By: Juliet A. Singleton
"I'd like to speak to Link. I believe he resides here?" the young man asked. The guard looked the man up and down.
"I'm afraid you'll have to wait here. We can't welcome strangers into the castle, in case you may pose a threat," the guard explained.
"I understand completely," the man said. The guard disappeared. A few minutes later, he returned. "I'm afraid Link isn't here at present, although Her Royal Highness, Princess Zelda, says she will be happy to talk to you," the guard said. The young man looked disappointed, but smiled nonetheless.
"I'm sure it would be an honour to speak with your Princess," he said.
"Step right this way," the guard said, opening the gate and leading the man into North Castle, where Zelda stood waiting in the Great Hall. She was surprised when she saw the man the guard lead in. He looked kind of familiar, a little like Link, except his hair was a much lighter colour and he was of a heavier build, and younger. He bowed.
"I'm honoured to see you, Princess," he said. Zelda stared at him for a few more minutes before finally speaking.
"Who might you be? And why do you want to see Link?" she asked.
"My name is Hayden, Your Highness. Could you please describe to me what Link looks like?" he asked. Zelda felt puzzled by the question.
"You don't know what he looks like?" she asked in disbelief.
"Princess, I have travelled a fair way to come here. I have never been to Hyrule before," Hayden explained.
"Well, okay," Zelda said. She continued, "he's slightly taller than me, has dark brown hair and blue eyes."
"Do you know if he was born in a country called Catalia?" Hayden enquired. Zelda thought for a moment.
"Well, as far as I know, he's always lived with his aunt and uncle in Ruto Town. Until he moved here, of course. But yes, I believe he did live in Catalia, before his family was killed," Zelda answered, getting more confused by the minute.
"Where is he now? And how come he lives here?" Hayden asked, looking about him.
"Why, Link is Hyrule's greatest hero!" Zelda exclaimed. "He's out training his apprentice at the minute, but he should be back for lunch," she added.
"Can I stay here until he gets back?" Hayden asked.
"Well yes, but why do you want to see him?" Zelda asked.
"I have some news I believe he would be very interested in," Hayden replied.
***** Link and Aaron trotted their horses over the drawbridge into North Castle. "Jet's certainly improving," Link commented.
"Yeah, I hope one day he'll be as well trained as Carefree," Aaron replied, patting his horse. Link smiled.
"Looks like an extra helping of oats for you," he told Carefree. At that moment Zelda walked out into the Courtyard.
"Link! There's someone here to see you," she called. Link dismounted and handed the reins over to Aaron.
"You don't mind stabling him for me, do you?" he asked. Aaron shook his head.
"You go and see what Zelda wants," he replied, leading the two horses towards the stables. Link hurried up to where Zelda was stood. "Who's here to see me?" he asked.
"Some person called Hayden. I don't know why," Zelda replied, leading him into the Great Hall. She thought she noticed a look of sadness pass over Link's face as she mentioned the man's name. But if it did, it was only briefly. "Hayden," Zelda called. The young man walked over. A look of disbelief washed over Link's features. For once, he was speechless. Zelda watched, wondering what was going on.
"Link?" Hayden questioned, looking equally shocked.
"You look so like Hayden, but you can't be. I thought you were dead!" Link burst out.
"No. I wasn't murdered by the raiders. Neither was Shawn. How could you leave us Link? I was only ten years old, and Shawn even younger!" Hayden exclaimed, looking angry.
"Leave you? I returned to the village to find it completely destroyed. Burnt down. Believe me, I searched everywhere for all of you. All I found were dead people. In the end, I had no choice but to take Cloud and ride her all the way to our Uncle's house here," Link replied. "Mother knew they were going to come. She sent me and Shawn after you. But we never found you," Hayden said bitterly. Link looked down at his feet, remembering that dreadful day like it had been only yesterday. It had been his twelfth birthday a few days before, and his parents had bought him a fine horse; a sweet white mare he'd named Cloud. He still had her now. Everyday, he had went out riding on Cloud. But one day, the raiders, a band of brigands who lived up in the mountains had pillaged the village, burning it and murdering the residents. Link had returned from his ride to find his home in ruins, and his family gone. Assuming they were all dead, he had rode to Hyrule.
"Why didn't you come here, to Hyrule?" Link demanded.
"I had no idea where our uncle lived. Remember, only you had ever been there. I had to assume you'd returned before us and been killed by the raiders. But, a few years ago, stories came to the land I now live in, about a hero named Link. I thought it was a coincidence at first, but finally, I decided to investigate. It now seems whilst I've been living in dire poverty, you've been living the high life in a big castle with some beautiful Princess," Hayden said bitterly.
"Hey, that's not my fault!" Link replied, looking offended.
"I think I'd better go," Zelda said, preparing to leave the two to their extraordinary argument. "No Zel. Stay," Link replied, catching hold of her arm. Hayden folded his arms, not looking happy. "So where did you go? And what about Shawn? Why wasn't Haylee with you?" Link asked.
"I've been living in a country south of here, called Sosaria, trying to make a living for myself. Shawn died of a fever when he was thirteen, and Haylee, well she wouldn't come with us. She perished in the fire, along with our parents," Hayden replied, looking slightly nervous. Link ran a hand through his hair, remembering his pretty younger sister, incidentally Hayden's twin, and other younger brother with remorse. Zelda slipped her arms around his waist and leaned against his shoulder, feeling just as upset.
"If I'd known....," he said sadly.
"I suppose it wasn't your fault," Hayden finally acknowledged.
"I just wish you'd at least tried to find our Uncle. All these years, I just assumed everyone of you were dead," Link replied.
"I'm sorry," Hayden said. Then he smiled slightly. "So, are the stories I hear true? I guess the one about the beautiful Princess is," he said, looking enviously across at Zelda. Zelda smiled shyly and Link grinned. "Yes, that most certainly is true. But as for the other things you've heard... well you'll have to tell me them first," he said.
"Hayden, you're most welcome to stay here at North Castle," Zelda offered kindly.
"Your Highness, that is most generous of you. But I have enough money to stay in a tavern," Hayden said graciously.
"Hayden, you're stopping here and that's final. You shouldn't turn down the Princess, especially when she's feeling generous you know," Link said, smiling.
"I'm always generous!" Zelda protested lightly.
"Oh, well, okay," Hayden relented.
***** "And, that's basically where I live," Link finished, as he showed his brother around North Castle after they'd had lunch.
"You're so lucky, to get to be here," Hayden said.
"I suppose so," Link replied smiling. "Come to the stables. I want to show you Carefree, my horse. I've still got Cloud y'know," he added.
"Really? She must be pretty old by now," Hayden said.
"Yeah. At least fourteen, I should think," Link replied.
"And Zelda. She's utterly beautiful," Hayden added. Link smiled again.
"I know. But she's a whole lot more than just pretty. She's my best friend in the world. We do everything together, almost," he replied.
"You're just friends?" Hayden asked.
"No, more than that too. We might get married someday, if Zelda wants to. But it took me rather a long time to get her to admit she was madly in love with me," Link replied, grinning again. He pushed open the door to the stables. "Meet Carefree," he said, walking up to the big bay stallion.
"He's a fine beast," Hayden commented.
"Yes. And this is Zel's horse, Moonmist," Link said, pointing to the grey mare in the next stall. Hayden looked impressed. "And," Link continued, walking further along, "this is Cloud," he said, patting the sweet white mare.
"Link, I'm so envious! I'm nothing but a trainee blacksmith, and here you are, a big hero, living in a castle and about to marry a princess!" Hayden exclaimed.
"You'll get over it," Link grinned.
"Link! Link!" a small voice shouted. The two men turned to see Sprite flying into the stables, looking excited. She paused, seeing Hayden.
"Sprite, meet my little bother Hayden," Link introduced.
"What? I thought..." Sprite began, looking surprised. Then she smiled. "It's wonderful to meet you Hayden," she said.
"You're friends with a faerie?" Hayden asked. Sprite looked offended.
"What's wrong with that?" she demanded. Link laughed.
"Sprite, you know people are often surprised to know that we're close, considering most of the time, your race likes to hide away," Link replied.
"I guess so. Well anyway, guess what?" she cried.
"Tell me," Link answered. "Well, you know that book Zelda got? Me, Felicity and Carrie have been going through it, and there's a complete chapter on our 'Temple of Rock'. Well kind of. It isn't actually called that, but there's a map and everything. It says there is a Hylian Temple deep inside the Ruto Mountains, that used to house extraordinary treasures," the faerie explained excitedly.
"A map?" Link asked.
"Sure. It's huge. Stretches deep into the mountain roots, I should think. But it doesn't say anything about anyone living there," Sprite answered.
"What are you talking about? Some new quest?" Hayden asked. Sprite grinned.
"Kind of. I think you'll need a lesson or two in Hyrulian history in order to understand though," she said cheekily.
"Sprite!" Link scolded lightly.
"That settles it, then," he added. "We'll take a closer look at that map and then have an expedition down to that place as soon as possible," he decided.
"An expedition?" Hayden enquired. Link nodded in agreement.
"Join us?" he asked. "Possibly," Hayden replied, suddenly looking nervous. Link noticed a large scar on his brother's wrist.
"What's that scar from?" he asked. Hayden jumped at the question.
"Oh, uh, this? Just an old injury, nothing important," he said.
"Oh, okay," Link said, closing the subject.
***** Damon paced around the memorial in the town square of Nabooru. He and a friend had arranged to meet at the memorial 25 minutes earlier. Rather than travelling the full journey alone he had arranged to travel to North castle with his old friend, Dion, who was also travelling to West Hyrule to Ruto. Damon glanced up at the memorial, it was a large stone marker, set upon a pedestal with all the names of those who died during the imprisoning War. It had happened centuries ago but people still liked to pay there respects to the people who had died to banish Ganondorf to the Golden land. If they hadn't banished Ganondorf when they had, Hyrule would probably under the dark reign today. Scanning the list of names for about a minute he searched to see if there was anyone under the surname of Owen. There were three people under that surname and Damon silently wondered if any were ancestors of his. "Hey, Damo!" called a familiar voice. Damon turned around and grinned at the approaching man. "Dion, how are you doing?" asked Damon, Dion got down from his mount and grabbed Damon's hand and shook it vigorously. "I'm doin' fine brother," replied Dion grinning. Dion was about 6"4, jet black hair, dark skinned, and deep brown eyes. He was even more skilled than Damon with a bow and arrow, and he had, in fact, helped teach Damon how to master the bow. Dion had used the term 'brother' with Damon because they had been close since they were born. They had both been raised in Darunia, but had recently separated as Damon had moved to Tarn, whereas Dion had chosen to reside in Kasuto. "Sorry I'm a little late bro, I just got a little held up on the way here. But I guess we better get going if we want to get to Kuria Island before early evening we better get a move on," said Dion grinning.
"Kuria Island? What do we want to go there for? It's a bit out of our way don't you think?" asked Damon unsure.
"Hey man, you gotta' trust your bro a little more! It's me man! I know what I'm doin okay? Anyhow, you know how I told you I got held up outta town? It was because a had to finish a little business man. This guy I know, sold me this map see?" said Dion holding a map in front of Damon. "You know it's a map for a certain Triforce that I believe your pretty princess is after. It cost me 12 hundred rupees see, you know I can afford that but I'm thinkin' that your pretty princess will be payin' me a little more than 12 hundred rupees for her little Triforce," explained Dion grinning.
"Dion, you've been had, you damn fool!" laughed Damon, his mouth spreading into a wide grin.
If his friend had just thrown away every last rupee he ever had he wouldn't have been grinning, but Dion who was originally from Dubatio, which was one of the most wealthy lands in the world. It also housed and had raised many prestigious scholars and philosophers. Dion's parents had relocated to Hyrule when Dion had been born. At the time Dion had been born, Dubatio was expecting a bloody civil war that had, eventually, never occurred. In any case Dion's parents were certainly some of the most respected people in Hyrule, and probably some of the richest people in the entire world. Which meant Dion could afford everything he wanted. Dion was far from stupid, in fact he was extremely intelligent. He was an architect, and he had designed several famous places through out Hyrule, and even the rest of the World. For example he had designed Valour Hold, the Communion halls and he had even been offered to design a new wing on North castle. He was still considering that particular offer, and would probably speak to the King in person when he passed by North Castle. He was going to Ruto, in fact, to design a new town hall.
"Hey bro, I'm not understanding this? Dion is never had! You'll see! We will be exploring tomorrow morn in the deep recesses of Kuria Island for the third Triforce and we will find it almost certainly bro!" laughed Dion jumping back onto his mount, which was a black stallion.
"Okay, okay whatever Dion!" replied Damon laughing as he, in turn, mounted his own steed.
"Well we had better get goin' bro, our chartered ship leaves in a half of an hour."
"Half an hour! We'll never get there in time! Even if we managed to canter all of the way there we would only manage it in three quarters of an hour!"
"Hey bro, you need to calm your nerves a little! You are getting' way too stressed bro! We can gallop there, and get there in twenty minutes if we want too, and if we can only manage it in 35 minutes the ship will wait. You're ridin' with Dion Insenqui remember!" replied Dion still laughing.
"Well let's get going," said Damon spurring his horse into a canter. Dion followed suite and they were soon on their way to East Hyrule port.
***** Zelda got out of bed and opened the door which lead out onto her balcony, pushing aside the chiffon drapes which covered it. She was feeling restless for no apparent reason. She sat on the balcony ledge. All around it was dark, aside from small lights glowing in the watch towers. It had been a pretty strange sort of week, she reflected. First of all, there'd been the discovery of those scrolls. Then Fenella and Fayette had arrived. Aramis' funeral had came next, and now finally, it seemed her Father and Fenella were to be married, and Link's brother had turned up. For some reason, it troubled her about her Father and Fenella. It had been at least fourteen years since her Mother had died, and eight since Fayette's father had died. What if they'd had some sort of relationship going for years, without her knowing? She supposed it didn't matter now, if they were going to get married. But how terrible to have Fenella as her step mother! And Fayette would almost be her sister! Zelda sighed, depressed at the prospect. Having Fayette living at North Castle was just too much to bear. Of late, it was Fayette's hypocrisy that annoyed her the most. Fayette dared to criticise Zelda's relationship with Link, yet at the same time, flirted with almost every eligible young man at North Castle, while she was supposed to be engaged. Zelda wasn't sure how much longer she could keep her mouth shut, before saying something she regretted.
The impending marriage also meant that it was obvious her Father wanted to remain ruling. Although she wasn't keen anyway, Zelda also felt slightly offended that he didn't seem to trust her with the responsibility. No doubt Fayette would gloat about it as well. Of course, she hadn't been so smug earlier. Zelda had taken great delight in making a show of kissing Link goodnight in the Drawing Room. She wouldn't have dared to if her Father or Fenella had been there, but there had only been Fayette, who had spent that latter part of the night flirting with Hayden, and Aaron had been there too, although he'd not even noticed, since he had been so busy studying a book of Link's about swords. Fayette had looked most annoyed at the whole scene, but for once, had managed to keep quiet and not make a comment. Probably because she didn't want Hayden or Aaron to know what she's really like, Zelda thought. She resolved to have a private word with Aaron as soon as possible. He seemed fairly taken with Fayette, and had even borrowed her his horse. And as for Hayden.... Zelda didn't know what to think. Link had been extremely happy about the entire incident, as could be expected, and had spent almost nearly all the rest of the day with his younger brother. Selina seemed in a state of perpetual depression, and Zelda had barely seen her since she'd come to stay at the castle. She supposed it was only to be expected though. And finally, there was Link and Sprite's discovery of that underground temple. Zelda could only hope that the Triforce was still there. It was their last chance to get the upper hand over Ganon. Since Enzar had been vanquished, Ganon had remained quiet, and Zelda felt anxious over it. While the rest of Hyrule felt happy that Ganon and his monsters were not causing trouble, Zelda always worried about it, because it usually meant he was planning something. She glanced upwards towards the sky, looking at the stars. When she was a little girl, her Mother had once told her a story about the stars. She had told Zlda that each star represented the soul of the good and wise people of Hyrule. Now, Zelda wondered which one of those stars belonged to her mother. Once, years ago, she and Link had picked one out. It was slightly to the north, and shone the brightest of all the stars Zelda could see. It probably wasn't her Mother's star, but she thought that her Mother deserved to have it anyway. Sighing, she stood up and walked back into her room. Tomorrow night, her Father and Fenella were to officially announce their intention to be married. There was no way she and Link could go and explore the temple the next day, but perhaps the day after would give them time. No doubt her Father was probably intending on some sort of feast and dance, as usual. She climbed back into bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day...
The next evening, the celebration was in full swing. Everybody seemed most happy to hear the King's news about him and Fenella. Fayette looked absolutely stunning in her elaborate golden silk gown, which was embroidered with thousands of tiny pearls and embossed in other places with a delicate pattern, and her hair was more curly than ever. She walked around the Great Hall with a rather smug expression on her pretty face, introducing herself to everybody in her somewhat silly high-pitched voice. Aside from Zelda though, everybody else seemed completely charmed by the girl. Zelda herself knew she looked equally as beautiful, although in a much more dressed down way. She had chosen to wear a cream coloured silk dress, decorated only by a gold coloured sash around her waist. However, she had taken to hiding in quiet corners of the hall, because she didn't want people coming up to her and offering their congratulations, considering she was most unhappy about the matter. Sprite found her though. She also wasn't feeling too pleased, because her parents had come to the party, bringing along her much hated younger and favoured sister, Fleur. "Talk about the worst celebration ever," Zelda moaned. Sprite nodded.
"I know. I don't see why they had to bring her along. She's much too young anyway," she complained. Zelda smiled slightly.
"I'm sure Fleur is no worse than Fayette," she replied.
"I'd gladly swap," Sprite muttered, looking over to where her 14 year old sister was fluttering about. "Look at her," she said in disgust, pointing towards a young faerie with long, curly brown hair and wearing a green dress.
"Look at Fayette," Zelda answered flippantly. Sprite pushed up the strap of her silvery dress and then folded her arms.
"I'm afraid that she's rather the centre of attention," the faerie commented. She turned to Zelda. "Why are you hiding in the corner anyway? You can easily outdo Fayette any day." Zelda smiled slightly. For years, she and Sprite had pretty much hated each other, but as of late, they had started to become friends.
"Maybe. But I'm not sure I could keep quiet if someone congratulated me about my Father and Fenella," Zelda answered.
"Well, if I was in the same situation, I'd sure be stealing attention away from Fayette. But, your decision I guess," the faerie replied.
"Oh, by the way, Link was looking for you before," she added.
"Oh. Do you know where he is?" Zelda asked. Sprite thought.
"I think I last saw him over at the bar with Drake," she said.
"Thanks," Zelda replied, making her way over to the small, temporary bar that had been set up in the Great Hall.
***** Dion and Damon arrived on Kuria Island the night before after successfully catching the last ship to leave for Sosaria for the next month or so. The two camped out on the beach as they didn't fancy staying in the abandoned Communion retreat building. They also kept away from the ruins of the great ancient palace that Link had visited only four years earlier. That morning the two had set out to search the many catacombs underneath the island. They had been searching from seven in the morning and were still searching now.
"Dion?" called Damon leaning against the stone passage they were currently searching. He unclipped a water canteen from his belt and took a long sip. He had very little water left and it was stifling in the dank and stuffy passages because of the molten lava that no doubt ran under the island. They were also lost.
"Yeah brother?" replied Dion tapping one of the stone walls with a long metal rod that he had found. "Hey Dion! Don't do that, that rod could be very important!" said Damon. They had found the rod only minutes ago in a dead end passage in the skeletal hand of a long dead explorer. It was inscribed with several runes and in writing that Damon had guessed which could only be Hylian.
"Yeah sure, whatever bro."
"You could also cause a cave in," said Damon clipping the canteen back to his belt.
"According to the map," began Dion.
"The map! If this so called map was any good, we wouldn't be lost and nearly dying of thirst," yelled Damon.
"Hey, hey cool it bro. I've still got two canteens full of water left man, cool it. We're not lost we're just not very near any exit. But we're very close to our goal bro, which is very good. There is a false wall somewhere around here, we just need to find it," said Dion calmly.
"You have two full canteens? How?" asked Damon wiping his wet brow.
"Oh, I made sure I had three just in case," said Dion offhandedly, tapping another wall with the rod which resulted in a hollow echo.
"See? What did I tell you bro?" asked Dion turning to Damon grinning. Dion crouched down and searched the floor for a suitable sized rock. He was soon able to lay his hands on one and stood up. He banged the rock against the wall which only resulted in a small crack.
"Hey Dion," called Damon.
"Get out of the way my friend!" said Damon throwing a bomb against the wall. Dion ran down the passage away from the bomb and waited. The bomb exploded and left a pile of rubble and a dark passage beyond the wall. A low rumbling filled the underground passage and rock and earth began falling from the roof. Damon and Dion hurried into the passage and ran as quickly as they could to the end of the passage. They both turned and watched in horror as the passage was blocked off by a pile of masonry. They were trapped.
