INT. FO-Làraich CAVERNS (FAULT LINE) – LATE MORNING.
This area of the cave has a SLENDER CRACK in one wall, exposing it to the outside elements; outside is a sheer cliff drop-off, plunging down many stories, revealing grassland and the distant seaside in the background.
Link and Marin RECLINE across from one another beside this crack, lounging on stalagmites. The pair EATS a small assortment of FRUITS from Marin’s rucksack. Their PERSONAL ITEMS are strewn around the area as a makeshift camp.
Marin SMACKS on a juicy peach; she is sitting against Link’s BROWN CLOAK, using it as cushioning.
MARIN
“Your wee bonny princess certainly sounds nice enough, Squire Link. She has what they call a ‘radiant personality’, right? But it seems she might be a bit of a quaintrelle, mind you...”
Link COCKS A BROW.
MARIN
“Is she something of a quaintrelle?”
Link FUMBLES for words.
LINK
“I— uh... suppose I wouldn’t know her well enough to know...”
Marin SMILES WIDELY; she continues EATING her peach.
MARIN
“Do you know anything of the land out east from here? A little island apart from the island?”
LINK
“Someplace east of the Threadbare Lands?”
Link SHAKES HIS HEAD.
LINK
“No.”
Link BITES into an apple.
MARIN
“It’s a tiny little place, full of lonely little rock formations and petrified bramble. They call it the ‘Island of Infinite Horizons’—”
LINK
“‘They’ seem to have a flair for the dramatic, don’t they?”
MARIN
“—it’s easternmost of all the land of Hyrule. When the Golden Goddesses choose to end this world that’s where all the ‘fun’ is allegedly supposed to start from. What they say, anyway. There’s a rector there and his congregation of wizzrobes— Carock is his name— and his flock is said to be the most ‘mystical’ of all the mystics...”
Marin BITES OFF and CHEWS a particularly large chunk of peach; she MOTIONS to Link’s face as she works her words around the mouthful.
MARIN
“...though I doubt even they’ve seen anything the likes of you, before. Maybe you should pay them a visit, someday. You know: teach them what it really is to be a magician?”
LINK
“I’m no magician, Marin.”
MARIN
“So you say...”
Link SMILES.
LINK
“Is this ‘Island of Infinite Horizons’ one of the places you’ll want go when you get your wings?”
Marin BLUSHES and puts on a DEFENSIVE BODY POSTURE.
MARIN
“Here’s a perfectly good reason never to share a thought with another body. You know, Squire Link: a true gentleman wouldn’t toy with a lass so—”
Link SPREADS HIS HANDS, SMIRKING
LINK
“Ah: I’m not a gentleman, either. Remember?”
MARIN
(pouting)
“Truer words were ne’er spoke.”
LINK
“You’ll be rid of me at Urooban, you know. That’s coming soon enough, too.”
Marin LAUGHS.
MARIN
“Ah, pity that! It’s for the best, though, I’m sure. You’ll want to keep on at a more ‘lively’ pace once you cross the Adhavore, after all, and as for me, well...”
Marin FLUTTERS HER LASHES at Link coquettishly.
MARIN
“...I’d just as soon keep on living. No offense.”
Link SMILES, GESTURING with his hand.
Marin DISCARDS the pit of her peach, LICKING HER FINGERS.
MARIN
“Funny, isn’t it, how very little anything seems to rile you, Squire? Some would call that kind of temperament a ‘coolness’, but another might just call it being ‘cold’...”
While speaking this last line of dialogue Marin SEARCHES around her for something to wipe her hands on; eventually she finds the SILK HEADSCARF (pg. ______) and retrieves it from the cave floor. She begins CLEANING HER HANDS as she speaks the last of this line (“...another might just call it being ‘cold’...).
Link suddenly realizes what she is doing; he moves LIGHTNING FAST, getting to his knees and moving up against Marin’s body, his face stopping an inch from hers. Link GLARES at the woman and the pair STARE at each other for an awkward time.
MARIN’S HANDS drop the headscarf into LINK’S HANDS.
MARIN
“A remarkable thaw, that...”
Link BACKS OFF, returning to his stalagmite. He DRAPES the headscarf over his lap and SHAKES HIS HEAD.
LINK
“Sorry...”
MARIN
“I meant no disrespect. A farm-girl knows no manners, I suppose.”
Link LOOKS UP.
LINK
“You know enough. And you have helped me through these lands, Marin. Thank you for that. I didn’t mean to be so stern...”
Marin NODS silently.
MARIN
“It was just nice to see something of a fire in your eyes, at long last. Suppose I should’ve known what would kindle that in you...”
Link LOOKS AWAY from Marin, staring out the fissure of the cave.
MARIN
“If anyone can save this lass, Squire Link, I think it is you.”
LINK
“You don’t know me, Marin—”
Marin STANDS UP and shrugs.
MARIN
“Mmm. Kinda makes the vote of confidence all the more remarkable, does it not?”
LINK
“You say so...”
Marin SMILES faintly. After a PAUSE the woman UNFASTENS A SMALL CHAIN around her neck; she retrieves a LARGE CELTIC CROSS dangling inside her shit, HOLDING IT UP to the light.
MARIN
“You know: for the time bein’ we’re both somewhat linked— no pun intended, mind you— and there’s a bit ‘o a tradition about that sort of thing around here...”
Link LOOKS UP at Marin.
LINK
“Tradition?”
Marin HANDS the large CELTIC CROSS to Link.
MARIN
“My da’ made that for me, he did. It has such a large part of my own ‘heart’ in it, if you’re the type to fawn over such sentimental similes.”
Link TURNS THE CROSS over in his hand.
LINK
(staring down at the cross, whispering)
“Metaphors...”
MARIN
“What was that, then?”
Link LOOKS UP at Marin.
LINK
“Why are you giving me this?”
MARIN
“Two whose fates are linked, even for the briefest of journeys, cannot be at their very best moving ‘hand-in-hand’, but are most effective as a team when they move ‘heart-in-heart’, so to speak. You’ll give that back to me in Urooban, Squire, and ‘till then we’re nigh inseparable, hearts on each other’s sleeves, you ken...”
Link COCKS HIS BROW at these words, and then LOOKS between Zelda’s HEADSCARF in his lap and MARIN, ANXIOUS.
Marin LAUGHS.
MARIN
(shaking her head)
“Ne’er you worry, Squire: I wouldn’t ask a thing like that from you in return. Perhaps something you’re more keen on partin’ with, temporarily at least. What about that wee red flower, hmm?”
Link COCKS HIS HEAD.
LINK
“Flower?”
MARIN
(nodding)
“Aye: that little thing you seem to enjoy twirling about in your hands so pensively in your idle hours.”
Link appears UNCOMFORTABLE.
LINK
“That wouldn’t do...”
MARIN
“Why not?”
LINK
“That flower... it doesn’t have any of my own ‘heart’ in it—”
MARIN
“Surely it was given to you by—”
LINK
“No one I know...”
Link PRODUCES the RED FLOWER.
LINK
“When I was little I made a journey from the New Kingdom to the Old Shores; someone planted this thing on my body as I slept. That, and a note...”
MARIN
“Creepy, that. What’d the note say?”
LINK
(shaking his head)
“I can’t remember. But this flower... it was all white, back then. It doesn’t wilt, but the color seems to change over the years. It’s a curious thing, Marin, but it’s just a curiosity to me: it’s not something special, and it has no place in my heart. I don’t carry many things that do...”
Marin NODS at the man, slowly. She LOOKS DOWN at the HEADSCARF in Link’s lap.
MARIN
“Suppose it doesn’t do a ‘squire’ to have such a burgeoning heart, does it? And I suppose it’s only... what, ‘tactically sound’ to hold on to any stray pieces of it that he can?”
LINK
“Marin, I—”
MARIN
(shaking her head)
“Just never you mind. I fancy a brief nap, don’t you? Can’t have the sun in my eyes, though...”
Marin CIRCLES AROUND to the other side of her stalagmite to BED DOWN.
Link remains where he is, STARING out the fissure with the HEADSCARF still in his lap.
SLOW CAMERA ZOOM on the HEADSCARF.
Cue a TWO-SECOND-LONG ‘GLITCH’.
INT. PRINCESS ZELDA’S PRIVATE CHAMBERS – MIDMORNING.
An elegant bedroom befitting a royal princess’s taste; a massive CANOPY BED dominates the room.
An IDENTICAL SHOT of Link’s lap from the previous scene, however this time Link is sitting upon the velvety bed, adorned with light pink linens; AMPLE (even ‘overpowering’) SUNLIGHT streams in from a bank of large, gothic windows beside the bed.
There is a DIFFERENT HEADSCARF on Link’s lap; CAMERA PAN OUT as Link’s hands work at FOLDING the scarf. (NOTE: Camera does not reveal more than Link’s upper chest in this shot).
CHIRPING BIRDS can be heard at the windows.
ZELDA can be heard speaking, although she is not in the frame.
ZELDA
“It’s... such a pain... how this bedroom faces the east; I can’t sleep with the sun in my eyes...”
LINK
“It’s good for you; it’s healthy. Anyway, you’ve always liked this room—”
CAMERA REMAINS STATIONARY on Link’s lap; Link takes to folding ANOTHER HEADSCARF.
ZELDA
“Yes: when I could get out of it before dawn...”
Link SETS THIS SECOND HEADSCARF aside.
TIGHT CAMERA FOCUS on LINK’S FACE (most of the RIGHT SIDE of his face is in the frame, obscuring much of the bedroom background; his left eye is NOT in the frame). Link STARES FORWARD, seemingly emotionless.
ZELDA
“...I’ve always been an early riser, Link.”
LINK
“Yeah, I know...”
ZELDA
“I’ve always been... a little unconventional, as princesses go...”
Link TURNS HIS HEAD, but only MICROSCOPICALLY; he SWALLOWS before returning his head forward.
ZELDA
“I’ve never been one... to be tied-down...”
LINK
“No. I know that—”
ZELDA
“We could both go to the garden, Link—”
Link SHAKES HIS HEAD.
LINK
“No we can’t—”
ZELDA
“Or the outer walls. The moat—”
Link appears AGITATED.
LINK
“Don’t... talk nonsense, Zelda!”
ZELDA
“Is it really nonsense— Link— not to want to go like this? To want a more ‘familiar’ surrounding?”
LINK
“Don’t talk like that either. By Din, Farore and Nayru: why would you say that?”
ZELDA
“You’ve never invoked their names, Link. Not ever, that I can remember.”
There is a LONG PAUSE; eventually a SOUND can be heard, as if someone is DISTURBING THE BED behind Link. The bed itself MOVES lightly.
Zelda’s voice is CLEARER, as if she has gone from a supine to sitting position. Despite the newfound clarity of her voice she now WHISPERS.
ZELDA
“Are you so frightened, Link?”
Link again SWALLOWS; his eyes MOVE slightly, but he does not turn his head.
ZELDA
“You... can’t even look, can you? Is it so hideous?”
Link LOOKS DOWN at his lap before TURNING HIS HEAD to face Zelda; as he does so his face ceases to block the frame; ZELDA is sitting up in bed in a nightdress with the covers up to her waist. She wears the SILK HEADSCARF on her head. Zelda’s face has an ALARMINGLY GAUNT, ‘SICKLY’ look to it; she is obviously EXCEEDINGLY ILL.
ZELDA
“Am... I...?”
The woman STARES INTO HER LAP.
SIDE-VIEW of ZELDA’S FACE as she stares into her lap; the bed again JOSTLES with movement. When Zelda LOOKS UP Link is sitting before her, still cross-legged. He is HUNCHED over to be eye-to-eye with the woman.
LINK
“You’re not... I’m just a coward, that’s all...”
Zelda SMILES, melancholy. She STROKES LINK’S CHEEK with one EMACIATED HAND.
ZELDA
“You’re a hero, Link. You’re very brave. You’re strong—”
LINK
“So are you, though...”
Link gently TOUCHES Zelda’s hand on his face.
ZELDA
“I don’t think... that I’m stronger than this...”
Zelda CLOSES A FIST with her free hand and places it over her CHEST.
Link STARES at Zelda with a FORLORN look.
ZELDA
“Do I really look so hideous to you?”
There is a LONG PAUSE. Eventually Link SMILES gently and SHAKES HIS HEAD.
LINK
“No. Coltish, Zelda.”
Zelda RECIPRICATES the smile.
ZELDA
“We’ve always just been a couple of colts, haven’t we? I know you’d be happy just roaming the grasslands and exploring caves for the rest of your life. As for me? Well...”
Zelda’s HAND falls away from Link’s face; she LOOKS DOWN, melancholy.
ZELDA
“...I wouldn’t mind that, too much.”
LINK
“Zelda, you’ve got to think positive! It doesn’t make any sense to dwell on—”
When Zelda LOOKS UP her eyes are TEARY.
ZELDA
“Link: you’re brave, and you’re strong. I need you to understand something, for me, please. Once, a long time ago, someone...”
Zelda LOOKS DOWN for a brief moment before LOOKING BACK UP AT LINK; she again TOUCHES HIS FACE, briefly, before WITHDRAWING her hand, hesitant.
ZELDA
“...someone very important to me told me something I’ve never forgotten. This person wasn’t a philosopher, but he had a philosopher’s heart in him. He... he was brave and strong, too, and when he was suffering under a great deal of pain his mind seemed to be the most clear thing imaginable. He had lost a great many things— to someone else’s senseless brutality— but in the thick of his grief he told me that he didn’t lose those things senselessly, because he was the one who got to make sense of those losses. He told me that, at the very least, he deserved that chance...”
Link SCOWLS; we can tell that his eyes are on the verge of TEARS.
Zelda again STROKES LINK’S CHEEK. She LEANS FORWARD.
ZELDA
“You’re strong, Link. Don’t... don’t be angry, or sad, or hateful...”
Zelda SMILES wanly.
ZELDA
“...or ‘mopey’. Just... just be, Link. The sun’ll keep coming up and setting down, and the ocean’ll keep rising and falling. Time keeps moving...”
Zelda slowly REMOVES the SILK HEADSCARF from her head; we see that her hair is SPOTTY and LOOSE in places. Zelda gently FOLDS the headscarf and HANDS IT to Link.
ZELDA
“Nothing is senseless, you know, and you’ll make sense of it all, Link. I know you will. You’ll live through...”
Link STARES DOWN at the SILK HEADSCARF; when he looks up we see a SMALL TEARSTAIN along his right cheek.
LINK
“‘Cause I’m such a great hero, right?”
Zelda SHAKES HER HEAD. She SMILES once again.
ZELDA
“No, ‘cause I’m your princess, Squire, and I’m giving you an order.”
Zelda briefly CHOKES UP; she SHRUGS OFF the emotion and STARES AT LINK intently.
ZELDA
“Go and be; this world is wonderful, Link...”
Link TAKES ZELDA’S HAND in his.
LINK
“This is an ugly world, Zelda. The Goddesses only know how you manage to make it so beautiful...”
TEARS flow down Zelda’s face.
ZELDA
“Be sure that the Goddesses will look after me, Link, and be sure they’ll look after you, too...”
Zelda suddenly COUGHS, BOWING OVER to WHEEZE.
Link WATCHES her as this occurs. His eyes appear VACANT as he speaks.
LINK
(whispering)
“Damn them; damn each and every of them...”
Zelda suddenly LOOKS UP at Link, surprised at his blasphemy.
There is a FAINT TAPPING SOUND coming from the room adjacent to Zelda’s bedchamber. Immediately after this a set of PURPLE CURTAINS along one of the bedroom walls parts; a YELLOW-CAPED MAN enters bearing a BREAKFAST TRAY with several small samplings of food and a DISTINCTIVE CRYSTAL DECANTER of UNNATURALLY BRIGHT FLUID. This man is a few years older than Link.
This is NIMH.
Nimh enters the bedroom, professional and businesslike. We see that Zelda is alone in the bedroom; Link has VANISHED.
NIMH
“Pardon the intrusion, Your Highness...”
Nimh SETS THE FOOD TRAY DOWN on a small nightstand beside Zelda’s bed, BOWING HIS HEAD slightly as he does so.
Zelda NODS slightly. She delicately WIPES HER CHEEKS with a kerchief.
ZELDA
“It’s no intrusion, Nimh. Thank you.”
NIMH
(shaking his head)
“But it is, my lady. I remain deeply ashamed to intrude on Your Highness’ privacy— certainly no member of the Hylian Guard should ever set foot in these quarters— but His Majesty insists...”
ZELDA
“He doesn’t trust my own attendants right now, Nihm. We should make the best of it, but it does hurt— it hurts me as much as it hurts them...”
NIHM
“I understand, my lady.”
Nihm once again BOWS and STEPS BACKWARD; before leaving he LOOKS AROUND THE ROOM, suspicious.
NIHM
“Forgive my asking, but who was Your Highness speaking with just now?”
Zelda LOOKS down, again WIPING ONE CHEEK with her kerchief. When she looks back up her eyes are still red from tears, but her cheeks are now completely dry.
ZELDA
“Only the shadows, Nimh...”
Nimh COCKS HIS BROW, finally nodding and then he BOWS DEEPLY before leaving the bedroom. He moves through a large SITTING ROOM and past a heavy oak door into a large corridor.
NORTH CASTLE ROYAL CORRIDOR – (CONTINUOUS)
A large second-story corridor of marble and columns with a bank of small gothic windows overlooking the spring below.
Nimh emerges from Zelda’s bedroom. He STANDS outside the bedroom door, staring down the corridor with an INEFFABLE EXPRESSION; he does this for several seconds. Eventually Nimh TURNS AROUND, CLOSING the oak door behind him.
As he does this the camera PANS with him, cutting off the section of corridor in front of him. After Nimh closes the door he begins TURNING AROUND and the camera once again PANS BACK to show more of the corridor.
Link is inexplicably LEANING against the wall of the corridor, standing casually just a few feet from Nimh. Link is staring down at the plush carpet beneath him, and not looking at the other man.
Nimh CRIES OUT in surprise; this cry quickly becomes an EXASPERATED SIGH.
NIMH
“Squire.”
Link does not look up at the man.
LINK
“Nimh.”
NIMH
“This whole area’s off-limits, Link.”
Nimh LOOKS TO ONE SIDE, GRUNTING.
NIMH
“Guess that’s never stopped you before, so why should it stop you now, huh?”
LINK
“This is quite a promotion for you, isn’t it? It beats cataloguing all those musty old tomes in the library, doesn’t it? Less lonely, at least...”
NIMH
“Lonely by necessity: after all, only some of us have learned that knowledge is a far greater weapon than any blade.”
Link STARES at his sheathed ARMING SWORD.
LINK
“Scissors cut paper, Nimh: I’ll take my ‘steel’ over your books anytime.”
Link PAUSES before continuing.
LINK
“She’s getting worse. She’s getting worse every single day!”
NIMH
(crossing his arms)
“You think so? You really know so much about medicine, and about curing, do you?”
Link finally LOOKS UP at the man, SNEERING.
LINK
“I know her. This... this ‘thing’ has already crushed her body, but now it’s taking her spirit, as well.”
Nimh SIGHS.
NIMH
“His Majesty has searched everywhere high and low for answers. None of our healers can make any sense of it, Link, and yes: it is worsening. We... we were counting on word from the scholars at Odim, if they had ever encountered a thing such as this before...”
Link RAISES ONE EYEBROW.
Nimh SHAKES HIS HEAD.
NIMH
“...but word came two days ago: they have nothing at their disposal to help us. They know nothing about any disease the likes of this.”
There is a PAUSE between the men.
LINK
“And what about the king’s vistor?”
Nimh SCOFFS.
NIMH
“What: that prattling conjurer who came to us from the western woods?”
LINK
“They do call him a ‘wizard’...”
NIMH
“He promises the king much, but delivers quite little to engage confidence. It’s all chicanery, I’m sure, but he has Our Highness’s ear; he is abusing a king’s trust!”
LINK
(shaking his head)
“No: he’s abusing a father’s desperation."
NIMH
“It’s a dire situation, I’ll admit. Ironically, it seems that the ‘Weeping Princess’ finally has something to cry about—”
Link instantly PUSHES OFF the wall he is leaning against; he quickly TACKLES Nihm, pushing the man against a wall and putting him in a combat hold with ONE HAND AGAINST HIS THROAT.
Link SNARLS at the man.
Eventually Nimh COUNTERS this hold; both men SPAR for a brief moment. This ends with Link standing a few feet away from Nimh, who stands DEFENSIVELY, GASPING from the strangulation. He gently RUBS HIS NECK with one hand.
NIMH
“I can overlook that, Squire, and I can also overlook you sneaking inside Her Highness’s bedroom, skulking like a rat—”
LINK
“But a very affectionate rat, Nimh.”
Nimh SCOWLS; he STANDS DOWN from his combat stance. Link does LIKEWISE.
NIMH
“She is dying, Link—”
LINK
“That can’t happen.”
Nimh, still BREATHING HARD, stares down at the floor. Eventually he looks up.
NIMH
“There is no answer to be found to this malady, not by any mortal hand—”
LINK
“No: no one is trying hard enough!”
NIMH
“I said no mortal hand, Link: do you understand?”
Link STARES at the man QUIZZICALLY. There is a pause.
LINK
“No, I don’t. What are you talking about?”
Nimh SHAKES HIS HEAD, staring down; he appears to be DEEP IN THOUGHT.
NIMH
“What... would you be willing to do, Link, if it meant, possibly, that you could save—”
LINK
“I’d slit the Golden Goddesses’ throats, Nimh. All three of them.”
NIMH
“Blasphemy, Link...”
LINK
“Yeah, I guess it is...”
There is a PAUSE; Nimh SCRATCHES the back of his head, still DEEP IN THOUGHT. Nimh LOOKS UP at Link.
NIMH
“I... need to think on this, for a time...”
Link SCOFFS and LOOKS TO ONE SIDE.
LINK
“Spoken like a true scholar...”
NIMH
“And were you going to apologize for my neck, Squire?”
LINK
“When I’m in a better mood, maybe...”
Link PUTS HIS HEELS TOGETHER and sets his FIST AGAINST HIS CHEST; he BOWS HIS HEAD slightly before turning and STALKING OFF, his feet CLACKING loudly as they leave the plush carpet for stone.
Nimh WATCHES Link depart with an INEFFABLE expression. The man eventually LOOKS DOWN at his shirt; several of the buttons along his chest have been ripped off in his scuffle with Link, leaving his STERNUM partially exposed. As he ADUSTS his clothing in an attempt to conceal his bare chest we see a TATTOO on his sternum: it is a stylish rendering of a LITHE-BODIED NUDE WOMAN STANDING WITH HER WRISTS CROSSED OVER HER BREASTS. Her wrists appear to be BOUND.
This is a depiction of the GOLDEN GODDESS NAYRU.
Nimh LOOKS AROUND suspiciously as he adjusts his clothes before once again LOOKING IN LINK’S DIRECTION; he CLENCHES HIS TEETH before setting off down the corridor in the opposite direction.
INT. GREAT HALL OF NORTH CASTLE – MIDDAY.
Inside the massive great hall the two thrones from earlier have been REMOVED from the raised section of floor at the room’s center; instead we see a RECTANGULAR GOLDEN PLATFORM that holds a bed of white linens on its surface.
PRINCESS ZELDA lies supine on this bed, unconscious, surrounded by bouquets of WHITE ROSES. Her hands are folded neatly over her chest; she does NOT appear to BREATHE.
The strong torchlight of the chamber makes the woman’s TEARSTAIN MARKS below her eyes all the more noticeable.
Many of Zelda’s purple-robed female attendants STAND in a group near this pedestal. In the distance of the chamber we see many SQUIRES and KNIGHTS of the New Hylian Guard seated in chairs in the darkness by the chamber’s massive columns, all of them silent.
LINK slouches in one of these chairs; he LOOKS AROUND at many of the people in the Great Hall with disinterest.
Two older men in LONG, FLOWING CAPES (unlike any of those of the New Hylian Guard) approach Zelda’s body; one of them gently PRODS the flesh of Zelda’s backhand with a NARROW BLADE while the other (who wears gloves) touches the woman’s NECK, FOREHEAD and NOSE, probingly.
We see a small DROPLET OF FRESH BLOOD produced when the narrow blade nicks Zelda’s backhand.
Link’s EYES NARROW as he watches the men attend to Zelda; he eventually GETS UP and moves away from the Great Hall, ducking through the shadows behind the columns.
INT. LOWER HALLS OF NORTH CASTLE (CONTINUOUS)
A series of tightly-packed rooms branching off a narrow hallway in a subterranean section of the castle.
Link passes by several closed doors as he moves down a corridor; one of these doors OPENS before he reaches it. NIMH emerges from behind the door; we see several LARGE STACKS OF BOOKS in the room on the other side.
LINK
(whispering intently)
“Nimh!”
Nimh HOLDS UP a WORN SCROLL in one hand.
NIMH
“You told me that you have a will, is that right, Link?”
Link NODS.
The man WAVES the scroll in his hand.
NIMH
“Well, I may just have a way...”
INT. BAGU’S OFFICE CHAMBERS – AFTERNOON.
A spacious meeting room inside the refurbished section of North Castle, complete with a fireplace and a very large window; this window looks out on a COURTYARD across from Bagu’s office. At the center of this courtyard is a massive stone slab many yards across in diameter, and at the center of this slab is a VERY LONG ARMING SWORD stuck partially into the ground, its HILT glistening in light that falls through willow trees surrounding the stone slab.
This sword is the DHISE SLAIGHRE.
CLOSE-UP on the surface of Bagu’s WOODEN DESK; the UNROLLED SCROLL is SLAPPED down on the surface. It is revealed to be a large MAP of Hyrule which includes (at its west) the shores of ‘Old Hylia’ and, further east, a massive island labeled the ‘Threadbare Lands’ and, further east still, a very small island labeled the ‘Island of Infinite Horizons’. (NOTE: the overall layout of this map is startlingly faithful to the layout of the land in ‘ZELDA II: The Adventure of Link’, though many of the place names are altered).
There are SCRIBBLES all along the map as well, and at one location (within a mountain range on the ‘Threadbare Lands’) there is a large, hastily sketched CIRCLE around a certain area with a line of text beside it; this text reads ‘THE THRONE’ (NOTE: the area in question is identical to the location of the ‘Great Palace’ from ‘ZELDA II: The Adventure of Link’).
BAGU stands on one side of the desk, opposite LINK.
BAGU
“‘The Throne of Farore’s Wisdom’?”
Link NODS.
LINK
“Mmm. Not an easy thing to find, they say. Story goes that one of the first civilizations in ancient Hyrule built a gigantic palace; it was big enough—”
BAGU
“To contain their entire civilization. Yes, Link: I’ve heard the story.”
LINK
“They didn’t just build it anywhere: they built it on ‘holy’ ground...”
BAGU
(nodding)
“The Goddesses walked the earth and, in their footsteps, begat Hyrule. Yes, yes, and the location of that palace is where they say Farore began her journey, dancing across the land with her radiant plumage training, elegant, behind her. ‘Holy ground’ or not, though, it wasn’t so lucky for the people there: their civilization decayed; it rotted into nothingness, cloistered deep in those dreary mountains.”
Bagu SITS DOWN in a chair, crossing his arms.
BAGU
“And I’m still at a loss as to what any of this has to do with Her Royal Highness.”
Link COCKS AN EYEBROW.
LINK
“Farore, Bagu. The Golden Goddess of Wisdom! Think about that.”
BAGU
(shaking his head)
“The Goddesses left Hyrule when their work was done, Link. What do you expect to find out there?”
LINK
“More than all these ‘alchemists’ and ‘healers’ have discovered about Zeld—”
Bagu’s BROW ARCHES.
Link begins again. As he speaks he PACES back and forth before the desk.
LINK
“More than all these so-called ‘experts’ have been able to discover about Her Royal Highness’s condition. That’s what.”
Link RUNS A HAND through his disheveled hair.
BAGU
“When was the last time you slept?”
LINK
“Can’t. Anyway, right now she’s doing enough of that for everyone...”
BAGU
“Link, you should go and be with the rest of the guard right now: be with her. Keep a vigil over her until—”
Link SNARLS. He POINTS towards Bagu’s office door.
LINK
“I will not be part of that sorry mess out there! I won’t sit around at a funeral that never ends, for a girl who is dead, but then again isn’t; we’ve sat around for two weeks mourning her; now we need get to our feet and actually help her!”
Bagu STANDS and begins PACING across the room. He moves towards the LARGE WINDOW on one side of the room.
BAGU
“Out of all three Goddesses, Link, you choose Farore? I could just as well ask you: what’s wrong with Din, hmm? And tradition has it that Nayru is the most ‘compassionate’ of the three Golden Goddesses: why not plead your case to her?”
Link GRITS HIS TEETH.
LINK
“Don’t insult me, Bagu! I’m not advocating you hunt down a worthless, second-rate weakling like Nauru: I’m talking about a first-rate deity, here. As Goddesses go Farore and Din are the brains and muscle behind the creation of all of Hyrule—”
Bagu GESTURES APPROVINGLY with one hand.
BAGU
“Respectively, at that...”
LINK
“Hmmm. Farore’s power can help us, Bagu— it can help Zelda— or at least whatever’s been left behind at her ‘Throne’ can.”
BAGU
“Why are you so sure, Link?”
Link answers after a PAUSE, LOOKING TO ONE SIDE.
LINK
(whispering)
“Because it has to...”
Bagu STANDS and again moves toward the WINDOW facing DHISE SLAIGHRE’S COURTYARD. He STARES OUT at the courtyard as he speaks, POINTING at the sword in the stone.
BAGU
“Do you know what that is, out there, Squire?”
Link SCOFFS, impatient. He CROSSES HIS ARMS.
LINK
“I’m not an acolyte, anymore; spare me the dogmatic indoctrination—”
BAGU
“Those are big words, Link! I suppose all that time spent in the company of Her Royal Highness has made an impression on you. Tell me: what other big words do you know?”
Bagu POINTS OUT at the courtyard purposefully.
Link ROLLS HIS EYES. He then STARES at Bagu menacingly while SLOWLY ENUNCIATING his next line, syllable by syllable.
LINK
“Dhi-se Slai-ghre.”
Several PIGEONS perched on the window’s ledge outside TAKE FLIGHT after Link says this last line (this action is NOT SHOWN in an ‘obvious’ way).
BAGU
“That blade is a testament to the power of the Golden Goddesses, you know. Since the dawn of time it rested right there, in that very courtyard, in the exact place where the Three Sisters met after walking the breadth of Hyrule, creating all things as they went. A dozen generations ago the Royal Family did something very, very curious: they uprooted Dhise Slaighre, ground and all, and carted it miles and miles away to the New Kingdom. Sealed it up inside a giant stone temple, too, all because of a vague little prophecy somebody scribbled out many eons ago. It was said at the time that the New Kingdom would one day become the ‘Seat of Din’s Judgment’: the Goddesses’ rage would be leveled against some ‘great adversary’ who would seek to appropriate their holy powers, and that the sword would be loosed from the temple’s walls at that time. No hand could ever rend it from the earth, they said, except the hand belonging to one who holds the Goddess’ favor: the one who could use Dhise Slaighre as a ‘master’. Now, generations pass— many generations— and yet no great judgment comes. One day, though, the temple vicar enters that grand sanctuary and finds the path to Dhise Slaighre wide-open: the sword was miraculously exposed. That was fifteen years ago. Back then there was no great holy war or divine judgment to be seen in all the land. At that time the New Kingdom was at peace: there were some minor diplomatic hiccups in our relations with the Swamp Folk of the East— but nothing of major significance. This was also around the time the Gerudo of Utter West lost their high priest— he was murdered at the hands of their own crown price, no less, and that prince took flight as a fugitive while under the guise of a ‘diplomatic mission’ to our own Castletown. He successfully disappeared while in our lands. From that point onward the Gerudo took to calling him ‘Ga—non’, after some silly local legend—”
LINK
“And they spawned an equally silly legacy we’re suffering through today. That’s all total nonsense, Bagu—”
BAGU
“It is. But my point, Link, is that any given legend seldom holds up to the facts as they actually stand. The ancient texts were wrong about the ‘Seat of Din’s Judgment’, so how can we possibly trust them in regards to what might exist at the ‘Throne of Farore’s Wisdom’?”
Bagu SCOFFS, WALKING back to his desk.
BAGU
“Never mind the truth, even: the legends, themselves, are incomplete! They don’t even bother to specify a location for the supposed ‘Heart of Nayru’s Love’—”
LINK
“Because Nayru the Irrational is insignificant; Farore the Wise is not!”
Bagu LEANS DOWN against his desk, staring at Link INCREDULOUSLY.
BAGU
“How do we even know that the Goddesses would help us, should we seek them out? What if Her Highness’s illness is, in fact, a manifestation of their own machinations? Who could truly know the will of a deity, after all...”
Link’s face CONTORTS with LIVID RAGE.
Bagu NOTES this change in Link appreciatively.
BAGU
“This, Link, is perhaps the second time, I believe, that you’ve ever wanted to strike me...”
LINK
“I never said I did—”
BAGU
“Your lips didn’t. But your face...”
Link SIGHS; he also LEANS DOWN against the opposite side of the desk.
LINK
“Farore would not see Zelda die like this! Farore is the patron Goddess of the Royal Family, and more than that: Zelda is branded with her mark.”
Bagu COCKS HIS HEAD curiously.
Link ROLLS HIS HEAD and LOOKS AROUND, evasive.
LINK
“Farore’s mark; ‘Radiant plumage’, Bagu...”
Link LOOKS THE MAN IN THE EYE.
LINK
“Tail feathers...”
Bagu appears QUIZZICAL, and then his BROW ARCHES in surprise. He GLARES at Link.
BAGU
“And you would know this how, exactly, Link?”
LINK
“We’ve skinny-dipped together, her and I. When we were younger—”
Bagu GRITS HIS TEETH.
BAGU
“How young?”
Link LOOKS AWAY, and then once again FACES Bagu.
LINK
“Young enough that you don’t have to worry about what you’re currently worrying about.”
BAGU
“The two of you, combined, give a man enough worries to gray every hair on his head—”
LINK
“I always thought that was more a product of your own life experiences.”
Link LEANS FORWARD.
LINK
“You’re a tracker, Bagu, and like you say, you’re a damned good one. You could find this place, if you wanted to—”
Bagu SCOFFS.
BAGU
“I’ve seen too many sunrises, Link; at least five-thousand too many for this kind of trek. If I were to venture out into the Threadbare Lands on such a hunt I have no doubt that I would never again lay eyes on North Castle—”
LINK
“Not just you, then: a squadron. A whole army, even. Whatever!”
BAGU
“There is no army to take at the moment; the whole of our land is gripped with these phantom fears: talk of shadows moving through the western woods and a foul breath on the wind. Her Highness’s illness only intensifies the people’s unease; they say that Ganon himself is on the move—”
LINK
“He isn’t!”
BAGU
“I know that well. But with the absence of enough soldiers and knights to retain order, Link, the panic caused by such idle rumor could be a far worse thing than this Ganon fellow’s presence could ever hope to amount to—”
LINK
“Then send someone else: someone who’s seen fewer sunrises!”
Link again LEANS FORWARD, very slowly.
There is a SHORT PAUSE between the men.
BAGU
“Alone? Link: you’ve never gone more than a hundred miles from this very spot! You mean to say that you would try to slog across the Old Shores and then trek out over to the other side of the Lake? Absurd!”
LINK
“Bagu: this would be easier if I had your permission...”
Bagu NARROWS HIS EYES.
BAGU
“You mean to say you would disobey me if I forbade you from going?”
LINK
“I mean to say that— until Zelda is better— I personally won’t be seeing another dawn, let alone another sunrise, and until she wakes up and climbs off that damned pedestal you’ve got her on I won’t be a damn bit of good to you or to anyone else around here. I won’t lose her like this, not so senselessly, Bagu: I deserve the chance to help her!”
BAGU
“You won’t lose her, Link? You?”
Link LOOKS AWAY from Bagu, SNEERING.
BAGU
“Either way this ends up, Link, you need to remember that you’re not just a pair of fancy-free, skinny-dipping children, anymore: you won’t lose her because she was never yours to lose in the first place.”
Link GRITS HIS TEETH; there is a LONG PAUSE before Link SNATCHES the map off the table and STORMS OFF. Before he reaches the door Bagu SHOUTS AFTER him.
BAGU
“Squire Link!”
Link STOPS and faces the man, SNAPPING TO ATTENTION.
BAGU
(shaking his head)
“I’m sorry, but you cannot have what you want.”
Link SEETHES.
LINK
“Am I to understand, then, that I am restricted from leaving North Castle, Marshall, sir?”
Bagu MOTIONS WITH HIS HEAD to a small desk directly beside Link; there is a FOLDED PIECE OF PAPER on the tabletop.
BAGU
“Show my note to Alltfirean; he will let you cross the moat.”
Link slowly RETRIEVES the note, READING IT BRIEFLY, before RAISING HIS EYES up to Bagu, skeptical.
LINK
“You said... that I cannot have what I want...”
BAGU
“I know you’re not the type to stand on orders, and I knew what you were going to ask me before you even walked down that corridor. You can go to the Threadbare Lands, Link, and may the Goddesses guide you to Her Highness’s salvation, if it is there at all. When I said that you cannot have what you want that is not what I was talking about...”
Link SETS HIS TEETH ON EDGE before becoming more STONE FACED.
Bagu NOTICES this change in Link; a SHORT PAUSE becomes UNCOMFORTABLE for him and he CONTINUES speaking.
BAGU
“Take note: a cold wind always creeps along the ocean out there, so dress accordingly. Also keep in mind that the locals out there are very fond of crossbows. Now, I know that you’ve never been a fan of archery, but—”
LINK
(shaking his head)
“My sword is just fine. Crossbows are a cumbersome weapon; they’re... they’re unreliable, and—”
BAGU
“And it’s rather difficult to use them in a ‘less than lethal’ manner, isn’t it?”
Link SNEERS. He answers after a brief pause.
LINK
“I can kill, Bagu.”
BAGU
“Oh, of that I have no doubt. And, out of everything to kill for, well...”
Link LOOKS TO ONE SIDE, evasive.
BAGU
“You may take whatever supplies suit you—”
LINK
“I want Nanona, for starters.”
Bagu MOTIONS with one hand.
BAGU
“Well, she’s your stock; your choice.”
Link appears slightly SURPRISED by Bagu’s acquiescence; Link eventually BOWS SLIGHTLY and turns to leave.
BAGU
“And Link...”
Link TURNS once again to face Bagu.
BAGU
“‘May the way of the hero find its worth in the Goddesses’ eyes’.”
Link looks back at Bagu UNCERTAINLY; he again PUTS HIS FIST TO HIS CHEST AND BOWS, but more awkwardly.
Bagu CHUCKLES softly.
BAGU
“You’ve never known what to do with that blessing, have you? Even from a young boy it upset you, so! Why is it, Link? I always thought it was because you were so uncomfortable with the thought of the Three Sisters constantly watching you.”
LINK
“They’ve got better things to do, I’m sure...”
Bagu LEANS FORWARD, his face more serious.
BAGU
“Your destination is cursed land, Link, even if there’s nothing to these old legends. And consider that, if there actually is anything to these fables, well, in that case you are being watched, and whatever force now dwells within the Great Palace of the Dawnland Stairs, well... it’s lurking, now: it will be waiting for you.”
LINK
“I’d better be on my way, then...”
Link TURNS and LEAVES Bagu’s chambers.
EXT. COURTYARD OF DHISE SLAIGHRE – EARLY MORNING.
The giant slab of ground that Dhise Slaighre protrudes from is surrounded by many WILLOW TREES; the forest plunges into darkness behind the sword’s resting place. An early morning MIST surrounds the place.
EXTREME CLOSE-UP on the BLADE of Dhise Slaighre. In the background (out of focus and far away) we see a LARGE MARE PAWING at the ground; this is NANONA.
Eventually the SOUND OF SHOES tromping over the stone floor grows louder and louder with each step; LINK’S FOOT comes into the frame, standing right before the sword’s blade.
Link LOOKS DOWN at Dhise Slaighre, contemplative.
LINK
“You know, sometimes I obey the letter of the law much more than I do the spirit...”
Link RESTS HIS HAND on the hilt of the sword; eventually he LOOKS AROUND to ensure that he is alone.
Link GRIPS the hilt of the sword.
LINK
“...and when Bagu told me I could take whatever supplies best ‘suited’ me, well...”
A SWIFT-MOVING FLOCK OF BATS emerges from the willows, moving quickly in the distance beside the stone slab, CHIRPING faintly.
Link gently PULLS UP on the sword; it dutifully COMES LOOSE from the ground with a ‘CHIMING’ SCRAPE noise.
Link HOLDS THE BLADE UP to his face, looking it UP AND DOWN.
LINK
“It’s never been easy for me to worship any of you; ‘Goddesses’ are an abstract thing, after all. But this sword... well...”
Link takes a quick PRACTICE SWING with the weapon.
LINK
“...this sword is not.”
Link HOLDS the sword TIGHTLY in both hands; eventually ANOTHER SWIFT-MOVING FLOCK OF BATS emerge from the willows, although this one moves directly across the center of the stone slab, PARTING around Link as they move.
Link quickly GRUNTS and SWINGS Dhise Slaighre, pausing afterwards in a COMBAT STANCE.
EXTREME CLOSE-UP on the stone floor far behind Link, with Link’s body out-of-focus in the background; a BAT’S SEVERED WING lands on the ground, along with a SPLASH OF GREEN BLOOD.
Link slowly DROPS the combat stance and examines Dhise Slaighre’s blade: there is a GREEN BLOODSTAIN on the blade. As Link watches this stain ‘MAGICALLY’ HARDENS into a permanent, ‘rusty’ green stain on the sword.
Link RUNS A FINGER along a section of the blade a little higher up from this stain (ie: nearer the hilt).
LINK
“People a lot smarter than me have written about this thing, and they say that it’s Your will personified; they say it’s the greatest weapon of all weapons, come to bring Your judgment to the world. I guess that makes this thing the letter of Your law, then...”
As LINK’S FINGER moves across the blade a small TRAIN OF LINK’S BLOOD is left on the sword. (NOTE: this blood does NOT ‘harden’ onto the blade as the bat’s blood did).
LINK
(whispering)
“...but it cannot be the spirit...”
Link HOLDS THE SWORD’S TIP over the small hole in the stone floor beneath him.
LINK
“Sometimes... I do obey the spirit of things more than I do the letter. If what they say is true then this sword is the closest thing to Your physical presences that we’re ever gonna see in Hyrule. I don’t believe that— even though I don’t know why, and I don’t know why I hate this sword as much as I do. And— by all of hell and creation— I don’t know why it lets me... well... you know...”
Link CONSIDERS the sword for a brief moment before DROPPING IT; it violently SINKS BACK into the stone with a MELODIC, ‘CHIMING’ SCRAPE. The sword rests in the slab just as it did before being pulled.
LINK
“Maybe it is Your will, and maybe it is Your spirit, even, but I have no confidence in this sword.”
Link TURNS and moves off for Nanona in the background.
EXTREME CLOSE-UP on DHISE SLAIGHRE’S BLADE, on the spot where the hardened bat’s blood rests; LINK’S BLOOD continues training down the blade, still a liquid. As Link WALKS AWAY in the background (out of focus) there is a FAINT GLIMMER along the blade’s edge; both the BAT’S GREEN BLOOD and LINK’S BLOOD VANISH, leaving the blade radiantly white and blemish free.
SLOW FADE TO BLACK.
INT. CEREMONIAL CHAMBER IN THE GREAT PALACE (INDETERMINATE)
Cue a THREE-SECOND LONG ‘GLITCH’; within this glitch are the ECHOING SOUNDS of Link repeating his previous lines of defiance from Bagu’s office (“That can’t happen”... “Because it has to”... “won’t lose her”...). This glitch ends with the non-echoing (ie: very much CLEAR) line “I can kill”; this last line is said at the very end of the glitch, during a period of SILENCE (ie: none of the strange, garbled ambient noises that characterize every moment of every other glitch).
Link GASPS, suddenly SCREAMING IN AGONY as he LIFTS HIS BODY off the stone table; he WINCES in pain as he draws his legs apart. He RIPS THE LEGGINS from his right leg, exposing a QUICK-FORMING BRUSE running along his shin; a DEFORMITY IN THE SKIN quickly develops as well, indicating that Link’s shin has been BROKEN.
Link SCRUNCHES UP, WINCHING, and CRADLES his broken limb. BLOOD still seeps from the wound along his chest and the DARK BRUISE on his forehead is more pronounced.
We can see THUNDERBIRD briefly flitting about through VAPOR TRAILS rising off Link’s body and his breath. Now, as before, Link does not appear to notice the creature.
MARIN is still sitting on a pile of rubble, although she is now MUCH CLOSER to the ceremonial table Link lies on than before. Now, as before, she does not speak.
Link LOOKS OVER at Marin, PANTING HARD and WINCING with pain.
Marin merely STARES BACK at Link, seemingly EMOTIONLESS; the woman GESTURES at the table beneath Link with her head.
Link’s breathing becomes more REGULAR; he slowly RECLINES, again becoming supine on the slab, and he CLOSES HIS EYES slowly.
Cue a HALF-SECOND LONG ‘GLITCH’. During this glitch we can hear the ECHOING sound of Link saying the phrase “I can...”
INT. FO-Làraich CAVERNS (Eastern MAW) – EARLY MORNING.
A treacherous path in the caverns; this area is marred with many deep CRATERS in the terrain, many plunging down into utter DARKNESS. There is a RISING LIGHT far beyond all this, signifying the eastern end of the cavern network.
Link and Marin walk cautiously around this moonscape-like environment; the pair reaches the edge of one of these large craters and STARE DOWN into the darkness.
MARIN
“Tha’s a bottomless pit ‘o despair if ever I saw one...”
LINK
(shaking his head slowly)
“Not quite...”
Marin SMILES playfully.
MARIN
“Suppose it ends at the other end of the world, doesn’t it?”
Link gently PUSHES A SMALL STONE WITH HIS FOOT, causing it to careen over the edge of the crater; about six seconds later a FAINT SPLASH is heard.
LINK
“Everything’s got a bottom to it, Marin.”
Marin GETS DOWN to her KNEES, curious, and BENDS OVER the hole.
MARIN
“Is tha right?”
Link briefly LOOKS DOWN at Marin’s REAR, which is facing him directly. He ROLLS HIS EYES.
LINK
(mocking Scottish accent)
“Ne’er you doubt it...”
Marin STANDS UP, walking part-way around the hole and examining the chamber of the cavern they are now in, taking note of the FAINT LIGHT coming from the other end.
MARIN
(smiling)
“No pit so bottomless, and no journey so endless, hmm? Well, ours is near its end, I do believe...”
Marin PACES BACK to Link, circling behind him as she looks around the very dim cavern.
MARIN
“Urooban is a mere heartbeat away, Squire Link, and I can just about spare one of those, I think. Ach! I can nearly smell their fallow fields from here! Tha’s a challenge worthy of my skill, I should say, and they’d best make way for the best; none of ‘em have seen a crop-growing phenom like myself, before, and who’s gonna argue that point when they’re all eating radishes the size of their own heads?”
LINK
(smiling playfully)
“A radish the size of your head would be much more impressive.”
Marin TURNS and faces Link, appearing more EMOTIONAL and HESITANT.
MARIN
“I... would thank you again, Squire Link. This is a fresh start for me, and I could not have made it without you. As each of us needed each other I think the scales are relatively balanced, as it were, but thank you, nonetheless...”
Marin suddenly notices Link’s STONE FACE; the man holds one hand on his SWORD’S HILT; he slowly begins DRAWING THE BLADE UP and out of its scabbard.
MARIN
“Did... I speak too soon?”
Link SWALLOWS uncomfortably (this sound is VERY noticeable in the echoing cavern).
Marin realizes that Link is staring ABOVE AND BEHIND her; CLOSE-UP on MARIN’S FACE from the front. The girl becomes VERY UNCOMFORTABLE and SHIFTS HER EYES nervously; suddenly a massive pair of INSECT WINGS ‘FLITS’ open and closed very quickly a few times behind her.
SLOW CAMERA PAN around Marin’s head as the girl remains STILL; a GIGANTIC WATER BUG (literally a 24-foot-long, 9-foot-tall specimen of “Lethocerus americanus”) hangs from the ceiling of the cavern behind Marin.
This is the ‘SLOW GROWER’.
The creature’s PINCERS extend out nearly 12-feet to either side of its head; these ‘SWAY’ idly in the air to either side of Marin’s body. The creature’s gigantic BLACK EYES stare out with a blank, unintelligent gaze.
After a VERY LONG PAUSE (nearly six seconds or so) Link suddenly YELLS at Marin.
LINK
“Down!”
Marin FALLS TO HER KNEES as Link quickly SPRINTS FORWARD, closing the gap between them; the man JUMPS THROUGH THE AIR while TWISTING HIMSELF in a clockwise direction; Link quickly SEVERS one of the Slow Grower’s PINCERS with his blade and, after recovering, quickly JAMS HIS BLADE directly into one of the creature’s EYES.
The Slow Grower REARS BACK; it emits a STRANGE, PAINED ROARING NOISE (NOTE: this sound should be produced in a way that is loud and unpleasant, but not especially ‘threatening’, like the sputtering squeal of an injured child).
The Slow Grower tries to ESCAPE from Link’s attacks, first FALLING to the cavern floor and then TAKING OFF using its insect wings; the creature THRASHES through the relatively narrow cavern passage with UNGRACEFUL PANIC as it moves, slamming its body into the cavern walls as it goes. When the creature finally does disappear down a side path in the cavern, still ROARING WITH PAIN, the cavern itself begins to BUCKLE and QUAKE.
Link HELPS MARIN to her feet as the quaking of the cavern becomes MORE PRONOUNCED.
Suddenly many SMALL ROCKS AND BOULDERS begin raining down in the cavern before them (ie: near the FAINT LIGHT signifying the cavern exit).
Link LOOKS AROUND the cavern at the many SIDE PASSAGES.
Marin quickly notices him doing this and SHAKES HER HEAD.
MARIN
(shouting over the loud quake)
“No good, any of those. There’s but one Eastern exit from Fo-Làraich; there’s only one way to the Southland, Squire! It’s forward to Urooban, or it’s back to the Sporran, but there is no other way.”
LINK
“Then it’s forward!”
The pair RACE through the uneven terrain of the cavern HAND IN HAND, dodging rocks and debris as they make their way between sheer drop-offs and craters.
Suddenly the ground beneath them CRUMBLES and falls partly away; Link and Marin go TUMBLING across the ground with Link coming to rest against the cavern wall and Marin continuing to TUMBLE closer to a crater edge; the girl nearly falls off before CLUTCHING a piece of limestone rock protruding from the soil.
MARIN’S HANDS begin to SLIP off the rock; we see her suddenly LOSE HER GRIP, however LINK’S LEFT HAND suddenly catches MARIN’S RIGHT WRIST, holding her up.
Link GRUNTS as he stares down at the girl; MARIN’S LEGS SCRAMBLE on the edge of the crater, struggling to maintain footholds. Just as Link uses his right hand to PUSH BACK off the rock and pull Marin up the soil beneath the girl’s legs CRUMBLES, causing Marin’s full weight to be put upon Link; LINK’S RIGHT HAND slips on the rock he is using as a brace and then the man FALLS FORWARD; his right arm is TANGLED-UP against another protruding rock in such a way that it is under enormous pressure and put at the point of breaking (ie: he is unable to use it, and just about to ‘lose’ it).
ROCKS continue careening down around the pair and especially near the CAVERN’S MAW, which is now barely visible from Link and Marin’s vantage point; it is clear that this cavern exit is in imminent danger of being SEALED entirely.
Link SCREAMS in PAIN as he struggles to hold Marin up; he puts in ENORMOUS EFFORT trying to pull the girl up, but in his current position he is unable to.
Link and Marin STARE AT EACH OTHER with identically URGENT looks.
Eventually Link LOOKS OVER at the collapsing cavern entrance with PANICKED DESPAIR; when he looks back down at Marin his face is far more ‘COLD’.
Marin suddenly notices this look; her face becomes STONY, with a VERY ‘INJURED’ expression to it. The girl CLOSES HER MOUTH and then LICKS HER LIPS.
MARIN
“Go then, ‘Squire’; go for your girl. Gotta be a decent knight, do you not? I won’t live on another’s charity, you know...”
Marin rolls off this line SLOWLY, with DEATHLY CALM, imparting a SARCASTIC EDGE to many of the words.
Link again LOOKS at the cavern maw, DESPERATE, and then BACK DOWN at Marin; the man suddenly ROARS WITH EFFORT, PULLING BACK with all his might. He manages to pull up enough to DIG HIS FEET into the ground.
CUE A THREE-SECOND LONG ‘GLITCH’. This glitch, unlike the others, takes the appearance of an ‘error’ in the actual spooling of the film reel (ie: it appears that the projectionist screwed-up the actual reel, somehow). During snippets of this glitch we can actually see the ‘EDGES OF THE FILM REEL’ at several brief intervals. The sounds accompanying this glitch are, among other things, the tell-tale ‘flippa-flippa-flippa’ of a malfunctioning projector).
This glitch CUTS-OUT to reveal Marin and Link FALLING DOWN on the ground outside Fo-Láraich; the pair are covered in DIRT AND DUST, and behind them the eastern maw of the cavern continues to CRUMBLE as rock and debris rain down inside the cave.
They GET TO THEIR HAUNCHES, COUGHING; Marin is STARING DOWN at the ground and her face is not visible. Link eventually STANDS, BRUSHING DUST off his body. He LOOKS DOWN at Marin.
LINK
“A hero doesn’t leave a damsel behind, Marin...”
Marin, still STARING AT THE GROUND, answers SLOWLY.
MARIN
“They don’t, do they?”
Marin slowly LOOKS UP at Link.
(NOTE: For the rest of this film’s chronological order Marin’s eyes are NO LONGER COMPLETELY HAZEL as they were before; instead the girl’s eyes have a STRANGE, ‘ELECTRIC-YELLOW’ DISCOLORATION running through them. This effect is not entirely obvious, but it is noticeable to someone paying a great deal of attention. In addition to this Marin now acts and speaks in a slightly more ‘SUBDUED’ manner than before; where at first she was more ‘overconfidently annoying’ she is now ‘silently creepy’.)
MARIN
“Are you such a good knight, now?”
Link again COUGHS up some dust; he DUSTS HIMSELF OFF as he stares down a TRAIL leading away from the cavern network behind him.
LINK
(shaking his head)
“Nope: just an ordinary hero, that’s all...”
PAN INTO A CLOSE-UP on LINK’S FACE as he continues STARING down the trail; faint tails of SMOKE rise peacefully in the distance, as if ejected from the fire-pits of nearby homes.
PAN OUT reveals MARIN is standing beside him, quite close, also staring down the trail; Link is moderately STARTLED to see her standing so close.
Marin slowly DESCENDS the trail.
MARIN
“Pity, that: from here on in this land is a most extraordinary thing...”
Link HESITATES on the trail.
LINK
“That a fact, is it?”
MARIN
(enunciating very slowly, with a staccato tone)
“Ne’er... you... doubt it.”
Link again GAZES towards the horizon.
EXT. OUTSKIRTS OF UROOBAN VILLAGE – LATE AFTERNOON.
PAN DOWN from an overcast sky onto a cleared section of ground following a path through grassland; many WOODEN BUILDINGS dot this area, surrounding a spacious town center containing a massive GAZEBO covered in COLORED STREAMERS. These streamers connect around various large TENTPOLES set into the ground around the square. Besides a very small number of townsfolk milling around the area the place is deserted. During this slow pan TEXT appears (fade-in) at LOWER CENTER:
“Urooban Village”
This line of text DISAPPEARS (fade-out) within a few seconds.
LINK AND MARIN walk across the dirt path leading towards the town center, moving through a field of fine grassland right on the outskirts; Link CONSIDERS the town before him with a COCKED BROW.
MARIN walks behind him.
MARIN
“Lonely, is it not?”
Link slowly STOPS WALKING; Marin does likewise (exactly as Link does, in a mimicking, ‘robotic’ fashion).
Link PUTS ONE HAND ON HIS SWORD.
LINK
(whispering while shaking his head slowly)
“No... we’re not alone...”
Some of the GRASS along the trail RUFFLES unnaturally; the very TIP OF A CROSSBOW slowly pokes out from a concealed vantage point beside the trail.
Link LOOKS AROUND the grassland, SUSPICIOUS.
Suddenly a FAINT TWANG sounds; Link instinctively RIPS HIS SWORD from its sheath and SLASHES it through the air. He recovers from this motion and lands in a DEFENSIVE POSITION; his sword is extended protectively in front on his body.
There is a SMALL RED NUB on the flat-end of Link’s blade; Link eventually NOTICES this and examines the item: it is a crudely made WAX-TIPPED ‘SUCTION CUP’ CROSSBOW BOLT.
Link STARES AT THIS in surprise, but then suddenly SMILES; he again looks into the grassland with a FAR MORE SINISTER GRIN. He half-turns to look at MARIN.
LINK
“Wait here...”
Marin NODS, showing little emotion.
TWO SMALL CHILDREN (appx. 8 years old) lay prone in the grass across from Link and Marin’s position; one is a boy with scraggily red hair and an UNDERSIZED CROSSBOW steadied in his hands; this boy is KENNETH. The other is a girl, also redheaded, lying slightly behind the boy and wearing a FUZZY CAP with a large tassel on the top; this girl is ADAN.
SLOW ZOOM on the children during the following dialogue; the children WHISPER QUIETLY to each other.
ADAN
“Pegged ‘im! Ya peg ‘im?”
The boy ROLLS TO HIS SIDE, looking over at the girl with a SHOCKED FROWN.
KENNETH
“You... got another?”
ADAN
“Another? You need another? You never need another. Hang it: I never miss, so lemme—”
KENNETH
“I did not miss, Adan! I...”
ADAN
“What: if you didn’t miss—”
KENNETH
“I... he...”
The boy GESTURES with his hands.
The girl POUTS ANGRILY and rests her head in the grass.
ADAN
“Doesn’t matter: I haven’t another.”
The boy SCOWLS.
KENNETH
“Hang it! Leave it to a lass to—”
ADAN
“Don’t you slag me off, Kenneth! We never carry another. We never need another...”
The pair LOUNGE in this position for a short time, not speaking to each other.
SLOW PAN OUT reveals LINK lying on his side in the grass directly behind the girl; he absently TOUSLES the tassel on Adan’s fuzzy cap.
KENNETH
“We well-enough should have another, shouldn’t we?”
Link gently TOSSES the wax-tipped bolt in front of Kenneth. The boy NOTICES this and picks it up.
KENNETH
“Oh, handy. Thanks.”
Adan RAISES HER HEAD out of the grass, appearing CONFUSED.
ADAN
“Thanks? For what, exactly, then, Kenneth?”
Kenneth LOOKS at the girl, CURIOUS. He HOLDS UP the wax crossbow bolt.
FAR DISTANCE SHOT, showing the short grassland behind the trail. After a few second’s pause both Kenneth and Adan can be heard SCREAMING LOUDLY; the pair emerges from the grass, RUNNING as fast as they can out of the brush and towards town.
LINK emerges from the grass and walks back up next to MARIN. He is GRINNING openly.
MARIN
“You’re gonna get hell for that...”
Link COCKS HIS BROW, mischievous.
LINK
“Ever so worth it.”
The pair MOVES OFF toward town, slowly following the children.
LINK
“They can be our little ‘advanced notice’ for the townsfolk; nobody will think we’re sneaking up on them now, will they? Tch! Little children don’t have to be useless, after all.”
MARIN
“Could you not have left them to their own devices?”
LINK
(grinning and shaking his head)
“Oh, Marin! The Goddesses know: no! Little children left to their own devices can stir up more trouble than a nest of newborn...”
Link slowly STOPS WALKING, appearing BEWILDERED.
Marin similarly STOPS, although she remains EMOTIONLESS.
LINK
(whispering)
“...dodongos?”
Link BLINKS in confusion; Marin merely STARES AT HIM as the pair stand on the trail. Eventually Link WAGS HIS HEAD, recovering, and again SETS OFF for the village center; Marin FOLLOWS close behind.
EXT. TOWN SQUARE OF UROOBAN VILLAGE – LATE AFTERNOON.
Link and Marin walk past the central gazebo in the town square; a BURLY, BEARDED MAN in workman’s overalls descends the steps of a log house to greet the pair. He EXTENDS A HAND to Link as he approaches the man.
CUE A HALF-SECOND LONG ‘GLITCH’ as Link and the man extend their hands; this glitch is more ‘audio’ in nature than ‘visual’, and other than some flitting DISTORTIONS to the scene there are no other actual ‘image inserts’ in this glitch.
TOWNSPERSON
“Well met, traveler. I am—”
CUE A ONE SECOND-LONG ‘GLITCH’; during this glitch we immediately see the full face of THUNDERBIRD (facing forward) flickering on and off the screen in rapid succession, distorted by ‘psychedelic’ imagery. At the same time the word ‘Error’ is emitted in a guttural, unnatural cadence. The glitch cuts out IMMEDIATELY after this word is spoken.
ERROR
“—the Chief Administrator here in Urooban.”
Link and Error SHAKE HANDS.
LINK
“My name is Link of North Castle. Well met, sir. May peace fall upon your village.”
Error SCRATCHES HIS CHIN.
ERROR
“Your sword might say otherwise...”
Link LOOKS DOWN at his sheathed sword. He LOOKS BACK UP at Error.
LINK
“My sword says that I am a squire of the New Hylian Guard. I can assure you: peace is my profession.”
Error SMILES and NODS gently.
ERROR
“Mmm. Never mind the hellfire in your eyes...”
Link LOOKS TO ONE SIDE.
ERROR
“Ah, don’t misunderstand: I didn’t mean that at all.”
Link LOOKS BACK at Error.
ERROR
“Hellfire, my son: the overconfidence of youth, you might call it. ‘Cocksureness’.”
Link COCKS ONE EYEBROW.
LINK
“‘Cocksureness’?”
ERROR
“Not the best word maybe. And perhaps I’ve overreached? Usually I do pride myself on being an excellent judge of character, though...”
Link SMILES.
LINK
“Well, you could be right. I could be... cocksure. So, what: should I drop trou so we can all find out?”
There is a BRIEF PAUSE, and then both men LAUGH; Error laughs heartily, while Link chuckles quietly. Error MOTIONS for Link to enter the large cabin.
INT. UROOBAN TOWN HALL – (CONTINUOUS)
A spacious, rustic cabin interior decked out with animal skins and animal heads on the walls. Some townsfolk go about their business in other parts of the cabin rooms.
KENNETH and ADAN both stand near the entrance to the main room along with a small group of OTHER CHILDREN. They look on as Error and Link sit at a long table near a window of the cabin, each drinking a STEAMING BEVERAGE. Marin sits closer to the opposite wall, partially in the shadows. She has no drink in front of her.
ERROR
“Ah, you made good time through Fo-Láraich; none have ever crossed it faster than you, as I recall.”
Link LOOKS AT MARIN with a half-smile.
LINK
“Well: I had a good guide for that...”
ERROR
“Oh, really? Is that so?”
LINK
“Mmmm. Ran into a bit of trouble at the Eastern Maw: got attacked by some... I don’t know, giant insect monster—”
ERROR
“Giant insect monster?”
The man SCRATCHES HIS CHIN, perplexed. All of a suddenly he LOOKS UP with realization.
ERROR
“Ah, what: bug-eyed brute of a cockroach, huh?”
LINK
“Something like that.”
ERROR
(laughing heartily)
“‘Monster’, indeed. The Slow Grower: that’s what you saw!”
LINK
“What: you know it?”
Error CONTINUES CHUCKLING.
ERROR
“Naturally! Ha! It’s something of a ‘patron saint’ to the little ones around here...”
Error NOTICES the children lurking near the doorway.
ERROR
“Ah, speaking of which...”
Link TURNS in his seat and notices the children. He DIGS THROUGH HIS CLOAK and retrieves Kenneth’s UNDERSIZED CROSSBOW. He HOLDS IT OUT to the child.
The boy slowly APPROACHES the table and TAKES the crossbow from Link; Kenneth STARES DOWN at Link’s SWORD in apparent AWE before slowly walking off to rejoin his compatriots.
ERROR
“You’ve already met our little ‘defense team’: ‘The Slow Growers’.”
LINK
(motioning to the children with his head)
“That kiddie committee?”
ERROR
(nodding)
“Mmmm. The beast is something of a role-model for them: it takes untold years for a Slow Grower to reach the size of the one in Fo-Láraich. With time, my good squire, anything is possible. And the wee ones out here are such impatient little things: the Slow Grower reminds them that someday they, too, will be big and strong.”
LINK
“That kind of monster seems unsuitable as a mascot.”
ERROR
“What monster? And you don’t mean to say you were attacked?”
LINK
“I just told you—”
ERROR
“You were physically attacked by that overgrown pup of a thing? Nonsense: the damn thing eats hayseed out of an ungloved hand! It comes down to our fields and cuddles-up with the livestock when it is cold. It’s a damn baby of a thing! Certain it did not attack you?”
Link STARES DOWN at his drink, CONFUSED.
LINK
“I... well... no: it... I guess it didn’t, really...”
ERROR
“Well, anyway, here’s hoping you didn’t at all injure the thing: for the children’s sakes, at least...”
Link LEANS FORWARD.
LINK
“Listen, Error: I have a few questions to ask. I’m not planning on staying in your village for very long—”
ERROR
“That’s another thing I was hoping on. No offense, my good squire, but a trained swordsman journeying to us from the Old Shores is a most unusual thing; we survive this land well-enough as it is, but we can scarce afford an extra ounce of ‘excitement’ around these parts.”
LINK
“No offense taken. My business is further south.”
ERROR
“What: in the fallow fields?”
LINK
(shaking his head)
“On the other side of the Adhavore.”
ERROR
(laughing)
“You’re joking! Ah, ha!”
LINK
“You’re a good judge of character, aren’t you?”
Error NOTES the seriousness in Link’s face.
ERROR
“No: you’re not joking. Of course you’re not: it’s not in the character of the New Hylian Guard to do so, is it? So, your business down there is...?”
LINK
“My own. But I need to know anything you might know about the land there; all the maps I’ve studied are centuries old.”
Error NODS.
ERROR
“Likely accurate, too: nothing has changed in the far Southland for longer than that. It’s all land given back over to the Goddesses—”
LINK
“‘From which this world came into being’. I already know that.”
Error SHAKES HIS HEAD.
ERROR
“Much of the land is dying, or deceased, as land goes. ‘Stale’ is the best descriptor, perhaps. That lonely place is the ‘threadbarest’ of the Threadbare Lands, as it were. The Aged Veil runs along endless swampland to the Southeast— it’s a mire of infinite emptiness, that— but further south there is Kasuto.”
LINK
“Kasuto? What is that: a region?”
ERROR
(shaking his head)
“A town. T’was, at least: we’ve been separated ere these generations. My great-grandfather was a babe in swaddling cloth when last we had contact with Kasuto. Those were days when men dared cross the Adhavore; no one would even think of setting out across the Kelpie’s Brae, now.”
LINK
“The ‘Kelpie’? What is that?”
ERROR
(scoffing bitterly)
“Ah... a remnant, as it were. There are fairies in the Fairy Knowe south of here, to be sure, just as there is the Kelpie in the Kelpie’s Brae along the river. Back when the Goddesses walked the earth they made all manner of fantastic critters. Where many have long since died the Kelpie still lingers. Why, we do not know. Kelpies do best in pairs...”
(NOTE: during this next line of dialogue we see a CLOSE-UP of Marin’s emotionless face)
ERROR
“...but its mate has long since left the Adhavore, through either death or desertion, as it were, and we know not which.”
RETURN CAMERA FOCUS to Link and Error.
ERROR
“But we do know one thing, clear as the plumage on Farore’s Own tail.”
LINK
“What’s that?”
Error STANDS UP slowly, uncomfortable. He speaks SLOWLY.
ERROR
“The Kelpie is a monster. And the Kelpie eats those who are weak. Us mortals haven’t the magical benefits of fairies or wizzrobes; we cannot be reincarnated, you know. Now, you’re a noble squire, to be sure, and you certainly aren’t weak. Maybe you’ve less to fear than most in that regard, but still...”
Error LEANS against the table purposefully.
ERROR
“...were I you I would certainly have more fear in me than you do now.”
Error NODS RESPECTFULLY at Link and walks away.
Link again STARES INTO HIS DRINK. He looks over at Marin, who merely stares back at him, emotionless. Link LOOKS OUT the window at the gazebo in the town square.
SLOW ZOOM on the GAZEBO. FADE INTO the next scene.
EXT. TOWN SQUARE OF UROOBAN VILLAGE – EVENING.
The townsfolk of Urooban Village are gathered in and around the central gazebo for a small festival, DANCING and REVELING as a small band (complete with a BAGPIPER) plays along.
Link WALKS away from this scene of merriment and into the shadows along the town square’s edge.
A WOMAN stumbles out the door of one cabin holding a BOTTLE of liquid. She walks UNSTEADILY. When she sees Link she GRINS widely and HOLDS UP the bottle. Her speech is DEEPLY SLURRED.
TOWNSWOMAN
“How about that? It’s my special medicine!”
Link IGNORES the woman, walking past her.
TOWNSWOMAN
“Oh, c’mere! Stop an’ ‘rest’ here, blondie!”
Link eventually SITS DOWN on the steps outside the door of one cabin. MARIN is revealed to be sitting a little further away from him, even more swamped in shadows than Link is.
LINK
“I’ve honestly never seen a ‘yearling slaughter’ festival before.”
MARIN
“You’re not one to partake in such merriment?”
LINK
“The ‘merriment’ doesn’t bother me. I’m just glad they ‘restrained’ themselves with the decorating; they could have quite literally ‘painted the town red’, you know...”
MARIN
“You are hardly a vegetarian yourself. So: have you not learned anything more from these people?”
Link GRINS sardonically.
LINK
“Oh, plenty. It seems that little Kenneth really fancies little Adan, but he’s far too shy to ask her for a dance. Also, apparently Adan thinks that Kenneth ‘slagged her off’ recently, so she’s a bit out of sorts...”
MARIN
“About the Southland, I mean?”
LINK
“Nobody knows, and nobody wants to know...”
Link RECLINES on the step, resting his hands behind his head.
LINK
“Some of the old timers around here say that the Kelpie ‘dislikes noise’, for what that’s worth. Tch! Ninety-percent of their fears have got to be idle superstition, but still: I’m not ready to discount the other ten-percent. I’ll damn-well know what’s out there when I know what’s out there, though, and when the time comes I’ll just have to play things by ear.”
MARIN
“You are not entirely unsuccessful in that regard...”
Marin TURNS HER HEAD to look at Link; the ‘ELECTRIC-YELLOW’ glint of her eyes is slightly more noticeable in the moonlight.
MARIN
“...and at least it should be a sight to see, should it not?”
Link CHUCKLES.
LINK
“You’ll never know that for sure, will you, Marin?”
Link HOLDS OUT his hand to one side; Marin’s LARGE CELTIC CROSS dangles between his fingers. He EXTENDS his arm, dangling the trinket for Marin to take.
MARIN
“Until I see for myself? No. But when I do, I will.”
There is a PAUSE. Link LOOKS OVER at Marin, CONFUSED.
LINK
“For yourself? You’re not serious?”
MARIN
“Curious, though—”
Link LOWERS his hand slightly.
LINK
“I thought you said that trait’s gotten ‘many a little girl into trouble’. You’re in Urooban, Marin! This place is supposed to be your big ‘second chance’, isn’t it? Why in the Goddesses’ names would you want to cross into the Southland with me? I could damn-well be marching to my own death, you know—”
MARIN
“Perhaps. But it would do me just fine, Squire Link, to see whether you will sink or you will swim...”
Link appears as if he is going to say more, but then CLOSES HIS MOUTH; he faces forward, looking away from Marin.
MARIN
“Am I so unwelcome? Dismiss me, then, if you would.”
There is a LONG PAUSE. Eventually Link RETURNS his hand holding Marin’s cross to his lap. He SIGHS.
LINK
“I’m leaving for the Adhavore at daybreak, Marin.”
MARIN
“I shall be ready at dawn.”
Marin SLOWLY RISES; she looks at Link again.
MARIN
“I doubt very much that you are marching off to your own death, Squire; after all: you are capable of doing anything and everything imaginable. Is that not so?”
Marin slowly WALKS OFF into the shadows of the town proper.
Link idly stares at the lighted gazebo across the way in the town square. He removes the RED FLOWER from his cloak and STARES AT IT; holding it up to the light of the festival in the distance.
FADE OUT.
EXT. ADHAVORE RIVER – EARLY AFTERNOON.
An exceedingly beautiful river, approximately 25-meters in width, cutting between two green fields to the north and south. The area is TOTALLY QUIET, to the point of ‘unease’.
SLOW PAN UP from the still waters of the river, revealing lush, tree-lined fields in the distance behind the river. During this slow pan TEXT appears (fade-in) at LOWER CENTER:
“Adhavore River”
This line of text DISAPPEARS (fade-out) within a few seconds.
A series of slow FADE CUTS reveals Link walking through dense foliage further north from the river; many STATELY OAKS dominate the terrain. ONE OAK, in particular, is much larger than all the rest.
BRIGHT PINPOINTS of light flit about in this tree’s canopy; some are BLUE and others PINK. These are all FARIES.
Link LOOKS UP at the flying creatures with a mixture of WONDER and PUZZLEMENT. He stands directly beside the massive oak tree, watching as several of the pinpoints begin slowly DESCENDING from the sky; hovering curiously over Link’s head.
One BLUE PINPOINT, in particular, hovers closer-still to Link; Link slowly EXTENDS A HAND in front of his face, holding up a FINGER near his eye.
The blue pinpoint of light very slowly (hesitantly) comes to rest on Link’s finger after several ‘false-landings’ and retreats. When it finally does come to rest we see a very small (appx. ¾ inch high) lithe-bodied female creature with large wings; the fairy STARES UP at Link with the same general mixture of PUZZLEMENT and CURIOSITY.
We notice that this fairy’s LEFT LEG is significantly ‘deformed’, as if through some trauma from its past or a congenital birth defect.
The fairy soon gently SHUTTLES OFF Link’s finger, flitting closer to LINK’S NOSE, where the fairy briefly considers perching; Link and the fairy STARE AT EACH OTHER for a considerable moment before several of the other LOW-FLYING PINPOINTS OF LIGHT begin SWIRLING with extra urgency; the fairy NOTICES this and quickly SHUTTLES AWAY from Link, retreating to the giant oak’s canopy and again disappearing into the mix of colors, becoming another indiscriminant pinpoint of light.
CLOSE-UP on LINK’S FACE; the man stares forward with a puzzled, but sorrowful countenance. SLOW CAMERA PAN reveals Marin standing behind him.
MARIN
“The fairies: it is not in their nature to be so trusting; they know what kind of creature man is. Strange, then, for one to be so forward...”
Link SWALLOWS uncomfortably; he notices a SMALL TEAR forming on his right eye and WIPES AT IT quickly.
LINK
“Yeah: I could’ve bottled her up and made myself a fortune with the right people back home. Should’ve thought of that...”
Link LOOKS BACK at Marin, briefly, before WALKING OFF, uncomfortable. He emerges from the tree line, standing near the edge of the river.
NOTE: the following scene is ENTIRELY DEVOID of ANY ambient sounds except those directly noted. Other than the ‘obvious noises’ (footsteps, etc...) there are NO OTHER background sounds.
Link WALKS ALONG the water’s edge, looking across the way and into the water, as well.
Link walks along the water’s edge, to a point where there are rolling fields behind him; CLOSE-UP on Link as he KNEELS at the side of the river, STARING INTO the pool intently. We can see NOTHING of consequence in the water itself (no fish, either).
Link STANDS, again contemplating the scene before him; SLOW PAN around Link’s body reveals a STARK WHITE HORSE standing in the background, about ten yards away from Link’s body. It is idling, eating scrub, and when it gently PAWS the ground Link TURNS, hearing the sound.
Link STARES at the horse, and then LOOKS AROUND the scene behind him; finding no owner Link COCKS HIS HEAD and returns his gaze to the water before him.
Link STARES INTO THE WATER again, and again LOOKS UP at the other side of the river; we suddenly see the WHITE HORSE’S HEAD come up beside Link’s own head. The creature gently NUZZLES against Link, and Link reflexively STROKES the horse’s nose.
Link FACES the hose, looking the creature up and down. When Link again tries to survey the Adhavore River before him the horse NEIGHS gently, prompting Link to again turn his attention to the animal.
Link WALKS alongside the creature, gently stroking its body and appearing greatly IMPRESSED with the large animal.
(NOTE: There is a small but noticeable DAMPNESS around the white horse’s MANE; a few stray droplets of water DRIP from its neck however these droplets are not entirely obvious).
After much hesitation Link finally MOUNTS the animal and sits atop its bare back. Link GRINS pleasurably and STROKES the creature’s head near its ears; Link suddenly LOOKS AT THE WATER of the river again, although this time with PUZZLEMENT, as if he cannot remember what he was previously doing.
Link is UNCOMFORTABLE on the horse’s back until he SHEDS HIS CLOAK, letting the garment fall onto the ground. He does the same with his ARMING SWORD, allowing it to fall with a CLANG.
Link suddenly GRIPS the horse’s full mane on either side of its head and TUGS it in a direction away from the water, out towards the rolling FIELDS behind him.
The horse NEIGHS and sets off at a FAST GALLOP; Link SPURS IT ON with his shoes and the pair go careening off across the hills at breakneck speed.
As he rides both the SILK HEADSCARF and the RED FLOWER in his pockets are slowly dislodged; each DANGLES out of his vest before Link SHAKES THEM OFF HIS BODY in annoyance. Both articles go FLUTTERING BY THE WAYSIDE as Link rides.
Link SINKS DOWN LOW on the horse’s back, GRINNING DEVILISHLY as he spurs the creature on; they race further and faster across the land. Link steers the creature through pleasant, rolling country, EXHILARATED.
SLOW PAN around Link’s body, starting at the front; PRINCESS ZELDA is revealed to be riding on the white horse, sitting behind Link and clutching at his stomach as the horse moves. Link LOOKS BACK at Zelda, who SMILES WIDELY; the woman’s smile turns more SEDUCTIVE and she slowly PECKS at Link’s cheek with a chaste kiss.
After another moment of this hard riding there is a BRIEF ‘GLITCH’ of an EMACIATED, SICKLY ZELDA sitting in her bed, facing forward; this REPEATS ITSELF several times, each time causes Link to WINCE with discomfort. The final GLITCH in this series is an EXTREMELY BRIEF snippet of Link holding Marin by the wrist back in the caverns at Fo-Láraich (the speed of this latter glitch borders on subliminal).
Link SPASMS with discomfort; he is once again ALONE on the white horse. He YANKS on the horse’s mane, attempting to get it to stop. The creature does not stop, however, but moves even FASTER. Link SCREAMS at the creature, THRASHING on its back; we see that the HAIRS on the horse’s back are somehow ‘stuck’ to Link’s clothing and flesh.
Link SCREAMS AGAIN, this time producing a DAGGER from his vest.
DISJOINTED COLORS immediately ‘explode’ across the screen, quickly dissolving into WATER BUBBLES; when they part we see the DEPTHS OF THE ADHAVORE take the place of the rolling fields.
In the FAR DISTANCE we see the white horse (now almost black in the shadow of the deep water) with Link THRASHING on its back (the pair appear to be moving in slow-motion as they sink down through the water).
AIR BUBBLES explode from LINK’S FACE as he struggles; the HORSE’S MANE below Link begins TURNING slowly. The entire horse’s head rotates an impossible 180-degrees to face Link; the creature’s eyes glow with a FIERCE YELLOW LIGHT and its mouth parts, revealing several rows of RAZOR-SHARP TEETH; it makes a TERRIBLE GROWLING noise through the water.
This is the river monster GAUCHEEIS.
The HAIR ON THE CREATURE’S BACK begins ‘parting’ on either side of Link, as if TWO ADDITIONAL APPENDAGES are slowly emerging from the creature’s back (ie: in addition to its four hooves facing the other way, the creature has ‘hands’ rising up in the other direction). The creature’s body is ‘morphing’ in such a way that, instead of a horse facing forward and away from Link, it is becoming a hideous abomination that is facing Link HEAD-ON.
Link STRUGGLES to orient himself, eventually managing to SWIPE HIS DAGGER across the creature’s RIGHT UPPER BODY.
Again in the FAR DISTANCE we see the black creature and Link; the pair are PUSHED APART as a HORRIBLE SCREAM erupts through the water; STRANGE COLORED FLUID fills the space between Link and the creature. Link FLAILS through the water, moving for the surface as the shadowy visage of the creature begins MORPHING in a way that makes it less visible; the last glimpse we see of it reveals that it is PROPELLING ITSELF DOWNWARD through the water, heading for the bottom of the river.
Link’s head suddenly BREECHES the surface of the river; Link THRASHES through the water, COUGHING and SPUTTERING. He struggles to reach the far bank (ie: the south bank) of the river.
MARIN is waiting for him, standing well-away from the water.
(NOTE: Marin is not at all wet, despite the fact that she is now standing on the opposite shoreline of the river. This is not commented on in any way.)
Link DRAGS HIMSELF onto the bank of the river; he is still wearing his cloak and his sword is in its scabbard.
Link COUGHS as he LIES ON HIS BACK.
Marin STANDS OVER the man, looking down at him.
MARIN
“So you are driven, are you not?”
LINK
(sputtering and panting)
“More than most, maybe...”
Marin STANDS UP slowly. She waits for Link to get to one knee.
MARIN
“The Southland awaits, Squire Link.”
Link, STILL PANTING, watches as Marin WALKS OFF in the direction of a mountain pass leading to the far southern section of the Threadbare Lands.
Link slowly GETS TO HIS FEET, SHIVERING, and LOOKS BACK at the Adhavore River one last time before walking off, REMOVING HIS WET CLOAK and placing it over his arm as he walks.
CUE A ONE-SECOND-LONG ‘GLITCH’.
INT. CEREMONIAL CHAMBER IN THE GREAT PALACE (INDETERMINATE)
Link again SCREAMS IN AGONY as he lies on the stone slab; he ARCHES HIS BACK to an unnaturally flexible degree. TEARS form along the flesh of his back in several places around his spine, causing more BLOOD to ooze from his body.
Link’s body is now in significantly dire circumstances; the bruise over his forehead is grotesquely bulbous; blood oozes from his broken shin, and the SHINBONE is now clearly visible peeking out of the flesh. The WOUND along his chest is open even further, and it bleeds more heartily. The man ROLLS TO HIS SIDE, WRITHING in agony. He can barely open his RIGHT EYE due to swelling from the bruise on his forehead.
MARIN is revealed to be sitting on a pile of rubble less than five feet from the stone slab (ie: much closer than before). The woman merely LEANS FORWARD, staring at Link ‘clinically’.
Link grows slightly CALMER upon sight of her; he looks at her with his left red eye, still PANTING.
LINK
“I... am thirsty...”
Link EXHALES a ‘stuttering’ breath; a faint trail of BLOODY SPIT curls out one corner of his mouth as he does so. He slowly ROLLS ONTO HIS BACK, GROANING in pain; Link again lies prone.
Link’s body suddenly STIFFENS and he draws a PAINED BREATH, simultaneously with the start of the next ‘GLITCH’.
CUE A HALF-SECOND-LONG ‘GLITCH’.
EXT. AGED VEIL – VERY LATE AFTERNOON.
An unremarkable trail following the Eastern edge of the Dawnland Stairs mountain range; the mountains to the West are clearly impassable at this point; further east the sunlight sparkles on the beginning of a MASSIVE HORIZON OF SWAMPLAND.
Link and Marin sit around a PATHETIC CAMPFIRE which barely burns; Link examines several small sticks of collected wood, GROWLING.
He DISCARDS these pieces of wood.
LINK
“All these are given over to stone. Almost everything here is!”
Link LOOKS OUT across the swampland; many DISEASED-LOOKING TREES peak through the swamp-water at regular intervals.
MARIN
“Tell me, Squire: why do you think it is that you love her, so?”
Link LOOKS at Marin with a DANGEROUS EXPRESSION.
Eventually Marin changes the subject, MOTIONING to the swamp with her head.
MARIN
“Now, there’s the great façade.”
Link FOLLOWS Marin’s gaze; he then LOOKS AT HER quizzically.
MARIN
“The land up here looks decent enough— it is a little empty, maybe, but it looks alright— in truth it is completely dead. Down there, in that ocean of green sludge? Well: that’s the last bastion of life. Even the dead can help the living, down there...”
Marin idly TOYS with a piece of petrified wood in her hands. She LOOKS at Link intently.
MARIN
“...rather than hinder them, at least...”
Link SMILES impishly.
LINK
“It’s a swamp, Marin.”
MARIN
“And not so easy a thing to swim in at all.”
LINK
“No: I wouldn’t imagine it is. Anyway, just when did your ‘environmental expertise’ extend to swampland, huh?”
Link EYES the murky swampland, SHIVERING.
LINK
“I could live a whole lifetime and never get my feet wet again. That... that creature back there: it made me see things... things that weren’t there...”
MARIN
“And you saw through it, did you not? It is an impressive thing: the drive to break Gaucheeis’ spell...”
LINK
“What? ‘Gaucheeis’? What is that?”
Marin COCKS HER HEAD.
MARIN
“The river monster: its name is Gaucheeis. It is so very lonely for lack of a mate; its own beloved was far too fickle and foolish a thing to remain in the Adhavore. Gaucheeis’ mate had the drive to break its spells, too, and break them they did. The pair had their falling out so long ago; Gaucheeis’ fool of a mate struck off for ‘greener’ pastures...”
LINK
“Its... its mate? Its beloved? And that thing’s name is ‘Gaucheeis’? How the hell could you possibly know all that?”
There is a short pause; Marin’s facial expression does not change at all during this time.
MARIN
“Error told us all of that. Do you not remember?”
There is an even LONGER PAUSE; Link looks DEEPLY CONFUSED. Marin stares at him in the camera background; the YELLOW of her eyes (though still difficult to see) is more pronounced.
LINK
“He... did? Yes... of course he did. He told us all about that, didn’t he?”
MARIN
“If I may ask again, Squire: why do you think it is that you love her, so?”
Link SITS UP; he appears SURPRISED by this question.
LINK
“What the hell are you talking about?”
MARIN
“You are deeply and passionately in love with the Princess of Hyrule. That is fairly obvious.”
LINK
“Where the hell is this coming from? You’re—”
Marin quickly COCKS HER HEAD (in a ‘birdlike’ fashion).
MARIN
“Incorrect? You’d argue that?”
LINK
(snarling)
“Overreaching.”
Marin quickly COCKS HER HEAD in the opposite direction before slowly returning it to LEVEL.
MARIN
“You are... obsessed with the Princess of Hyrule, then. Why do you think that is?”
Link LOOKS TO ONE SIDE, uncomfortable.
LINK
“Zelda has always fascinated me. I don’t know why. She... she’s my first memory, for one thing.”
Link LOOKS BACK at Marin.
LINK
“I have no memory of my life before I was about 8-years-old, or so; I don’t really know how old I am. The first thing I do remember about my life is seeing Zelda. It was in Castletown, back in the New Kingdom; we barely crossed paths. She... she dropped something out of her litter, I think, and I picked it up for her.”
MARIN
“What was it she dropped?”
LINK
(shaking his head)
“Something inconsequential; a child’s toy, I think. That brief encounter isn’t the kind of thing she’d remember, of course, but I did; from the moment I saw Zelda years later in North Castle I— I...”
MARIN
“You were... ‘under her spell’, is that it?”
Link SWALLOWS.
LINK
“I went to seed after I left the New Kingdom. There was so much freedom out there on the Old Shores. I drank it up. Hell, I guzzled it like it was water. I... wanted to be wild...”
Link LOOKS DOWN at his cloak and sword, MOTIONING to it.
LINK
“This— all of this— it wouldn’t have worked; there’s no way I could ever be a squire, let alone a knight. Bagu is a good teacher, but his instruction was never enough. Zelda... she was always—”
MARIN
“A tamer. And were you not the opposite for her?”
Link SMILES, staring down at the paltry fire. He appears ENTRANCED by his own words.
LINK
“A ‘wild influence’. We’ve always been pretty good at meeting each other halfway. ‘Mutual compromise’; I’ve never really understood why it worked so well. I’ve never even bowed to her— did you know that?— not even once. Bagu’s given me hell for it, but I take that abuse. It never seemed ‘proper’ for me to do that: to bow to her like some unthinking soldier ritualistically demonstrating his devotion. She’s Hyrule’s princess, yes, but she’s also just this kid I’ve known... this woman that I know... and I’ve never had to get on one knee to prove myself to her; I think she’s always known that: deep down, she knows I’m hers...”
MARIN
“Is that destiny, do you think?”
Link LOOKS UP, his demeanor changing to a HARSHER look.
LINK
“I think that it isn’t Zelda’s destiny to die the way she is dying. That’s what I think. And I think that, right now, that’s all there is to it. It’s a very simple thing, Marin—”
MARIN
“Deathly simple, at that...”
LINK
“—and when I find the Throne of Farore’s Wisdom it’ll still be a simple thing: either there is or there isn’t some way to save Zelda, and either the answer is or it isn’t inside that wretched shell of a Palace.”
MARIN
“And if it is not?”
Link SNARLS.
LINK
“Well, that’s not really even an option, is it? So you see, it’s all twice as simple for me, isn’t it?”
Link WRAPS HIMSELF UP in his cloak and RECLINES as if to sleep.
MARIN
“And if there is a price to be paid for this cure?”
LINK
“Never mind that; I’m good for the money...”
MARIN
(whispering)
“If you are not the one to pay it, Squire?”
Link SMILES.
LINK
“Even better, isn’t it? Unlike your proud little self I’m quite content to be someone else’s ‘charity case’.”
Link CLOSES HIS EYES; he LIES ON HIS SIDE, RESTING HIS HEAD on the ground.
LINK
“I can do whatever’s necessary, Marin. No word of a lie...”
There is a PAUSE; Link eventually OPENS HIS EYES and is startled to find MARIN’S FACE right up against his. The woman is lying opposite Link, facing him with mirrored body posture.
Marin SNIFFS the air, long and hard; she remains EMOTIONLESS.
MARIN
“But the scent of one, perhaps...”
Link ROLLS OVER, SNEERING.
LINK
“Never smelled a ‘wild beast’ before, have you? Maybe you’re spending too much time around your turnips...”
LONG DISTANCE SHOT of the pair bedded down beside their paltry fire. LINK’S VOICE can be heard ECHOING against the mountain wall beside them.
LINK
“...I hate turnips...”