Chapter Two: Then Light the Flames
It wasn't until dawn's light the next day that the princess took a good, long look out the window of her new prison. The sun's first golden rays illuminated the many tall, grey mountains that rested all around. The valleys in between seemed to be filled with dense, equally grey fog, but the birds in the area were plentiful. Though the princess could not see them, she could hear their gentle chirping echoing through the brisk morning air. Already, however, the chill of the morning was making her arms feel cold and clammy, despite the long sleeves on her dress. So she walked back over to the bed, and wrapped herself deep in the dark blue, thick blanket that rested on it. It still held her own body heat from the eve before, enveloping her in a soft, warm place of safety and comfort. They were far from the fine sheets of the palace, but they served their purpose well.
She lifted her own left hand from the pile of fabric, bringing it back into the light. On the back was a small cut, no bigger than a fingernail. The wound had long since stopped bleeding, but the memory associated with it still did.
.
.
.
The man practically roared as they tightened his chains, painfully binding his hands and feet and partially suspending him in the air. He was thin and frail, with his bone structure visible and his eyes sunken in. Even now, in his violent struggle, his eyes were only half-open. The three men that stood in front of him, she only barely knew; they held important positions, she knew that much, but she could not remember what those were.
She was pretty sure those positions weren't supposed to entail this, though.
"Cazerion Nendus, of your numerous crimes against Hyrule, we have found you guilty. For speaking your blasphemies and the attempted freeing of prisoners, your punishment shall be carried out on this eve. In this room, not even the cries of the Goddesses will hear you." The man in the middle spoke, as the chained man's thrashings ended up knocking over a bucket, spilling water all over the floor. The three ignored this, as one man took out a knife, and from her hiding place behind the corner, she saw the remaining man forcefully hold the prisoner's mouth open. The men with the knife then grabbed the prisoner's tongue, and slowly, as far as she could tell, carve it off. The chained man's screaming grew louder, as the princess could feel a painful twisting sensation in her own gut. The room was dark, but the filth that caked it told her such vile acts had been going on literally under her feet for her whole life. As she lived, those dragged down here died, in vile darkness.
The prisoner began shaking and screaming, blood flowing freely from his mouth and dripped onto the puddle below, quickly staining it a sickly yellow color.
Then, the man simply let the tongue fall to the ground, into the already defiled pool of water. It was at this point the princess could take no more, and ran up the stairs. With one hand over her mouth to keep anything that might rise inside, her other brushed against the metal adornments on the door. A small scratch was not even worth paying mind to, at this point.
.
.
.
Dragging her hand back into the warmth of the blankets, Zelda mused 'if even those who proclaim to be the holiest can commit such vile acts… I wonder if my captors will do the same to me? I know my life is not forfeit, but what of my body?'
Hours passed, and the princess' only companion was the sound of footsteps, constantly scurrying outside her door. Late into the evening, however, one of those sets of footsteps came up to her door, and one of the many Gerudo guards walked in. Considering the most entertainment the princess had up until then was constantly fiddling with her own hair, she was deathly curious what they had to say to her. As she kept trying to smooth every last hair on her head, the guard said "Princess, you are to come with me. Lord Ganondorf wishes to speak to you."
The princess let out a half-laugh, as the guard lifted one of her eyebrows. "Now why would he want to go and do a thing like that?" Zelda asked, as she outright yanked a particularly stubborn hair right out of her head. For seemingly no reason, she yanked just one out of the opposite side of her head as well.
"… Just come with me." The guard sighed, holding the door open. The princess gave an almost casual shrug, before swinging her legs over the bed and onto the floor. She took her time putting her shoes on, and quickly tried her best to smooth out her dress. After briefly worrying about the cut of the dress attracting unwanted stares, she slowly headed over to the door, following the guard outside of her room.
It was the first time she'd seen the outside of the room, really. The dark grey stone halls were well lit, with lots of torches along the walls. There was also the occasional red and gold banner hanging on the walls, brightening them up significantly, in an aggressive sort of way. There were also a few golden glass orbs hanging from the ceiling, with little flecks of other colors in them. This choice of decoration is what caught the princess' attention the most, as during their walk she bumped into the guard several times. Each time was met with a simple sigh, before she just started walking a little faster. After several minutes, the two came to a set of stone doors that were larger than the others. Each door had a colorful portrait of the typical vision of a king painted on it, also in aggressive shades of red and gold. The one on the left held a sword, while the one on the right had his hand extended to the sky. The guard pushed the doors open, revealing Ganondorf standing at the other end of an almost cozy-looking room, turning to face them.
This room was decorated in warm shades of browns and reds, with a bronze sort of undertone. The many shelves filled with even more numerous books told her this was supposed to be a library, or perhaps a study. Zelda was nudged inside, and the guard shut the door behind her before she could even protest. 'I'm alone with the man predicted to become my greatest enemy. What have I done to warrant this?' the princess thought, staring at man ahead of her. The sheer height difference between the two was the first and most apparent thing to her. She estimated he was easily over six feet tall, if not more so, while she was barely five feet tall herself. He held that aura about him that was often expected for Gerudo males; a powerful build of the body, with a sort of roughness to it, and bright, piercing eyes framed by hair like fire. To Hylians, this man was the embodiment of the cruelty of the desert. His name was a disease, and his existence was seen as a herald of darker times.
And here he was, gesturing for her to take a seat. She did, but more because despite all those hours of sleep, she was still sluggish. "So, why have you called me here, Oh Bearer of Power?" The princess asked, with heavy sarcasm in her tone.
"Because you amuse me." Ganondorf said, after a brief laugh. "Here you are, in the lair of your enemy, and yet you still find the nerve to spit venom at me." He walked over closer to the chair she sat in, towering over her even more since their height difference was now even greater. He also, as the princess noted, had a slight tiredness about him as well. A long day of doing… whatever it is those planning on conquering things did, she guessed.
"I'm not sure if I should be flattered or offended." Zelda muttered, folding her hands in her lap as she somewhat curled her feet closer to the chair defensively. He was intimidating, yes, but she simply didn't like people getting within three feet of her. In this case, she felt justified of this.
"Being flattered will do you much more good in the long run." Ganondorf said, turning his back to her briefly. After walking to the other side of the room and picking up a bronze glass, he turned back around and said "But of course, you know that is not the only reason you are here, correct?"
Zelda nodded quickly, keeping her eyes locked onto his every movement. The memory of the man having his tongue cut was fresh in her mind, and at times she could still smell the dirt and blood. If it came to that, her screams would do her no good, perhaps even less so than they did for the man. "I don't know the full extent of what you are doing, but I do know that by having me here, you have a hostage in a literal sense, as well as in a political sense. Not to mention the religious implications, as a way of sort of repeating the cycle that the citizens fear so much, without resorting to hurt any of them. Yet." She said, in a very plain and matter-of-factly way.
"You haven't seemed very concerned about any of this so far." Ganondorf remarked, with a grin.
"Then perhaps I'm hiding it under a quick tongue and constant, pitiful dreaming. With success." Zelda said, quickly smoothing a few wild strands of hair before returning her hands to her lap.
Ganondorf chuckled, before remarking "You speak like a poet, princess."
"You aren't the first person to tell me this." Zelda responded, sighing after having said that. Despite how utterly intimidating he seemed, he had a sort of brunt honesty about him, she thought. He was clear about all his intentions, good or bad. It was a far cry from the nobles back in Hyrule, who hid what they truly wanted to say behind layers of tame words. Yet he was far from ignorant to social interactions, that much was certain.
The Thief King wasn't ignorant of much at all, in fact. In tone and movement, he conveyed to her that he was far from the brutish human beast she was told to expect. That scared her more. He was capable of thought, of planning, instead of just blindly charging into castle walls with the intent to kill. The mere fact that he somehow got away with her kidnapping in the very heart of the castle spoke volumes of his capability of thought… and, perhaps, his resources.
Her musing came to a close when Ganondorf chuckled once more. The princess came to the embarrassing realization that she was blatantly staring right at him as she tried to mentally break him down, sort him in a category just like everyone else.
As her hair-smoothing habit kicked in out of sheer nervousness, she let out a slightly irritated sigh. This King was not going to be put into a category as easily as others.
Author's Note: I'm having some layout problems, as you can probably tell by the first chapter. Everything I use to separate paragraphs vanishes when I upload it to . Kind of annoying. Oh well, I'll find something.
Mental tic of Zelda's #2: OCD. She's got a thing about her hair being perfectly smooth. OCD's a bitch, I can attest to that.
I hope I established more of their characterization in this chapter. Chapter three is where things start picking up more. Information will be revealed, a minor skirmish will break out, and more dirty secrets will possibly be revealed.
I hope anyone out there cares. ;-; Leave reviews, they are helpful!