• CHAPTER ONE

    The soldier Akeldama

    Link stacked the hay up in a large pile for the goats to chew on. While Fado wasn’t looking, Link quickly jogged into the faron woods and sank down in the warm springs. He remembered that he told Zelda to come meet him here, but she hasn’t shown up yet. Link sighed and waited for a while. Fado secretly knew that Link had gone to meet with the princess in the springs, so he took over from where Link left off. It was getting late when Zelda finally arrived. “Hey Link, sorry I’m late; the guards didn’t let me outside so I had to sneak out from the window,” Zelda said, smiling as she spoke. Link rose from where he was sitting and presented a shy smile. “I’m glad you finally came,” Link said. “I was starting to get worried.”
    Link and Zelda were walking through the Faron Woods when they noticed that it was getting darker. “Link, maybe we should go now,” Zelda said.
    “Fine, uh, will we meet again tomorrow?”
    “Yes, come to the courtyard tomorrow before dusk.”
    “Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow, before dusk!”

    Link strolled back to Ordon when he heard Zelda call out. “Make sure the guards don’t see you!” she warned him. “Okay!” Link shouted back before he continued to walk.
    When Link arrived at the Ordon Province, he saw that the lights in the houses were still on. “What’s going on?” Link wondered as he started to walk a bit faster to check it out. “Link; come here!” said a familiar voice. When Link came closer to the source of the sound, he figured out who was calling to him. “What is it Beth?” Link asked as he moved closer to Beth. “It’s the mayor!” she gasped. Link picked up his pace and ran towards the mayor’s house. “What happened?” Link asked, breathless. “The mayor is gone! We searched everywhere, but can’t find him!” Rusl answered for Link. Link opened the door to the house and saw Ilia sitting in the middle of the floor crying. “What’s wrong?” Link asked sympathetically. “You should know!” Ilia cried through tears. “I do, but please explain,” Link said calmly. “No,” Ilia plainly said. “Please tell me,” Link begged. “Fine, but do you promise not to tell the others?” she said, giving in. “I promise,” Link vowed. Ilia hesitated, but decided to tell him. “Okay,” she sighed.
    Ilia explained what happened. “Around midnight last night,” she said, “Father was outside sitting on the steps while I was reading a book next to him. He said to me ‘I will never let anything happen to you…’ I put down my book then…” Link impatiently interrupted her. “Please can you skip to the part when your father was captured?” he said quickly. “Um, yes of course...” Ilia said. “Well, I was in bed trying to sleep, and I thought I heard my father say something. Then I followed his voice downstairs and saw him get taken away by a horrible creature! I yelled for my father, but the beast was disappearing in the shadows. I tried to stop it but…it was too late – he was already gone!” Ilia spoke with tears streaming down her face, dripping onto the cold floor. Link felt strong sympathy for her. “I’ll find your father, don’t worry.” Link said, his voice strong and meaningful. Ilia thanked him, now crying tears of joy.


    Link snuck outside as if he didn’t know anything, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. He climbed up into his house, which lies in a tall tree. Link brought along his sword which he left next to his window. He opened the door and slid down the ladder. Link peeked into the village to check if there was anyone coming his way. Luckily for Link there wasn’t anyone so he ran into the forest, trying to find the way to Hyrule Field. It was darker than ever now. Link remembered that there was a lantern next to a gate entrance. He picked up the golden lantern, found a bottle of lantern oil next to it, and filled it up. Link attached the lantern to his belt and began to run again. He snuck over to the big gate separating Hyrule Field and the Faron Woods. Link swirled around once, checking to see be sure that no one saw him as he entered the gate. He heard something shuffle by him in a bush. He took out his sword to slash the bush, only to find out that it was merely the wind. Link hasn’t been in Hyrule Field for a while so he doesn’t know what awaits him. As he flew towards the middle of the field he noticed that the lantern oil was running out quickly. “I should hurry before I run out of oil…” Link whispered to himself. He detached the lantern and shone it in front of him. His eyes darted around, scanning the fields for the castle. As soon as his eyes locked onto the grand structure, he made his way silently towards it.


    When he approached the large castle he didn’t know how to get to Zelda’s room without waking the guards. He searched around the outside of the castle when he realized that Zelda had a wooden rim around her window. He also saw that there were wooden boxes all across the center and the top of the castle. Link forked his bag out and pulled out the clawshot to hook onto the wood. “I hope this works,” said Link hopefully under his breath. Link carefully lifted himself from box to box then onto the window sill of Zelda’s room. Link had heard one of the guards around the castle saying someone got in so Link quickly jumped through the opening. He saw Zelda sleeping soundly but he was in a big mess; he shouldn’t get distracted. He was thinking about waking her up when he heard the guards storming up the stairs. He looked over at Zelda’s desk and saw some paper, ink and a quill. As he began to write a letter the guards were nearly there.


    Link had to hurry; he struggled to write quickly, but luckily it was neat enough to read. The guard’s knocked on the door crying, “Princess, wake up! There is an intruder in the castle!” Link heard this and panicked. He stood on the window sill and looked down. He didn’t know if he should jump or hide. He prayed to the gods before he lunged out of the opening. “Augh!” he screamed in pain as he hit the hard castle grounds. “Over there sir!” yelled out one of the soldiers. The other guards and soldiers quickly followed the soldier whom heard the sound. “All I wanted to do was warn Zelda that the mayor was captured…” Link thought sourly as he limped back towards the open space in Hyrule Field. He managed to get there but he wasn’t fast enough. “Hey, look who it is,” said a human figure, with a smirk on his face. Link looked up, standing before him a dark orange haired male, with red eyes glancing at him. “Akeldama! What are you doing here?” Link cried. “Well, since I am the head soldier at the castle, the guards sent me looking for the intruder,” Akeldama hesitated, than continued. “I wasn’t expecting you though. Did you want to see Zelda for some reason?” Akeldama smiled at Link an, evil smile. “Well, since you are the intruder, I’m guessing I’ll have to take you away now.” Link stood up straight, sword pointed at Akeldama. “Not without a fight!” Link spat and ran towards him.