Link shook his head. "Nah. Just forget it, Zelda."
   "That's my last arrow." Zelda called down. "I'm not going home without it!" She stood wobbily atop a high ladder, which leaned pricariously on a tree. She'd been practicing with her bow, and the stray arrow had just happened to land on the top of a high tree in the garden. "Be careful where you step, Link!" Zelda called again. "If you land on Dad's royal petunias, he's going to..." Zelda just slightly misguided her arms, and sent the rickety ladder off balance, and it toppled over with Zelda on the end, hollering. Link closed his eyes, unable to watch.

   The next day, Link went back to the Castle to see how Zelda was doing after her accident. The guard led him to her room, where he found her, lying in bed, reading a book. "Hey, Zelda." Link waved his hand. "You don't look so bad."
   "I'm not." Zelda answered. "My back hurts, so the royal doctor says I have to rest. C'mon in." She motioned for him to enter. Link sat down on a chair next to the bed. Zelda said, "Listen, Link-- can you do me a favor?"
   Link shrugged. "Why not? What is it?"
   "I was supposed to meet Sir Frodnonag of Kalkaka at the border of Hyrule today and I can't." Zelda explained. "And everyone else's too busy to go. So if it's not to much to ask, could you..."
   Link sighed. "Sure, I'll go. I'll ride down to the border and wait."
  "Okay." Zelda smiled. "Tell the royal stableman I sent you."

   Link's gray horse ran swiftly towards the mountains near the border, past a couple villages and towns, Lake Hyrule, and all the rest. Scenery whizzed by as his horse sped along at full speed. "Whoa, boy." Link pulled the horse's reins. It slowed to a trot just near the gate to east Hyrule. A glamorous knight wearing a well polished suit of armor and riding on a handsome black horse came in through the high gate. Link hopped off his horse and walked over to the knight.
   "Welcome to Hyrule, valiant sir Frodnonag." Link bowed. "May you find your visit..."
   Link didn't have time to finish his sentance. In lest than a second, all of the black armor had been cast off to reveal a huge slimy moblin! A whole gang of other moblins hopped out from behind the Hyrulian fence, wielding clubs. Before Link could peep, the moblin on the horse had grabbed him and covered his mouth. Link was bound, thrown onto the horse, and carried off into the wilderness.

   It seemed like hours that Link was carried on the horse, and that gave him lots of time to think of how foolish he had been. Why, he hadn't even brough his sword and shield! What was he thinking? Oh, well. No time to worry about that now. Time to think about how to escape, and where the moblins were taking him. The horse stopped in front of a very high, ugly cave carved into a mountain to look like a gigantic skull, with its' gaping, toothed mouth as the entrance. Link was shoved along violently into the cave, which was lit by braziers. Cobwebs hung everywhere, and Link could hear the distant beating of Moblin drums and evil laughter at the end of the tunnel.
   Link was pushed into the middle of a huge domed room, where the moblins appeared to be having some sort of party. Link was led down a dirty red carpet to a spiked throne, where sat none other than Ganondorf, the evil king of Thieves!
   The leader of the moblins bowed. "Here is princess Zelda, my emperor, just like you commanded."
   Ganon's deep voice seemed to shatter the room like glass. "WHAT? That is not Zelda, you pathetic fool! It's just some kid!"
   The moblin drew a knife and held it to Link's throat. "But Zelda said she was going to meet me at the gate! And he, or she, or whover this is showed up, so it must be her!"
   "You idiot!" Ganon slapped his groteque forehead. "Kill him!" The moblin began to press the knife into Link's neck. "WAIT!" Ganon stopped the moblin. "Just a minute, here. I'm having the strangest feeling of Deja Vu. As if I've seen this brat somewhere before."
   "I'm Link! I'm the..." Link wheezed past the knife being pressed against his neck.
   "Oh, yes!" Ganon nodded. "Link, ah! You're the little scoundrel who took my Triforce which I had stolen, fair and square! How could I have forgotten you, the brat who's devoted his entire life to making my evil life even more miserable! YOU, the naive ape who has made me so mad that I've been trying to defeat you EVER SINCE!
   "Yup." Link wheezed. "That'd be me."
   "Do do we get to kill him?" asked the moblin, excited.
   "NO!" Ganon cackled, getting up from his throne. "We're going to use him to bargain with Princess Zelda! And when we have her, we can use her to get back the Triforce! And then, we get to kill this feisty little puppy, here!"
   Link stuck his tongue out. "Well for your information, Zelda would NEVER come right now, because she's got a hurt back, and she's not going anywhere!"
   "You mean the Triforce is unguarded?!" Ganon licked his lips. "On second thought, throw the boy in the dungoen! We have a full scale invasion to make on Hyrule! At last, I'm going to get the Triforce again, and I'll have it all to myself!!! Ha ha ha!"
   "Me and my biiiig mouth." grumbled Link as he was dragged off to the dungeon.

   Zelda nibbled on a bundle of grapes as she rang a bell. "Yes, milady?" a servant ran to her aid.
   "Get me another bundle of grapes, Nuitwerg." Zelda answered. "This one's sour. And while you're at it, get me a warm bag to put on my back."
   "Yes, milady!" the servant zipped down the stairs.
   "This is the life." sighed Zelda. "No annoying tutors, no naggin diplomatic duties, just being pampered 24 hours a day. I wish every day was like this one." She tried to shift her position and instantly felt the shooting pain in her back again. "Well, maybe not." She decided to change the subject. "I wonder how Link's doing? I hope he's behaving himself."

   The dungeon stank like anything, and was infested with spiders and rats, and who-knows-what else. Link took a sip of the water he'd been given, and spat it out on the floor. It tasted like cold dead fish. The meat looked like it'd been picked off a rotting octorok, and the bread was as hard as rock. Link desperately searched the room for some way to escape. He could hear the flapping of a moblin, coming down to check on him. Thinking quickly, Link jumped into the dark shadows of the cell.
   "Hey, where'd you go?" the moblin growled as he reached the cell. He took out a key and opened the door. Link grabbed the bone from some less fortunate creature and thugged it over the moblin's head. He fell over, unconscious, and Link took his sword and shield, and ran up the stairs like a bullet.
   The main hall was empty-- all of the moblins and Ganon were off to raid Hyrule. But Link was going to get there first. He killed the two Octoroks guarding the door and ran after the army. "I hope I get there before they do!" Link huffed.

   "Dad," Zelda said to her father, the king, who sat next to her on her bed.
   "Yes, dear?" the king asked.
   "Something's been bugging me about Sir Frodnonag." Zelda answered.
   "What's that, dear?" the king said.
   "His name," Zelda replied, "sounds... farmiliar, like I've heard it somewhere." She had never really recieved a message from the knight to inform her of his coming, just a letter. Zelda sighed and put it face down on the table. The paper was thin and the writing shone through on the back.
   "Wait!" Zelda's eyes widened in disbelief. "Look at the bottom of the letter when it's read backwards! Ganondorf Ris, Dengis! That knight's name is Ganondorf spelt backwards! Oh, no! Link!"
   The King jumped off the bed and ran to the door. "I'll put the guards on full alert!"
   A guard ran into the room and bumped into the king. He hastily bowed. "Sir, Ganondorf's army is headed for the castle!"
   Just at that minute, one of Zelda's windows crashed open and a shape came tumbling in.
   "Link! It's you!" Zelda yelled as Link stood up and brushed the broken glass off his tunic. "What's happened?"
   "It's a long story, Zelda." Link answered. He darted outside, followed by the guard.

   Arrows flew overhead as Link went outside. Below, Ganondorf and his moblins yelled war cries as several whacked the gate with a huge battering ram. Link held up his shield to keep any of the arrows from hitting him. Down at the foot of the castle, the King's royal guards spewed out of the gates, spinning their swords, and attacked. Link ran down the stairs to the bottom of the castle and held out his sword. Ganondorf yanked out his trident and swing. Link swung his sword to block the blow and stabbed it towards Ganon's chest, but the monster knocked the blade off it's course. Link brough his sword down in a chopping motion, leaving his arms unshielded, and Ganon stabbed. Link hopped out of the way and tried to knock the magical trident out of Ganon's hand, but he held on to tightly. The duel led back up the stairs into the Triforce room, where the golden Triforce lay on a plaque. Ganon licked his lips. "Out of my way, boy." Ganon knocked Link out of the way with a powerful swing of his trident. As Ganon held out his arms to grab the golden jewel, a voice shattered the silence of the room.
   "Hands up, monster!" a girl's voice snapped. Link turned-- it was Zelda! She held her bow and arrows tightly, and was aiming straight for Ganon's heart. Ganon let go of the Triforce and hopped backwards a couple of feet. Suddenly, Zelda's bowstring snapped.
   "Darn!" Zelda grumbled. "I hate it when that happens!" But the distraction was long enough. Link charged straight for Ganon, and hit him squarely in the stomach, knocking him backwards. Link punched Ganon in the face twice, then kicked his stomach again, and before Ganon knew what was happening, Link knocked him off of the balcony window towards the garden below.
   "Huh?" Link looked. "Where'd he go?" Ganon had dissapeared into thin air.
   "Never mind that!" Zelda said. "We've got to... OWCH!" he rubbed her back. "You've got to finish this battle!" Link hopped out the balcony and shinnied down some ivy vines, where he found the rest of the moblins, still engaged in combat with the King's royal guards. Link used his whirling blade attack to hack through a dozen or so of the moblins, and when the rest realized that their leader had been defeated, then fled like scared rabbits. Link wiped the sweat from his brow, exhausted, and went back inside.

   Two days later, Link went again to see how Zelda was healing. He waved "hi" and sat down on the chair beside the bed.
  "Well," Zelda said, "the royal doctor says that since I've hardly gotten any rest the other day, I've got to stay in bed another week." Link nodded. Zelda continued. "And Link, I've got another favor to ask you..."
   "Yes? What is it?" Link asked.
   "Well, our neighboring city, Limpic, asked me to make a special appearance at their annual parade along with the princesses from the other neighboring cities, and seeing as I can't make it..."
   "Fine." Link answered. "What do I have to do?"
   "Oh, just wave and act happy." Zelda answred innocently. Link nodded. Zelda added, "And I think I have a dress somewhere that will fit you nicely..."
   "I would have prefered meeting Sir Frodnonag again." Link sighed.

THE END
   

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