A Shed of Hope

Chapter Twenty-five: Link

 I don’t resist as Zara binds my hands behind my back and leads me out of my filthy cell. We pass hundreds of cells on our way out of the stone walls and floors and eventually come out into a hallway with red carpet rolling down the middle and red curtains keep any sunlight from coming in the windows. With a shocking pain, I suddenly realize where I am: Hyrule Castle. I know this place like the back of my own hand, though where Zara takes me, I've never been before. She leads me down a hallway with only one room connected to it, one lone door at the end of the hall. When she opens the door, I realize that my time in Zara’s hands will not be fun. In fact, they will be far from it. Along the wall next to the door is an assembly of various daggers and swords ranging from the longest sword to the smallest dagger all in various colors ranging from brown to gold to silver to black. In the middle of the room are two long chains hanging from the ceiling that are just long enough so a person can stand when chained. Zara leads me to the middle of the room and unbinds my hands, though keeping one hand on one of my arms at all times. I don’t bother to watch as Zara works, and I soon hear the clank of the chains as they clamp around my wrists, tight enough to keep me from sliding out of them, but not tight enough to cut off blood circulation.

            Zara eventually steps back and looks over me, her eyes drifting from the ends of my hair to the tips of my toes. She smiles before she walks behind me and gets something, then walking back in front of me and twirling her silver whip in her hand. “Okay, Link,” she says. “Are you ready to tell me where the Triforce is, or am I going to have to force it out of you?”

            “You're going to have to force it out of me,” I reply, looking dead into her crimson eyes.

            Zara snarls before walking behind me. I wait, tensed up and waiting for the whip to crack.  I hear the crack of the whip just seconds before I feel its sting. I grit my teeth as to keep from crying out, lest Zara think of me as weak.  She raises the whip again and I feel it cut into my back, drawing blood. I let out a grunt of pain, but say nothing. She may think that she can torture me into giving her what she wants, but she doesn’t know the kind of strength I have. I can keep quiet through the most painful tortures, or at least, I hope so. I've experienced pain before, but I've never been tortured. This is a whole new sort of pain for me.

            “Cry out,” Zara cries after an hour or two of whipping me. “Cry out in pain and beg me to stop!”

            “If you think this is enough to break me, then we’re going to be sitting here a while,” I say, my voice hoarse from lack of food and water and from the pain of the whip. I tug unconsciously at the chains holding me, knowing that there is no getting out of this.

            “Well, I'm getting bored of this anyway,” she says. She walks to the front of the room, the wall right in front of me. From the assortment of weapons lined along the wall, she picks up a gold knife and turns towards me. She walks back over to me and holds the knife up to my wrist and starts digging its blade into my skin slowly, making me feels every ounce of pain. I cry out at the sharp pain of the blade entering my skin, but other than that, I don’t feel the pain. All I can think of is keeping Zelda and the Triforce safe.  I move my gaze to the ground as she starts bring the knife down to my shoulder, moving it slowly and making sure it cuts through all the skin it touches. I cringe at the pain, but don’t cry out this time. I'm getting used to the pain, so that works in my favor.