XXXVI: Dangerous Escape

Before the Calamity

Link's POV:

I ran along the pathways of the castle, lingering in the darkest spots I could find in order to stay hidden. Silently, I made circles around the castle until I found it- the tower to Zelda's study.

I swiftly jumped up and grabbed onto the wall, flinging myself upward with every reach. As I was climbing, I heard other knights running beneath me, looking. I could only hope that they would not rush Zelda's room to find me.

Once I reached the top, I crawled across the bridge so that nobody could see my dark figure crossing. I got to the door, where I heard faint cries coming from the inside. I opened it quietly and slipped in.

"Zelda," I whispered, trying my hardest not to frighten her.

She looked over quickly, seeming to recognize my voice. When she realized it was me, she gasped and relief lightened her face. "Link!" She whispered as her slumped-over figure straightened and ran to me, grabbing my body and pulling me against her. Her eyes were puffy from crying and her voice was not completely full. "I didn't th-th-think I would see-"

"Don't say that," I said as I cupped her face in my hands. She looked like she had been crying for hours- her face was flushed and pale. The realization that I was with her again flooded back to me and I let it in sink in.

"How did you get out? Didn't they lock you-" Zelda's face went white as her voice trailed off. She looked at my wrists then back up at my face. "You-y-you're bruised... everywhere!" She ran her hands along my face and teared up. "Your eyes, your wrists, all-all these cuts..." She went silent for a moment. "What did they do to you?" She whispered, despair lacing her delicate voice.

"I'm okay, Zelda," I said. "Don't worry about me."

"Well," she started, "do they... know you're gone?"

"Yes," I said quietly, "which is why we can't stay here. We- we need to go."

"Go?" Zelda asked, confused. "Go where?"

"We should leave for the Spring of Wisdom. If we get out now, we will be long gone before they even think to go to Lanayru. And I'm worried that-" I paused, wondering if I should tell her. I didn't want to worry her, but I thought she should know. "I'm worried that they'll come looking in here."

Zelda's eyes filled with determination and she squeezed my hand. "Ok," she said. "We will leave now."

She scrambled around her room, shoving things including her white ceremonial dress in a small bag. In no less than two minutes, she was ready to go.

As we were about to leave, I froze. I didn't have my sword.

Goddesses, of all things! Why this?

I sighed in angry frustration before turning to Zelda. "I don't have my sword."

"Wh-" Zelda began before realizing it wasn't on my back. "Well, where is it?"

"Your father took it. I don't know where it is."

Zelda thought for a moment before coming up with an idea. "I think I know where it might be... but I will have to go get it. You need to stay here- it's too dangerous for you to leave. You could get spotted."

I didn't want her to get in trouble, but I complied. I slid underneath her bed as she left her room.

I waited anxiously for her to return. Everything was depending on her getting back without someone noticing her. It was late, and she wasn't supposed to be awake. Especially then, when the guards were alert, it was very bad for her to draw attention to herself.

The door opened when I wasn't expecting it and my heart dropped. I hid far under the bed where I couldn't see who it was, but gentle and bare footsteps snuck through the doorway.

"I got it!" Zelda squealed quietly, obviously proud of herself.

I slid out from under the bed and ran over to her, picking her up into the air and hugging her. I was in awe of how she managed to do that.

"Where was it?" I asked, flustered with all of the commotion.

"In my father's study," Zelda giggled. "He's very predictable."

I took the sword from her and she slid on her riding boots. Then, we crept to the door, ready to make our escape. We silently opened it and slipped out, headed for her study. When we reached it, I began to climb over a ledge but froze in my movement- there were guards everywhere below me.

I shot a panicked look at Zelda, quickly trying to think of what to do.

"Go back," I whispered to her. She immediately began crawling back over the bridge, evading the sights of the guards. When we reached the door, we heard a sudden noise coming from the inside. Guards had flung open the door to Zelda's room.

Without thinking, I picked Zelda up and boosted her up onto the roof. She was shaken up from the immediate change in events, but adjusted when she realized the situation. I heard the guards bang around, now realizing the princess was also gone. I knew at any moment they would come through this door too.

I lunged for the wall and began climbing as quietly as possible, praying that nobody below us could see. Mere seconds after I reached a landing, guards bursted through the next door.

"Search the study!" one yelled. The light of their torches illuminated far more than we wanted, and we crawled back suddenly. I grabbed Zelda's arm, pulling her as we clumsily got to our feet and began moving along the roof in the dark.

The guards moved their torches from side to side, trying to get a better view of their surroundings. Meanwhile, we crept hastily along the side of the roof before I realized something that made my blood run cold- we were trapped.

There was no other way off the roof besides the way we came up, and we could hear guards swarming from all sides of the castle below us.

"Wh-wh-what do we do?" Zelda asked. She was terrified and grabbed my arm, anxiously waiting for me to answer.

Then, I had arguably one of the wildest ideas of my life.

I peered over the edge of the castle, gaging how far out the river was from the walkway beneath us.

"We need to jump," I whispered.

"Jump?" Zelda replied violently. "Are you crazy? Jump off the roof?!"

"Into the river!" I said quietly as I gripped her hand. "There's no other way down. You can do it, Zelda!"

"Link you must have lost your mind!" she hissed at me. "I cannot jump into the river, it's nearly five stories below us!"

The guards started getting louder. I didn't think they would look on the roof, but I didn't want to be there if they tried.

I stood up and walked her over to the edge. "Ready?" I asked. I started to jump before her hand grabbed my arm and wrenched me backwards.

"No, no, no, no," she whimpered, cowering back to the roof.

As time began to beat down on us, we both began to feel the urgency of getting out. Zelda began to breathe extremely quick, and I tried to soothe her as best as I could amidst my similar panic.

"Do you trust me?" I asked her as I lifted her chin so she would look at me. "We have to."

Zelda was trembling. I held her tightly, then gently asked her to stand up. "Just don't look over the edge. We will get a running start."

Zelda gulped and backed away from the edge, clutching my hand tightly. She looked at me nervously, her face drenched in fear. She knew there was no other way down.

"On the count of three?"

She nodded.

"Ok," I said. We both took in a deep breath. "One... two... three!"

Immediately, we burst into a run, leaping off the roof and clearing the landing beneath us. Zelda quickly covered her mouth to muffle a scream, and we hovered in the air for a split second before plunging into the river below.

Everything was dark, and the water was cold and it hit me like concrete. I swam around in pain, slightly panicked and underwater. When I surfaced, I immediately started looking for Zelda.

She surfaced a few seconds after me, gasping for air and flailing her arms around looking for me. I grabbed onto her, lifting her against my chest. I lied on my back and kicked, desperately trying to get to the other side of the river. Zelda clutched her bag to her chest and shivered.

When we reached the shore, I was exhausted. Zelda stood up and grabbed my arm, pulling me to my feet. We started running away, weighed down by our drenched clothes. I thought for a moment that if anyone came looking in this way, we could not escape on foot.

"Wait," I said, stopping her. "Epona."

Zelda looked upset. First I made her sneak through the castle, jump off the roof, and now I was throwing us in even more danger that could potentially waste everything we just did. But we needed a horse.

"The horses won't be at the stable, right?" Zelda asked. "Don't they put them out in the pasture at night?"

Perfect.

"Yes," I said with a devilish smile. I ran slightly ahead of us, not completely leaving Zelda behind. The pasture was on the outskirts of castle town, so it wouldn't be that hard to get her out. However, I didn't want to get too close.

I stopped in my tracks and brought my fingers to my lips. I whistled, and then I heard her whinnie in the distance.

Epona must have cleared a very large fence. She came running in the direction of my call, and her figure came into my view. I could nearly scream from the exhilarating joy I felt.

Epona reached us and I jumped on. We had to ride bareback because I didn't have a saddle. I reached down and grabbed Zelda's hand, pulling her on top of Epona.

From there, we galloped away, and I was gripping onto Zelda to ensure she didn't fall off since we had no saddle and were traveling very quickly. We stopped only when we reached Fort Hateno, which was hours and hours away from the castle. 

"There," Zelda said, pointing to a secluded cave. "Can we sleep there?"

She was shivering and we had reached Fort Hateno, far enough from the castle.

"Yes," I responded. It was out of the sight of travelers passing by, so it could work.