eloze vol.1.4

8/9/2019 Eloze Vol.1.4

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E L O Z E

T H E G A R D E N O F F A R O R E

RINCESS Zelda knelt serene, cross-legged, on the cool stone flags of the floor of her room, wearingnothing save for one of Link's spare tunics. Her long hair was loose and bright. Outside the slit window a darkling sky showed faint wisps of cloud and the first delicate sprinklings of stars; two

candlesticks set before her on the floor provided light from their golden cups.

The Book of Mudora, squat and mute, lay open at a blank page between the candles. It had been a week

since they had returned from the western deserts and neither she, nor Sofia, nor Link, had been able tospend much time relaxing after their adventures together. Sofia roamed the town and the lands around itas she taught herself about the land of Hyrule, while Link, anxious about his failure against the Stalfoschieftain, rode off alone and trained for hours on end in order to build his strength once more. Zelda toohad been busy; the past three hours she had spent alone in her room with the Book of Mudora, willing itto give up another of its secrets to her. She needed to find out how to proceed with the quest. She wassilent as she sat before the Book, her eyes open yet unseeing, her mind bent wholly on the empty whiteexpanse that was still stubbornly free from the dark purity of the printed word.

Show me something that will help us .

She had worked with the Book of Mudora many times before, and she felt that she knew and understood itas well as any living creature could. Somehow it lived, as if the wisdom of the ancient Sages had given it

understanding, and it revealed only what it chose. It delighted in posing riddles concocted from theinformation it had within it, and a clean white sheet of paper lay beside it, with a quill, ready dipped in ink,in preparation for any clue that might be revealed. So far, after three hours of solid concentration, not a word had come from the book and Zelda was beginning to despair of wresting anything of use from it.

The need was great... neither she nor Zelda nor Sofia had any idea where the Amulets might have beenhidden and if others truly were searching for them then some clue needed to be found fast. Zelda knew that, while skilled, none of the Knight-aspirants were truly powerful in battle, and it worried her to think that they would have to face, most likely, many of Ganon's evil creations on the quest. The Stalfos had been just the beginning. Link, the most experienced of the three, was badly weakened from his ordeal inthe Spirit Temple; and not just physically. The brush with death had left a mark on the young warrior, andshe saw it in his eyes now whenever they spoke; a fear he had never experienced before. Zelda sighedsoftly. A new discovery was sorely needed, if only to put fresh heart into the Hero of Hyrule.

Suddenly there was a change in the air. The pages of the book rustled softly although there was no wind inthe room. The Princess breathed out slowly, feather-light, and watched the ancient tome that lay beforeher. She had won... she would be shown the way forward. The pages rippled and then turned all by themselves, as if an invisible hand flipped smoothly through the book, and then fell flat and open upon a blank double-page with only a single sentence, emblazoned in black and gold leaf upon the palecreaminess of the paper.

Seek the Hero's Shadow

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Zelda's hand shook slightly as she reached for the pen and paper laid ready. Carefully the Princess noteddown the book's cryptic message lest it be lost when she closed the book once more, but disappointment was evident in her face. It was not what she had hoped for.

The kitten yawned artistically, stretching her limbs as she purred up at the sky. She had been lounging likea statue atop a tangle of soft warm woolen folds, her outsize paws easy in repose. Now with easy grace she

got her feet under her and rose to her full foot-and-a-half of height to shake herself before settlingdelicately down again.

She and her master were out of doors, atop one of the wind-chafed mounds that filled Hyrule's lonely places. A great single standing stone perched atop the tall round hill, marking the deathplace of a warriorfrom the Age of Legends. The aged rock was worn and battered from countless years of wind and storms, but in places fragments of flowing Ancient Hyrulian script could still be read. From the top of the barrow,open country could be seen for a score of miles and more, and any approaching creature would be spottedfrom a long way away against the backdrop of the empty moorland. This was, in part, why Link hadchosen it, for he was always concerned about a possible attack by Ganon's evil monsters, especially now when some, at least, were surely risen again.

Then too, if he came here to this lonely place, nobody would be able to see him training. He did not wish it

to be discovered that he had been badly injured in the Spirit Temple, especially since there was now apossibility that the information could reach their enemy, and so he worked hard, always alone, buildingup his strength and retuning his reflexes. Only Prowl was allowed to witness the young warrior's lengthy and solitary pursuit... the feature which most left out of the stories of the Heroes of Hyrule. Hours of practice went into being a Hero; only the Hero of Time had ever fought without the need to train.

Link's sword was in his weakened hand--his right. He was accustomed to being right handed, but his leftarm was the cleverer now. He did not believe that he would ever regain much of his old strength in theright; but he worked hard with it anyway. He was terrified that the muscles would waste and leave himpermanently disabled on that side.

He ducked an imaginary blow from one of his invisible foes, and then slashed twice forehand and backhand, swinging round through the last attack to jerk his blade forward into where the gut of his

enemy would have been, had he been real. Prowl watched calmly, sprawled on the rough blanket that had been given to her, as her young master spun and whirled in the ancient dance of death.

Finally with a groan he flung down the weapon and threw himself to the ground where he began to doenergetic push-ups. His right arm trembled with the strain but he did not allow himself to quit until hehad reached a count of thirty. The sand cat yawned and gazed at him with her soft golden eyes, then liftedher hindpaw aristocratically to scratch her chin.

"It's no good, Prowl," Link sighed, collapsing on his front on the soft green turf. He propped his own chinin his undamaged hand and scowled, his mind busy. "I need to be stronger before I fight again. If I cannoteven beat a simple Stalfos then there is little hope!" His green eyes were worried as he turned to the cat, who looked back at him with perfect unconcern. "What if something nastier than Stalfos attacks us?" hemuttered, more to himself than to her. "I would never be able to protect the Princess in this state."

Prowl blinked heavily and stretched once more, then she rolled onto her side and arched her back,inviting him to rub her stomach where the golden-brown spotted fur faded smoothly into white. Link reached out and gave the kit a cursory stroke, but his mind was far from playing with his young pet. "I wish you could talk," he murmured softly. "You might be able to advise me." Prowl, of course, said nothing,merely purring at him and waving her paws in the air as she wriggled onto her back. She had already beenfed twice today and so had no concerns upon her simple and pleasure-seeking mind.

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With yet another heavy sigh the young warrior got to his feet, ignoring the ache which ran through hismuscles as he did so. His fingers closed around the hilt of his discarded serpentine dagger and he assumeda defensive stance, locking his eyes upon the eight-foot standing stone which sat mute and unmoved infront of him. With a mental effort he convinced himself that the unpretentious rock was a Moblin, and heducked a nonexistent swipe of a nail-studded club, rolling and coming up gracefully upon his feet to slashand stab and duck and dive once more. His muscles were responding... just not as quickly or as strongly ashe needed them to.

Finally, his numb fingers loosened of their own accord and dropped the weapon, and he gave up in disgust.His long hair was plastered to his head with sweat and his legs trembled now with exhaustion as he satdown hard on the grassy ground, sheathing the dagger as he did so. His chest heaving, the young warriorcollapsed onto his back and stared up at the pale cloud-chased sky. It had been mostly blue when he hadset out for the lonely stone that morning, but the darkness had been drawing in and now a thick puffed blanket of grey stretched across most of the cerulean expanse. Link jerked in surprise, still highly alertfrom his workout, when a heavy growl of thunder sounded from the south. The kitten laid her ears back and snarled at the sky in answer.

"Farore," Link remarked in surprise, looking up. "That storm came over quickly... we'd better get back,don't you think?" Prowl hissed, on her feet now and with her backfur bristling in spikes. The young warrior laughed. "Take it easy, kit! 'Tis only thunder, nothing to be afraid of." Unmoved, Prowl left the blanket and trotted over to her master, moving in a strange stiff-legged stride. Link picked her up andstuffed her in the leather satchel he had carried, and then slung the bag over his back. He could feel thekitten balled up in the bottom of it, crouching angry and afraid in the warm sweet darkness. "Only astorm," he comforted softly, and adjusted the straps over his shoulders. A soft spatter of rain gusted overhim, borne ahead of the thunderstorm on the wind's wings, and he sighed, knowing he would be soakedthrough before he got back to the castle.

Poe flew swiftly to the north, heading on a swift course towards the goal it had been set. It was a creatureof single mind: it followed a course as straight as an arrow's flight, deviating neither to the left nor to theright. What it was, few could tell, for it had no visible physical shape. It was winged, surely, for it flew, butno wings could be seen at its passing nor could the wind of a wingbeat be felt. It had no size, nor did ithave a scent or anything which could be measured by instruments. Poe's passing was marked by a vaguesweeping dread, by angry quarrels between those who had no reason to quarrel and by unnatural ireamong peaceful peoples. Tame beasts were made wild and full of terror, fighting to escape their tethers asPoe passed overhead. All this Poe marked well--and enjoyed. It was the embodiment of malicious hatred:it was cruelty for cruelty's sake.

Faster than thought did it speed over the green lands of Hyrule, leaving behind it a trail of fear as itshadowed the sun. Hills and valleys flew past beneath it at incredible speed. Its goal was near and thoughPoe could feel no sense of urgency, it experienced a kind of eagerness with every traveled mile.

A young storm was brewing upon the ruffled waters of Lake Hylia; the fisherfolk who lived and workedthere were just taking in their boats when Poe arrived. Straightaway the villagers felt an inexplicable fearspread through them and some of the hardened fishermen, tough and practical folk though they were,looked at each other with anxiety in their eyes. Poe ignored them, passing right over the village and harbor;its errand was not with these people. It found the storm upon the deep waters and knew instinctively thatthis was something it could use. Poe took hold of the storm and folded itself into it, becoming a small dark ball at the heart of the turbulence. Instinctively it stirred the forming clouds, creating more disturbancesin the whorl of vapour that was forming around it. Clouds piled up on clouds to form a thunderhead inonly a few minutes. Now Poe needed movement, and so it began to spin within the storm, forming a vortex. It struck up a breeze as it spun, and then a wind. Sluggishly the clouds began to turn. The villagerssaw the darkness out on the lake and locked themselves indoors, some even slamming closed their stormshutters in case the squall came their way.

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In the heart of the growing thunderstorm, something special was happening. A cycle of convection had been set up much like that which occurred every so often over the southern seas. Warm air was pulled upfrom the bottom of the storm and sent to the top, where it cooled and fell back down to be warmed again.Now a circular motion began within the stirring of the air; a gentle wind circled round and round the dark mat of clouds, teasing them into a nub and then a sharply downward pointing spike. Poe, lurking in thecenter of the storm like the operator of some vast machine, knew that soon the weather would take on alife of its own and so it extended tendrils of its power through the clouds, toying with them, forcing themto speed up or slow down in their spin as it pleased.

The spike that had been forming in the clouds began to stretch. It reached down in a wavering column tokiss the water that now crashed and boomed beneath it; the angry waves mirrored the churning sky as the winds rose further. Above, no blue sky was visible; a dark gray layer of thick cloud covered the entire sky from hemisphere to hemisphere. The winds were very strong now and no creature moved in the deserted village, nor in the tearing winds that hissed through the trees and among the great waves of water uponthe lake.

Poe was not satisfied. It could not move its storm the way it wished to, driving it before it at great speed.Something more was needed. Responding to a dark instinct that told it what to do, Poe whipped up the wind still further, flinging it around in a circle to enclose its cloudy heart. The spike elongated, grew fatterat the base as more cloud was drawn into it. Its wavering tip touched the lake and grew foamy white,drawing up water. Now Poe was satisfied. With a flick the winds changed once more; although they now spun wildly about the spike, a prevailing gale came from the south to drive the dark clouds ever northward.The storm began to move.

Link flinched as another ominous rumble rolled lazily out of the south, and Prowl hissed furiously in his backpack. He glanced back in surprise and was met by a gust of driving rain. Behind him he was shockedto see an impenetrable darkness in the sky; a mist seemed to cover the air and the few trees that he saw far behind on the trail were shaking furiously to and fro.

"Farore's Wind!" the young warrior muttered again. "What a storm!" A faint worry awoke in his heart atthe sight of the deep black clouds behind him, but he knew that Hyrule Town was not too far ahead.Besides, what could a storm do to him? Get him wet? His lips pressed together firmly and he turned his back on the ominous clouds, speeding his pace in order to get back that much faster.

The rain arrived then, a sheet of pounding, slamming water. Link gasped in shock as he was soakedthrough instantly; the sheer power of the storm was beginning to reveal itself to him. Determinedly heturned up the collar of his tunic, shouldered the pack within which Prowl was crying piteously, and leanedagainst the sudden seething wind to run toward the safety he knew awaited him within the town. The rainmade it difficult to see what lay ahead; it misted the horizon through its water and bled out all the colorfrom the world.

Within the storm's heart, Poe was aware of the speck of humanity that ran ahead of it. It speeded its windsto catch the living thing, snatch it up and smash it against the ground to dash out its life. It was aware thatthis was now a race, for it might not have the power to tear buildings to the ground if its quarry reachedthe goal ahead of it. Yet it was many times faster than the quarry and it was fast making up ground.

Link wiped water from his eyes, gasping heavily as he struggled through the storm. The wind smashedagainst him with terrible force and he had to lean right into it to maintain forward movement. It was as if he was being pulled back into the storm... He thought suddenly. How could he be being pulled into thestorm? Winds blew outwards, not inwards. Though it was difficult to move in the gale, he turned andfaced the approaching storm to see exactly what it was.

The next moment he was running for his life. Behind him the black, twisting funnel tore up the ground. It was fueled now only partly by Poe's intervention, for the winds had gathered enough power to maintainthe huge storm themselves. Link attempted to shelter his eyes from the lashing rain long enough to see

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before him, but he could not make out details more than a few feet in front of him. He was barely awarethat Prowl was scratching furiously at the lining of his satchel.

And then, suddenly his feet touched something that rang with a hollow sound amongst the screaming of the wind--the bridge that led into the town! He struggled through the wind between the unguarded gates,and hammered on the first door that he found in the pouring dark, clutching at the walls in order to avoid

being blown away. Tiles were shattering all around him. The door opened with a jerk and he fell forwardinto light, the wind roaring in with him in its eager, hungry desire to extinguish the fragile life within. Andthen the door banged to and Link lay on a warm wooden floor with the screaming of the storm lockedoutside. He sat up slowly.

His rescuer was a heavyset man, middle-aged with a thatch of blonde hair and deep gray eyes. Link realised he had blundered into someone's living room when he saw the homely surroundings, and thegolden-haired woman sitting by the crackling fire with a fretting infant in her lap. "Sorry for theintrusion," he began, flushing.

"Please don't worry about it," the man answered gruffly, offering a callused hand to help him up. "You're welcome in our home anytime, Hero. My name's Curan, and this is my wife Calonna." A credulous smilespread across his features as he went on, "What a storm!"

"It is that," Link said wryly. "I was caught far from shelter when it arrived. It almost had me!"

"Tis no ordinary storm," the woman, Calonna, remarked softly. Her voice was low and mellow, andalthough she was by no means as stunningly attractive as Zelda, her face was a pretty one and a kind. "I'venever heard of one so strong, nor one that came on so fast. I only just got back inside with the laundry."

"Who is it, Daddy?" came a soft, sweet voice. Link turned, as did both the others, to behold a young girl of nine or ten years of age standing at the foot of the staircase that led up to the second floor. She held amuch-worn plush toy protectively to her chest and a spill of gleaming auburn hair curled lightly aroundher shoulders.

"Someone who was lost in the storm," Curan answered quickly, and came forward to hurry the child back up the stairs. "You should have stayed in your room, Bethan love. There's nothing to worry about."

"I was afraid," the child piped. "It's so loud!" Indeed, the howling of the wind was surprising even to Link who had grown up in a land where storms were common. It sounded alive. It sounded hungry. Whichreminded him... he shook out his wet hair and then shrugged off the sodden straps of his leather satchel.Prowl mewed angrily as the bag hit the ground. The girl cried out in surprise. "Oh--is it a cat?"

"A young sand cat," Link explained, fumbling with the straps. "They live far to the west, in the desert. Sir,milady, would you mind if I dried her out by your fire? The cold and wet is not good for her. She's trained,I promise."

"You are welcome," Curan said gravely, scooping his daughter into his strong arms. "I'll be right back."

"Daddy, can't I stay?" the child pleaded. "I want to play with his cat."

"Bethan!" Calonna admonished. "Manners!"

Link smiled. "Prowl will not mind!" he suggested, finally managing to open the bag. The kit exploded intohis arms with a yowl, burying her head in his wet tunic. Her fur was soaked through and she planted her wet paws all over his face as she purred a feline hello.

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"I think she'd better not," Curan said quietly and set his foot on the stair. Link stared at the man's back,not understanding the problem.

Calonna caught his eye. A sad look was in the young woman's face. Silently she mouthed, "Our daughter's blind."

So that was it. They were frightened that he would reject their child. Hylians had strange opinions aboutpeople who were physically imperfect: the deformed, the handicapped, the blind. Link frowned. "Please,"he said firmly. "Why don't you let her stay? Prowl has no objections, and neither do I."

"Are you sure?" Calonna asked softly.

"I am Calatian," Link answered coolly. It seemed to explain everything.

Bethan had wriggled free from her father's grasp and she trotted lightly towards him, for all the world as if she could see more clearly than he. Only her eyes belied her disability: they floated unfocused, two poolsof cloudy blue. "May I hold your cat?" she asked politely, holding out her hands.

Link smiled. "Here," he said. Grasping Prowl firmly by the scruff of her neck he lifted the kit, supportingher rear with his other hand. "She's heavy; make a cradle with your arms so you will be able to take her weight." The girl did as he instructed and gently he dropped Prowl into her eager grasp. A big smilespread across Bethan's face as she felt the living warmth of the young kit and Prowl lifted her head andgently licked the little girl's cheek with her pink tongue, purring all the while.

The storm screamed around the high turrets of the castle, creaking the ancient stone and straining at themortar bonds which held the minarets and battlements together. Dark clouds bubbled in the sky as foamupon the surface of some huge cauldron.

Feldor shivered just to listen to the sound of the strange winds as they waged war on the castle's agedflanks, though other, older campaigners were less concerned. The young soldier stood nervously by thedoor he had been set to guard, fingering the hilt of his ceremonial falchion where it hung at his waist. He was alone; the others had run to shutter as many windows as they could. Now Feldor was standing here incase of some sort of attack--the terrible storm seeming unnatural, the King had reason to fear a magicalenemy was abroad. Such diversionary tactics had been used before.

...If an enemy did use the storm as cover to mount an attack on Hyrule Town, might he not come in the way nobody was expecting? Would he not want to come in by a little-used side door so that he could passthrough the castle unchallenged save for a few barely trained guards? Feldor's eyes slid sideways to thedoor in front of which he was supposed to be standing. Its plain wooden face, so seeming innocent, mighthide a monster hell-bent on the destruction of the Royal Family, and Feldor was the only man who mightstand against it. Not even the Hero of Hyrule could stand against such a horrific beast! The young soldierdrew himself up to his full five foot nine and saw himself bravely battling the monstrous horned andscaled creature that had come in with the rain. Why, it was fully ten feet tall! No--more like twenty! With a brave and gallant smile the dashing young fighter faces up to its dreadful gaze! Drawing his trusty sword--so!--he charges heroically into battle, unafraid of even the most ferocious and hideous beast! With a greatswish of his magical blade he deals a telling blow, masterfully avoiding the foot-long claws and fire breaththat the monster pits against him--

There was a banging on the door. Feldor dropped his sword and fell off the table.

He peered out from behind his impromptu sanctuary as the knock came a second time, loudly audibleeven over the wind and the rain. Trying to control his suddenly shaking hands he crawled out on handsand knees and tiptoed over to the door. All his fantasies of bravery evaporated in thoughts of what mightreally be out there in the howling storm. For a moment he wondered genuinely whether he ought not to

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steal away and leave whatever was on the other side of the door, on that side of the door. The bar wasstrong, it would hold it back long enough for him to effect an escape.

The third knock made up his mind. He was, after all, a soldier, trained to obey. He took a deep breath andgrasped the bar, forcing his trembling fingers to close on it. With a desperate heave he threw the bar back,and the door blew inwards in a blast of arctic wind and water. A huddled shape swept in on the crest of the

wave; a creature of some sorts, wrapped in a strange loose, shining skin of black. Leon forgot all aboutclosing the door and just backed away as the weird being set its back to the creaking portal and levered itto, shutting out the storm before it could get more than a finger in the door.

The weird creature turned towards him in the comparative quiet that resulted from the door's being shut,and reached up a bedraggled paw to pull the hide from its head. A sodden, rainswept cloak fell back toreveal a wet mass of red-gold hair and beneath it, two amber eyes. "You took your time," the creature saidcrossly, and shrugged out of the soaking garment. It was the Princess's Gerudo friend, Sofia, who had been muffled in a voluminous woolen hooded cloak. She glared at him from beneath the dripping cap of her hair.

Feldor opened his mouth, then closed it again. His cheeks flamed with embarrassment.

She kicked her sopping cloak out of the way; it lay on the floor in a puddle of water. Her silken Gerudoclothes clung revealingly to her figure but she ignored his wide eyes as she pulled her hair into a ponytailand wrung it out on the floor. A spatter of water hit the damp flagstones, adding to the rain which had blown in with her entrance. "Goddess," the Gerudo girl muttered, shaking water from her eyes, "what acursed storm! I'm wet from the inside out!" Gingerly she picked at the material of her thin trousers,pulling the soaked and now translucent silk away from her long legs. "Have you a towel?" she demanded,turning to face him.

"Just a minute, my lady," Feldor stammered. "I'll get you one. Would you like anything else? Hot soup?Let me stoke up the fire..." Hurriedly he trotted to the store cupboard at the other end of the little room,and went through it to find a dusty and moth-eaten blanket. When he shook it out a cloud of dust andinsectile corpses settled around him. Suppressing a tickly cough, Leon bowed awkwardly and handed the blanket to the girl; she took it with a flashing smile of white teeth in her dusky face, and settled herself by

the fire. The young soldier brushed dirt and dead flies off himself and then scooted to the door that led tothe kitchens, to find the girl something warm to drink.

He was back in only a few minutes; one of the cooks had taken pity on him and made up a small tray witha mug of soup and some cadged white bread. Gallantly Feldor entered the room and offered his prize tothe girl, who was standing by the fire with the blanket around her shoulders. A faint steam was coming off her as the water evaporated in the warmth of the guardroom. She smiled gratefully at him and took themug lightly from the tray. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Feldor insisted, feeling a warm feeling spread through his own limbs at the sight of hersmile. This was almost better than his dream of defeating an evil monster--to be in the service of a beautiful girl! "Would you like to sit down?" he offered, dragging the chair out from its place under thetable and shoving it onto the hearth.

"I would, thank you," she said with a little start of surprise, and sat. She wriggled in pleasure at the warmth of the strong log fire, and stretched her legs out. "The wind out there is strong enough to knock you off your feet," she remarked, turning her face towards him. "Goddess! I never saw the like. Pity any poor soul caught out there right now."

"You're all right, though?" Feldor asked hopefully, adding, "Your Highness," as he remembered she was inactual fact a princess.

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She laughed. "Sofia is my name. What is yours?"

"Feldor, milady--Feldor Glind." Becoming self-conscious he smoothed back his hair and wished that hehad cleaned his ceremonial breastplate earlier, before the storm hit. He was sure that he did not look likethe debonair young swashbuckler he wanted to--in fact, he felt more like an embarrassed and tongue-tied boy.

The girl smiled kindly at him. "Hello, Sir Glind. I'm Sofia, and I hope you'll call me that. I am not much of a princess."

"Sofia?" It was another girl's voice. The door to the inside of the castle opened and a stunningly beautiful young woman with pale golden hair appeared. She smiled at him, and then spoke. "Sofia, I've beenlooking for you. The Book gave me a clue! Thank Nayru you're inside!"

"Thank Sir Glind here," Sofia corrected, standing up and slipping out from underneath the blanket. "I wascaught out in the gardens when the storm hit. Crazy things were flying through the air. I nearly had my head stove in by a marble bust! This good knight let me in."

Feldor stared in astonishment at the golden-haired woman; she smiled at him and nodded her headslightly. "Thank you, kind sir." Then, turning back to Sofia she frowned and asked, "Where's Link?"

"Isn't he back yet?" Sofia asked in shock. The young guardsman was forgotten as she came over to theother woman, worry in her eyes. "He went out early, Zel," she explained. "He has been leaving the castleevery morning to train. Goddess! -he must still be out there!"

Feldor had heard only one thing in that conversation. "Princess Zelda?" he squeaked, dropping to hisknees as if felled by a blow. "Your Royal Highness!"

"At ease, soldier," Zelda said absently, then, "We need to find him, but there's no way we'll do it in this weather."

"You'll have to trust Link to look after himself," Sofia suggested. "There's nothing we can do. What was theclue?"

Zelda coughed and produced a piece of paper. "Seek the hero's shadow," she read out.

"Link's shadow?" Sofia said. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Possibly it means the Shadow Knight," Zelda suggested. She stared down glumly at the paper in her hand."But it doesn't tell us where, or what, or how. I am not sure. It isn't much to go on."

"We need Amulets, not more Knights."

"This is all I have," Zelda sighed softly.

E L O Z E


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OE was angry. It knew that there had been something in front of it, something live; the thing it had been sent to find. But the live thing had taken refuge in a maze of stone structures, and try as it mightPoe could not find that one's particular life force amid the confused impulses radiating from the great

city. Fear it sensed, and also anger, and it enjoyed the sensations immensely. But it too felt what mightloosely be described as frustration as it hovered over the city upon the wings of its storm, for it could not

finish what it had wanted to do.

Leaving the storm to rage where it would, Poe ascended into the upper airs and floated gently through thesky to hover above the tallest structure in the city. It felt a great deal of life force emanating from withinthis lofty construction, the result of the presence of a great gathering of living beings at the heart of the

building. That made Poe eager to extend its influence within, to seek out and to feed upon the strong soulsthat it sensed. It hated all living things. In obedience, though, it restrained itself and, detaching from thestorm, ascended like a mist to cling to the topmost spire of North Castle, unseen and unknown. Below it,

the magnificent whirlwind it had created slowly roared itself out.

Link lifted the blind with a fingertip and peered out into the unnaturally dark streets. He blinked twiceand let the shutter fall once more. "It's letting up," he said.

"Thank Nayru!" Calonna exclaimed, dropping her embroidery.

"I could have told you that," Bethan said. She was sitting on the woven mat before the fire, Prowl purringin her lap. She looked over her shoulder and smiled in his direction. "Listen, the tiles aren't breaking any

more."

Link's ears flicked reflexively as he noticed what she was talking about. The sound of the rain on the roof,so heavy and incessant only a few minutes ago, was lessened to the point where it sounded almost like an

ordinary fall of rain. And that unearthly wind had died down also. Now louder than the storm was the warm crackling of the fire in the little room. "You're clever," he said admiringly, and the girl giggled.

Only ten or twelve minutes had passed since Link had accidentally blundered into Curan and Calonna'shouse, and they had been unfailingly kind to him--insisting that he dry his soaked clothes by their fire andoffering him warm drinks and food. Slightly embarrassed, he had accepted their hospitality with less grace

than Prowl, who reveled in being fussed over by young Bethan. He was now dry and warm and passably comfortable as he sat in one of their hardbacked chairs and waited for the storm to pass. They would noteven hear of letting him go before the rain stopped. With a faint sigh he relaxed in the chair and wriggled

his toes, warm in the dry boots.

"Lived here long?" Curan asked suddenly, and Link jumped. The big man stood benevolently on thehearth, his powerful hands clasped behind his back, a faintly enquiring smile on his heavy features. His

eyes were kind, interested.

Link shrugged. "Not too long, sir," he said deferentially. "I came here just after the business with Ganon;and, well... afterwards, I stayed. Calatia has little to offer me." He disliked the way the last few words came

out--as if he were defensive about his decision. Farore! he had no need to justify his choices. Hyrule was where he would stay, like all the other Heroes before him. Only one of the line of the Hero of Time had left

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Hyrule for good after coming there; the ill-omened Link Third, who, it was believed, had sailed in searchof the mysterious Isle of Koholint and was never to return home... Link sighed. He was dreaming again.

"Aren't you lonely for your own people?" Calonna asked. Her light brown eyes were warm like the roomitself. She smiled gently at his hesitancy. "Ah... you are, I can tell. Perhaps you should go back sometime

and visit them. It could do no harm."

"Mayhap I should," Link said thoughtfully, and then sighed heavily, releasing some of the frustration thathad been building in him all day. "Not that I have a place there... my family are fisherfolk, and I never feltmuch of a calling to join them." A wry smile spread across his features as he added, "I'll not trouble you by relating my past history, good lady. In fact, it sounds like the rain has let up enough for me to be heading

back to the castle. A thousand thanks for your hospitality in taking me in like this, but the Princess might be worried if I stayed longer."

Curan nodded wistfully. "Ah... you know the Princess," he murmured. "Many's the time I've seen herpassing by with her Royal father. She is very beautiful..."

"What is your trade, sir?" Link asked curiously. He had wondered if the obviously strong and powerfully built man was a soldier, but that just did not seem likely given his temperament. Men like Curan did not

generally work in the King's service; what Harkinian needed was ruthless soldiers and cunning councillors,not those hampered by morals or a sense of injustice.

Curan looked surprised as he answered. "My trade? I'm a blacksmith." His eyes sparkled as he expanded;"'Tis not a trade that holds much respect, needless to say, but it pays well on account o' rarity value. There

aren't too many nowadays who wish to take up the hammer, and even fewer who have any skill with it."He laughed. "'Tis easy to smack a bit of iron about, I always say, but 'tis much harder to make a good blade

out of it!"

"You must know a bit about weapons, then," Link suggested, his interest awakened at the mention of swords and the like. Reaching for the belt that lay discarded before the fire, he dragged his scabbard tohim and drew out the serpentine dagger. Finding it, he tossed the slender blade to the smith. "What do

you make of it?" he asked earnestly. "I... well, you could say that I won it while I was in the West. It feels

like a good blade to me, but I'm no judge--I only owned one sword before it, and that was something I bought from a pedlar for twenty-five rupees."

The dagger gleamed hungrily in Curan's strong hands; he turned it over and pressed the slender blade with a callused thumb, testing its edge. Firelight sparked off the burnished blade as if it were aflame, and

the serpentine scales on the hilt glittered like dragons' eyes. It seemed a thing of ethereal beauty mademore unreal by the homely qualities of the place it was in--it seemed to show itself off, to say 'here I am:

admire me'.

"It's very old," Curan said eventually, and placed the hilt of the dagger back into Link's hands. Herelinquished it with obvious reluctance, letting it slip from his hands. "Maybe centuries. It's lasted well,and from that I'd say..." He looked away uneasily. "Well, I'd suggest that it's Goron make, but I cannot

find any seal."

"Goron make?" Link echoed. "Why, those are supposed to be worth thousands! Are you sure?"

"No, I'm not," Curan answered, frowning. "It feels as good a blade as any I ever saw--and I've seen a lot.There isn't a smith alive who could make a sword like that one, and that makes me think it's from the lastof the great Goron mountain forges. But then again, they never made their weapons with a decoration like

that--you see the scales, there." He ran a horny finger along the hilt of the blade, pointing out the hand-tooled scales and the twisting tail. "Gorons would ornament their weapons with any kind of animal, any decoration except snakes. They worked with horses, lions, fish, that sort of thing, according to the school

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they belonged to--'twas a kind of signature for them. But I never yet saw a Goron blade that had a serpentmotif." He frowned. "No school I've heard of ever used it, at any rate."

Link frowned. "Well, I thought I knew little about it," he said, smiling wryly, "and now I know that I know even less than I thought! With your leave, sir, I'd love to hear more about the Goron smiths. Where's your

shop, may I ask?"

"I have a stall in the marketplace, and on weekdays I work my forge in the Street of Armorers," Curananswered, pointing northward. "You know where it is?"

"I do," Link agreed. "I believe I know much of Hyrule Town by now... since the first time, when I got lostthere on the way to my audience with the King!"

The smith laughed, an unrestrained display of goodwill. "Look for Curan's Blades," he instructed, smiling."'Tis near the junction with Weaver Street."

"I will," Link answered. He turned back to the window, intending to see if the wind and rain had lessenedenough for him to leave, and then something caught his eye--a small, dusty picture hanging on the wall

beside the door. He went over to it and studied the image, thoughtfully.

It was an odd square thing, a scene of overhanging trees. The frame seemed to be a cheap and crudely carved wooden imitation of the original, perhaps added much later on, but its light aspen wood set off thedark colors of the little painting in a pleasing way. Link knew he was certainly no judge of art, but he was

sure that it would be worth a lot of money, especially if it was as old as it looked. But the price was not what had attracted him. The painting, dark and gloomy though it was, seemed to show half-hidden within

the green darkness a partly paved forest path lined with crumbling stone walls, lichen-covered andovergrown. Deep within the glade, half-masked by ferny bushes and darkened further by the shadows of

the tall trees, a dark and square entrance yawned, seemingly set in a wall of ancient rock and overhung by some kind of portico. A point of shimmering pale green light glowed inside the dark doorway, but it wasimpossible to tell whether the light was something small, close, or something huge, far away. As he gazed

at the image, he felt once again that strange tug he had experienced in the desert, when they found outthat Sofia was a descendant of the Sage of Spirit, Nabooru. C hwedl a gynydda fel caseg eira...

"What is this painting?" Link asked, half-turning to look at Curan.

But it was Calonna who answered. "We aren't too sure, really," the young woman said in her soft, creamy voice. "It's been in my family for a long time. The inscription on the back says something to do with atemple in the forest. A few years ago we paid a down-and-out scholar to translate it for us, but he could

only pick out a few words." She smiled wryly as she went on, "He walked off with half our silver teaspoonsin his pockets, too. It was our good luck that Curan had the commission then and could replace them."

"May I?" the young warrior asked, and when the nod came, he lifted his good hand and gently unhookedthe small picture from the wall. It came away with a little dust, leaving a whiter space upon the faintly

smoke-tarnished wall it had lain upon. He turned it over, exceedingly gentle as he touched it, and foundthe faded sigils in Ancient Hylian. Ancient Hylian... so the picture truly was old then. Link understood the

difficulty of translating the inscription, for the words were worn to the point of illegibility even had he been a master of the language. "I cannot read this," he said slowly, "but I know a woman who could."

"Will we get it back?" Curan asked, embarrassed. "Only, it has been in the family, you know... I'd like toleave it to my Bethan as a nest egg..."

Link looked shocked. "Sir, I'm no thief!" he protested. "You know who I am and where I am, and I'll returnit as soon as the inscription's translated. I'll even write you a receipt if you want-"

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"I'm sorry," the smith said quickly, "but you can understand how reluctant we are, we've been cheated before. Not that I think you would, you're the Hero of Hyrule," he finished hastily. "How long would you

want it?"

"Not long," Link insisted. "It'll come straight back to you, I promise. Zelda won't damage it." He examinedthe inscription once more, but he could only spell out one or two letters. "This might have a clue to the

Quest," he said quietly.

"What quest?" Calonna asked in surprise.

Link bit his lip. "Er... oops. I should not have mentioned it. It is supposed to be a secret..."

Curan smiled slowly. "Take it," he said with finality. "We trust you, Hero--if not you, no-one! Good luck in whatever you have to do." Calonna seconded the agreement with a grave nod of her head.

"Thank you very much, good sir... madam," Link exclaimed, flustered. He reached out to grab his now dry cloak from where it had been lying on the hearth, and Bethan put it into his hands, laughing at his

surprise. Still amazed at the trust and generosity of the young couple, Link carefully wrapped the paintingin the warm green wool, and placed it gently in his backpack. Shouldering the satchel, he scooped upProwl from her place beside the fire. "Sorry, kit," he said with a smile, "but you'll have to get wet now.

Curan, Calonna, thank you once again for your kindness to a traveler in need. I promise I will make it upto you some time."

"No need, no need," Curan said expansively, waving a hand. "You're welcome to drop in any time, youngHero, and so are your friends. Hold on, I'll help you on with your cloak."

Zelda sat morosely upon a window-seat in the Hall of Portraits, surrounded by a thousand years of pictorial history. When she had been younger she had enjoyed looking through the images as she

wandered from one end of the hall to the other, seeing the faces of every King and Queen of Hyrulechanging slowly down the ages. Now, however, she had other things to consider.

Link was still not back, and the rain had almost completely stopped. It was very worrying. Wild tales had begun to filter into the castle, of cows snatched off their pastures and impaled upon the steeplecocks of

village churches; men who had been working in the fields found miles away on the slopes of inaccessiblecliffs, alive without a scratch; flash floods carrying off shepherds and their flocks alike. The Princess

knotted her fingers together and thought with cold fear of the possibility of Link being "missing" forever. Without the Hero there could be no Knighthood, she was sure of that.

"By the Goddess, cheer up," Sofia said suddenly, emerging from a doorway a few paces away, just beneatha great gilt-framed portrait of Link Third who had sailed away to sea. "You look like a dragon with

toothache."

Zelda could not help a faint smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Sofia!" she protested. Then, "Oh,I'm worried, that is all. He should have been back a long time ago."

"He'll be here soon, I'm sure," Sofia said with a shrug. "He can look after himself better than anyone else."She sat down beside Zelda on the window-seat, looking concernedly into the Princess's face. "You look

tired," she remarked.

"I spent the whole day working with the Book in the hope of finding out something of real use," Zeldaexplained, rubbing her temples absently. "It resisted me to the last. What use is a riddle like that?"

"What--oh, that thing about the Hero's shadow." Sofia frowned. "My experience with riddles tells me thatthey will usually reveal themselves to be perfectly simple... once you know the answer."

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"So how do we learn the answer?" Zelda muttered. She sighed heavily and shook her hair back. After theadventure in the Western Desert, she had not felt like going back to the old frilly silks and crinolines, andnow wore a pair of soft leather breeches, a white chemise and over that a leather jerkin that might offer

some protection against a sword, should the need arise. Her sudden new taste in clothes had already beenthe focus of several battles with her royal father, and she had only been back a few days. It seemed that

even though Zelda was now training to become a true warrior, like Link, King Harkinian still wanted herto look like a Princess. She crossed her legs, a new freedom afforded by the new clothes she wore, and

leaned back against the window, sighing softly to herself.

Someone tapped on the glass. With a shriek, Zelda sat bolt upright and leaped off the seat, her hearthammering. Sofia turned mildly to see who it was in the courtyard. A pair of bright green eyes gleamed

back at her mischieviously, and winked. "Zel, it's Link," she said in some surprise.

"Link?" Zelda exclaimed. "Oh, thank Nayru he's safe! Sofia, open the window. I'm going to hurt him!"Outside, Link waved cheerfully at them, unable to hear the conversation through the thick diamond-

paned glass.

Sofia laughed. "I really don't understand you two sometimes," she said, jerking at the catch.

The moment the window was released, it swung outwards--Link ducked, and then sprang through the gap with an agile bound. Prowl was under his arm, damp and irritated from the rain that still fell outside. The young warrior dumped the soggy kitten into Sofia's lap ignoring their twin howls of protest, and loosed

the straps of his satchel, bending to rummage in it in a clear display of high excitement. "Look what Ifound!" he exclaimed, pulling out something square which he waved in front of Zelda's nose. Eyes

sparkling, he awaited her reaction.

"It's a painting," she said flatly.

Link nodded eagerly. "Of course it's a painting! But look, look at it!"

Zelda took the little image from him and gave it a perfunctory examination. "Link, it's an ugly littlepainting," she said, irritated herself now. Sofia got up to take a look herself, setting Prowl down on the

window seat.

He pointed at the center of the picture. "No, look! That symbolizes something, that green light! Don't youthink-? This is the Forest Temple, Zel, and the picture's saying that there's an amulet inside!"

"Mere speculation," Zelda snapped. "There's no proof that's what it means."

"Oh, but there is," Link countered with a crafty smile. He turned the image over and showed her the writing on the back. "Can you read that to me?"

The Princess squinted at the difficult inscription, mouthing out the sounds she read. "It is hard," she began plaintively, then, "Oh, wait... yes, I think I see... Temple of the Forest, Resting... Place of that

Legendarie Jewel as it was told by Our Noble Hero... something By Myself, something, a name?.. a date.The Forest Temple?" Her eyes widened.

Link capered around, singing. "I knew it! I knew it! I was right! I found it!"

"The date is wrong," Zelda pointed out. "It's over three hundred years after the last topical reference to the Amulets of Legend--this is from the time of the Imprisoning War!"

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"It doesn't matter!" Link insisted, grabbing the painting off her and gazing rapt at the inscription. "Zelda,this is proof! Public opinion at this time had it that an Amulet was laid in the Forest Temple!"

"There was no Amulet in the Spirit Temple," Sofia said.

"It could have been moved," Zelda answered slowly. "Why would they have secreted all the Amulets in the

Temples, anyway? No, there is some other secret to this..."

"We have to find the Forest Temple," Link said excitedly. "Even if the Amulet is no longer there, there will be a clue!"

"I sense a problem," Zelda answered, biting her lip. "The official chronicles of that time say that even when the Hero of Time came to the Forest Temple, it was in ruins. Will there be anything left at all after

thousands of years more?"

It was Sofia who answered. "We have to look."

"You want to leave? Already?"

King Harkinian's expression was little short of annoyed as he gazed at his only daughter resplendent inthe boys' clothes she had taken to so strongly. "Why?" he asked.

"We want to search for the Forest Temple," Zelda explained. "We found--well, Link found something thatsuggests there is an Amulet there." She did not like to thus upset her father every time she needed to gosomewhere nowadays, and she was aware that he regretted giving them permission to continue, but sheknew also that his co-operation would have to be acquired; after the Spirit Temple débacle, the palace

guards were keeping a closer eye on her than they ever had before.

"Do you have any idea where it is?" the King asked quietly. He had been pretty sure, when Zelda asked if she could take dinner with him in private, that this sort of thing would be in the making. She was certainly taking her responsibilities as a Knight-aspirant seriously, and he supposed he had to respect her decisions.

After all, the Princess was almost an adult now. But he was terribly afraid he would lose her--he had losther beloved mother only a few days after Zelda was born, and he could not help feeling heavily protectiveof his only child. To Harkinian, she would always be the little girl who had played hide-and-go-seek

through the great old state-rooms of North Castle.

"We know that it is supposed to be in the Forest of the Kokiri," Zelda answered simply. "Beyond that, weknow little. The clue Link found does not really help us in that."

Harkinian sat back in his high-backed chair, stroking his chin thoughtfully; his eyes glittered with thesame flint that showed in them when he was discussing diplomatic matters with his generals. "You cannot

go yet," he said quietly. "I will not allow it. You must find out something more, or you go with an escort.Those woods are far too dangerous for three children to roam around at will."

"We're not children," Zelda insisted angrily. "How can you say that, after we did so well in the SpiritTemple? We got through that perfectly well without any help from anyone, father. We work as a team."

"Nevertheless, I forbid you to go unless you know what you are doing," the King replied. He crossed hislegs under the table, eyes bright yet firm. "You have responsibilities, my daughter. When you are an adult-

"

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"Yes, I know my responsibilities," Zelda broke in. "I'll marry any prince you choose and be the most stay-at-home Queen you can imagine, but just let us do this for now, Daddy!" Her voice rose at the end of the

sentence in an inadequately masked flash of anger.

Harkinian wondered wistfully how his little daughter had grown up so fast. How could he have missed it,that change from child to adult? --for this was a young woman now, facing him across the old oak table.

He cleared his throat, caught between a swell of pride and a strange melancholy regret for what was gone."I have nothing against your going, as long as both the Hero and that straight-headed Gerudo girl go with you," he began, "but I do not want you running around that forest courting disaster until you have a clear

goal in sight. I want to know where you are! Strange things live in the depths of Kokiri Forest... maybeeven survivors from the Age of Legends."

Zelda sighed. "Daddy..." she began.

"Not another word, Zel. I am telling you as your father, you must at least find out the vague whereaboutsof the Temple before you dash off and disappear into the woods with your friends." The King leaned

forward, placing his strong hands on the warm wood of the dining table. "I do not wish to see youharmed," he said quietly, meeting her eyes with a firm yet loving look. "Promise me that you won't leave

until you know where you are going. And then tell me, daughter."

"All right," Zelda said with obvious reluctance. "We'll try. I will go through the library again, and--well,maybe Link or Sofia will be able to think of something. Thank you for letting me go at all."

"I do want you to succeed, you know," Harkinian remarked, a little stung. He sighed and then found asmile for the Princess. "Nothing makes me prouder of you than to see you doing this, my daughter. I am

glad that you have a strong spirit in you. Just... be careful, love."

"Thanks, Daddy," Zelda said solemnly, pushing her chair back as she rose from the table. "I had better goand tell the others what we need to do. Please excuse me."

Above them, invisible and inaudible, Poe flickered faintly across the ceiling and was gone.

The yellow light named Pirrillip flittered up and down in the empty darkness of the place. She was aroundhere somewhere: she would always be. Pirrillip thought wistfully of the places it had come from, where it was still free and the sunlight still shone. Many were the times it had miserably rued the day its curiosity

and its greed had led it into the hands of its mistress, the dark one it was now forced to serve.

"Pirrillip!" Her voice, commanding. A moment later she herself appeared, sweeping through the darknesslike a black-sailed corsair ship in the night of an unnatural calm. Beneath the ebon hood of the cloak thatshrouded her, her eyes glittered with a fell red light. Not even Pirrillip knew truly what she looked like--

she was careful to hide her name and true nature. Only her eyes provided any clue to her identity, and theriddle was merely deepened by that truth. Pirrillip had never heard tell of a Hylian with eyes that color.

" Hail to thee, noble lady ." Pirrillip hung sparkling in the dusty darkness, suspended on twin pairs of rainbow-veined gossamer wings. Its light, an indication of its strength, flickered gently as it hovered in the

gaze of the dark lady. " What might I do for your grace ?"

"Look here, Pirrillip." She lifted a pale hand languidly; the fingernails gleamed crimson as if they had beendipped into blood. But it was not her hand that was the object of the light's attention. With a sudden snapof her fingers she called forth a silvery mist that clung to her hand, glistening in the poor radiance of the

dark place. A faint image formed within the mists--a deep forest glade, a doorway and a gleaming emeraldlight, no bigger than a pinprick in the small picture. "What do you make of this?" she asked softly, purring.

"Poe sends its sight back to me."

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The light hesitated. " I know nothing, great lady ."

"You lie, Pirrillip--again you lie! Will you continue to hide the truth from me? I know that this is theForest Temple, age-old haunt of your kind. Is there or is there not an Amulet of Legend within the

Temple?"

" I swear to thee, all-powerful one, I know nothing of this !" the light insisted desperately. " Please, I speaknothing less than the truth! If lore tells of an Amulet within that place, it has not come down to me !"

"If you lie, you shall feel my wrath," she answered, quietly terrifying in her calm malice. "This is my chargeto you, Pirrillip. Seek out the Forest Temple. Find it before the princess and the fisher boy do. Complete

this task and you will be rewarded. Fail, or try to run away, and I will not be merciful."

" I will do as you ask, my lady ," Pirrillip asserted. " I live only to serve you ."

"Of course you do." She laughed softly, low and menacing. "If you do not serve me, you do not live. Go."

Link looked out of the window in clear irritation. "Farore!" he snapped. "Is it still raining!" A delicatedrizzle patterned the pale gray sky, misting the spires of the town below and the far blue outlines of

Hyrule's hills.

The young Hero, the Hylian Princess and the daughter of the Gerudo king sat together in one of theunused turret rooms of North Castle, prepared to discuss the possibility of attaining the first Amulet--and

excitement ran through them like the tingle before a thunderstorm. Zelda had insisted on this remotegathering place, up a flight of three hundred steps, since neither she nor the others wished to run the risk

of enemies overhearing their plans for the Quest. The Princess's eyes were sad as she thought of it: noteven in her own home could she feel safe.

The unnatural storm had gone, fading like a fog on a sunny morning, but a constant fine rain now fellincessantly over Hyrule Town without break or sight of blue sky. The light sprinkling was barely enough to

wet a head, if the journey made was short, but it meant that laundry could not dry and the roads out of town were a mudbath. The people cursed the strange weather but could do little about it, save to wait

indoors until such time as the sun should once again show his head. Link was especially irritated as thedrizzle curtailed his efforts at training outside: he was forced to take to his room whenever he wished to

hone his sword skills, and the confined quarters were hardly ideal.

"Well," Sofia said in the quiet that followed the green-eyed Hero's angry outburst. "We are not goinganywhere in the rain, I think. Shall we look again in the library?"

"I know the library well enough," Zelda said. "There simply is very little written about the Temples. Theofficial history tells only that the Hero of Time broke the enchantment on each one. They date back to a

time before written records."

"What about the Book?" Link said, affecting a yawn.

She sighed and lowered her head. "I... might try again."

"No, Zelda," Sofia said. "You spent the whole day struggling with it, and all it came up with was four words.It has given us all it is going to give."

Zelda was silent for a long moment, her eyes on the ground, but then she lifted her head and met the gazeof the others. "We could try to search the castle cellars for maps and archived information," she said

quietly but firmly. "I know that there were many documents taken down there after the fire eighty years

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ago. Nobody is quite sure exactly what there is in the storage space under the castle, but if there is any hint as to the whereabouts of the Forest Temple, we will find it among the papers referring to the Hero of

Time."

"When do we look?" Sofia asked.

"Why not now?" Link asked softly.

E L O Z E


RE you sure these steps are safe?" Link questioned as he made his way down the creaking woodenstair, clutching at the rail every time a step shivered underneath him.

Zelda held the burning brand high, cursing the sparks that every so often fell upon her hand and arm, asshe moved cautiously down the stair before him. Beneath was the great cellar of North Castle, a giant

maze of interconnected storage chambers where things that dated back even to the days of the Hero of Time was squirreled away. The Princess was more than a little uneasy about searching the extensive

catacombs beneath the castle, especially as there was a danger of becoming lost--or of being injured by falling objects. Those who worked in the King's service joked that North Castle was supported more by all

the junk in its cellars than by its gigantic granite foundations.

"Move slowly," she commanded, placing a foot with care on a stair that threatened to give way. "Few people use these entrances to the lower levels of the castle, and they are not in the best of repair."

"This I can see," Link sighed. The rail cracked in his hand and he hastily let it go.

Zelda rounded the corner of the stair and stepped down thankfully onto cold stone flags. Holding hertorch aloft she turned to light Link's way as he reached the bottom of the spiral steps, and then handed

him the brand. The young green-eyed warrior accepted the light, lifting it to illuminate their surroundings.They were surrounded by ancient objects from Hyrule's past--moldering furniture, moth-eaten cloth,

yellowing and sodden books, rusted plate--and most of it was ruined or worthless. Things did not age wellin the moist air underneath the great castle, for the river seeped through part of the foundations and filledthe moat outside.

Link looked around intently, wrinkling his nose in distaste at the wetness of the air and the musty smell of damp and mildew. "Do you really think anything is down here, Princess?" he asked, gesturing with the

torch.

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"It is possible," Zelda told him. "There is so much down here that not even those who look after it know what is there, or how much of it! Some of these things have been here almost since the castle was built."

Holding high the burning torch, Link stepped forward and looked down an endless alleyway formed by stacked books and furniture. "Of course," he murmured dryly, "that may make it rather difficult for us to

find any Amulets that may be here."

"I am afraid so," Zelda sighed.

"Well... where do we start?" Link asked, turning to face the Princess. "Do you have any idea?"

"As a matter of fact I do," Zelda replied. "Right at the back. We'll look among the very oldest things.Follow me." She took the torch back from him and set off through the winding corridors, picking her way

through and around piles of objects which had remained unmoved since Ganon's last incursion intoHyrule.

Half an hour later, both the Princess and the young warrior were becoming frustrated by the amount of useless trash through which they had to sift. There seemed to be nothing in the vast cellars but damaged

furniture, old trunks full of musty clothes and crates and crates of books and papers. Link glanced at eachscroll before throwing it aside in disgust... most were ancient military dispatches or tradesmen's bills froma hundred years ago, and none had relevance to the search in hand. Zelda, meanwhile, riffled tentatively through all the boxes they came across, finding more in the way of spiders and silverfish than anything

else. She picked the arachnids out gently and set them on the floor where they scuttled quickly off tosafety in as yet undisturbed areas of the castle basement.

"Hmm... interesting." Link walked around a flat object approximately as tall as he was, covered withoilcloth which had been tied tightly at the bottom. Bending down he saw a square gilt base like the single

claw of a great bird, tapering up to a thick gold stem the thickness of his wrist, carved with scales; thisdisappeared into the folds of dusty cloth and was presumably attached to the large flat oval hidden by thefabric. "Hey, Zel, take a look." He reached out and rocked the object, finding it to be sturdy on its base--

whatever it was.

Zelda glanced over. "What is that, Link? A picture?"

He shrugged. "Let me find out." Kneeling he began to untangle the tightly knotted cord that held the clothonto the object. It was dirty with age, and the knots which had been pulled very tight even in the

beginning had tightened still further over the years--water had gotten into the cord and as it dried hadpulled the knots into each other. Link cursed and picked at it with his fingernails.

"Don't swear," Zelda told him absently, then she looked up again. "Is there a problem?"

Link scowled, intent on the task. His curiosity had been awakened and he was frustrated by the resistanttwine. "I can't loose these cursed knots!" he snapped. "They're too tight!"

"If you really want to see what that thing is, cut the cord," Zelda suggested. "I do not think that anyone will mind, whatever it is."

He nodded. "Your call, Princess." Inserting the slim tip of his serpentine dagger between the cord and thetightly bound cloth, he sawed carefully until the old braid gave way with a dry snap. Link loosened the

cord from around the base of the object and slowly unwound it. It had been tied so tightly that it had leftpermanent grooves in the oiled cloth. "Zelda? Could you help me here?"

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With an impatient sigh the Princess stood up, laying down the manuscript she had been examining, andtook hold of the cloth. "Curiosity killed the Deku Scrub, you know," she admonished. "Lift it off together,

on three." Link nodded. "One... two... three!"

A pall of dust and dirt arose as they whipped back the heavy cloth, and they both had to stop and cleartheir lungs as they dropped the thick folds of fabric unceremoniously on the ground. Link wiped his

streaming eyes with the back of his hand, leaving a smear of paleness across his begrimed face, and lookedat the object beneath the cloth. Now he and Zelda could see just what it was. It appeared to be a mirror, of the type commonly found in ladies' dressing rooms--it was of oval shape and could pivot in its wide golden

frame. Clearly it was an expensive antique; it was made of beaten silver, rather than glass as modernmirrors mostly were. The silver was black with tarnish now, and only faint gleams of torchlight could be

seen within it. The frame was wrought of entwining dragons' tails that flowed together at the top in a blindand screaming golden head. Furled gold dragon wings hung stiffly down on each side. Link shivered as he

looked at it. "What a horrible mirror," he mused.

"I have to agree," Zelda said thoughtfully. "I would never put up with that in my room!"

"I wonder why it was made?" Link asked. "It cannot be for someone's bedchamber; it would give anyone bad dreams."

Zelda stepped in front of the tarnished face and used her sleeve to scrub away some of the accumulatedoxide upon the mirror. Its surface felt faintly slick, oily and very cold. "It does not even give a properreflection!" she said in surprise, laughing nervously. "Look, Link! Doesn't it make me look strange?"

It was true. Zelda had bright blue eyes and deep blonde hair, and the color of her hair shone out even inthe twilight world of the castle cellars, where the firelight from the burning torch made it shine like

molten gold. Her dark blue tunic emblazoned with a golden Triforce was velvety and still deeply blue inthe darkness. The Zelda in the mirror had pale, colorless eyes, and her hair was a lifeless moonlike white.She even seemed to sport a cold sneer, although that had to have been a trick of the light--Zelda was not

smiling. As if the mirror could or would not display images of good, the Triforce upon her tunic was amere faintly lighter splotch upon the deep black of her clothes. Zelda shuddered suddenly, feeling--

something. "I hate this mirror," she said firmly, and turned away.

Link stood beside her to see his own reflection. "Ye Gods!" he exclaimed, and laughed. The mirror madehim seem thinner--leaner--and his shadowed face was almost invisible in the darkness. "Zelda, see how I

appear in this thing!"

The Princess looked back into the mirror. The scene laid out before her seemed to fit perfectly--a dark, evilZelda and Link behind the mirror complemented the good ones standing before it. Link's reflection

frightened her even more than had her own--he was a creature of perfect blackness, face, skin and clothes:a cutout of night. The mirror-Zelda's bone-white hair curled snake-like around her shoulders and faded

into the shadows of the mirror world, and a twisted strand of it had crept across the mirror-Link'sshoulder as she stood close to him. Zelda flicked her hair back and mirror-Zelda copied her motions

exactly.

"Maybe it's just because it's dark down here," Link suggested lamely. "Surely it will show better when it isclean and in sunlight!"

"There is no way," Zelda said, "that I am hauling this vile thing upstairs." She sighed and reached outagain to wipe the mirror's face--perhaps the strange reflections were caused by the encrusted dirt whichcovered the silver surface. But then her eye caught something. She drew back with a start. "Link, look at

your eyes!" she whispered in shock.

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Link blinked and leaned closer to the mirror. Something extremely strange had happened to hisreflection... his eyes he knew were a soft green--his mother had once affectionately compared it to the

color of aspen leaves in spring. But the shadow-Link's eyes were dark and gleaming red, lacking either irisor pupil: chill lights the color of new-spilled blood. And his hair was different--falling in fluffy shoulder-

length bangs that curled just a little at the bottom.

"What in the name of Nayru?" he murmured, blinking. He reached out slowly, as if in a dream, and themirror-Link copied him. Their fingers wavered for a moment millimeters from the surface of the mirror,and then they touched. The surface felt like dry ice. He shuddered violently and tore his hand back.

"Link," Zelda began, her voice wavering with panic. "The reflection is changing!"

Stunned, Link watched as the image of Zelda slowly dissolved from the mirror, leaving only the dark silhouette-form and shining blood-red eyes of shadow-Link standing before him. He backed away slowly.

And the shadow-Link did not copy his movement!

"What is it?" Link whispered. "Magic?"

"I know not," Zelda hissed back, "but I think we should cover it again and leave!"

He nodded and stooped for the discarded heap of oilcloth, but then a sharp gust of chill air drove him back. A freezing wind was blowing from the mirror into the cool cellar. It quickly grew strong enough to

whip his hair about and tug at the hem of Zelda's loose tunic, and then stronger. In moments it had become a veritable gale. Something fell from atop a stack and smashed with a rueful tinkle of glass.

"What's happening?" Zelda screamed, clinging to a great rusted iron bedframe with all her strength.Slighter than Link as she was, she was in danger of being blown right off her feet by the fierce frozen gale.

"You tell me!" Link shouted back. He leaned forward against the arctic blast from the mirror, ice crystalsforming now in his hair and brows from the intense cold, and shielded his eyes to look straight at the

silvered glass. The mirror-Link had not moved from his position behind the silver glass, but now the glassitself seemed to be bulging out from inside! There was a loud punk! and a long glittering crack spread

across the surface of the mirror--the dragon-coils seemed to shiver and warp. Another crack radiated outfrom the first, and then a spiderweb of burning white lines began to creep across the previously unmarred

surface.

Link realised with horror what was going to happen. "Zelda, get down!" he shouted, and ducked behind aheavy wooden armoire that lay on its side behind him. There was no time for him to look to her. He

crouched, arms over his head, and squeezed his eyes shut against flying shards.

The mirror shattered asunder, blasted from within. Something whipped like fire across his shoulder,making him cry out in surprise--something slammed into his forearm, a sharp blow. As if a switch had

been turned, the wind cut off and all was silence... save for someone's tortured breathing.

Link staggered to his feet, shivering violently. Ice was frozen in his lashes and on the folds of his clothes."Princess, are you all right?" he said through chattering teeth.

"Link?" came the quavery reply. Zelda clambered out from behind the upturned bed--its presence hadprobably saved her life, for glassy silver shards were buried deep in the thick mattress. "Nayru's Love," the

Princess shivered weakly, "what happened?"

"I don't--agh!" He clutched his forearm, feeling the pain for the first time. A splinter of the mirror, razor-sharp and as long as his middle finger, had embedded itself in the muscle. Link hissed in pain, but

grasped the silver splinter between thumb and first finger and determinedly drew it out. Blood gushed

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from the wound the moment he removed it. Another gash marred his shoulder where his tunic was rippedand already staining red. Turning, he beheld the empty mirror frame somehow lifeless now, the evil gone,

the golden dragons dimmed. "The mirror," he said weakly. "We broke a magic on it... or put one on it.Din's Fire, I don't know!"

"Let me bind that wound," Zelda began, reaching down to tear a strip from the sleeve of her chemise.

"Whatever happened, your cuts need cleaning, but we will have to go back upstairs to do that."

"No time," Link said impatiently, jerking his arm away from her. "Look. The mirror-Link."

A dark naked form lay sprawled on its front, half in and half out of the mirror's frame--nearly invisible inthe poor light afforded them in the castle cellars. It was almost perfectly black, from the ink-dark hair thathung over its face to the velvety black of its bare skin that sparkled with a fine coat of ice. As they watched

in shock the shape let out a faint snake-like hiss and its slender fingers clenched.

"Sorcery," Link hissed. "Whatever it is, we must kill it!"

"Wait," Zelda commanded, laying her hand upon his where he had closed his fist around his dagger hilt."We do not know that it is evil."

"It came out of a mirror by magic and damn near killed us in doing so," Link snapped. "What more proof do you need?"

"Link, wait," Zelda said in a firm tone. "Look at him. He is in no condition to attack us!"

As if to illustrate the Princess's point, the shadow-Link reached out and found a niche in the stone floor. Weakly, its limbs shaking as if it had only limited control of them, it began to pull itself the rest of the way through the mirror frame. Its breathing was as a man's in the last stage of bleeding to death. Ice glittered

like diamonds in the ebon hair.

"Poor creature," Link murmured, watching the shadow-Link's tortured struggles. Suddenly responding to

an altruistic impulse the green-eyed warrior strode forward and locked his arms about the shadow-Link'sslender waist. It lifted its head slightly and glanced at him with gleaming blood-colored eyes, then fellexhausted upon the mirror's empty frame. Link gathered his strength and lifted the shadow-Link up andthrough the mirror, letting it down gently upon the folded oilcloth they had discarded. Its eyes closed as

he did so, and it seemed to fall finally unconscious.

He stood up again and turned to the Princess. "Zelda, what is this thing? How could it have come out of amirror?"

"If you expect me to know," began Zelda angrily, and then she halted in her tracks and pressed a hand toher mouth. "Gods, it couldn't be!"

"What?" Link insisted.

Zelda bit her lip. "Seek the Hero's Shadow, Link!"

Link's expression showed a complete lack of comprehension. "What?"

"The Book! It never meant your shadow at all! The Hero's Shadow! Who was the Hero when this book was written? The Hero of Time! I've read it in the histories! Ganon gave life to Link First's shadow!"

"This?" he said incredulously, turning.

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"Look at him," she said. "Look at him, look at his face, look at his hair. If his colour was different, who would he be?"

"Then..." Link stared. "This? Then this is..." He backed away, grabbing at his serpentine dagger.

"Dark Link," Zelda said softly.

They stared at each other in the darkness, their faces barely illuminated by the flickering light of thediscarded torch. It was a miracle that it had not gone out.

"I know this," Link said. "My grandfather told me stories... This thing is evil. True evil. It's everything thatthe Hero of Time was not." He drew his dagger. "We must kill it now," he said grimly, "before it grows

strong enough to flee from us."

"No," Zelda said.

"No?"

"No. The Book said seek the Hero's shadow. We've found the Hero's shadow, Link." She reached out andgently pushed his sword-arm down. "We've solved the riddle. The Book may be confusing at times, but it would never guide us towards evil. This creature... Dark Link... somehow or other he holds the key to the

Forest Temple."

Link stared at her for a long time. Then, he nodded and slipped his arms underneath the shadow-Link.The body was astonishingly light. Link cradled the body in his arms and stepped out over the crunching

shards of the mirror.

Zelda picked up the oilcloth. "Wrap him in this," she said. "And try to keep him out of the light!"

Weak...

...so tired...

...who carries..?

...

...rest a while...

...then see...

...sleep...

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"How is he?" Link asked softly. Several hours had passed since they had freed the shadow-Link in themirror, several hours which Zelda had mostly spent tending to the creature, and the young warrior grew

impatient to know more about their strange discovery.

"I think he is still sleeping..." Zelda said, gently stroking the shadow-Link's forehead. The room she hadplaced him in was as dark as she could make it, thick curtains having been placed over the window to

block out the sunlight by day and any residual luminescence by night. He lay insensible upon the bed, his breathing faint and ragged. His skin was cool and smooth to touch. She could find no pulse, even whenshe put her ear to his chest; he certainly was alive, because his chest rose and fell; but if there was a heart

within that slim dark breast, it did not seem to beat.

He was strange beyond description to look upon, compared to the fair-skinned Hylians who cared for him.Zelda recognised his shape as similar to that of the Hero of Time--or at least, to the pictures they had seenof him, which were few and far between. But his skin and hair were black as night; so too were his thin lips,the palms of his hands and even his delicate oval fingernails. Physically perfect in every way, he seemed as

a statue of a man carved from blackest coal.

"Zelda, what is he?" Link demanded.

"I do not know... for sure," the Princess answered. "Little has been written about him. If he is Dark Link,he was created by an ancient evil wizardry, when Ganon tore away Link First's own shadow and brought itinto physical form. He was imprisoned somehow in that mirror, and we freed him when we uncovered it--

or you released him somehow when you touched it." The shadow-Link stirred slightly, eyelids flutteringand Zelda fell silent to watch him. But he did not awaken, and presently she sighed and did not speak

again.

"But what is he?" Link asked, in awe of the strange being. "What manner of creature?"

Zelda's expression was serious. "The legends call him Dark Link, because he was supposed to be the exactopposite of Link First--as you said, everything that the Hero of Time was not. He is mentioned more thanonce in the histories of Hyrule, but only ever in passing and rarely by his name. We know very little about

him in truth... save that light alone can kill him. He was created out of the essence of darkness. He has

been slain many times by Heroes, and again and again he has come back to life--like Ganon."

"Like Ganon?" Link repeated. "And of the essence of darkness? Why do I not like the sound of that?" Hescowled. "Well, Zelda, I suppose you know best. But in Farore's name, be careful! I do not trust this

creature."

"I know, Link," Zelda murmured, "and I don't particularly trust him either, come to that. I will trust you to watch him."

"I will do that," Link said seriously. "Is he going to live long anyway? He breathes as if he is at death'sdoor."

The Princess shrugged. "I know not. There is some strange malady at work here... but he regains strength when kept away from light, even though the healing is slow. I cannot make him eat or drink, but he doesnot seem to suffer from the lack--with time, I believe he will recover." She gently touched the ebony hair

that spread across the pillow beneath shadow-Link's head. "If he wakes, Link, you will be the first to know,so do not fear. Go now. For Nayru's sake, get those cuts treated, and get something to eat. I will be fine

here for now."

"All right," Link said softly. Gently he opened the door to the chamber, which stood at the top of the WestTower and was one of the most isolated in North Castle; and slipped out. As yet, nobody else knew of thepresence of Dark Link, and they both knew they had to keep it that way if he were to survive to waking.

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G reetings from Hyrule, my brother.

I spent the day searching through the King's library in search of information to do with the you-know-whats, but I didn't have much success. There are thousands of books there, and of course they are often

written in that ancient script and I can hardly puzzle three words together. I live in hope of findingsomething useful, but so far I've been unlucky. Zelda's tried and failed before me.

Speaking of Zelda, both she and Link were down in the cellars today, going through all the castle junk.You wouldn't believe how much is down there! They haven't resurfaced yet, so I assume they've found something interesting. I hope they got on better than I have! We think we know where to start looking,

but first we have to find that place.

Hyrule's a good land, very green. So far, the people I've spoken to have been very kind and polite and shown me the greatest courtesy as a guest. They've given me a big, comfortable room in the castle, and

Zelda's only just down the hall. But it is all very strange to me here and I do miss you, big brother. Hopefully I'll be able to come back soon and visit. How's Daddy? Still as busy as ever?

I hope all's well with you, and I look forward to getting your reply. Well, it's getting late now so I suppose I'd better bring this to a close. I've got to keep it down anyway; I only have one bit of paper! I'm

sending this via the King's post, so it should get to you in a few days. Miss you.

Sofia

It was getting on for night. The sky outside was a deep velvety blue dusted with the first faint ghosts of stars, and the pale moon had not yet risen. The thick curtains in the tower room shut out this light

efficiently, and only a single candle burned within the room to give enough radiance to see by.

As she had done several times before, Zelda gently lifted Dark Link's head in the crook of her elbow, and with her other hand placed a cup half-filled with weak doctored wine to his lips. As always, he would not

drink; but she could not help trying, if only to feel useful.

Upon the table behind her lay several large books: surviving lore of the Sheikah, those ancient walkers of the shadow realm. She had found little that told of Dark Link, but she knew enough to guess how she

might nurse him back to strength. His kind fed upon darkness--were truly nothing more than shadows,animate, intelligent shadows created by powerful and evil magic. Light, if it was strong enough, could killthem. They drew their strength from the night and from the eternal darkness, and separation from thissource of their powers weakened them over time. Zelda guessed that within the mirror, Dark Link had

been unable to replenish his strength.

Suddenly he turned his head toward the wall, weakly lifting an arm and trying to push her away. Zelda,startled, let him back down onto the soft bed and then she sat and waited, placing the cup softly on thetable. In a moment, as she had thought he would, he opened his eyes a little. They were twin crimson

gleams in the darkened room: empty orbs of red that shone faintly with an inner light.

"How are you feeling?" she asked gently.

His head turned and the glowing blood-colored eyes seemed to focus on her. She guessed that they did, atany rate; there was neither iris nor pupil to give away the direction of his stare. He blinked once and spoke.

"Who are you?"

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"My name is Zelda," she answered quietly.

"Zelda?" He whispered it, turning his face away: puzzled, almost. "You are... Zelda?" He closed his eyesand raised one slim and trembling hand to touch his forehead. "But... the mirror..."

"It broke," Zelda informed him. "We freed you. Are you feeling stronger now?"

"You," he hissed, trying weakly to sit up. "You did this..."

"I didn't put you there," Zelda said gently. She reached out and placed her hand on his arm, meeting hiseyes with hers. "We found you."

"You lie," Dark Link hissed softly through his teeth. They were very white and sharp, and she barely suppressed a shudder. This creature was a being of evil, that was definitely true. Zelda could not see how

he could be anything else. She wished Link was here to back her up; she should never have sent him out of the room, even for a moment.

But she had been accused and she had to respond to the accusation. Drawing herself up, the Princessshook back her golden hair and said stiffly, "I do not lie. I am a member of the Royal Family, daughter to

the King himself. We have our honor."

Dark Link's blind red eyes flashed brightly. "You are the one... you must be... but no..." Puzzlementregistered briefly upon his face and then he reached up weakly and brushed back her long hair. His cool

black fingers brushed her cheek. "So similar," he murmured, "but there are differences... I see..." His handfell back. "What year is it?" he demanded.

"2704," Zelda answered. "Why?"

She watched him frown as he made mental calculations. "Din's Fire," he whispered softly. "Almost threehundred years..."

"You were imprisoned somehow in that magic mirror," Zelda said thoughtfully. "And when Link touched--"

"Link!" Eyes suddenly blazing, Dark Link found the strength to sit upright. He hissed like an angry cat andclenched his fists, his burning eyes fixed upon her with a fanatical intensity. "Where is he?" he demanded

softly, his voice a savage growl.

Zelda was startled by the sudden outburst. "He's the one who set you free," she said quietly, striving tokeep her voice calm and level. "He carried you here so that you might recover. You probably owe him your

life as much as you owe it to me."

"And what will you do now that you have freed me?" Dark Link asked softly, smiling as he lay back. It wasnot a friendly smile; it was a baring of teeth, nothing more. His teeth were pointed; his canines, almost

fangs.

The Princess sighed. "I don't know," she owned. "I don't understand any of this at all. But the Book said it would be you who would help us. The Book has never been wrong before."

"Book?" He looked at her with a faintly quizzical expression.

Zelda closed her eyes and thought of the quest. It was being held up while she cared for Dark Link, andshe knew that Sofia was becoming restless to continue the search. Yet they certainly could not simply go

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off now and leave Dark Link here in North Castle. Unwittingly, she and Link had let loose a deadly creature, a creation of Ganon from the Age of Legends--a thing that had once fought the Hero of Timehimself and, if the histories were true, had nearly won. If they made an enemy of Dark Link now, they

would have to watch their backs.

"It was not an accident that we found the mirror," she said softly. "It was not an accident that you were

released. You are a part of this as much as Link and I. Perhaps this was meant to happen--we found you,so that you could help us."

"Help you?" he said. "Help you ?"

"Yes," Zelda said, gaining strength. "Why not?"

Dark Link laughed, and it was a terrible, lonely, hateful sound.

"Why?" he said. "Why would I help anyone? You of all people, little golden Princess? Don't you know me?Don't you know what I am?" His eyes narrowed to crimson slits. His hand moved weakly, beckoning her

to listen close. "When I am stronger," he whispered, almost lovingly, "I will kill you."

The bitter hatred, the despair in that soft voice was terrible to hear in the dark oppressive room. And she was afraid--horribly afraid. It crossed her mind to call for Link, to focus her whole spirit on a telepathicshout for the Hero, but she knew the knife's edge upon which she stood. It would take very little for the

shadow to spring.

Keep talking. Keep him off-balance--don't let him see you as aggressor, or prey...

"Why?" Zelda said quietly.

"Why ?"

"Yes, why?" She sat back. "Why do you want to kill me?"

Dark Link smiled slowly, disbelievingly, and then his eyes flared with light. The blank crimson orbs staredfiercely into her face. "I hate you," he said in the same soft, sibilant whisper. "I hate every one of you. I

would kill you all if I could. Are you stupid, little Princess?"

"No," she said. "I'm not stupid. I see well what you are. And I am afraid. But I feel sorry for you too."

"You ? Feel sorry? For me ?"

"Why should I not? How long were you shut up in that mirror? How long before that have you walkedalone? You have lived a thousand years without a single friend. No wonder you're bitter. If I were you,"

she said, "I would hate the whole world."

He stared at her through the dark black hair that tumbled over his face.

"You make no answer," Zelda said.

"You make fun of me."

"No. I am in earnest." She reached out and touched his thin black hand, and his whole body flinched away from her. "Don't be afraid of me," Zelda said.

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"There is very little that I fear. Least of all do I fear you , little golden Princess."

That cursed book, she thought... its clues were always cryptic to the point of nonsense, yet they alwaysended up fitting. This had to be the answer, as insane as it was. And there was something else... Dark Link,

if he was the shadow of Link First, would have lived when the Forest Temple was intact. Would he know where it was?

Could he lead them to it?

She returned her attention to the dark thing in the bed. He would follow, she knew it--she could see it inhis face, the loneliness of walking alone down the ages, a thousand years and more of solitude. She could

tame the wolf.

"We would be your friends," she said, "if we knew how."

"You are mad, little Princess," he said.

"Then humour me in my madness."

"What is it you want from me?"

"Show us the way to the Forest Temple," Zelda said. "I know you know the way. You went there once, longago. Come with us. Guide us. Help us do what we have to do. Let us help you in return."

"What do you want with the Forest Temple?" Dark Link asked softly.

"Are you with us, or are you not?" she said. "I can tell you no more until I know."

"Yes," he said. "I know the way. Perhaps I could even show you . But why should I, little Princess? Why should I do anything for you?"

"Because you never have!" Zelda cried, losing her patience. "The one who made you abandoned you longago! Why cling to him now? Come with us and make a difference, let us be your friends... or would yourather be alone forever?" She saw her barb sink deep, saw him shiver at the unfamiliar heat of it, and

drove it home into his strange dark silent heart. "Do it," she said, "because we offered you the chance tochange."

He closed his eyes and turned his face away.

She waited for a long time, sitting silent by the bed. She had almost given up, believing that he would notspeak again, when he swallowed, and faintly spoke once more. "I will hear you out," he whispered.

Zelda smiled. "Good," she said softly. "Shall we be friends?"

He turned his head again and looked at her, his eyes glowing bright now, his strength seemingly renewed."Friends?" he said, tasting the word. He laughed softly, cynical. "Oh, indeed. Friends..."

Zelda met his gaze, her own expression calm. "That must include Link too. Wait-" as he drew in a breath"-I know why Ganon made you. I know about your personal quest against the line of the Hero of Time.

How far has your hatred got you in a thousand years? You haven't once succeeded in killing a Hero, have you? Don't answer. I have read the histories. I know what you tried in the Water Temple, and later in

Calatia. Forget your quest for revenge, Dark, for we have a more important one to worry about."

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"'Dark'?" he echoed suspiciously, sitting up.

The Princess smiled. "Well, I don't think we should fall back on full names, do you? Myself, I would muchrather you called me Zelda, or just plain Zel. Link seems to have a problem with nicknames--he insists on

calling me Princess, or Milady, or even Your Royal Highness! Please don't start that as well."

"Link," he repeated. "The Hero's heir?"

Zelda nodded firmly. "He comes as part of the agreement. Try and sleep now. You need rest."

Dark Link shook his head. "I do not sleep," he said. "I need no more rest; I am well."

"I see. Well, what would you like to do? Do you think you're strong enough to get up and have a propermeal? We put a few clothes together for you earlier. No black, I am afraid." She turned to the table andsorted through a small pile of folded linen. "A spare tunic of Link's--you're about the same height, butthinner than he is." She held up the soft green and met Dark Link's astonished eyes again. He looked

faintly insulted. "Maybe not," Zelda amended, and set the green aside. "How about this?" She handed hima soft dark blue tunic with the crest of the Royal House embroidered in gold upon the breast. He took it

without any expression. "I apologise for the Phoenix," she told him with a smile, "but the color might sit better on you than green, at least. It's part of a Royal attendant's uniform. I am afraid that we did not have

much to choose from in the way of clothes. It was a matter of what would fit you. What do you fancy?"

Dark Link shrugged wordlessly, confounded. Zelda smiled and laid the blue tunic upon the bed. "I will wait outside while you dress," she said quietly. "There's a good pair of boots under the bed, and hose here,

and a shirt. They're white I'm afraid, but they're clean." She stood and headed for the door.

"Wait."

Surprised, she turned and looked at him again, her hand already upon the doorknob and just beginningthe act of turning. "What is it?"

Dark Link gazed at her with an unreadable expression, midway between surprise and curiosity. His eyesglowed softly. One hand clutched a fold of the dark blue tunic. "Why have you done this?" he said.

"Done what?" Zelda asked.

"Why free me? Why speak to me? Why give me clothes ?"

"Why not?" she said, and slipped out quietly to wait in the small empty space at the top of the stairs.

He did join her a few minutes later, dressed in the white shirt and dark blue tunic she had picked out.

Dark Link shivered, and Zelda looked curiously at him. "Cold?""The mirror was always cold," he answered quietly.

The Princess considered for a while. "We might be able to find you something warmer to wear later. Come with me and we can go to the kitchens--that's the warmest place in North Castle. And they will have food,"she amended with a smile. "Link will almost definitely be there." Dark Link followed without comment as

she made her way down the winding stair. There were one hundred and ninety steps leading up to theremote turret room, and whichever way one was going it was a long walk. Zelda was surprised at the grace

and utter silence with which Dark Link moved--he reminded her of a great cat somehow, a stalking

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panther. His boots did not make the slightest sound upon the stone floor--next to him she felt as if she was making a terrible, clumsy noise.

"Let me see if I have this right," Zelda began as they walked. "You were imprisoned in the mirror by one of my predecessors, and presumably one of the previous Heroes. Why?"

Dark Link shrugged and did not answer.

"Listen," the Princess said patiently. "What is in the past is in the past. It doesn't matter to me; I was justcurious."

"I killed," he said. "I killed eighteen people. If I had been able to kill one more, I would have wiped out theHero's line forever." And his tone was quite calm.

E L O Z E


INK had managed to cadge a plateful of leftovers from the cook. He sat at the great kitchen table,

stuffing his face and occasionally pausing to talk cheerfully, waving a chicken leg in the air asaccompaniment to his story. "...and then they surrounded me, eight of them at least! No, more like ten! And so I drew my sword and faced them down..."

"You're a boastful liar, lad," Miriel, a plump, middle-aged Hylian with graying auburn hair and twinklingdark eyes, answered. She was kneading dough, her sleeves rolled up past the elbows to bare her round,flour-covered arms as she worked. She was fond of Link, had been so ever since the young warrior had

first arrived in Hyrule City. Miriel was a spinster who devoted all her time to working for the Royal Family,and Link was the closest she had ever had to a son. In turn, he made the most of having a second mother

in his home away from home at the Royal castle--Calatia was a long long way from Hyrule Town.

"I'm boastful, but not a liar!" Link exclaimed. "I was surrounded by the evil monsters--their little yellow eyes gleaming! The size of saucers! But when they started to spit rocks at me--bam!" He flung the chicken

leg around in a sweeping slash. "I whacked them right back at them!"

"Calm down, boy," the cook admonished, "or you're going to-"

Link leaped up on the table to demonstrate a particularly vicious attack, swiping at imaginary Octoroks with the sorry-looking chicken leg, and his booted foot knocked his cup onto the floor. The pewter mugcrumpled and spilled its contents across the floor with a clang. A pungent aroma of apple cider filled the

kitchen. "Oops," Link said embarrassedly as he sat down again.

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"-knock something over," Miriel finished, pointedly shifting her feet around the puddle. "Get a cloth now, you ridiculous boy, and mop that up!"

"Sorry, milady," Link said shamefaced, and took a napkin from a pile beside the range.

"Not those, they're clean," the cook ordered. "Honestly, Link!"

"Sorry, milady!" Link yelped, dropping the cloth. He dug another out from a separate pile and knelt on thecool stone floor to mop up the spillage. Some had gone underneath the heavy table, and he lay full-length

on the floor to reach it.

Zelda chose this moment to enter the kitchen. She stifled a yelp of laughter when she saw Link's legs and bottom sticking out from underneath the table, the only part of him visible from the doorway. "Oh, Link,"

she called sweetly. "When you've finished washing the floor, we'd like to talk to you!"

Link jerked under the table. There was a thud and then an angry curse, and the table wobbled. An instantlater he withdrew, holding a dirty rag in one hand and rubbing the back of his head with the other. "Zel?"

he said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Hoping to introduce you to our friend," the Princess answered with a smile. "You're certainly not makinga good first impression, by the way."

Blushing deeply, Link stood up and dusted himself down. His front was peppered with crumbs and applepeelings, and there was a wet patch on his tunic where he had lain in the spilt apple cider. Zelda put her

hand over her mouth to squash another giggle which threatened to emerge. "This is Dark Link," she said,standing aside and indicating the shadow who stood in the doorway, gazing at Link. "He has agreed to

help us on the Quest!"

"Er... well met," Link said selfconsciously. Dark Link stared at him with softly glowing red eyes, sayingnothing. His expression was inscrutable.

Miriel turned round and let out a little gasp of surprise. "Well!" she said, letting the one word carry all hercuriosity about the visitor. "He's one of your friends, is he, Princess?"

"Yes," Zelda answered firmly. "He's a friend."

The cook stared at the shadow as if he was some strange new phenomenon, such as the sky turning greenor fish swimming in air. He looked back coldly and after a moment she pulled her gaze away. "Do you

both want anything to eat?" she asked Zelda. "You've missed supper, milady, but I can rustle upsomething or other. This young ruffian" -she laid her hand on Link's shoulder- "had a big supper, but stillhe comes sniffing and snooping around here for more!" Link's blush had been fading, but now it returned

with a vengeance.

Zelda laughed. "Oh, Link! Yes, Miriel, we would like something to eat if you can spare it." The cook began

clattering pans and setting out a trayful of food, and Zelda laid her hand lightly on Dark Link's shoulderand guided him towards the table. "You," she ordered, pulling out a chair, "sit. And you, Link. And pleaseget rid of that chicken leg."

Link looked at the object in his hand with a faint disgust. After being used as a sword, dropped on thefloor and dragged about under the table, its remains could only by the wildest stretch of the imagination be classed as food. He threw it in the direction of the kitchen trash bin--it plopped neatly into the heavy

wooden barrel with a soft splat. "Done, Princess," he said cheerfully and sat down. "What's cooking,milady?"

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"You can't still be hungry," Miriel scolded. "You'll eat us all out of house and home!"

Link grinned. "Well, I could manage just a little more..."

Shaking her head wryly, the Princess refrained from glancing at Dark Link to see his reaction; she hadalready realised that he did not like being stared at. Instead of focusing attention on him, she propped her

chin on her folded hands and looked at Link. "So... the Quest? Any ideas?"

The young warrior wavered. "Er... perhaps we should talk about that later, eh?" he suggested with aconciliatory smile. His meaning was plain--not in front of that !

Dark Link's eyes glowed coldly crimson. "You need not fear me yet," he said quietly, and Link drew back alittle despite himself. "I will hear you both out," the shadow finished. "For now, that is all." He hissedslightly as he spoke the "S" sound, and the sibilance thus afforded to his voice made him seem doubly

sinister.

"It is all we ask of you," Zelda agreed. "Tell him, Link."

"But I..!"

She narrowed her eyes. "Link. Tell him."

Looking uncomfortable, the young warrior let out an almost inaudible sigh before nodding slowly. "Allright. Everything?" Her irritated look was the only response he got--that and the emotionless, empty-eyedface of Dark Link. Link suppressed a shiver beneath that blank red gaze, and wondered why in the name

of Farore Zelda could so easily trust this strange creature. He summoned up a smile for the Princess's benefit, and took in a breath to prepare himself.

"We are on a quest to restore order to Hyrule. We believe that we can only be free of Ganon once weresurrect the Knights of Hyrule, and to do this we are looking for certain artifacts which are supposed tohold the power of the Knighthood. With those we can call the Triforce back to Hyrule and destroy Ganon

once and for all." Having summarized the Quest in as few words as possible, the green-eyed warrior sat back and waited for a reaction.

He got it. "You are going to kill Ganon?" Dark Link said incredulously. "And you want me of all people tohelp you do this thing? Why in the name of Din should I help you?"

"No reason, really," Zelda said promptly. "But you are going to do it anyway, aren't you?"

The shadow turned towards her. "Why?" he said quietly, sounding more curious than anything else.

"You just are," the Princess said, shrugging. "I know you are. It is destiny. When we freed you from themirror" -a faint shudder went through Dark Link at the mention of that magical prison- "I knew it then. I

felt it. Chwedl a gynydda fel caseg eira..."

He snorted. "That old saying."

"You know it then?" Link asked in surprise.

Dark Link's eyes flashed in the light as he looked round at the young Hero. "I am familiar with the ancienttongue. As you should know."

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"Enough!" Zelda said. "We are not here to bicker. Dark Link, you said you would hear us out. You haveheard. Now what will you do?"

"I will think about it," Dark Link hissed, standing up noiselessly. His crimson eyes gleamed beneathshining black bangs. "For now, no more than that."

"I don't like him, Zelda. He spooks me out. Those eyes! How does he see? What is he?"

"Be patient. It is all very new to him. He must be given time!"

"What if he decides to use our information against us? It is not wise to tell him so much so soon!"

"Trust me."

"O-oh, whenever someone says that I know something bad is about to happen..."

"Oh, Link, don't be silly. Give him a chance. It will be hard enough persuading Sofia, and I do not need you to make things more difficult still!"

"...I'll behave, you know that. But I cannot think that someone can change so soon. He has no real reasonto help us, does he? We have all admitted that. Even he."

"He has more reason than you think. Perhaps he feels grateful because we let him loose. Perhaps he islonely."

"We will see."

They went to bed late that night.

The moon was well past its peak by the time the Princess and the Hero had finished their discussion tomore or less mutual satisfaction. Link was adamant that Dark could not yet be trusted with the full detailsof the Quest or the search for the other Legendary Knights, but he agreed with Zelda that the help of the

shadow would be more than welcome. One who had fought the Hero of Time would doubtless beinvaluable if the Quest led them into places like the Spirit Temple!

Zelda took it upon herself to tell Sofia of the latest member of the Knighthood-to-be, and she prepared infull knowledge that the Gerudo girl would not like the news. It was well known to Zelda that Sofia's peopledeeply distrusted magic--how could they not, after the damage wrought upon their race and their sacredplace by the Sorceress Sisters Twinrova? The young Princess remembered the dark pit she had entered with Sofia and Link: the tainted sowander that had been the Spirit Temple, most sacred place of theGerudo people. With that background behind her, what could Sofia make of the enchanted shadow-

creature that she would now have to accept as a companion?

The Princess rose early the next day. Outside the window of her lofty turret, the sky was a pale blanket of rose criss-crossed with sunlit streaks of cloud, and the air had the mellow crispness of a pure autumn day.

As she looked down at the mist lying thin upon the streets of the town, Zelda felt a momentary wish tosaddle her white mare and just... ride. She sighed deeply. Responsibility was a heavy burden!

Wincing and shivering as her feet touched the frigid stone floor, Zelda hopped to her armoire and, takingsanctuary on the sheepskin rug laid there, opened its carved maple doors and pondered on her clothes of the day. She owned well over twenty dresses, each uniquely adorned with silk and ribbon, but of coursethese would not do. Her eye lingered wistfully on the marvelously inadequate Gerudo costume she had brought back with her from the desert... but Zelda wondered what her father would make of it if she

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walked in on him with a bare midriff! Smiling, the Princess shook her head; the garnets and gold thread would have to stay unseen for now. She lifted out a pair of plain dark blue trousers and a plain white

chemise - perfectly good riding gear she had yet to wear out.

Link was not yet abroad--or so it seemed, from the closed door of his room and the stony silence from within. He was probably sleeping off the effects of too much food the previous evening. Zelda was sure she

had never seen anyone who could put away as much as Link--well, perhaps some of the coarser Gerudo!She lingered for a moment outside his door, wondering whether she should knock lightly and alert him tothe fact of the day's beginning; then the Princess shook her head slightly and slipped away through the

thickly carpeted corridors. Her feet, lightly shod for indoors, made little sound on the thick pile. The castleguards she passed snapped to as they recognised her, but Zelda paid them little heed; accustomed as she

was by now to their unobtrusive vigilance.

Sofia's room was at one end of the long East passage; Link's at the other. By the time Zelda reached theroom where the red-haired woman was staying, she felt quite out of breath. Stopping a moment to regain

her poise and cool off, the Princess leaned against the wall by Sofia's door. She was startled when theportal suddenly opened, and a familiar face looked out. "Hello?" Sofia said doubtfully, then smiled. "Zelda!

Where were you all yesterday?"

"Oh-! You startled me!" Zelda laughed then. "My apologies! I didn't mean to get you out of bed!"

"Don't worry." The red-haired woman smiled. "I was awake. What brings you here? Come in, please--thefire's fed, and it is nicer than talking in the corridor." Zelda allowed her friend to take her arm and gently

pull her into the room. Already Sofia had been at work here; the old four-poster bed had been newly covered by a richly colored coverlet, one of those woven fabrics that they had brought back from the desert,and a young fire crackled in the grate. Although rather smaller than Zelda's, and certainly by no means as

expensively furnished, Sofia's room had been well provided for. There was an air of her about it.

"Now," the Gerudo woman said, sitting down on the edge of the bed--she looked somewhat odd there, as if she would rather be seated on the floor; but the castle's stone flags were far too cold for that this morning-

-"what have you come for?" With a smile, she added, "I presume this is not wholly a social call."

"No," Zelda agreed, taking a seat on the nearby chair. "Well... not entirely. I did want to talk to you fortalking's sake. But I have some news of real importance as well. Something we found yesterday."

"Did you find one of them?" Sofia asked eagerly, leaning forward.

"No. But we think we have found someone who will be of help. Perhaps even the someone referred to inthe clue."

"About the--the hero's shadow?" Sofia asked with a frown. "Did you solve the riddle, then? Does it bringus closer to finding one of the artifacts?"

Zelda leaned close to speak into her friend's ear. She hated having to be so secret even in her own home, but she had to admit that the Royal Castle was hardly the safest of places in which to be speaking of great

things. As a child she had explored the ins and outs of her father's house, and she knew of many hiddenplaces from which one could overhear conversations not meant for idle ears. "We think we may have

found the Shadow Knight," she murmured.

The other woman's amber eyes widened slightly. "What do you mean?" she asked back, keeping her owntone as low as she could. "In the cellar ?"

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"In a mirror. That prophecy comes true in strange ways." Zelda sighed deeply. "Sofia--everything pointstowards his being the Shadow Knight, but I do not know how you will take it when you meet him.

Certainly I am not so naive as to think we can trust him straight off."

"Well!" said Sofia, running a hand through her unbound hair. "I do not understand half of what you say this morning, Zelda... I suppose you had better introduce me to this mysterious friend of yours."

"I suppose I must," Zelda said, and rose. "Sofia--"

"Yes?" The other woman looked up at her with an expression of mild curiosity.

"Promise me you won't make up your mind instantly, one way or the other. Give him a chance."

"If I must," Sofia answered. Her face betrayed her confusion and anxiety at these strange words. Zelda wished she could sit her down and tell her the whole story: spill out all her thoughts; but she herself wasuneasy on several accounts. It would be better if Sofia could simply meet Dark Link face to face; then shemight understand that--something--which had drawn the Princess to ask him for help in the first place. It was something that Zelda could not put her finger on; something similar to that which she had felt when

she first met Sofia, a feeling that a key lay just out of reach.

She tried to tell Sofia a little more as they walked along the wide passage, their footsteps loud in the early morning silence. Zelda spoke as best she could of the mirror and how Dark Link had come out of it,

leaving out what she and Link knew of his creation and his bloody past. The Gerudo woman wasunimpressed by the tale. "You should not have trusted so soon," she said simply, after hearing the

Princess out. "One way or the other, I am already feeling uneasy about this. Do you know nothing at allabout this creature?"

"We know enough," Zelda said reluctantly. "We do have to be wary, Sofia--I am not so foolish as to think we can just take him in. But--"

"But?" Sofia stopped walking and spun around to face her friend. "No buts! You let this unnatural creatureof yours free, which was a mistake in itself, although not a wilful one. But to just tell him the whole story--

explain about the Amulets, and the Quest, and what we mean to do-!" There was real anger in the red-haired woman's eyes which made Zelda step back quickly, suddenly afraid that Sofia might even attack

her. "By the Goddess, Zelda, what if he decides to go after them himself?" the other woman said furiously."We already have one apparent enemy, and we've barely started!"

"I know," Zelda said in a small voice. "But we did let him go. If we hadn't told him he would have foundout anyway. At least if he is with us we can keep an eye on him."

Sofia paused in the middle of her tirade. "That is true," she said thoughtfully, but the deep frown did notleave her face.

"Sofia..." Zelda was almost pleading. "Give him a chance. Please. He is from the Age of Legends; he might

remember where the Forest Temple used to lie. If he does, he might even be able to lead us straight to thefirst Amulet."

The Gerudo woman was silent and angry for a long moment, and Zelda's heart sank. But finally Sofiamade an attempt to smile. "Listen to me, Zelda, and I'll tell you something. Before we left the desert forHyrule, my brother told me something which frightened me very much. He said that I--that we shouldtrust nobody on this quest, not even each other, because the matter was so great. I think that maybe he was too hasty; after all, you and I and Link have come through a great adventure together. If there is

anyone in the world that I trust, apart from my brother, it is the two of you. For your sakes I will hold my

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tongue when you show me your magical friend. But I will watch him carefully, and I think you should be very wary of letting him have too much freedom, too soon."

"Thank you," Zelda sighed. It was a conditional acceptance, but it was an acceptance nonetheless: Dark Link would be on the team. As long as he could prove himself trustworthy! "He will stay unarmed fornow," she said, remembering her discussion with Link last night. "Link and I decided on that before

anything else. He doesn't get a weapon until we know we can trust him with one."

"Very wise," Sofia said dryly. "Hardly enough, but very wise."

"Up here," Zelda said, gesturing to the staircase that wound upwards from the end of the passageway. Theturret room, isolated as it was, seemed to be the best choice. There was only one way to and from the highchambers at the top of each of the four towers of North Castle, and so entry was necessarily restricted; a

single guard at the bottom of the long spiraling ascent would be enough. The restrictedness of thechamber was useful in another way; the King did not yet know about his newest guest.

Both of them were tired once they had ascended the winding staircase, but Zelda felt some eagerness toconfront Dark Link again and so she shook off her breathlessness. She flicked back her golden hair and

rapped lightly on the plain wooden door in front of her. The two girls waited for a long moment, and there

was no reply from within.

Zelda glanced at Sofia, and then closed her fingers around the doorhandle. She turned it slowly, andpushed the door open enough that she could poke her head around it and look. The Princess let out a

slight gasp of surprise, and Sofia shoved her aside.

The round room was undisturbed; the bed had not been slept in.

"You don't think... he might have..." Zelda pressed a hand to her mouth, feeling a cold dread sweepthrough her like a tide. After all they had said about him... she could not suppress the awful thought that

the strange shadow had left to find the Amulets himself. She felt like crying.

Sofia's face was grim; she had taken in the scene and understood it at once. "We had better find Link," shesaid. "Your friend may not have gone far."

"Are you talking about me?" came a soft, sibilant voice from behind them on the stair. Both girls screamedand whirled. He was standing there, soundless and graceful as ever, his crimson eyes sparkling with a

strange kind of amusement at their discomfiture. His ebon hair cascaded over his face in artful tangles.

Sofia muttered something darkly in her mother tongue.

"Goddess," Zelda breathed, pressing a hand to her racing heart. "Did you have to sneak up on us likethat?"

Dark Link scowled. "I hardly sneaked," he hissed softly. "You are less observant than Biggoron, and that is

saying something." He turned sharply on his heel, beckoning for them to follow him. Without looking back, the shadow started down the stair, seeming unafraid of turning his back on them. "I have seen muchof your castle, Princess," he said, as they followed, "and I must confess myself unimpressed. Things have

obviously changed little in a few hundred years."

"I apologise for my ancestors' building, then," Zelda said, annoyed.

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He did not react to her irritated tone. "Well... I have decided to stay around. For the time being. You willcertainly need my help before you can locate the Forest Temple--if indeed it still stands after so long. As

for the Forest Medallion... that I cannot promise you."

Zelda stopped dead. How had he known? They had said nothing to him of the Amulets!

Motes of dust shimmered like gold in the semi-darkness of the stables. The long, low, wooden building with its scent of hay housed all the fourteen horses belonging to the Royal family, plus some few extras belonging to privileged members of the household; the roan gelding in the end stall was the chief

treasurer's. Tack was stored in a spacious building built onto the back of the stables, and accessible via adoor at the far end.

It had been a difficult morning for Zelda. The breakfast-time meeting with her father had been strained:she had not felt ready to tell him about the adventure in the cellar, although it was likely that the King

would hear of his newest house-guest soon enough. For the moment, all Harkinian knew was that they were going to explore the part of the forest that was just south-west of Zora's River. Her guilt weighed her

down. Please, Nayru , she thought as she followed the others in, let it be okay. Let him be true to us ...

Link looked along the row of equine heads, swiftly spotting the graceful red that he had ridden to the

desert. He went quickly to the stall and held his hand out, allowing the horse to nuzzle its velvety muzzleinto his palm. The engraved bronze nameplate on the stall door read "Bolt". The young warrior laughed asthe horse licked his fingers; Prowl perched upon his shoulder. His companions busied themselves about

their own affairs as he made friends with his mount.

"Choose any one of the horses," Zelda said to Dark Link. "The exception is that silver stallion there, next tomy mare. He is my father's own." With narrowed eyes, the shadow walked silently down the aisle,

glancing at each horse he passed. Most of them shied away or snorted nervously. He halted before a tall black with a white blaze; he liked the strong lines of the animal's profile and the proud look in its eye.

Sofia was already in her horse's stall. She saddled the animal efficiently, working with brisk, practicedmovements that demonstrated her authority. The Gerudo woman had a few saddlebags full of food, but

the only equipment she carried herself was her gleaming scimitar, which hung as always at her waist.

Loosing the door catch, she took hold of the bridle and led her animal from the stall; it followed willingly."Shall we go?" she said over her shoulder.

They made a noticeable group as they rode out into the morning, hooves drumming on the compactedgravel of the castle roads. Link was dressed in his favoured Kokiri green and brown, the serpentine dagger bouncing on his hip and his rosewood bow slung over his back by the cord. Prowl sat in front of him, herclaws buried in the leather saddle pommel--she had objected to the saddlebag this time. Zelda rode besidehim with her golden hair unbound, wearing the functional yet fashionable riding gear she had chosen; it

was easier than riding side-saddle in a dress at any rate. Sofia was a little behind them, her eyes always onthe cloaked figure atop the black horse. She felt extremely unhappy about the shadow's presence, but she was able to see that it was the only answer. Zelda was right--if they let him out of their sight it might well

be worse than had they let him stay. The Gerudo woman was not taken in, however; Dark Link would stay with them only as long as it suited him. Her fingers tingled for the touch of her scimitar hilt.

The four riders drew up outside the opened White Dragon gate, the guardian of the Royal Family. Itsgemstone eyes glittered ruby fire in the sunlight; light glittered off its scales as if they themselves were

made of silver flames. Sofia's fingers found the hilt of her weapon as Dark Link urged his horse through,following the princess and the Hero - if the gate's guardian should wake! She almost hoped it would. But

the shadow passed beneath the dragon's coils with no ill reaction, and the Gerudo woman exhaled.Flicking the reins, she followed the others, anxious not to be left behind. Dark Link turned his head

slightly and glanced back at her; she saw only the glow of his crimson eyes beneath the cloak. She was surehe was smiling.

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Busy as it was, the town passed them by soon enough. They rode through the streets at a light trot, and thehorses were eager to go faster. The scent of the hills lay over everything this morning, dampened only

slightly by the shreds of mist which still clung to the streets. Traders sold autumn apples and the pick of the harvest; winter was approaching.

The company drew up just outside the gates of the town, horses snorting and scraping hooves on the wood

of the drawbridge. Zelda stood in the stirrups, looking out over the green field that surrounded the town.The Celcarden mountains were blue and faded, but still very visible in the clear air. Death Mountain roselike a great ghost in the east. It was colder than it had been - or perhaps that was just her feeling after the

desert trek. "Well..." she said. "Which way?"

Dark Link flicked the reins without a word, turning his horse towards the far-off greenness of the foreststo the south. After a moment's uneasy hesitation, the others followed him, one by one.

E loze is copyright © 1999-2007 Dark Link .

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