Chapter 8

Late at night Hyrule castle was peaceful. The peace and calm of that

warm summer's night was destroyed by the sound of a scream. It was apparent that this scream was not in jest. The scream was an audible expression of pure terror and pain, for it was the sound of a hero's soul being ripped from his body. It was unnaturally loud and the terrible sound shot down and echoed within the halls of the castle. The agonized scream sounded mangled and without a true owner, however it belonged to Link. Some of the residents of the castle believed that this strange sound signalled the end of the world, while still others thought that the souls of the dead were being raised. Whatever horrible fears they held one by one each servant and castle guest left to find out where this sound was coming from.

King Michael roused from his sleep especially early just like the rest of the members of a huge crowd that had gathered around the doorway to Link's bedroom. The crowd hushed in unison as they noticed their most recent member. The were able to see his the splendid colors of his royal robes even with the limited amount of moonlight that streamed through the castle windows. The King examined the crowd and then began to speak.

"Everyone, please remain calm and return to your quarters until we know for sure what has occurred." said the King, much to the dismay of the curious crowd. The people slowly left to go back where the came from. A few audible groans of disappointment were heard as the group drained back down the hallway of the castle.

Despite the royal decree a few still remained. However these were the people who really mattered. Zelda, Lance, Cyrstal, and Sahasrahla all stood waiting to see what had happened. The King had known that these select few would most likely ignore what he had just said, so he was not angry when they stayed.

"Sahasrahla and I will go in and see..." began the King. Zelda quickly grabbed her father's arm and flashed him a look of mixed disappointment and frustration that would have killed a lesser man.

"Father, please..." she said in a voice that couldn't be reasoned with.

"Oh all right," said the king backing down.

Without further hesitation the group entered the room. At first they thought he was just asleep. They tried to wake him but he wouldn't budge. Link had a look of terrible fear on his, but this expression faded when Zelda approached.

"Yo Link! Hey wake up, it's not nice to scare your friends out of bed at night," commented Lance, loudly as usual. Sahasrahla approached the bed and examined the hero. Finally her concern erupted into words and Zelda spoke.

"Is he all right?"

"He's breathing but it is as if his mind is gone. I've never seen

anything like it before in all my years as a healer," answered Sahasrahla in a shocked voice. "and until now I would have never even guessed that it would be possible."

As everyone else's view drew slowly from Sahasrahla back to Link, Zelda was in deep thought. Seeing Link lying there on the bed reminded her of when they had first brought Link back to the castle a few days ago. Those few days of restlessly waiting for Link to recover seemed like a eternity. She didn't want to have to go through the pain of loosing Link all over again. Although the King, Lance, Crystal, and other assorted well wishers had come to visit Link, it had mainly been just her and Sahasrahla who bore the responsibility of taking care of him. It was draining both physically and emotionally. Everyday she hoped against hope that this would be the day when Link returned to them mentally. Suddenly Zelda's train of thought crashed into a brick wall. Then it came to her, washing over her mind, enveloping it. When the fisherman brought Link back to the castle he had said something about Link talking while he was unconscious. When she asked him to describe this the fisherman began to look uncomfortable. After a few

moments of hesitation he told her that Link had said repeatedly that: "I killed her, I killed them all." Zelda had dismissed this as just Link's delusion speech during the course of his brain fever. Now she wasn't so sure, maybe something terrible had occurred on his journey or he might feel guilty for the deaths of the Knights of Hyrule who had accompanied him. Still Zelda had no idea who this "she" was that Link had been talking about.

This thought came to an abrupt end when she glanced out the window towards Death Mountain. The healthy tone of her skin soon was replaced by a pale white. The ring of clouds that had once hovered around Death mountain was now a menacing ring of fire. She knew of only one thing that this could mean, Ganon.

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