zant!” Midna cried mockingly. “That foul traitor…”
    “Hush,” Zelda commanded. “I surrendered rather than have more of my people die, but this is just as terrible, for though they cannot see the Twilight if they are in it, they live in dread and fear. They are no more than ghosts in this world. I have felt this from my prison in this tower… Link, oh, Link, please help us!”
    Link padded forward and laid his head in Zelda’s hands.
    “Thank you. What a princess I am… only three years, and already Hyrule has fallen again…”
    “I would have done the same thing,” Link mumbled.
    “I’m sorry? Oh, never mind. You can tell me later. For now, you can’t help properly in that form. You must be helped yourself, but I don’t know how…” Zelda sighed desperately.
    “Princess, your guard is coming soon. Might want to wrap up,” Midna interrupted.
    “I agree. Take him back to the forest, and talk to the Light Spirits. They may be able to lift his darkness. Link… be strong.”
    “I will!” he replied, nodding as best he could.
    Midna plopped onto his back again, and he darted through the door, which Zelda closed behind him, gliding on noiseless feet.
    Halfway down the stairs, Midna suddenly yanked on his ears, making him rear back in surprise and pain. “Not that way!” she hissed. The door at the bottom slammed open.
    Link jumped for a window, scrambled, and pulled himself through just in time. A monster identical to the one that had dragged him into the Twilight plodded up the stairs below.
    Midna went to the edge of the sill, looked both ways, and somersaulted out across the roof. Link followed more cautiously.
    “Well, and now what are you going to do, Hero?” Midna tittered. “Save the kingdom again? How are you going to do that?”
    Link tried to tell her something, but it stuck in his throat and his wolf’s tongue stumbled.
    “Aren’t you forgetting something?” the little creature asked. She spun round twice, and suddenly Link saw Colin and Ilia, both screaming in fright. He started and glared. Right. His friends came first, and they would lead him to the enemy.
    “And how are you going to get back to the forest in the first place?” Ilia’s image asked with Midna’s voice. “Well, if you’re stuck there, little Midna would be happy to help!” Ilia’s expression was sharp, sly, and superior, making her look dangerous and attractive, even dangerously attractive, quite unlike her own gentle face.
    Before he could nod or reply in any way, he felt something tugging at his head, and then he felt himself dissolve…

    He came back down right in the middle of Ordona’s spring. The sky was thick with stars, except for a single black and red magical looking blotch right overhead, but he was still a wolf.
    “Here you are!” Midna’s voice sounded as if in his ear, and he jumped almost in a complete circle. “Well, you didn’t think I was gone, did you? And you didn’t think it would be so easy to change you back into a Hylian, did you? Oh, now, before I forget, you should get your hero stuff for when you get changed back! Bye now!”
    Her voice stopped, but Link still felt uneasy.
    And it was night time? How long had he spent unconscious?
    He padded slowly towards the village, wondering how on earth he was going to get into his house. He couldn’t climb the ladder. At least, he figured it would be hard to try, and he didn’t have the time.
    Moonlight flashed on something long and sharp, and he leapt backward just in time to avoid a quick sword blow. The person with the sword hopped back from him, but the fairy gave her away. No, two fairies! Was that Navi?
    Another attack forced him back, and Rana yelled.
    “You’re not getting past me, stupid Wolfos!”
    Link jumped into the open, into the moonlight, dropped flat, and put his paws over his head protectively. Her sword stopped just before slicing him in half, and Rana gasped.
    She sheathed her sword and dropped beside him. “Hey, is that you, Link?”
    He raised his head and nodded. She tackled him, sending him sprawling on his back with the girl lying on his bulky, wolf chest. His paws waved in the air in an undignified manner.
    “No way!” Navi said. Link could still manipulate his eyebrows, and did so.
    “I think it is,” Naeri said slowly.
    Rana kissed his black nose. “It is. Look at his eyes. Hey, you’ve still got your earrings! What happened to you? Is it the blackness? How can I help? Hey, Rusl’s gone to look for the kids. I don’t know if he’s in the blackness still. Did you see him? Is he a wolf too? Oh, right, how can I help?”
    Gently, he pushed her off and got up, then nudged her sword and pointed his nose at his house.
    “What, you want your sword?” Navi asked. He nodded. “And your shield, too, right? You can’t even use them, but…”
    “Oh, well, the guy at the watermill wanted them, so I let him take them. Just a sec.” Rana ran back into the village.
    Link followed her at a distance. She ran lightly across the bridge to the mill.
    The miller opened the door. “Miss Rana?”
    “Hi! Um, Link needs his stuff back right now. Why, I don’t know, but could you give it back, please?”
    Link paused before the top of the bridge. If he showed himself, everyone would think he was a monster. He heard a pretty, haunting song… played very badly…
    There was a whoosh, and claws raked his shoulders. With an angry bark, he whirled, and found more claws waiting for him. Forest was attacking him.
    “Hey! Forest! Stop it!” he yelped, backing away from the hovering hawk.
    “Sorry, master,” Forest replied breathlessly. “That man called me…” Link looked up and saw Sara’s husband on top of a rock with a bit of grass in his hand.
    “Hey!” Rana came back to the bridge. “Knock it off! That’s Link!”
    “It can’t be the Hero. The Hero’s disappeared! Rusl’s gone to look for the kids! And that’s a wolf!” The wolf was slinking away into the darkness.
    “I know! He was cursed or something. Just stop, okay? He hasn’t attacked anyone yet.”
    Link scrambled onto the roof of the shop as quietly as he could.
    “I’m sorry, Miss Rana, but wolves are sly creatures. No telling what they could do.”
    Rana folded her arms indignantly. “And so, what? Are you going to-“
    Link padded up behind Sara’s husband and barked. The man howled and jumped into the water.
    Rana gave Link a thumb up. “Nice.”
    The miller and his wife ran to the bridge to gawk, but Link had leapt to the roof of the mill and was already slinking through a window.
    Navi flitted back and forth. “Over there! There’s the sword!”
    Link leapt up and picked it up with his teeth.
    “He must have the shield with him. No… wait… that ignorant idiot!” Link whirled. “It’s in the oven! What’s with him?”
    The wolf tossed the sword to the fairy and snatched the shield. The other oven tray fell into the dying fire with a crash.
    “Quick! Quick!” Link bounded up the stairs and wriggled out the window as the miller flung open the door.
    The wolf fell silently to the ground behind the watermill, and Rana came running over. “Did you get your stuff?” Navi brought out the sword. “Good! Now how can I help you change back to a person?”
    He tugged the hem of her tunic towards his house.
    “Okay, I’m coming. Lead on, Hero!”
    Navi flopped on his flat head. “Wow, this is much more comfortable than usual. Are you sure we have to change him back?” Link rolled his eyes. The three girls giggled.
    They came to the spirit’s pool, but something was different. Black spikes stuck up around the edge of it, black shot through with red streaks. Runes, perhaps?
    Link charged in, leaving Rana behind momentarily, and another spike plunged from the sky and thudded behind him. They began to glow, trapping him in a barrier shield of red runes.
    The black splotch in the sky seemed to open up, and a dark, tentacled mass fell out of it. Splashing into the pool, it got to its feet and turned around to face him.
    He was much faster than it was. Darting around its claws, he lunged forward and sank his teeth into its neck. It tasted horrible, but he dug in with his claws and kept biting.
    He heard a thump and a cry of pain from Rana. Jumping away from the black creature, he turned and saw she had tried to get through the barrier. Her arm looked burned.
    The monster caught him across the shoulders with its claws and he was sent rolling over and over. Leaping to his feet, he darted forward and clamped his jaws on the back of its neck.
    It moaned and slumped into the water. The spikes and the barrier melted away, and Link stood, panting, in an empty pool. He rolled over to heal his back.
    When he got up again, the pool was filled with an iridescent, pale blue-green light. It spread to the rocks behind the pool, outlining ancient-looking carvings. A single drop rose and fell, sending droplets everywhere, and a shining insubstantial ball flew up out of the pool.
    Rana plopped herself down beside Link, putting an arm around his furry shoulders. Her arm was healed.
    The ball of light spread out and diffused, and then brightened again, forming into the shape of a giant, gentle-eyed goat.
    “Greetings, Hero. I am Ordona. I offer my thanks to you for saving me from that shadow beast. Greetings, Lady Rana. It is good to see you at last. Greetings, Navi and Naeri.”
    “What would that thing have done?” Navi asked.
    “It would have stolen my light, and then this last part of Hyrule would have fallen under the Twilight. Zant’s victory would have been complete. Yet, with your action, there is still hope. Look at the sky.”
    Link craned his neck back, and saw the black and red blotch had become a black and blue blotch.
    “That is a sign that evil no longer controls that portal. You need not worry about Ordon Village any longer. If the Moblins return, that is another problem, but it is now safe from Twilight.”
    “But you, Hero, I cannot restore you to your original form. You must see Faron. Faron can help you.”
    “Dawn is coming. Lady Rana must stay here; she cannot enter the Twilight. You, Hero, with your friend Navi, and Lady Rana’s friend Naeri if she wishes, and certainly your other friend who is hiding at this time, may enter. Indeed, you must, for if you do not, the Twilight will remain…”
    “Thank you, Hero… Go in hope…”
    The bright shape of the Light Spirit faded, and the last of it exploded into golden spray. Link blinked and shook himself.
    Rana sprang up. “So, you have to go to the forest? I guess I’ll wait at your house. It’s a nice house. I’m going to have a nap. Naeri, do you want to go with Link?”
    Naeri hesitated.
    Link sighed. The inability to contribute his opinions was really starting to get to him.
    “I think what Link means is that Naeri doesn’t have to come if she doesn’t want to. We’ll be fine, I think.” Link nodded. “But who’s your hiding friend? Is it a new fairy?”
    Link shrugged and scuffed around in the sand with his paw.
    “I guess it’s too hard to explain.”
    “I’ll stay with Rana so she can get a proper nap,” Naeri said. “Okay? As soon as she’s up I’ll come and find you.”
    “Okay!” Navi replied. “That’s great!” Link nodded again.
    Rana bent down and kissed Link’s nose, and he nuzzled her cheek in return. “I’ll be waiting. Give me a sign when you want me, okay?”
    He nodded and took off running towards the bridge, fairy fluttering around his head.


     No one saw or heard Zelda, after her guard had gone, kneel into a tiny ball on the hard stone floor of her chamber and weep with heartbroken loneliness.


Chapter 2: "...What?"    Contents    Chapter 4: Reawaken