Disclaimer:The Legend of Zeldais property ofNintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto, all rights reserved. I am in no way affiliated with these companies, or any legal proceedings concerning The Legend of Zelda. This story has been written purely out of enjoyment, and is not intended to make a profit, steal ideas, or offend anybody. Any similarities between my work and anyone else's is purely coincidental.
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"Purhpciy fu hith Papuulcespi" — Chapter Five: Dark Plots and Cruel IntentionsBy The Last Princess of Hyrule
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The scraping of chairs resonated throughout the castle as the guests rose from their seats at the long table in the Great Hall. The banquet had long since ended, leaving the guests to talk idly between each other.
Coquina sat in her chair comfortably, not speaking to anyone, but reminiscing on the banquet. The lady had never seen such a glorious arrangement of food in her entire life. Everything had been prepared to perfection. Even the presentation of the food was enough to make one's mouth water and the taste was beyond anything she had ever encountered.
The golden platters had held delicacies such as poached scallops, loaves of rye, wheat, and barley bread. There had been baked apples and dried figs covering the now bare plates. The kitchen stewards had placed plates of seasoned fish fresh from the coasts of Labrynna, roasted boar and deer meat flecked with exotic spices, and of coarse, vast amounts and varieties of chicken before the astonished guests.
However, the most amazing part of the meal was the desserts, such as blueberry truffle lined with roasted wintergreen berries. There had been a blackberry current and bowls of sweet chestnuts Prince James proclaimed 'candied'. Someone had even taken the time to make a rice pudding, which Coquina loved.
When the meal finally ended and the dishes swept away, James stood and offered his arm to Princess Liana, which accepted graciously, and walked out of the Hall. Behind them, James's brother, Prince Phillip, rose and strode after. Then, two nursemaids on either side of King Clarence supported his arms and, between them, helped him to stand. As the members of the Silver Legacy exited the Hall, the guests began to follow suit.
As Coquina rose and turned to follow the others, Garret offered her his arm, upon which she lightly rested her hand in the proper fashion of the court.
"Where are we going?" Coquina whispered to Impa, who had been sitting next to her and now was walking beside her.
"The ballroom, of course,"Impa answered, "to dance."
"Oh," Coquina said in a joyful tone. She loved to dance, for it made her feel free. When she had been pregnant, however, she had not been able to attend banquets like these or dance with the Royal Family afterwards. "I haven't been dancing in the longest time."
"Because of your baby?" Impa inquired.
"I was too fat!" exclaimed Coquina.
The women laughed as they trailed the Royal Family to the ballroom, one of the most exquisite rooms in the castle. During the reign of King Tarabeath and Queen Lieu, King Clarence's parents, workers finally finished a grand ballroom, requested by Tarabeath's father, Lucius. The ballroom opened out onto a great balcony of white marble, which stood on the northeastern side of the castle and looked out over Chastrion.
Sleek limestone quarried from Holodrum made up the inner walls of the ballroom, which were as smooth as the James's golden armor. Constructed of at least a dozen white marble pillars was the balcony, the intricate Corinthian heads of the pillars supported the massive, complex arches on which the domed ceiling sat. Painted upon the ceiling were masterful designs of divinity and perfection.
The sight of the magnificent room took Coquina's breath away. She clung to Garret's arm in awe as they made their way into the ballroom and walked over to the pillars that lined the balcony. As the people began to chat with each other again, Coquina let go of Garret's arm and slowly wandered out onto the empty balcony. The lady leaned over handrail and looked out into the dark night. She was surprised to find the sky absolutely black, devoid of any stars. Not even the moon was visible.
That did not really bother her—she had seen moonless nights before. Coquina looked south out over the dark town of Hyrule just beyond the castle. Candles twinkled in the windows of the many homes that lay within its walls. The town of Hyrule reminded Coquina of Chastrion, the way the lights danced in the night. Garret's father and Master of the Knights of Hyrule before him, Sir Gransias had served at Chastrion, as had his father before him and his father before him.
Sighing heavily, Coquina turned back to the ballroom just in time to see the heavy drapes to her left flapping. She ventured over to them warily, but just as she was about to grab one of the folds to pull them aside . . .
"Coquina?" The voice sounded behind her. Coquina jumped around to see Garret watching her, with a strange look on his face. "What are you doing out here?" he asked.
"Just looking at the sky," Coquina said hurriedly. She looked at the drapes one last time and shuddered.
Garret gave her a suspicious look but said no more on the subject. "Well, come inside." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Prince James is about to speak and he would like to meet you."
Coquina nodded and followed her beloved husband back into the glowing ballroom.
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Klof breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the footsteps recede back to the sounds of the rest of the guests. That had been a bit too close; that noblewoman might have seen him. Klof scolded himself for being so foolish.
He had peeked out of his hiding place. It could have been one of his targets, leaving the protective sight of the other nobles, which, though unlikely, was not impossible. However, Klof saw that it was just one of the guests. Nevertheless, there was something about her that he had not credited seeing.
This noble woman was radiant with beauty. Klof was smitten with merely the sight of her. Who would have thought a Hylian could possibly be so beautiful? As soon as he saw her, Klof had not been able to take his eyes off her.
When she turned around, however, Klof realized what danger he was in, goddesses forbid she see him. For as she turned, he heard a voice calling her name, and was still lost to her graces when he heard it, Coquina. What a fitting name for a woman who so resembled a goddess. Unfortunately for Klof, the man who had called her by name was obviously her husband.
That was too bad, for he had liked the look of her. However, that did not matter anymore when he heard his own voice calling out from within. If these Hylians saw him, it would be the end of Klof and his job. Without a second thought, the archer ducked behind the long curtains outside the pillars of the ballroom.
He heard the distinct echo of footsteps coming toward him; the Hylian woman had seen after all. But when her husband's voice called out, he heard her pause, then slowly make her way toward his voice. As their steps died away, Klof relaxed. So long had he wanted a woman of his own, but was he willing to risk everything for this one?
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When they approached the other guests, Garret held out his arm to which Coquina grasped politely. The knight led his lady through the crowd, which parted on either side of to allow them through and up to the princes, their father, and a somewhat nervous-looking princess.
As he reached them, Garret bowed to Royal in turn. Imitating his movements, Coquina curtsied to each member of the Silver Legacy. Prince James smiled at her, took her hand, and kissed it gently. "It is an honor to have you with us, my lady. I can see you are just as beautiful as Sir Garret says."
Flushing and not knowing what else to do, Coquina curtsied again. "Thank you, your majesty."
James nodded and made his way back to Liana, putting his arm around her. Coquina heard the prince whisper a few reassuring words to the distraught princess before Coquina felt someone else grab her hand. The younger prince, Phillip, held it up to his lips and kissed it as Coquina curtsied, waiting for him to drop her hand.
When he did not, she rose and her eyes met his. There was an angry evil glint in them, as if he were planning something. She felt a cold shudder run down her spine, for there was something not right about the youngest monarch. Realizing she had been staring, Coquina lightly tugged her hand from Phillip's grasp and turned away. The lady held her head in the air as she returned to Garret's side; she was determined to retain her pride, and angering one of the Royal Family would not have been a good way to go about it.
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Klof strained his ears to hear what was going on inside the ballroom, but the only sounds that reached him were the low hums of people talking. The archer sighed and slumped to the ground; he would have to move closer if he wanted to see and hear them. How else was he to know when to strike?
But then again, how did he know he would even get the chance? Hylians were devilishly tricky creatures, which used their devious ways to plague good people to their deaths. It was possible that they had tricked Klof into coming here so that they might kill him as they had countless other Terminans. Klof had suffered so much pain at their hands, one would think they would take pity, but no, not demons like these.
The dark archer could remember quite clearly the day they raided his home, a group of Hylian knights led by their master…what was his name again?…Sir Gransias, that was it. It had been an early summer's morning. Klof's village, located at the heart of the forest bordering Hyrule and Termina, was sparsely populated. His people feared the Hylians and not many were willing to live in such close vicinity to them.
It was all because of the stupid Hylian legends. His ancestors long ago had heard of a golden power that the Hylians possessed. Greedy as they were, the ancient Terminans had set out to steal this power, called the Triforce, for their own, but Hylian knights cut them down before they had a chance.
Word of what happened had spread through Termina like a wildfire. Everyone around the kingdom shunned the foolish thieves and resolved never to bow so low as stealing. Months later, an ambassador from Termina made his way with an armed escort to the castle of Hyrule, seeking to form an alliance with the Hylian King. Unfortunately, because they were Terminan, the guards at the castle gates slaughtered the party before they had a chance to explain. From then on, Terminans had lived in fear of the Hylians.
That fear had driven many Terminans to break the ancient oath not to steal. They tried desperately to gain control of the Hylians' Triforce, believing that it possessed some power great enough to stop the suffering in Termina. Liars and thieves soon overran the once prosperous country. Even Termina's king could not keep the people in order. While some loathed Hylians, others feared them. It was a time of darkness for Termina.
The years had passed uneventfully for Klof when he was young, living in a village deep in the Terminan side of the forests that bordered Lake Hylia. There was a Hylian village, called Tyrandora, on the western shores of the lake, and it was purely luck that the two communities lived in peace for so long.
Tyrandora was a bustling society not unlike Chastrion in the far north. Tyrandorian merchants depended on the lake for fishing and the forest for gathering rare roots and herbs to sell. Twenty Hylian knights served at the Tyrandora manor. At the time, Sir Gransias had been observing the happenings of the village to report to the Hylian King.
Tyrandora's location was often a cause for worry among the Hylians. Petty Terminan thieves found the village an ideal location to loot. In response, the Royal Family had a watch station set up as they received word of the large amount of robberies. The watch station, along with the wall that enclosed the village, protected Tyrandora from the Terminan thieves. Even the most determined could not enter anymore.
The watch station called for a larger amount of guards patrolling the grounds, so the population grew as the amount of knights increased. Then, late one summer's afternoon, when Klof was just a boy, the knights attacked his village. The boy had overheard the knights talking about being on some kind of 'routine check' of the area surrounding their station. Only from the events that proceeded was Klof able to determine that a 'routine check' was just another way to say 'mass genocide'.
The boy's village hadn't even gotten the chance to fight back; the knights seemed to appear out of thin air. In no time at all, they had slaughtered everyone in the village, save for Klof, who had been out gathering food, and managed to escape with only a few physical cuts and bruises. The worst of the wounds was not the physical pain he felt, but the great scar across Klof's heart that seemed like it would never stop bleeding.
He would make them pay, Klof had vowed. Somehow, he would go to their castle and take revenge upon the Hylians who had ruined his life.
Everything around him screamed for Klof to run into the unguarded ballroom and take his revenge. The Royal Family of Hyrule was just on the other side of this curtain; it would be so easy just to fling aside the drapes and pelt the Hylians with arrows.
However, another voice within tried desperately to get his attention, telling him to wait, to be true to his word to the prince. The idea was appalling to the archer; be true to a Hylian when they had done what they had to his home? What an outrageous idea! He scoffed at the voice but, try as he might, could not put it out of his mind.
Phillip had offered the archer anything he wanted in return for this one 'favor', to which Klof had given his word. Even if the word of a Hylian meant little more than dirt, the word of a Terminan should still be termed respectable, as it was to him.
Anything he wanted . . . Klof scratched his chin as he pondered the idea. He had come to Hyrule in hopes of avenging his family and perhaps helping Termina in the process. So, maybe he should ask for the golden Triforce. Phillip had said anything and the Triforce had to be something physical, that Klof could wield, and that would spread prosperity across his home. Perhaps the Triforce could save Termina from its own destruction. However, if Phillip refused to hand it over . . . Klof shook his head. He would come to that later.
Satisfied, the dark archer settled down to wait, for his time to strike was at hand.
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Back in the brightly lit ballroom, Prince James clapped his hands together, getting his guests' attention almost at once. The crowd turned to the prince, but he was not looking at them, and hadn't even clapped for their heed. The congregation looked where the prince was gazing.
In front of a large crimson overhang no one had noticed on the far wall, sat a group of minstrels carefully tuning their instruments. They stopped what they were doing and looked up at the many faces staring at them. The musicians smiled, turned to James, who nodded, and they raised their instruments in preparation to play.
"Honored guests." The people turned back to James. "I am deeply gratified by your presence here tonight. And now, we shall dance!"
With that, the minstrels in the corner began to play, and a waltz of all ages reverberated off the walls of the ballroom. Prince James held out his hand to Liana, who accepted it with respect, as he led her onto the smooth white marble floor and they began to dance.
James and Liana whirled around the ballroom in a swirl of color. Liana had changed from the dress she had worn at the christening to a beautiful cerulean ball gown, a jeweled bracelet around her wrist supporting its long, sweeping train off the ground. The ruffled hem lining of her dress shown white as crystals and the diamond tiara in her hair glittered as though it had been set with all the stars in the sky.
James, as well, had shucked his christening garments for something suitable to dance in, ac style unlike any Coquina had ever seen before. The elegant prince wore tall cream-colored leggings with elegant black boots. Hangings of all sorts adorned his loose-fitting shirt, but the mastery of the decorations was a beaten copper chest plate which shown with the carefully etched designs of the Silver Legacy, across which hung a rich violet sash.
The guests marveled as the prince and princess swirled around the ballroom, moving as though one person. Gradually, the other guest began to join and soon the dance floor was a rainbow of stylish tunics and elegant gowns. Garret, emerald eyes glittering, bowed graciously to Coquina who, in return, curtsied so deeply, her back knee touched the ground. Beaming, the knight took his lady's hand and led her onto the dance floor. Song after song they danced together, as Liana and James whirled by ever now and then.
Impa watched from her seat at the wall with no one to dance with and nothing to keep her occupied, as the infant Princess Zelda Gwaelin had been put to be hours before the banquet. The sounds of the music, the bright colors swirling around her, seemed to drive the young caretaker into an almost dreamy state. In fact, all this practically a dream to her. Only a few weeks ago, she had been arguing with the Sheikah in her village, trying to make them understand that it was a good thing to open their home to the Hylians. Relentless as the villagers were, no one had been able not to question their ideals after speaking with Impa.
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