The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Queen

The Desert

"Princess Zelda! Princess Zelda!" Link and Midna called as they searched Hyrule Castle's bright stone halls for the princess. Midna floated beside Link in a ghostly form as they looked. Every guard they passed stopped their somewhat diligent guarding to stare.

"Link?" They found her in the library. She wore a white and purple dress embellished with the crest of Hyrule. Her brown hair was down and a gold tiara sat on top of her head. In her gloved hands was a book and she had the dazed expression of someone who had just been brought back to reality.

"Your majesty," Link said, bowing low to the ground.

"What are you doing here?" Princess Zelda asked, looking Link up and down with her gray eyes, probably wondering about his choice of clothes and lack of green.

"The Light Spirit is coming to attack Castle Town again. I need to stop it."

"Hmm... We should be able to fend it off again fine. Sorry, by the way, for not meeting you at the bridge. I had important matters to tend to here... Also, your horse was found at one of the gates. I'm not sure where she is at the moment, but I have been assured that she was brought to one of the farms and is safe." Link smiled, this was great news. One less thing for him to concern himself with. But the princess hadn't mentioned Talo or Jaggle... Did that mean they didn't make it to Castle Town?

"Princess Zelda, the Master Sword has been removed from the pedestal of time. Do you know how this could be possible? And, more importantly, where the sword could be?" Midna asked impatiently.

"Twilight Princess? How did you get here?"

"It's queen now and that's not very important. Can you please answer my question? We don't have much time."

"Right. The sword can't be removed from the pedestal by anyone but the hero of courage. So I have no idea how it could be missing... Unless... A Light Spirit might be able to switch it, considering the Light Spirits are servants of the Goddesses. Why do you need the great sword?"

"Do you have a better idea for how he is to deal with the Light Spirit? Link plans to destroy the Light Spirit like you asked him to, preferably before he lets it destroy him." Link could see the wheels turning in Zelda's brain as she thought through the problem.

"Well, the Light Spirit must have taken the sword. Meaning it's obvious where the sword must be, isn't it?" she said, carefully shutting the book in her hand and placing it back on the shelf.

"How is it obvious?!"

"Princess, could you please explain?" Link asked, giving Midna a look that demanded she shut up.

"Certainly. Light Spirit, Gerudo, right? Well, where is Gerudo from? If you were going to hide something precious somewhere you knew it would be safe, where would that be?"

"Not at the end of a dungeon," Midna mumbled.

"No. Link, do you have any ideas?"

"Your home... So the desert?"

"Yes. The Light Spirit most likely hid the sword there. How, may I ask, do you plan to get there before the Light Spirit gets here?"

"Grounding," Link answered simply, closing his eyes.

"Which is?" He pictured Gerudo Desert and the ground opened up beneath him.

"Wow... Not getting any less cooler the more you do that. That... That wasn't here last time. Was it?" Link opened his eyes. In front of him was a large stone castle. Not like the castle where the mirror was once kept. No, that was on the other side of the desert. This castle was circular, more like a tower than a castle. It rose high up into the sky, grazing any cloud that dared to get too close. It was greenish brown in color and spikes stuck out of the curved sides at random. It wasn't that wide, couldn't even have been much bigger than a room at the widest part. But Link had learned in his adventure that looks could be deceiving, so it was probably much bigger than that.

"No, this definitely wasn't here." Link walked up to it, reaching his hand out to touch the stone, to make sure he was seeing reality. Reality and not one of the mirages this desert liked to show. The stone was cold to the touch and sent shivers of fear through his veins and straight to his heart. He felt petrified by a power he couldn't see or understand. He drew his hand back and the feeling faded, but the memory stayed in the forefront of his mind.

Link circled around the castle, careful not to touch it again, till he found a door. The door was made of solid wood and a huge lock hung from the handle. A wooden sign on the wall adjacent to the door read 'Gerudo's keep' in spiraled golden letters.

"This must be it." He tried the door handle. The large lock kept it from opening, as expected. He tried ripping off the lock with his strength. Perhaps he wasn't as strong as he thought he was...

"There's got to be something here I can use to open this door." He scanned the ground.

"Um... Link? You might want to look behind you," Midna said in a startled voice.

"What? Oh, that's a lot of monsters..." Marching across the desert, leaving a wall of dust in its wake, was an army of monsters. Not just bulblins, like what Link had encountered in the camp surrounding Arbiter's Ground, but a whole menagerie of monsters from all over the Light Realm. All stomping towards Link and Midna's location with a thirst for bloodshed.

"Link, we have to get into the tower, pronto. Or we are going to die."

"We're always dying, yet here we are still alive." He felt oddly calm about this.

"Please, check the rocks for a spare key or something." He did. He lifted all the nearby rocks he could find. Even threw them at the tower wall to make sure nothing was concealed inside them. He didn't find anything. The horde was getting closer.

"Link... Please tell me you have a plan. Or do I have to do everything for you?"

"At the moment, I am open to suggestions." He still felt really calm. He was with Midna and she always figured out how to get them out of life threatening trouble. He'd be alright, she'd think of something.

"The boots, the white ones on your feet. The ones all covered in dirt since you didn't care enough to try and keep them clean! Yes, those. Read the inscription and fly to the top of the tower." Link sat down and wiped the mud from his shoes.

"Walking is for weaklings, flying is for the strong," he read, a confused look on his face.

"Great," Midna said from his shadow as Link started to float off the ground.

"Good luck, Link."

"Good luck?" He lost his balance and was unable to remain standing upright. Losing control, he swung upside down, making his feet closer to the sky than the rest of him. He rose up, quickly out of reach of the monsters that had started to reach them. The blood rushed to his head as he went, making him feel dizzy and sick. He swung back and forth in the wind, since there was wind up there even though there had been little on the ground. He could hear the shrill calls of anger coming from far below. He didn't dare look down. When he reached near the top, he grabbed onto a metal spike, keeping him from rising any farther.

"How do I turn the boots off, Midna?"

"I don't know. Kilm probably knows," she mumbled softly, almost guiltily.

"Is Kilm here?"

"No." Link decided to improvise. Still trying not to look down, he kicked his boots off. It was a time consuming business, he'd tied the laces pretty tight.

"Don't do that!" When the boots came off, they continued their trek to the sky. Link, on the other hand, lost his grip on the spike as gravity returned. He tumbled down. His hand managed to grab a new spike as he fell past it, bringing him to a painful jolting stop.

"Link..." He gritted his teeth and looked around, even down, in an attempt to figure out what to do next.

"I think that's a window, the lighter square beneath you." He scanned the square. It didn't really look like a window, it was the same greenish brown as the rest of the tower. Yet the more he looked at it, the more he could tell that it caught the light slightly different than everywhere else. Midna was right, it probably was a window. Link hit it with his foot, trying to get it to break. It took a few tries, but eventually the glass started to crack. He got ready for another swing and kick, knowing it would be his last, whatever happened. His arms gave way right as the glass shattered. He tumbled through the broken window.