Children of Illusion
Chapter Two
Forsake not an old friend; for the new is not comparable to him: a new friend is as new wine; when it is old, thou shalt drink it with pleasure. - Ecclesiasticus (ch. IX, v. 10)
When Madeline first laid eyes on Princess Zelda, she did not believe she was actually staring at the princess of Hyrule. Her limbs were long, and her torso was somewhat short. Her skin was pale; and she was very thin. Weight was a way to determine royalty; those that were over weight generally had more money, and those that were thin were rather poor, since only the wealthy could afford to regularly eat. And Zelda was defiantly not over weight. Shayla had pondered aloud the possibility of Zelda having a disease or an eating disorder. This had convinced Madeline, since her sister had an eating disorder at one point.
Shayla and Madeline stood hidden before the princess; their bodies blurred with camouflage developed after their kind being shunned to dark areas of Hyrule where there were large, snarling predators that would like nothing more then to chow down on a Shayla sandwich, and have a Madeline pie for desert. Of course the worst thing Princess Zelda had to fear was breaking a nail while holding on to a hand railing or brushing her hair. The two young ladies exchanged glances before Madeline cleared her throat.
Princess Zelda stiffened at the sudden noise, and quickly turned around to see who else lingered in her living quarters. At that moment, the princess realized how eerie her bedroom looked in the glow of the moonlight. Velvet, purple drapes swayed in the breeze of the open window; the golden handles of the window seemingly glowing.
With a slight shiver, Zelda approached the window and grasped the golden bars with her gloved hands, and softly pulled it shut. As it closed with a clank, Shayla let out a giggle at the princess's ignorance. Zelda whipped her head around, golden hair flinging behind her shoulder as she let out a soft, "Who's there?" into the shadows of her bedroom. Madeline stifled a laugh as well. Surely they must have educated the princess about her enemies! But perhaps not…
"Oh, relax," Madeline said with a high, screech-like giggle. Zelda shuddered at the sound, and Shayla and her slightly taller chum immerged before her. The much taller blond girl let out a sharp gasp and fell backwards at the sudden appearance. "Zelda, I must ask that you keep this hush-hush! This may be a bit of a shock to you, but we're not supposed to be here! You have to keep our little visit on the down-low."
After Zelda's mind had registered the appearance of two random Children of Illusion in her quarters, she finally understood what was going on. "I demand you get out of my room this instant!" Madeline and Shayla exchanged glances, and Shayla shook her head, her poorly-made glasses falling a bit down her nose, and so she pushed them back up with her bony fingers; long, claw like fingernails linking against the wooden frames.
"My sincerest apologize, your highness," Shayla frowned a bit at Zelda's shaken state and placed one hand at the back of Zelda's head and the other over her mouth. Zelda let out a muffled yelp, and attempted to pull away. Madeline scrambled over to the struggling girl and assisted Shayla by clutching Zelda's arms firmly to keep her still, with little success. "But I fear without your help, we may be stuck in that goddess-forsaken swamp for the rest of our days! You wouldn't want that to happen, would you?" Shayla cooed in a tone that made Zelda's skin crawl. Hesitantly, Zelda nodded her head.
Zelda hadn't squirmed for a few moments, before trying to pull her body downwards in order to escape the grasps of the vile girls with no such luck. Madeline clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and shook her head. "My goodness, princess, you're just as strong as you look!" Of course, living on their own in the middle of a swamp had made them quite strong. Fending off blood-thirst beasts wasn't easy, and they also had to eat. There were very few trees and plants that had edible parts, and so their diet consisted of mostly meat, dirt, and grass. Then there was water.
But over all; they were tall, lanky, and had rough green skin. Not the ideal look for lovely ladies, but not the worst possible outcome. "As weak as a wet, new born kitten, gracious me!" Madeline shook her head and picked up a large, wooden stick, with which she hit Zelda over the head. She only swayed for a brief moment before tumbling into Shayla's arms; which had nearly caused her to fall over. Madeline's eyes widened as she clung to one of Zelda's arms, and hoisted her to her feet. "She may be weak," Shayla muttered, "But she's really heavy! Who would have guessed?"
Madeline smiled a bit as Shayla drew a piece of rope, tying it to her right ankle and Zelda's left ankle; which caused their feet to be side by side. Then she tied Madeline's ankle to Zelda's right.
After the two girls camouflaged their skin making them seemingly invisible, they put one hand on Zelda's opposite hip, and one step at a time, began to walk. This created the illusion that the princess was walking. However, since her eyes were closed, it would be essential that no one saw her face. The two attempted to creep about the halls with Zelda's hung head modestly as a good woman should.
Many guards had looked strangely at the princess. A few of them asked if she was feeling well, and whenever someone did, Shayla would grasp the back of Zelda's head; being careful not to get tangled in the golden locks, and make her nod her head. This seemed to satisfy most of the guards, and those that weren't were merely ignored.
The air outside was cool and refreshing to the two Children of Illusion. The swamps never got much of a breeze, and this was a nice change of pace. "You know," Madeline said with intentions of breaking the silence between the three girls… although one of them was still knocked unconscious. "I don't think we've ever left the swamp together."
"I don't think we have, either." Shayla confirmed with a frown, not particularly longing to converse with the likes of Madeline. Madeline frowned at the tension. If she was not tied to Zelda, she would have attempted to further get to know her friend. "Hey," Shayla turned her head to look at Madeline, who quickly turned her head to look back. "Have you even considered how we're going to get her all the way back to the swamps? I mean, it's about a seven-hour walk from here, and we have a princess with us. In my opinion, this particular position is just screaming, rape me!"
Madeline let out a snort and shook her head. "Things are strange here, I know. We should take a royal horse. This way it may seem like Zelda has simply run off." Madeline nudged her head to the side in a meek attempt at pointing out a stable, which the two pathetically wobbled over to.
There wasn't much of a variety of horses; none of which stood out more then any others. They were all snow white without a spec of dirt; tattoos of Triforces painted on their hips. Madeline frowned at the horses' state, but thought nothing of it as she opened one of the stables and towed one of the horses out; awkwardly limping since she was fastened to both Shayla and Zelda.
Shayla had spotted a cart, which she connected to the horses' saddle. The two Children of Illusion lugged Zelda's limp body into the wooden cart, and covered it with a near by blanket. Shayla mounted the horse; followed by Madeline. The two were slightly scrunched on the saddle for one, uncomfortably close. Madeline was tempted to squirm, but she feared that awkwardness would grow between them.
The mare whinnied as Shayla dug her heel into the horse's hip. The horse jolted forward, and Shayla, Madeline, and the horse's neck were all squished together, though Shayla truly looked the most annoyed. Madeline cleared her throat and sat up straight, tying up her thinning brown hair with a piece of yarn in a high pony tail.
The hours seemed to drag on and on as the horse trotted along the gravel trail of Hyrule Field. Madeline had briefly mentioned a small concern for Zelda's oxygen levels, so they had cut a couple air holes incase she happened to wake up. But for the same purpose, they had also fastened Zelda's wrists and ankles together, causing her to form some sort of triangle-like shape. Four hours had passed once they finally arrived at the swamp; Zelda had woken up, and had given up on screaming for help, seeing as how no one dared approach this area.
Madeline dismounted first; followed by Shayla. Then the two began in the process of carrying Zelda into Madeline's palace. Zelda was constantly murmuring chants under her breath, begging for forgiveness from the goddesses for being in such an unholy area against her will.
Madeline and Shayla had untied Zelda; but they knew that she wouldn't dare try to escape from the swamp. Not only did Zelda not know the way back; but monsters lurked in the shadows of trees and in the murky waters. There were the occasional areas of quick sand, in which Zelda could sink, but Madeline and Shayla knew how to escape from. As a matter of fact, Zelda stuck rather close to the two young ladies.
Zelda was disgusted with the current state of Madeline's living quarters. There were many rats; and a few of the children servants had what seemed like the plague. Their skin had turned a gray tone, and it made Zelda even more fearful then she had previously been. Because of the moss and damp stone tiles, Zelda could no longer hear the soothing sound of her footsteps echoing against the tiles. It was rather unnerving.
Once the throne room was reached, Madeline and Shayla sat down on a log that they had towed into to use as a chair. It was damp as well, but a lot of the dead bark had been peeled off, giving it a soft pine scent. Zelda frowned a bit, and was taken by surprised as a short blonde girl shoved her into a bowing position in front of the two. "That's better," Madeline smiled brightly, and crossed her right leg timidly over the left one. "So, princess, what can I do for you?"
Zelda gaped. "You brought me here!" She wailed, only to be whacked hard by the short blonde girl who hissed quiet threats to Zelda. Zelda swallowed a lump in his throat, and released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.
"Enough chit chat," Madeline waved her hand nonchalantly as if to brush away the thought. "If you don't have any issues to bring up, princess, then I'll just bring up any topic at random!" She paused and tapped her fingers against the log beneath her. "How about… hey, here's an idea!" She clapped her hands together. "You know, I am fourteen as of today! And since I have no parents, you see, no one can arrange my marriage! So I decided I'd just go ahead and let Shayla here decide for me!"
Shayla gave a slight nod of her head.
"And here's the funny part; you're going to laugh when you hear this. She said that since I'm a princess, and YOU'RE a princess, we should be wed!" Zelda gawked a bit, but Madeline shook her head. "I know it's sudden, princess, but think of the alternative!" Shayla made a slicing motion with her hand and her neck, and Zelda gulped. "Exactly, so you see where I'm coming from, right? And you can go ahead and hand over your kingdom to me! You know, as a wedding gift and what not." With a grin, she turned to the pale, young girl who looked no older then ten-years-old. "Xalvadora, darling, would you mind showing Miss Zelda to her room?" With a nod, Xalvadora grasped Zelda's arms roughly, and towed her down the hall.
At first glance, Zelda had mistook the room Xalvadora assigned to her as a dungeon cell; a small pile of hay stashed in the corner covered with large leaves all woven together, and what looked like some sort knitted wool article sewn to the bottom of the strange comfort item. There was no rug, but the floor was tiled with stones, most of which were mismatched. The only real pieces of furniture in the room were a small wooden chair with a poorly made cushion attached, and a small wooden table covered with knitting supply.
Shakily, Zelda turned to Xalvadora; her curly blonde pony tails shimmering in the room; dimly lighted with a small candle that was nearly all melted. It looked like nothing more then a puddle of wax. "…Is this a cell?" She questioned softly. Normally, she would try to escape the clutches of the small girl, but the Children of Illusion were very fast and strong, and escape was nearly utterly hopeless. "A jail… some sort of dungeon?"
"Quite the contrary," Zelda was slightly caught off guard by how soft and high Xalvadora's voice was. "This is Princess Madeline's room. Consider yourself lucky; for she has the nicest room in the palace… the whole swamp, in fact." The short girl hesitantly clutched Zelda's arm and walked forward with her, taking her in the midst of the smelly, damp room. Zelda was silent. She was overwhelmed with frustration, irritation, furry, anger, rage, and pity… all sorts of emotions that were quite similar but had mildly different definitions, with the exception of the word pity, which is the opposite of the other words. Zelda frowned at how vast her vocabulary was, and yet she couldn't find a word that had a unique definition to describe the way she was feeling.
The princess stiffened once she realized Xalvadora was no longer in the room with her. She approached the wooden plank and tugged at the rope handle, only to find it locked. "Shit," Zelda hissed between her teeth, pulling harshly at the door before kicking it. Her high-heel broke. How annoying! Zelda thought to herself, as she ran over to the hay mattress, which she flung herself on to, and began to sob. She didn't know why; her predicament wasn't so bad. Sure, Madeline was a girl, and quite softer then Ganondorf, and she knew she wouldn't be abused… but she was alone, and forced into marriage.
"If only Link were here…"