By: Juliet A. Singleton
Aaron fumbled with the lock on Drake's door. "Hurry up, will ya?" Drake demanded. "All the guards are upstairs. I don't know where the key is," Aaron answered apologetically, shoving his dagger blade in the keyhole. The lock snapped open. "Alright! Now, outta my way son. I've got a kingdom to help save!" Drake said, pushing past Aaron. They hurried up the steps. There seemed to be some sort of commotion out in the courtyard. "Ganon's army is here!" one of the guards shouted. "What? Ganon's army?" Drake said. Aaron nodded. "Fast work. He sneaked through the portal with Link and Zelda." "Link and Zelda are back?" Drake asked. "Yeah. It turns out that Kain is really En..." Aaron started. Suddenly, a huge explosion came from the back of the castle. Dust and masonry rained down. "What the?" Drake gasped. Selina and Karin appeared from the west doorway from the armoury carrying weapons. "What's going on?" Selina shouted. "Someone's playing with magic. We don't know if it's Zelda or Enzar," Aaron shouted back. "Enzar?" Drake asked in surprise. The main gateway collapsed as a horde of Moblins ram-raided it with a huge tree trunk. At once, hundreds of Ganon's foul servants poured through the gate and into the courtyard. Damon, Darren and Nick appeared. "We're being besieged!" Selina exclaimed, readying her bow. "The entrance to the Throne Room has been blocked in! The entire first floor looks ready to collapse!" Damon said. "Link and Zelda are in there!" Aaron cried. Sprite flew over to the small group. "Ganon's out there! He's come back to get his Triforce!" she gasped. "Right. Aaron, go and find out what's going on in there. The rest of us will deal with Ganon's cohorts," Drake ordered.
Link sat up, feeling slightly dazed. He looked around. The whole room was a mess. Part of the ceiling above had collapsed. Chunks of masonry were strewn about the floor and smoke dust were everywhere. Enzar was nowhere to be seen. Almost choking on the dust, Link stood up carefully, knowing that the slightest noise or movement could cause even more stone to fall. He saw Zelda, lying on the ground nearby. It was a blessing neither of them had been hurt by Enzar's explosion. He rushed over to her and pulled her up. "Zel, are you okay?" he asked anxiously. She stood shakily, still feeling stunned. A moment later she recovered though. "Enzar! Where did he go?" she cried. "I don't know," Link answered. "Hey, guys. You okay?" called Aaron. Link turned to see his apprentice. "Yeah," he said, helping Zelda over to where Aaron stood. "Ganon's raiding us," Aaron explained. "What?" Zelda demanded. "His entire army is outside," Aaron answered. Zelda rushed back over to the spot where Enzar had stood. "The Triforce...." she said. Looking distraught, she turned towards Link and Aaron. "We must get my Triforce of Wisdom back..." she said pleadingly. "But Princess...." Link began. "No! The Triforce cannot be destroyed. It is the highest form of magic there is, it isn't possible by any means to obliterate it," she interrupted. "Even so, who knows what Enzar has done with them!" Link answered. hearing the war cry of a Daria close at hand. "Link," Zelda said weakly, "that Triforce is almost a part of me. Without it, my magic powers will simply diminish." A cloud of black smoke flew up and Ganon appeared. "Well, well, well," he sneered. "What a pity you don't train your guards better," he laughed. Both Link and Aaron drew their weapons, ready for battle. But Ganon wasn't interested in any of them. "Enzar, you treacherous coward, show your face!" he screeched. "I suppose I might as well finish you off, you miserable warlock," Enzar sneered, appearing in his normal guise of a griffin. Suddenly, Ganon reached out and grabbed Zelda,holding his death dagger against her throat. "Let her go Ganon!" Link shouted, jumping towards the dias upon which Ganon stood. "She'll come to no harm if you dispose of that creature," Ganon said. Enzar began to laugh. "That's pathetic. You think that by threatening the Princess's life, you can use Link's skills to your own advantage?" Link whispered to Aaron, "keep Ganon covered. I'm gonna play into Ganon's plan and attack Enzar." Aaron nodded.
Enzar paced the room carefully avoiding the debris that covered the sword. "To be perfectly honest," the griffin began. "Honest!? You don't know the meaning of the word," spat Link carefully watching all of Enzar's movements. "Well, actually I do. But let's not waste our time on such petty arguments. Now as I was saying I quite enjoyed leading on those thousands of gullible Hyrulian civilians, but I wanted to move onto bigger and better things, like for instance the whole of Hyrule!" cackled Enzar, still weaving in and out of the fallen debris. "Yeah, well you've had your fun Enzar, it's time to go back to were you came from," threatened Link. Enzar began to laugh again, turned towards Link and shot a bolt of magic flying towards him. Link leapt aside, and placed his hand on the wall to keep himself steady. "Come on boy! Don't you care about this princess!" shrieked Ganon angrily. Enzar turned to Ganon, "I never liked your tactics Ganon, they're so, unfair," commented Enzar dryly. "Ha! You're one to talk about morals," retorted Ganon sharply, briefly letting loose on his grip of Zelda to shoot a bolt of magic towards Enzar. Aaron took his chance and grabbed Zelda away from Ganon's clutches. Keeping firm hold of Zelda he ducked her underneath the safety of a piece of fallen masonry and drew his sword in case Enzar or Ganon attempted to attack either of them. He couldn't leave Zelda alone, so Link was on his own. That is, until, Drake, Nick and Selina arrived.
"About time you arrived," mentioned Link, turning his attention from Enzar for just the tiniest fraction of a second. Enzar shot a magic bolt over to Link, but he quickly deflected it away with his shield. The force still sent him reeling, but protected him from being blown into a million pieces, just like the Triforces had been. Drake picked up a small piece of debris and hurled it towards Enzar, hoping for a lucky hit. Enzar, who had been to busy centring his attentions on Link, that he hadn't noticed the chunk of debris hurtling towards him. It hit him square in the back, he wobbled off balance for a matter of seconds then turned to face Drake. "Ha!" he boomed. "Do you really think that will work?" mocked Enzar, sending another bolt of magic from his fingertips towards Drake. Link, meanwhile, had rushed up behind Enzar whilst his back was turned and sunk his sword into the Griffin's back. Enzar began to laugh, and turned to face a now sword-less Link. The blade was still protruding from his back. Link, hastily backed away and held up his shield to defend himself. Enzar raised his hands/claws and pulled them in towards his chest which sent a bolt of magic flying out in every direction. The floor began to shake, and more ceiling fell towards the ground. The floor itself began to split and crack and force itself upwards, just like when a volcano is formed. Aaron and Zelda found themselves clinging to a piece of the floor that had split and tipped upwards, they didn't have to even look down to know that lava was flowing underneath them, in what used to be the dungeons as they could feel the heat upon their backs. Aaron pulled himself up back onto stable ground and began to help Zelda up. "If I just let go, I won't have another problem ever again," said Zelda dreamily, refusing to grab hold of Aaron's hand. "If you let go, I'm coming with you," whispered Aaron, thrusting his hand towards her. "Yes what a good idea," she replied gazing up towards what was left of the ceiling. "Since there are n Triforces left, you're out of a job. This would be the easiest way." "And let Enzar rule havoc over YOUR people? Are you crazy?" asked Aaron worriedly. "Perhaps I am..." answered Zelda, still refusing to be pulled up. "Dammit Zelda, stop thinking about yourself! Grab hold of my hand, else you're going to fall," Aaron said, beginning to feel frantic. Link was right when he complained that Zelda had a stubborn streak a mile long. "Link will never forgive me if I let you do this," he said, reaching down again. "I know... but it doesn't matter now," she said. "It does," Aaron said. He dropped his sword and grabbed the arm which Zelda was using to hold onto the floor. He used all his strength and pulled her over, quickly picking up his sword again and looked around to see what was happening.
Nick walked calmly towards Enzar, he was holding a strange, small black stone which was smooth and round. It seemed to emit a kind of aura and held Enzar for a second but he soon snapped out of it. Nick stopped a few feet away from Enzar and threw the stone down in front of him. It smashed immediately and a thick blue smoke filled the room. When the smoke dispersed a large spinning portal had opened. The room felt a lot colder, even though hot, magma was running underneath the their feet. Enzar wrenched Link's sword out if his back and threw it towards Nick, who leapt up and deftly caught it by the hilt. He slid it along the ground towards Link who stopped it with his foot and picked it up. "Push Enzar towards the portal, but whatever you do don't let him push you towards it!" yelled Nick to Link over the din that the portal was making. It was sucking all the air from the room and was beginning to drag some objects towards it. Link backed away from Enzar watching his step as best as he could because he didn't want to end up submerged in lava. Without warning Enzar rushed towards him and grabbed him by the neck. Laughing Enzar walked towards the portal holding Link in front of him. Link tried to get out of the griffin's grip but his efforts proved useless. "Close the portal mortal or you'll never see Link again!" commanded Enzar. Nick smiled and armed himself with his bow. He drew an arrow from the quiver that hung from his shoulder and held out the arrow towards Enzar. Enzar's eyes widened at the sight of the arrow, it was made from the very same necklace that had hung from his neck, if soaked in the right substance it could prove deadly against him, or any other griffin. "I can kill you now Enzar or you can go through the portal peacefully, as long as you free Link," shouted Nick over the rumbling that emerged from the portal. Enzar seemed to pause for a moment, then grinning he hurled Link towards the portal. Horrified everyone stared as Link began to travel towards the portal. Then an arow shot towards Link and stuck into his side. The force sent him sideways and to the ground, inches from the portal. Everyone turned to see who had shot the arrow and Selina was standing with her bow lowered to the ground. Nick armed his bow and shot it towards Enzar, it hit him in the chest and he fell to the ground. Meanwhile Link had cast a small heal spell on himself and ran over to Enzar to see if the griffin was still alive. "Link, kill him now! He will still be alive," called Nick trying to close the portal. Link leaned closer to the griffin and saw that he was still breathing. He raised his sword and brought it down onto the griffins chest, and Enzar let out a haunting howl. He soon stopped though and after a check he was pronounced dead. There was no time for celebration however because Ganon's army had invaded the walls of the castle and several had entered the throne room. Link pulled his sword from Enzar's chest and ran towards Ganon's cronies. He managed to kill about four moblins with one blow of his sword and he dealt with a Daria and two other moblins in his second strike. Aaron, Nick, Selina and Drake helped and soon they had managed to clear the throne room of any vermin. Ganon had disappeared, no doubt because he had realised there was nothing here for him, and the enemy numbers seemed to get smaller and smaller until there was none left. Then was the time for celebration.
Only Zelda still seemed unhappy, even though Enzar was gone forever, and Ganon had retreated. North Castle was almost back to normal, with Enzar dead, his magical illusions gone. Of course, the throne room and part of the drawing room were badly damaged, but it was nothing that couldn't be fixed in time. Gladys, one of the castle maids rushed down to announce that the King was getting better. Drake announced that the King's illness had probably been something to do with Enzar. Damon came in, with Darren, Karin and Sprite and her faerie friends. "Thank god he's gone forever!" Sprite exclaimed when Link informed her of the news. "What about the Triforces?" Zelda said sulkily. Link sighed. "Come on Princess. We should go and see your Father," he said, taking her hand. Zelda nodded. "Yes. I need to apologise over the way I acted. I'm so glad he's getting better," she said, beginning to look tearful. "Me too," Link replied, giving her a brief hug, before starting off in the direction of the stairs.
They walked up to the third floor, which was luckily intact. The King was sitting up in bed as they walked into his room. He smiled. "It's so wonderful to see you both. And to both of you, I must certainly apologise. I've acted very foolish," he said, opening his arms and taking Zelda into a hug. "Father..." Zelda began. "Not a word my dear. I have been informed of what happened, and I was wrong not to believe you about Kain... or Enzar, as it seems. And the Triforces, a great tragedy, but at least we are still even with Ganon," the King said. "But they're out there somewhere. They can't be destroyed," Zelda said. "In trillions of pieces. We'd never locate them all," Link answered. "Precisely. It is terrible to have lost something of our heritage, but it was inevitable someday," the King said. "It's not impossible. I can vouch that Ganon will search everywhere for those pieces," Zelda replied. "Hey, doesn't this leave me out of a job?" Link said suddenly. The King laughed. "Link, my dear boy, North Castle is your home, you are as good as family. Whether there is a Triforce here or not." Link smiled. "Well sure, but you paid me to do it. I was kinda saving the money up for a few special things," he said. "Link, for your many years of loyal service, I grant you access to the treasury. Whenever you need money, just simply take however much you need," the King proclaimed. "Your Majesty, I couldn't..." Link started. "You shall marry my daughter soon, yes?" the King asked. "Uh..." Link looked over at Zelda. She simply gave him an inquiring look, then smiled. "Maybe, sometime," Link said slowly, still watching Zelda. "Well my lad, the family fortune is as good as yours already. Don't even protest - I shall not abide it. Now my dear, send up the Royal Council. There is much to sort out!" the King ordered. "Yes Father," Zelda said.
"Would you really marry me?" Link asked as they walked back down the stairs together. "I might," Zelda replied, grinning slightly. "What's that supposed to mean?" Link questioned. "Exactly what it says," Zelda retorted lightly. "Why 'maybe'? Do you have to keep me in suspense?" Link asked. Zelda smiled. "You'll never find out, if you don't bother asking me properly," she said. "Now, I'm going to find all of Father's advisors. I want you to go down to the kitchens and tell the cooks to prepare a good meal for everyone," Zelda explained. Then she disappeared through a nearby doorway, leaving Link standing staring after her. After he'd given Zelda's message to the head cook, he went back into the Great Hall where everyone was gathered. "Hey Link, is there going to be a big celebration feast?" Drake asked. "Well, Zelda just told me to tell the cooks to prepare food, so I guess so," he answered. "Hmmm... I know what we're missing. Drink!" Drake exclaimed. He turned to Aaron. "Aaron my son, go down to the wine cellar with Link and fetch a few caskets, there's a good lad." Link and Aaron were quick to bring up the drinks and Selina and Karin went to fetch some glasses. "Now this is the real way to celebrate!" Drake laughed, handing out the bottles. "Really Drake, I think drink is all you ever think about," Impa scolded lightly. Drake laughed. "Impa, you know there are some very good taverns and pubs in Hyrule. I was 'chosen' to check them out," he said. Everybody laughed. "I can't wait to explore this place," Darren said excitedly. "And you'll love every inch of it," Aaron assured him. "But what about our parents? And our friends?" Karin said, looking upset. "Not to worry!" Sprite said excitedly. "Why?" everyone asked. Sprite smiled. "Well, while I was gone, Felicity did some reading, and it turns out there is a way to create permanent portals between two worlds!" she exclaimed. "What? How?" Selina asked, interested. "Well, I'm not sure. But we can create a portal outside, and be free to travel between worlds," Sprit replied. "If it works, that'll be great," Darren said. "Where's the Princess?" Drake inquired. "She went to find the King's council for him," Link replied. "Well she'd better hurry up, or else she'll miss out on all the drink," Drake commented. "Here she is," said Selina, noticing Zelda entering the Great Hall. "Get over here now, Your Highness!" Drake shouted. Zelda smiled and hurried over to where everyone was stood. "Sorry. My Father was sending me on about a hundred errands," she apologised. "Well, we're celebrating. Have a drink," Drake grinned, tossing her a bottle. "I'm supposed to drink all of this?" she said incredulously. "What, you can't manage it?" Drake laughed. "Well... I think I'll share with someone," Zelda answered, smiling. "What is it about women, that makes them unable to drink nothing more than a few glasses?" Drake pondered. "We're not going to take offence to that, but we women do have some dignity to retain, unlike you," Selina said. "What, we aren't dignified?" Aaron asked, pretending to be horrified. Selina smiled smugly. "No comment," she said. "Don't get involved. Women have strange ideas," Damon advised. "No, we're just smarter," Zelda answered. "Hey, I just have disagree with that notion," Drake grinned. "Oh, so all you guys think you're cleverer than us?" Selina asked. Drake laughed. "Yes," he said. "Can any of you read ancient Hylian like it was your normal language?" Zelda inquired. "I can," Link said. "You don't count, because I taught you myself," Zelda answered. "And do any of your have outstanding magical skills? I don't think so," Sprite added. "Ah, so what? None of you girls can wield a sword to save your life," Drake answered. "Yeah, that's what you're here for," Selina laughed. At that moment a maid walked into the hall. "Dinner is ready," she announced.
Later that night, Link sat cleaning his sword and thinking about what Zelda had said. He wanted to get her a ring, but none of the money he'd saved up for himself would buy one she truly deserved. He sent most of his wage to his aunt and uncle in Ruto, who had looked after him for most of his life. His uncle was only a miner and they had little money. The rest of it he saved up or bought things with. Of course, he could always take some money from the castle vault like the King had said, but it wouldn't feel right. He wanted to buy a ring with his own money. Zelda had so much precious jewellery, anything he could afford would barely match up to the value. Then again, he thought, she probably wouldn't mind. That was the nice thing about her. She didn't care much for expensive things or status. There was a pretty ring in the jeweller's in Mido. He decided he would go and get it as soon as possible, before Zelda changed her mind.
Meanwhile, the whole of the Underworld was having a meeting. Ganon looked around at the large group of monsters. "It is vital you find ALL the pieces of the Triforces," he commanded. "Don't fail this task. It is our key to over running Hyrule once and for all!" he screeched. "Link and Zelda will be powerless, and no Enzar will be there to corrupt my plans." "Dat's brilliant, Your Evilness," Skoll praised. "Of course it is! And you'd better find me those pieces, else I'll be very angry indeed!" Ganon replied. All the monsters saluted to their ruler. "Of course we wull master," Aspete promised. Ganon tapped his fingers on his magic globe impatiently. He hoped his faithful servants would search high and low for the missing shards, and find them before Link and Zelda set out to do the same.
Will Ganon restore the Triforces and conquer Hyrule? Find out in the sequel, The Third Triforce...
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