Chapter Nineteen

Link was half-asleep when a sharp rapping cut through his dreams. He sat up quickly, half-awake, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and trying to remember where he was. “Yeah?” he mumbled, though his throat was so dry he was sure whoever was at the door hadn’t heard him.

He heard voices from the other side of the door.

“He isn’t awake.”

“Or he didn’t hear us?”

“What’s the difference?”

“He might not be there.”

“Or maybe he’s dead.”

“Now that’s just stupid, Malon.”

Malon sniffed delicately. “How come you think all my ideas are stupid?”

“Not all your ideas. Just the stupid ones.”

“Well, then, Mark,” Malon’s voice had a steely tone to it that made Link, even as he struggled to wake fully, flinch, “what do you propose we do?”

“Break the door down.”

“That’s just stupid.”

“You’re just saying that because you’re mad!”

“Because you said my idea was stupid!”

“It was stupid!”

“Well, so is yours!”

“Do you have a better idea?”

There was a long pause. “No.”

“Then let’s go. On three, okay? One . . .”

All traces of sleepiness fled Link’s brain, to be replaced with adrenaline. They couldn’t actually break the door down. They had to go save Zelda; breaking down a door was not a good way to start the morning.

He flung his legs over the side of the bed and hurried to the door. On the way his bare foot hit something hard and metal, but he kicked it out of the way.

“Two, three!”

Link opened the door just as Mark and Malon threw their full weight against it. They all fell to the ground in a heap. Link shoved them both off of him.

“What the hell are you two doing?” he demanded.

“Us? Why didn’t you answer the damn door?” Malon shot back, climbing to her feet.

“I was waking up!”

“Wake up faster!” It seemed Malon’s bad mood was due more to the early hour than to anything else.

“What time is it?” he asked, looking out his bedroom window at the darkness.

Malon shrugged. “Too early. The stupid cucco hasn’t even crowed yet.”

Mark rolled his eyes at her, then said to Link, “The Sages sent us up here. They want to talk to you in the throne room.”

Link ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “That’s not good.”

Mark shrugged. “Should we come?”

“I don’t know. . . . Actually, could you go down to the armory and see when the guards are ready to leave? Thanks.”

Mark nodded, and grabbed Malon’s wrist, pulling her down the hall.

Link sighed and hurried to the throne room. The sooner this meeting was over, then the sooner they could all get the hell out of there.

Wherever they were going.

When he opened the door, the Sages all had grim expressions on their faces. He had hardly sat down before Ruto spoke, her voice crisp and businesslike.

“The Zoras will not fight.”

Link was in the process of picking at a hangnail. At that declaration, his hand jerked, ripping a long, bloody strip of skin from his forefinger. “What?” He’d meant his voice to be forceful and angry, but it just came off as hoarse.

She sighed through her nose and pursed her lips, pulling a sheet of paper closer to her; he assumed it had notes from her meeting with the Zoras. “They refuse to put themselves in jeopardy at the words of — ahem — ‘a mere boy.’ Their words, not mine,” she said in response to his expression. “They do not want to chase all around Hyrule without even knowing their destination.”

Link opened his mouth, then closed it, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. They had a point there.

Ruto scanned her paper. “No, it’s a no. Not even I can convince them.”

“So, when you said that they’d definitely follow you no matter what, you were . . . wrong?” The sarcasm in Nabooru’s voice was cutting, and made Ruto flush navy.

“Ask her what her people did,” she told Link, glaring harshly in the Gerudo’s direction.

Nabooru winced, her eyes apologetic. “They’ve all sided with Ganondorf.”

Link couldn’t move for a second. All the Gerudo . . . an entire race — admittedly the race he’d felt would win the war . . . gone. “How do you know?”

Nabooru held out a note, letting him take it from her. “Instructions. Supposedly from me.” She laughed, her voice harsher — and at the same time softer — than it usually was. “I’m sure Ganondorf said something that convinced them. It’s an impressive forgery, though. If I didn’t know better, I’d think I wrote it.”

“Din,” he whispered, his fingers tracing the words.

“Hey!” Navi, who had woken up and sat on his shoulder, said. Link didn’t need the prodding, though. The idea had occured to him, too. “Are the Goddesses still here?”

His heart sank as the others shook their heads sadly. “They left last night,” Saria said. “They said they’d open the entrance to the Sacred Realm, but that was all.”

“Fine. This is fine.” His eyes landed on each of the Sages at a time. “And the rest of you . . . no one will help us? Darunia?” The Gorons had to help; they were Sworn Brothers, whatever that meant.

“I’m afraid the Brotherhood is not as loyal as one would think,” he replied, his expression neutral. However, his hands balled into fists as he spoke, and a shadow flickered behind his eyes.

Link’s knees weakened, and he quickly sat down. So much for his army. Not a single one would help him.

“We’ll still fight, Link,” Impa said, placing her hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah, and we’ll kick the sorry asses out of Ganondorf’s army —”

Link cut Nabooru off with a shake of his head. “Nabooru, we can’t do that. There are six of us.”

Rauru raised his bushy silver eyebrows. “Actually, there are seven of us in this room, and the Hylian army, so that makes —”

“Six,” Link replied stubbornly. “Saria isn’t going.”

“What?!”

“She has to go, Link. She’s a Sa —” Rauru began.

Saria leapt to her feet, glaring at Link. “You are not keeping me from this!” she snarled, storming toward him. "It's my fight too!"

Link stood, too, towering over Saria. “There is no way in hell you are dying out there, all right?”

“Link, she has to go. If she doesn’t, Ganondorf will not be put away, and all this will have been for —” Rauru sighed as he was interrupted yet again.

“Why in Hyrule would you possibly think that I wouldn’t go?” Saria’s tiny frame was radiating indignation.

“Because I don’t want you to!”

“This is because I’m a kid, isn’t it?”

“Of course it’s not because you’re a kid! It’s because you’ve never fought in your whole damn life, and I will not have anyone else killed!”

“Else?” Saria replied, her brow crinkling with confusion. “Who else?”

“I . . .” Had he really said else? “There are lots of people who have died, Saria. Eian, Areida. . . .” Those names had come only in hindsight, though; they weren’t the first ones — one — that came to mind. Did he really think Zelda had died? She couldn’t have.

He suddenly had a desperate need not to be there.

Saria blinked, then shook her head, deciding not to press it. “Link —”

“She’s going.” Not for the first time, Impa’s no-nonsense way of dealing with problems was a relief. “She has to. Besides, none of us will fight, anyway. We can’t risk anyone dying.”

Link looked up. “Yeah. So . . .” He looked back at Darunia. “No one?” he asked again.

Darunia shook his head. “We’re on our own.”

“Right.” The need to escape still tugged at him, but he ignored it, focusing only on the current problem and not on the potential one. Zelda is not dead, he told himself. “Damn. Damn damn damn it. Shit damn shit. Well, this sucks. Damn damn shit.” With each swear, he felt anger grow — anger at everyone; the Gorons and Zoras for not helping him, the Gerudo for falling for that stupid trick, for Ganondorf for everything, everything that kept his life from ever being normal, or happy, or anything. The fury built, boiling everything away except Ganondorf.

Link slammed his fists on the table, rising to his feet in a quick, fluid motion. “You know what? Screw it. We’re going to make the others help us!”

“How?” Darunia asked.

“I don’t know! Threats? Violence? Ransom? Can we hold Ruto hostage?” he asked Rauru.

“No one would miss her,” Nabooru muttered. Ruto sent her a hostile glare.

“We are not holding anyone hostage,” Rauru answered calmly.

“Fine!” Link threw his bag over one shoulder violently, making Navi escape to his other shoulder with a squeak. “I’ll go do it myself!”

“You’ll become your own hostage?” Saria asked, while everyone else looked blank.

“No! I’m going after Ganondorf.” His voice was almost normal, but he threw open the door much too aggressively. "Go upstairs. Wait for me. I'll be back in ten minutes," he told Navi.

“But Link —” The door swung shut on their protests.

The Bomb Shop was just closing for the night when Link burst through. “For the love of — what does it take for you people to open the door like normal . . . oh. It’s you.”

Link was confused for a second, but decided the man was just in a bad mood.

That didn’t explain his next words, though. “I hope you brought enough money this time.”

“Ah . . . well.” He shook his head. “I need to buy some bombs.” Of course he did. That was why most people went into bomb shops.

The man raised his eyebrows. “Really? That didn’t take too long.”

He opened his mouth, then closed it, frowning. “Wait, what?”

The man continued, not seeming to hear him. “So how many do you need, hmm? You nearly cleaned me out last time, but I still have some in the back.”

“What are you talking about?”

The man laughed, slapping his forehead. “Don’t tell me you forgot last night already?”

That didn’t make Link feel too good.

“You came here and bought about a million bombs.” The man crossed his arms. “Let me guess: you’ve had too much to drink and are paying for it now.” He smiled. “Don’t worry — I’ve been there, and you’ll feel better in a day or two.”

He hoped so; he sure as hell wasn’t feeling great just then, but it wasn’t related to alcohol. He turned and left, forgetting about buying bombs.

Link crossed the Market, not hearing anything but snippets of conversation from the few people who were up at this hour.

“DUDE! I was like, so wasted last night. Damn, what the hell did they put in that milk?”

“DUDE! I dunno, but it made everything purple!”

Across the fountain, a man was talking to his friend, his hammer slung over one shoulder.

“Yep, I’m getting an early start this morning. My wife wants me to close shop early — anniversary, I dunno what for — and . . . you know, everyone wants some sort of tool.”

“Bah, that’s nothin’. You think bein’ a blacksmith is hard? Try bein’ an innkeeper! People fightin’, throwin’ chairs and gettin’ sick all on the floors. C’mon, siddown and have somethin’ to drink. It’s a slow mornin’, and we got breakf’st.”

“Well, maybe for a few seconds. . . .”

Link shook his head and quickened his pace. He didn’t know what was going on, but it couldn’t be good.

Daphnes was speaking softly to a servant when Link entered the throne room. He held up his hand for Link to wait a second.

“Give this to Rauru,” he said, handing the servant a map. “I think there’s something on there he should know about.” Daphnes looked up. “Sorry about that,” he said to Link.

Link stepped forward. “Listen, uh, sir” — he never knew what to call Daphnes — “I need to talk to you about —”

“Ah, yes.” Daphnes climbed down from his throne. “Shall we go to the library, then?”

“Why?”

His brow wrinkled. “For the meeting, of course.”

Of course? What was this man talking about? “I don’t know what. . . . What meeting?”

“The one you set up last night.” Daphnes was looking the way Link felt, confused and a little concerned. “With the Sages?”

Link shook his head. “I never set up a meeting.”

Daphnes shook his head. “Yes, you did. Last night, you came in and told me you wanted everyone involved with the war in the library . . .” He trailed off when he saw Link’s expression. “Wasn’t that you?”

“No,” Link replied, but he wasn’t really listening.

Who was that person? Who could look like him well enough that the bomb shop owner and Daphnes and who knew who else wouldn’t be able to tell the difference? That would take a powerful kind of magic. . . .

Ganondorf.

Link swore, making Daphnes jump.

So the King of the Gerudo was taking some time out of tormenting Zelda to set up a meeting with Daphnes and buy a million bombs. What in Hyrule would he do that for?

Suddenly it clicked.

“Uh, sir —”

A loud whoosh, like the igniting of a large fire, interrupted Link. It was followed by an earth-shattering, “BOOM!”

Link winced, putting one hand over his ringing ears. In another instant, though, another bomb went off. And then another, and another, growing louder with each explosion.

“Get everyone back!” he shouted at Daphnes, who immediately began ushering servants out of the castle.

Link took off, following the sound of the explosions.

How the hell do I outrun a bomb? he thought, falling further and further behind.

Suddenly the mailman raced past, the bunny ears perched on his head. He stopped when he saw Link. “Don’t go up there!” he said, pointing at Death Mountain. “I was just going to deliver a letter to the Gorons, and — hey! What are you — HEY!”

Link lunged at the mailman, ripping the bunny ears off his head and putting them on. Before the mailman could recover, Link was off, chasing the bombs up Death Mountain.

He pulled his ocarina out of his pocket, trying to remember the Song of Storms. Maybe if he could get the wicks wet, the bombs wouldn’t go off.

Damn Ganondorf.

He raised it to his lips. The bombs, however, continued to go off, and between the loud explosions and searing heat, the notes to the song just wouldn’t come. It didn’t help that he was running as fast as his bunny ears would allow, and was still barely keeping up with the bombs.

Eventually he decided to just go for it, and began playing. Apparently his fingers were moving faster than his brain, because they automatically played the Song of Storms. The sky above his head darkened with thick, black clouds.

Suddenly Link’s foot landed in a molehill, and he fell forward. He caught himself before he went sprawling, but the ocarina flew out of his hand. “Shit, shit,” he muttered, leaping to his feet and racing to the fallen instrument. Unfortunately, when he’d fallen, the line of bombs had passed him, heading straight toward Kakariko Village. And they were en route to the ocarina.

“For the love of —” He dove at the ocarina, playing the song almost before his mouth was on it. He played so fast that the notes became a jumble, his eyes on the upcoming bombs. If this didn’t work. . . .

A crack of thunder shook the sky, and a cold raindrop landed on his nose. Then another on his shoulder, and one on his back, and then the skies opened up, soaking him through in seconds. There was still one bomb between the exploded bombs and him, and he leapt forward, snatching it up and running as fast as possible.

The bombs weren’t the type that exploded by picking them up, so Link set it at his feet. He let out the breath that he’d been holding, and sank to his knees, thanking the goddesses in weak whispers. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

“Link!” Malon ran up to him, grabbing his arm and hauling him to his feet. Mark was at her heels. He walked over and picked up Link’s hat, which had fallen off during his dive for the ocarina.

“People are coming,” he warned Link.

“How many?”

“A lot,” Malon replied. “Zoras, Gorons . . . everyone started coming once they heard the bombs.”

At that moment, the gates to Kakariko opened — they’d been closed in attempt to keep the bombs away — and the town came pouring out, surrounding Link and bombarding him with questions and congratulations.

“I don’t know,” he kept repeating, until they began to back off. When he had a moment to breathe, he turned to Malon and Mark, who had stayed faithfully by his side.

“Are the Sages here?” he asked. They both nodded. “Get them.”

However, they didn’t have to go anywhere, as Ruto shoved through the surrounding crowd, flanked by several Zoras.

“Follow the bomb trail. See how far it goes,” Ruto told one of them before turning to Link. “Link . . . what . . . what in Hyrule happened?”

“Ganondorf, I think,” he replied. “Get the Sages. Throne room. Now.”

Before Ruto could do more than splutter, he’d turned and shoved through the crowd, headed back toward the castle.

“Well,” Daphnes said as they waited for the Sages to arrive, "the entire back wall is obliterated. No one was badly hurt, but the reparations will cost a fortune. Not to mention explaining what happened. . . . How did he get in? There will be complaints, of course . . . They’ll say I’m not doing my job. . . .” Daphnes continued to mutter to himself, pulling at the little hair he had left. Link felt almost sorry for him.

Unfortunately, because he was being faced with Hylians trying to shout questions through the half-closed doors to the throne room, he didn’t have much sympathy.

“Close the door, will you?” he snapped at one of the guards, who glanced at Daphnes before pulling the door shut. The silence was bliss — Link closed his eyes and took a deep breath, sinking into one of the chairs still scattered around the room.

A second later, though, the doors burst open again as the Sages filed in, followed by several Gorons, Zoras, and a few Hylian soldiers.

“Well?” Nabooru demanded. “Was it Ganondorf?”

“The rumors out there are wild,” Saria added, looking slightly overwhelmed. “I heard one of them say that the explosions were caused by fire-breathing Keatons, sent to destroy us by an evil wizard.”

Link shook his head. “Ganondorf.”

“How’d he —” Darunia began. He was interrupted as the doors opened again, and the Zora Ruto had sent to follow the bomb trail rushed in, looking harried.

“Princess Ruto,” he said, ducking his head respectfully, “we removed the bombs out of harm’s way.”

“How far did the trail go?” Ruto asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

“It . . . it led up, and then down, Death Mountain, and to the entrance of Zora’s Domain.”

“But it didn’t come close enough to hurt us?” Ruto asked.

The Zora shook his head. “But, Princess —”

“Why, though?” Nabooru interrupted. “Why would it destory the Goron’s Mountain, and try to take out the Hylian Market and Castle, but not harm the Zoras? It’s not like you’re friends with them or anything.”

“Of course not,” Ruto snarled.

“Actually —” the Zora began again.

“And what about our Forest?” Saria added. “I mean, he knows the Kokiri exist, because he spoke to the Deku Tree. So why wouldn’t he try to destroy us as well?”

“If I may,” the Zora said loudly and pointedly; everyone’s eyes snapped back to him. “The trail led to a rock at the edge of the river. I wasn’t sure what kind of rock it was, but one of the bombs was placed right under it. It also went to the edge of the Kokiri Forest, so. . . .” The Zora shrugged, clearly not sure what to make of this.

“What kind of rock was it?” Nabooru asked.

“I don’t know,” the Zora said slowly, as though doubting her intelligence. “That’s why I said I didn’t know what kind of rock it was.”

“No, describe it,” Nabooru snapped, and Link could tell she was restraining herself from adding “dumbass.”

“It was . . . white, with gray splotches. It was very soft — there were many gouges in it from being outside.”

Nabooru looked thoughtful for a moment, and then swore. She reached into her top, pulling out a small vial of white powder. There were small gray specks mixed in with the white.

“What’s that?” Impa asked keenly, leaning forward.

“Poison,” Nabooru answered, shaking it and frowning. “Ganondorf gave me this about . . . Din, it was a long time ago. But it dissolves into water.”

“Fatal?” Ruto asked.

“No, it’s the kind of poison that’s good for you,” Nabooru said, rolling her eyes.

Ruto flushed. “It doesn’t have to be fatal; it might just make you sick.”

“It’s fatal, okay?”

“And you think the rock becomes . . . that?” Link asked.

“Yep. If it was exploded.”

The Gorons were muttering amongst themselves. “Well, then, it appears that we owe you our lives,” one of them said to Link.

“As do we,” one of the Zoras agreed. The Hylians nodded.

“Ah.” Link didn’t know what to say beyond that, so he gave them a strained smile and put his hands in his pockets.

The Gorons all glanced at one another, and the one who’d spoken took a deep breath. “We . . . we are in your debt,” he continued, looking like he was seriously doubting the sanity of his words. “And if you are still drawing together an army . . . then we would be honored to help you defeat Ganondorf.”

A Zora stepped forward. “You will need our assistance,” he said simply, “and we shall give it.”

One of the Hylian guards stood as well. “I put a sheet of paper outside. People can sign up to join the recue party for Zelda.” A smile spread across his face. “I think you’ll be pleased with the number of people that have signed it.”

Link stared at him for a second, then strode forward, opening the door wide and tearing off the sign that was pinned to it. The list of names covered both sides, and another sheet had been tacked up as well. It was half full, and people were still crowding around it, eager to put their names down.

“Wow,” he said, closing the door and taking off his hat. “This is . . . wow.” He looked over at Daphnes and smiled. “I think we may have a chance now.” He turned to the people grouped around the room. “Get everyone together. We’re leaving as soon as possible.”

Everyone sprang into action, hurrying out of the room and shouting orders. Link allowed himself a moment to breathe, then walked over to where Daphnes was still sitting, frowning into space.

“Something wrong?”

Daphnes looked up. “It’s just . . . you didn’t set up that meeting, did you?”

“No,” Link said. “Ganondorf did.”

“But he looked exactly like you.”

“Ganondorf has magic.” Nabooru had come up behind them. “It’s not exactly hard for him to change his appearance.”

“So . . . I was talking to Ganondorf?” Daphnes asked weakly. He swallowed hard. “And he set up the meeting . . . where the bombs are . . . he was trying to kill me.”

Nabooru sighed impatiently. “Of course he was. Haven’t we already agreed that?”

“I’m sorry, but it’s not every day you get death threats.”

“Really?” Nabooru asked, confused. She shrugged. “I get ’em several times a day, actually.”

Something occurred to Link. “What else did Ganondorf say?”

“Nothing. . . . Well, he said he was going to Zelda’s room.” Daphnes looked up at Link. “Wasn’t that where you were staying?”

“I . . . excuse me.” Link turned and raced out the door, heading toward Zelda’s bedroom. He threw the door open, looking around for anything unusual. Nothing seemed out of place.

“What’s going on?” Navi demanded, fluttering into the air. “I was waiting here for ages . . . and then I heard explosions. . . .”

“Ganondorf set up bombs. It’s okay. Listen, Navi, have you seen anything weird in here?”

Navi bit her lip, looking around. “Not really,” she admitted. “What do you mean, weird?”

“Ganondorf may have been in or near here last night.”

“Hmm. . . .” Navi hovered over the dresser, pursing her tiny lips. Her eyes widened, and she flew down toward the floor. “What’s that?”

“What?” Link knelt, peering into the small space between the floor and the dresser.

“Didn’t you see that? It was a sort of . . . glimmer.” Navi stuck her head under the dresser. “I think there’s something down here.”

“Why would Ganondorf hide something under my dresser?”

“Maybe he slipped it under the door, and you kicked it under here.”

Link did remember kicking something metal. “Can you get it?” he asked.

Navi snorted. “Can drunk men count to five?”

“I. . . .” Link thought about that for a second. “I don’t know.”

“Me neither.” Navi took a deep breath, sucking in her stomach as she tried to squeeze in. “Aha!” She emerged a few seconds later, dragging a golden chain behind her. “There’s something else under there,” she told him. “Pull that out and I’ll get it.”

Link pulled out the necklace and his heart stopped.

“It’s Zelda’s,” he whispered, fingering the fragile chain. “He . . . he took it.”

Navi landed lightly on his hand, holding a large jewel in her hands. “Here,” she said softly, placing it in his palm. “This was under there, too.”

Link ran his thumb over the Gerudo lettering.

“Link,” Navi said anxiously. “That’s from the Spirit Temple.”

So she remembered, too.

“Are we going to the Spirit Temple?”

Link stood, forcing Navi to leap into the air. “Come on. We have to tell the others that we know where we’re going.” He put Zelda’s necklace around his own neck, tucking it under his shirt. Some of the helplessness he’d been feeling ebbed.

Zelda, I’m coming.

Hold on.

“The Spirit Temple?” Saria repeated, raising her eyebrows. “When the entire Gerudo race will be guarding the desert? How are we supposed to get in?”

Nabooru shrugged. “We’ll figure that out when we get there, won’t we?”

That had been Link’s general idea as well. “Can you two talk to the others? Tell them where we’re going? And ask Rauru to look up anything he can find about the temple.”

Nabooru rolled her eyes, pointing at herself. “The best person in the castle to ask about the Spirit Temple is standing right here.”

“Fine, then. Work with Rauru to draw a map or . . . something. I lost mine. Saria, talk to the other Sages, and the king, and the captain of the Hylian guard . . . Just talk to anyone in power, okay? Tell them we’re planning on leaving at dawn, if not sooner.”

“What are you going to do?” Saria asked as Nabooru headed down the hall toward the library.

“I’m . . . going to do something.” He looked around. “I’m just not sure what it is yet.” Link glanced down the hall uncertainly, then turned back to Saria. “You know where Mark and Malon are?”

She bit her lip, looking thoughtful. “I think they’re down in the kitchens, gathering food. That’s what I last heard, anyway.”

“Great.” He looked out the window, at the sun. It was almost eleven. “I’m going to go find them. I’ll be back.”

He ran into them in the hallway. They were both carrying bags of food, and looked like they were in a hurry.

“We’re going to the Spirit Temple,” he told them.

Malon froze, her eyes wide. Mark looked confused.

“Where’s that?”

“In the desert,” Malon told him, still looking stunned. “But . . . the Gerudo. . . .”

“We’re going to have to get past them.”

“Wow,” Malon murmured to herself. She straightened. “Well, if we’re going to get there by tomorrow, we have to hurry, don’t we?” She jerked her head down the hall. “We’ll be carrying supplies around, if you need us.”

The rest of the day, Link ran around Hyrule, checking plans and passing messages from one person to anoher. He was the ideal messenger, since the mailman had let Link keep the bunny ears.

“How’re the Hylians coming along?” he asked the captain of the guard, who was overseeing the training of the volunteer soldiers.

“Well, they’re not geniuses,” the captain said, shaking his head, “but they’ll be able to hold their own for a while. They’re strong — at least, the farmers and metalworkers are.” He shouted orders at the men, who began practicing sword technique. It wasn’t flawless; some of the men dropped their swords, or missed more often than they hit, but on the whole the captain was right. They could hold their own.

“Do we have enough weapons?” he asked.

The captain nodded. “Just barely.” He turned to Link. “Actually, could you go down there and bring up everything we have left in the armory? I’d like to do another count, see what we have left over.”

Link nodded, hurrying down into the armory and bringing up armfuls of weapons and armor. He passed them around, helping people decide what kind of weapon to use, and how to use it.

“All right,” the captain said once Link had brought up everything. “Thank you, Link.”

He was just about to head to Death Mountain to see how they were progressing when Malon ran up to him. “The king wants to see you,” she said, panting and holding her side. “As fast as possible. He’s in the throne room.”

The doors of the throne room weren’t held by the two guards that usually stood there; Daphnes had sent them away to help train the soldiers. Daphnes was sitting on the throne, looking out the window with a concerned expression.

“What is it?” Link asked, closing the doors to the throne room.

Daphnes waited a few seconds, watching the battle preparations below. Finally he turned to Link, a sad smile on his face. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Link didn’t know what to say — what was beautiful about preparing for war?

“Everyone’s working together. That almost never happens. All this for Zel.” He turned to Link, his eyes slightly misty. “You’ll do whatever you can to get her home, won’t you?”

“Um . . . Your Majesty? Sir? . . . Mister?”

“Anything is fine,” Daphnes said.

“All right, then. I am going to do everything I can to save Zelda. You don’t have to worry about that.”

“That’s good.” Daphnes sat back, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. “Now, onto business. There are going to be many people left at home. Women and children, mostly, and those of us who are . . . unable to fight.” He patted his large stomach ruefully.

“Yes. . . .” Link wasn’t sure where Daphnes was going with this.

“If somehow we don’t . . . win” — he knocked on the wooden arm of his throne — “there needs to be some way to protect those people who remain.”

Link took a deep breath, running a hand through his hair.

Daphnes handed Link four letters. “I want you to take these to the market, Kakariko, the Goron City and the Zora’s Domain. Give them to a leader of each town.”

“What is it?” Link asked, rifling through the letters.

“It’s a call-to-arms for everyone who remains. It’s for those who can hold a sword — we still have swords left, right?”

Link nodded.

“Anyway, it’s for them to defend Hyrule in case of . . . circumstances. It also says that everyone who cannot fight at all to find somewhere safe to hide, preferably somewhere underground with more than one exit. In other words, it’s giving everyone in Hyrule a warning that there may be an invasion.”

Link nodded again, pocketing the letters and glancing at the darkening sky. “I’ll do that . . . sir.”

The preparations continued into the night until, at two in the morning, Link ordered everyone to get some sleep.

Once the castle was quiet, Link went down into the armory to make sure they hadn’t forgotten anything hidden the back corners. He got down on his hands and knees, looking under one of the shelves.

“What are you doing?”

Link hit his head on the top of the shelf as he jumped. Rubbing his head, he turned to see Malon and Mark standing at the door. “I’m making sure we’re not forgetting anything,” he said defensively. He climbed to his feet and began pacing the room. “Let’s see . . . we have all the food?”

“Yep,” Mark answered.

“And the weapons?”

“They are with each soldier, and the extras have been sent to the other towns, equally distributed,” Malon said.

“And the soldiers?”

“They have been trained as well as they’re going to get, and we have agreed that we have a chance of overpowering the Gerudo by sheer number, if not by skill.” Mark’s voice had a slight edge that told Link he wanted to get to sleep.

“And —”

“Everything is taken care of,” Malon said. “Just go to bed, because if you don’t sleep, then we don’t get to sleep, and we really, really want to sleep.”

“Yeah,” Link muttered, rubbing his eyes. “Okay.”

Once in his room, though, he sat down on the window seat, staring into the darkness, trying to see the desert and worrying about the next day.

He didn’t sleep.

The next morning everyone was grim-faced and silent as they lined up in Hyrule Field. The only time anyone spoke was to give an order, or to ask a question. Despite running on only a few hours of sleep, no one was groggy — in fact, they seemed more alert than usual.

Link strode past a group of Hylians, who were going over all the attacks they’d learned. One of them asked a Zora a question, and to Link’s mild surprise, the Zora seemed to reply with little, if any, contempt.

“Ready?” he asked the Sages, looking around the field.

“We are,” Ruto said, gesturing toward the Zoras.

“So are we,” Nabooru said. She had taken over commanding the Hylians, which had been both a good idea and a bad one, as she was good at getting them to work harder and knew how to fight well. On the other hand, she’d caused many fights, and several Hylians were sporting signs of recent bloody noses.

Darunia nodded, looking a little sick.

“All right,” Link said, looking from one Sage to the other, “one more time.” He pointed to Ruto.

“The Zoras will come from the west,” Ruto recited obediently, “and will attack first.”

“Good,” Link said, pointing at Nabooru.

“The Hylians will follow immediately, covering the north, south, and east sides.”

Link pointed at Darunia.

“After waiting for several minutes, the Gorons will attack from the north and the west,” Darunia said, “in an attempt to throw them off.”

“And you?” he asked the Sages.

“Darunia, Nabooru and I will lead our group into the battle, but will quickly back off and join Saria, Impa, Rauru and you to enter the temple another way,” Ruto said.

“Through the hand thing,” Nabooru added.

Link took a deep breath. “It’s a good plan, right?” he asked the Sages.

“I think so,” Darunia said.

“Best plan someone could come up with in one day,” Rauru agreed.

Link shook his head. “We’re screwed, aren’t we?”

“Probably,” Ruto agreed bluntly. Saria stomped on her foot.

“You kidding? We’re gonna kick ass,” Nabooru said.

He sighed, and looked out toward the desert. “I hope so.”

All right, this one's a little . . . choppy and crappy, but I no longer care. I'm thinking that the battle will ACTUALLY begin next chapter. I have a plan now. It's ALL coming together. . . . Muhahaha.