The Legend of Zelda: The Forsaken Knight

Chapter 2

Zelda woke early the next morning, as the light from the sunrise trickled in through the trees. She quickly became aware of her surroundings, recalling the disturbing events from the night prior.

She watched the young man as he tended to his horse, turned away from her. Hoping that the ropes had somehow loosened since the night prior, she wriggled against her restraints. However, her efforts were for nothing, as she was not able to break free.

If I did manage to get loose, she thought, where would I go? She came to the realization that she had no idea where she was, since she had not been given the chance to explore much of her own kingdom. She was totally disoriented, hidden somewhere deep in the woods with no hope of escaping safely. Suddenly, she felt very trapped; if she somehow managed to flee then she would be lost and lone. If she stayed with this stranger, though, who knew what would happen?

As her indignation and irritability from the previous night subsided, it was replaced with hopelessness i fear. The reality was that she had been taken away from her home by someone whose face she still had yet to see, and that he most likely did not have something pleasant planned for her.

The princess felt a tear run down her cheek, bitter toward herself for showing such weakness. The young man finally turned around when he heard a quiet sniff from her, seeing that she was awake, and... crying?

For the first time since he had kidnapped the princess, he began to question his actions, something he hadn't done in years. He had never before given a second thought about all of the thievery and rule-breaking-- he had simply done what he needed to do to survive.

Perhaps, this time, though, he had gone too far. He could see that the princess was alone and terrified, all because of what he had done. After a moment of thinking, he shook his head, setting his jaw once again. He couldn't afford to think like that.

Zelda watched as he turned away from her once again, taking care to observe him in the light of day. He was rather tall and lean, yet she knew he was most likely stronger than her. His face was concealed from the shadows of his large black hood, and she could not see his hair either. He wore a gray, short sleeved tunic with a dark blue, long sleeved shirt underneath. On top of each shoulder was a round leather pauldron, the right one attached to a strap that held a sword, bow, and quiver to his back. He had some sort of a brown leather chestplate as well, and a matching brown belt with a small pouch attached to it. On his left arm, he wore a gauntlet, telling her that he was left handed. He wore brown fingerless gloves and black pants, which were tucked into a brown pair of boots.

She looked back to the ground, feeling a salty tear drip from her chin.

"Why have you done this?" She sniffed. "What do you want with me?"

He had been outfitting the horse with all of his gear, and paused when she asked him that question.

"I need the money." He mumbled, suddenly feeling ashamed. "I do not want to hurt you."

She fell silent, unsure whether she should be grateful or disgusted.

"Now let's get a move on."

~

The two of them traveled on horseback for a while, deeper into the woods. Several times, Zelda considered escaping, but she knew that she would only end up worse off than before. Instead, she sadly resigned herself to sitting in front of the young man, hoping that things would turn around soon.

The travelling left her plenty of time to think, however she only grew more confused and frustrated as time went on. Zelda knew that she was needed in the castle, even if nobody seemed to take her seriously. She had a duty to her people, especially now that their safety could possibly be threatened. She could not be missing in the woods with no way to return to them. How could she ever escape, though? The young man was always watching her; she was not sure he had slept at all the previous night. What could she possibly do to return to her home?