Time Trouble
Part four: A Gerudo Princess

By Susanne - SheikahWarrior@hotmail.com


Chapter one

Zelda shook her head with pure fear. "It's not true," she whispered. She turned to Mauru. "Does he...does he really think he's Ganondorf's brother?"
"It sure looks like it," the young man replied.
Link shook his head again, as if he'd been dreaming. He closed his eyes for a while. When he opened them again, they glowed with a strange, red light. He smiled, but it was a wicked, evil smile. "Can I get you something?"
"No...no, thanks," Zelda stuttered. "We're leaving." She took Loora by her hand and pushed Sheraa towards the door. "We have to go - right now."
Mauru pushed the speachless Impa towards the exit. "Yeah, right. We...have an important meeting."
"In the castle," Zelda continued. "So we'd better go now."
"I'll see you again," Link said with a strange smile. "Yes, I really hope so..."
Loora, Sheraa and Impa quickly went out of the door, followed by Zelda. Mauru turned to Link and gave him one last look, with eyes full of confusions. Then he shook his head again and slowly walked out of the house.

Link felt torn in two directions. One part of him was somehow...afraid. That part was buried deep inside him, trying to get out. The other half of him wanted something very badly. Something golden and shiny. Something he knew that he could get.
The Triforce.
He didn't know why he wanted it so much, but he HAD to get it somehow. Even if he had to kill people to get it.
The strangers who were in his house before seemed familiar. The part of him that was buried inside his mind knew them very well, but the other part of him denied his connection to them. What if he had to kill them? He felt how something inside him screamed. But something else smiled at the thoughts. A dark, scary presence in his head.
YES. KILL THEM.
"Well," he murmured to himself, "I have to see if they're hiding something from me. Maybe they have some connection with the Triforce. And the best way would be...to follow them." Filled with a new strength, he went out of the house, with an evil grin in his face.

Chapter two

It was almost midnight, and Zelda sat on the altar in the Temple of Time. She looked at the place where the three Spiritual Stones used to be. They were gone. It was too dangerous to have them there now.
The day Link became ill, Zelda had taken them from the altar. In a dream, she'd seen how Link, dressed as a Gerudo, had opened the door to the Sacred Realm. With an evil laugh, he'd put his hands on the Triforce and stealen it. Then he'd imprisoned her in a dark room.
She shook her head, unwilling to believe what had happened to Link.
"Are you all right?" a voice said softly.
Quickly, Zelda looked up, only to find a girl her age looking at her. The girl took a step back.
"I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have done that." The girl took another step back. "I was just wondering why...why a girl like you were crying. I didn't mean to disturb you. What a silly girl I am!" She turned around and started to run towards the temple door.
"Wait!" Zelda cried.
The girl stopped and slowly turned to face her. Her hair was red like blood, and her big, green eyes looked suspiciously at the princess. She wore purple clothes and held a candle with one hand - in the other hand she carried a sword.
"What are you doing here in the middle of the night?" Zelda asked.
"I could ask you the same thing," the girl said. "Who are you, anyway?"
Zelda jumped down from the altar. "My name is Zelda. And who might you be?"
"Princess Zelda?" the girl gasped. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry for disturbing you! Please forgive me!"
"Forgiveness received," Zelda smiled.
"My name is Dani I live in Hyrule Castle Town I have two sisters who are younger than me and I don't know who my father is..." she began.
"Wait, wait!" Zelda laughed. "I don't know if I got that...your name is Dani, you live in the castle town and you have two younger sisters. But what was that last thing you said?"
"I don't know my father's name," Dani murmured.
"Is he dead?"
"No idea, your highness," Dani sighed. "My mother says that he was a tall, handsome man. But before my birth, he left my mother."
"Who is your mother? Does she live here in the town?"
"Yes, she does. She and my little sisters live in the back alleys."
Zelda took a deep breath, trying to think clearly. Since she had nothing to do, she decided to find out who this girl was. "Can I follow you home? I'd like to see your family." She paused. "And please don't call me 'your highness', right? From now on, I'm just an ordinary girl from Kakariko Village."
"OK, Zelda," Dani grinned. "Why don't we leave, then?"
Zelda nodded and followed Dani to the door. Then she saw the sword the girl was carrying. She raised her eyebrows. "What are you doing with a big sword like that?"
"Nothing, really," Dani answered in a normal voice, but Zelda saw that she was scared.
"You can tell me," Zelda said. "I'm not dangerous."
"I don't know, but I had this weird dream about a man in Gerudo clothes who attacked the Temple of Time and abducted the princess. And he took the Triforce, too. So I thought it would be a good idea to check the temple, and...here I am."
The princess of Hyrule gasped. "Wha...what...how?"
"Is something wrong?" Dani asked.
"Well, it's just that...I had the same dream." Zelda took a closer look at the girl. "Who are you - I mean, REALLY?"

Chapter three

Saria was sitting in the Chamber of the Sages, and she was crying. She couldn't find Link anywhere. She couldn't find princess Zelda or the other Sages, either. Even Mauru, Loora and Sheraa were gone. She had to save Link, or else he would die. That was what the Voices of Destiny said, right? Or was it?
They said that "his time had come." But they didn't say that he would die, did they? No...they never said that. Saria felt how a ray of hope was lit inside her. Maybe, if the destiny was fair, he wouldn't die. And what could possibly be worse than his death?

Zelda and Dani stood outside the Temple of Time. Dani dropped her sword, and a tear fell from her eye.
"All right," she whispered. "My name is Danigan, and I'm called Dani, but..."
"You're not from town?" Zelda guessed. "And you don't have two younger sisters here?"
"True," Dani said. "I'm from Gerudo Fortress. My mother died when I was a kid, and my father...I was told never to tell anyone his name."
"Why?" Zelda asked. "What can be revealed by telling a name?"
"They said I might get killed if anyone knew who my father is."
"And who is he? You can trust me."
"He's from Gerudo Fortress."
Zelda was stunned. "A man from Gerudo?! Then...then he must be..."
"Yes, he's king of the Gerudos - so I'm a princess. For my own sake, my father told me to go to Hyrule Castle Town and live here. People want to kill me. He's the only one I've ever trusted...before you. And I can't believe how stupid I am! Of course I had to trust my father's worst enemy."
"And...your...your father's name is...?" Zelda swallowed.
"Ganondorf, king of the Gerudos."