Sheik bounced out of bed the next morning, ready for another day with Link. But one look at Impa's thunderous expression made her rethink her plans.
'I was talking to Link earlier,' she said icily, and Sheik gulped.
'Is he… annoyed that I ran off?'
'Not annoyed, no. He's mainly confused, because he enjoyed his time with you yesterday a lot. And he thought that you were warming up to him too.'
'Things are pretty tropical between us,' Sheik admitted, but quietly enough that Impa couldn't hear her.
'Sheik, what part of "keep your distance" did you not understand?'
'What part of "I'm in love with him" didn't you understand? I'm sorry, I'm just not that good an actress.'
'Clearly,' Impa said scornfully. 'Well, I've already tried to do damage control as much as possible by telling Link that you don't want to see him today.' Sheik frowned.
'When did I say that?'
'You didn't. I did. You have another meeting with the Royal Council today, and after that you are coming straight back here where you will sit quietly and behave yourself.' Sheik's frown deepened. That sounded highly unlikely. Impa shook her head disapprovingly as she helped Sheik into her dress. 'At least Link doesn't seem to suspect anything yet. He knows you've changed, but he doesn't know why and he's too happy with the change to question it.'
'Oh yeah, about that,' Sheik said nervously, fearing Impa's reaction. 'Yesterday we were talking about his kingdom and I told him that I wanted to see it, and he gave me a really weird look. Did Zelda not want to go to Faron or something?'
'She couldn't have imagined anything worse,' Impa said, sighing. 'Partly because she hated anything to do with Link, but mostly because she hates the thought of spending her life in a forest. As a child she was sent to the southern forests of this kingdom every summer, to "enjoy nature", as her father put it. As a result she has cultivated a pathological hatred of nature, and forests in particular. So yes, I can understand why Link was confused when you said you wanted to see his forest kingdom.'
'Oh. Well, I think I managed alright other than that slip. Aren't you proud of me?' Impa just sighed again.
'Come on. We have a meeting to go to.'
'You know, I could have sworn I just had one of these meetings.'
'Yes, that's how the week works,' Impa replied condescendingly. 'You have seven days, and then they repeat on a loop. You have a meeting every week.'
'Is anything important happening today?' Sheik asked, hoping it wasn't.
'No, the meeting should be short. The Council are eager to go back to negotiating with Link's Council.' Sheik sighed as Impa dragged her out of the room.
'I'm still going to have to see Zant thought, aren't I? Oh joy.'
Sheik stared at an ant weaving its way back and forth across the varnished surface of the table. Her advisors were busily talking over her, so it seemed as though she wasn't needed except as a figurehead for the meeting. Unfortunately that still meant she had to sit there, bored out of her mind, pretending she both knew and cared what was going on. Since this was not the case, even the "short" meeting felt as though it had been going on for at least twenty years, and probably a lot longer than that. But finally the advisors managed to bore one another into submission, and Sheik's head shot up as if on a spring.
'Are we done?' she hissed to Impa.
'Yes, I think so. But someone might want to stay behind to talk to you.' Their heads swivelled in unison to the seat which, until a moment ago, had been occupied by Zant. To Sheik's surprise he had been mostly silent during the meeting, staring into space as if he was thinking deeply about something. Sheik wished she knew what it was. She also wished she knew where Zant was hurrying off to, slinking out a side door while the rest of the advisors streamed out the main doors. She narrowed her eyes and glanced at Impa, but the other Sheikah hadn't seen Zant.
'Um… I'll meet you in my room in a few minutes,' she said, rising from her chair. 'I just need to, um, see to something…' Impa moved in front of her, blocking her path.
'You'd better not be sneaking off to see Link.'
'What?' Sheik asked, trotting out the good ol' "injured innocent" expression which had always served her so well.
'Don't think I don't know what you're up to,' Impa warned her, waving a finger. Sheik paused while she tried to decode the double negative, and gave up after a moment.
'I'm not going to see Link. He's meeting with his advisors today anyway, so he's busy. I just need to check something.' Impa frowned, and Sheik silently urged her to make up her mind. Zant was already out of her sight; if she didn't go after him in the next minute or so she would lose him.
'Fine,' Impa said, and Sheik took off, straight towards the side door. 'But I expect to see you up there in ten minutes! Not one moment later!' Impa yelled after her. But Sheik was barely listening, racing through the door and nearly tumbling headlong down a steep flight of stairs beyond it. They went down in a narrow spiral staircase, and Sheik descended hesitantly.
She had never been in this part of the castle before, and she had no idea where the staircase led. There were no windows, only the occasional smoky torch to supply the ambience which Sheik's sense of narrative required. The villain had run off down a sort-of-secret staircase, so that staircase had to be lit only by smoky torches. Otherwise there was no justice in the world.
She kept going, and had soon lost all sense of direction. But there was a door at the bottom which Sheik inched open, peering out carefully. Her thief's instincts were taking over, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood to attention. The door opened into a dark room, lit by more torches, and Sheik cautiously went in. Something cold and hard clinked against her foot, and she muffled a gasp as she realised that it was a chain. She was in the dungeons.
'Okay…' she whispered to herself. 'Just stay calm. Zant's down here somewhere. Besides, it's your castle. Even if he does find you here, what's he going to do? You have every right to be here.' But that didn't offer much comfort. No-one knew where she was, not even Impa. If she caught Zant doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing, all he had to do was hit her hard on the head with one of these chains. Then he could spout some rubbish about how she'd tripped and fallen, and no-one would ever know what had happened. The thought made her shiver.
She was about to edge further into the room when she heard footsteps approaching, and shrank back into the shadows. A… thing emerged into the pool of torchlight. Sheik knew "thing" wasn't very politically correct, but she honestly could not come up with any other way to describe what she was seeing. The thing looked like someone had tried to mould a man out of putty, having only heard stories of what a man was supposed to look like.
It was humanoid, just about, but with elongated arms which dragged on the ground while its legs were barely a third of the length. Its neck was stretched up from its broad shoulders, ending in a face with pale blue skin and glowing red eyes. The whole appearance reminded Sheik of a certain someone, and she realised that this creature must be a Twili, the same race as Zant. She had never seen another one before, but she had no doubt that this one would stay with her in her nightmares. At that moment another nightmarish figure stepped from the shadows, but at least Sheik recognised this one. Zant checked to make sure there was no-one else in the dungeon, his gaze sweeping over the pool of shadow which concealed Sheik. When he was satisfied, he turned to the other Twili.
'There has been a change to our plans,' he said in a low voice. The Twili's impassive face didn't change, but its voice held a note of surprise.
'You no longer want me to kill the princess?' it asked, and Sheik shoved her fist in her mouth to muffle her gasp. Zant was hiring an assassin? To kill Zelda? She knew there was no love lost between the Princess and her most hated advisor, but even so this shocked her. Why would Zant want Zelda dead? And anyway, what was this mysterious change in plans?
'Oh, I still need Zelda gone,' Zant replied with a slight smile which exposed his pointed teeth. 'But I have discovered something which complicates matters. The Zelda in the castle at this moment is not the real princess. She is an imposter, who changes back into her real form at sunset.' Sheik was glad that her fist was still in her mouth, because otherwise she was sure she would have screamed.
Zant knows! He knows! How could he possibly know? But her treacherous memory replayed the scene from the night before. She had been so anxious to get away from Link that she had completely forgotten about the possibility of anyone else seeing her. Come to think of it, Zant had wanted to speak to her earlier that day, but had gone away without much comment when she had told him to. It was easy for her to believe that he might have stayed nearby, and seen her when she changed back into her own body.
But if he had such damaging information, why hadn't he used it? The entire Royal Council had been at the meeting earlier, it would have been the easiest thing in the world for Zant to expose her in front of everyone. If he was keeping something as big as this to himself, he must have something else planned. Sheik shivered as she strained her ears, trying to make out what Zant was saying, but he lowered his voice even further.
'My plan only requires Zelda to be out of the way, which she must be now, if there's an imposter in her place. I no longer need you to murder Zelda in her own palace, and risk being found out. All I need to do is expose the imposter, who will be executed for treason. And at the same time, I get rewarded for revealing her.'
'But what about when the real Zelda comes back?' the Twili asked, in a voice so low Sheik could barely hear. 'Everyone will congratulate you for exposing this imposter, but as soon as the Princess returns things will go back to the way they were. What do you get out of it?'
'Ah, that's where you come in. Once I have exposed the imposter I can accuse her of anything I like, including Zelda's murder. Then all you have to do is make sure that the real Zelda doesn't come back. My spies haven't been able to find her yet, so I assume she has left Hyrule, but as soon as she returns I will be the first to know. Then you will deal with her, and no-one will be any the wiser.'
'You think people will believe that the imposter killed Zelda?' the Twili asked, a slight frown forming.
'Of course! And besides, evidence is easily forged and easily planted. It'll be my word against hers.' Oh Din, Sheik thought. It will be, won't it? He's going to expose me, and then even Impa won't be able to save me. I'll be executed. They'll kill me. And then this assassin is going to kill Zelda. Why is he doing this? And more importantly, how do I stop him? But to Sheik's surprise, the Twili was hesitating.
'What's the problem?' Zant hissed impatiently. 'The deal is the same as before. You kill Zelda, I pay you. The only difference is that now you don't have to sneak past every guard in the castle to kill her, you just have to surprise her in some forest somewhere.'
'I don't know,' the Twili replied, looking back at the door. Sheik found herself praying that the Twili's conscience would kick in. After all, what kind of despicable creature would accept payment to kill someone? More to the point, what kind of despicable creature would pay someone to kill someone? A despicable creature like Zant, whose tone had turned persuasive.
'Think what you'll get out of this. I'll be able to make this worth your while when I'm king…' Sheik couldn't help it. A loud gasp escaped her mouth, and both Twili's heads shot over to where she was. She moved quickly, managing to slip back through the door just as Zant strode over to the patch of shadows where she had been hiding only moments earlier. She could hear his breathing, mere inches away from her. The door was still open a crack, just enough for her to see him turn back to the other Twili.
'I'll send you details later. I expect you to be ready as soon as I can find Zelda. I'll deal with the imposter.' With that he wrenched open the door, just as Sheik took off up the staircase. She raced up it, thanking the Goddesses that she was wearing soft boots which muffled her rapid footsteps.
She could hear Zant coming up the staircase behind her as she shot through the door at the top, remembering just in time not to slam it shut. She raced across the hall, skidded on the smooth marble floor, and momentum carried her around the corner and out of sight just in time, as Zant emerged from the door and looked around suspiciously. She leant against the wall, trying to calm her breathing, before racing through the castle to find Impa.
'You took your time! I was about to come look for you,' Impa said sternly as Sheik entered her room, panting heavily. One look at her flushed face deepened Impa's frown, and she folded her arms. 'You had better not have been to see Link.' It took Sheik a moment to work out what Impa was implying, but when she did her blush only deepened.
'For the last time, I was not seeing Link! This was about Zant!'
'Oh. Well, that's a different matter entirely,' Impa said, calming down.
'Yeah, I think he's planning something!'
'When isn't he? But whatever it is, I suggest you leave it to the guards to sort out,' Impa said, coming over and smoothing Sheik's dress down. 'Remember, you have an afternoon of being on your best behaviour ahead of you.'
'But-' Sheik protested as she was led over to a desk piled high with paperwork.
'No. You are not running off again to try to sort out some imagined plot by Zant. I know he's an arse, but he's also a member of the Royal Council and you can't just go around accusing him of things. Besides, even if he is up to something, what could you do about it? You'd only make a mess of it. No, leave these things to the guards. It'll take more than Zant to get you out of doing some proper work for once.' Sheik opened her mouth, about to protest that she had proof, when she stopped herself. She didn't have proof, did she? She knew that Zant was planning to have Zelda killed, but her only evidence of that was an eavesdropped conversation, and that wouldn't stand up in any court of law.
She knew she still had to tell Impa, to warn her of the impending danger, but the older Sheikah's words had stung. You'd only make a mess of it. The cheek of that woman! When had she ever made a mess of anything? Alright, most days of her life, but that wasn't the point! She had to stop Zant and she knew that if the guards got involved Zant would just lie his way out of it. Quite possibly by exposing Sheik, so she'd be executed, and then he'd be free to kill Zelda anyway. No, she had to stop him herself, and if Impa was going to be like that then she'd just have to do it without her.
But she did still need some help from Impa. She knew that Zant's plot somehow involved him killing Zelda and then becoming king, so there was no need to search for a motive, but how did Zant think he would become king? Sheik didn't know much about royalty, but she did think the line of succession involved slightly more than brutally murdering the current royal.
'Impa…' she began.
'Whatever you want, the answer's no,' Impa replied from the couch, not looking up from her book.
'I just have a question. Say the worst was to happen and something happened to Zelda, what would happen then? Since she doesn't have any kids, I mean. Would Link become king or something?'
'Only if Zelda died after they were already married. If she died before that…' Impa paused. 'This is all hypothetical, yes? You're just inquiring? You don't have any reason to be asking this, do you?'
'Oh, no reason at all!' Sheik said with her most sincere expression. She knew it was wrong to put Zelda's life and her own life in danger out of sheer pettiness, but she was determined to prove Impa wrong. And that meant doing this by herself.
'Good. Then… well, the kingdom would be thrown into chaos. That's part of the reason why the Council is so keen on this marriage: the sooner Zelda marries, the sooner she can have children, and the sooner the line of succession is secured. But if the worst were to happen, the Council would take over and try to run the kingdom as best they could. Of course, the kingdom would need a permanent ruler, and in those circumstances the Council would probably take anyone who was of reasonably noble blood and who acted like they knew what they were doing. One of the Council members would be a good pick. Anyone who took charge in a crisis like that and stopped the kingdom falling into ruin would be first in line to be the next ruler.'
'A-ha,' Sheik said thoughtfully. So that was Zant's plan. Expose her, announce that Zelda was dead, take charge in the inevitable chaos, and garner so much support and respect for his actions that he would be made king. It had a certain logic to it, Sheik supposed. She might almost have admired the plan, if it hadn't involved her death. So now she knew what Zant was up to, all she had to do was stop him. It sounded simple enough, but she had to get proof. That was the hard part. She could spread all the rumours about Zant she wanted, but without proof it would be his word against hers, and all anyone had to do was wait until sunset to see that he was right. But what proof could she possibly use?
She thought back to the conversation she had overheard. The Twili assassin could be proof, but she had no idea how to find them and she doubted they would talk anyway. What else, what else… I'll send you details later. Those were Zant's words. She liked the idea of sending. That sounded like something substantial. A letter, perhaps, or at the very least a memo. But at any rate, something with Zant's seal and signature which she could wave around as proof of his plan. She smiled to herself. Yes, that would do it.
'I do hope that smile is related to the enormous stack of paperwork you still have to do,' Impa commented.
'Absolutely,' Sheik replied, throwing herself into the task of reading and signing with such vigour that Impa wondered if she had been hit on the head. Sheik worked diligently all day, barely stopping for lunch, and when Impa finally left her for the day Sheik patted her on the back. 'I think we did good work today,' she said, looking pleased with herself.
'Er… yes…' Impa said distractedly. Sheik's behaviour was really starting to worry her. The last time she had looked this happy was when she had been preparing to haggle with the Goron ambassador. Then again, that hadn't turned out so badly, and she had to admit that Sheik had more or less behaved herself, so she decided that it was probably alright to leave the door unlocked.
Sheik smiled as she heard the click of the door but not the click of the lock. Then she looked down at her fist, clenched around something she had lifted from Impa's pocket when she had been busily patting the other Sheikah on the back to distract her. Once a thief, always a thief. She opened her hand carefully, looking down at the Deku Nut she held. It's going to be a fun night, she thought with a grin.
She was struggling into her bodysuit even before the sun had set, but once she was back in her own body she pulled the bandages out of the chest and started to wind them around her face. There was a good chance that someone was going to see her tonight, and even though Zant would probably instantly recognise her even with the bandages, if a maid or someone else saw her in passing they at least wouldn't be able to see her face and tell the guards what she looked like. It wouldn't be much protection, especially if she was caught, but she wasn't going to get caught. She repeated the mantra to herself under her breath as she prepared herself. I will not get caught, I will not get caught, I will not get caught...
She stared at herself in the mirror for a few moments, checked that she was unrecognisable, then set off through the castle. She knew vaguely where Zant's room was, and most of the castle's inhabitants were currently feasting in the Great Hall downstairs, so she would have time to search. She stuck to the shadows as much as possible, her long-ignored Sheikah instincts coming back into play. More than once she went completely unnoticed as a maid passed by, and she breathed a quick prayer of thanks to whatever god looked after the Sheikah. She wasn't entirely sure there was one, but she would take any divine help offered tonight.
Finally she reached a long corridor of rooms where the Council members lived. She opened each door in turn, wondering how she would know which room was Zant's. But as she opened the next door she felt a rush of freezing air escape the room, and knew she was in the right place. Who else would live in a room which was several degrees colder than the rest of the castle? No wonder Zant looked like a zombie, since his room felt like a morgue.
Sheik shivered, half-closing the door. She knew she should shut it all the way, but she didn't want to cut off her escape route. She also didn't want to be trapped in this eerie room. One wall was lined with bookshelves holding books in some foreign language, presumably Twili, but Sheik could see no other writing, nothing which could possibly be the "details" he had promised the assassin. The desk had been swept clean, with not so much as an ink splodge to be seen. Sheik sighed, and tried to think.
Okay, imagine you're an evil murdering bastard. Where would you hide what's essentially a death warrant? She thought about it. Not in plain sight, obviously. A secret drawer or something… She scanned the desk, feeling her way along it for any hidden catches. Nothing revealed itself to her, so she turned her attention to the rest of the room. The pictures were lifted from their hooks, the books were removed one by one in case any of them was hiding a secret switch, but there was nothing. It was a perfectly ordinary room. Sheik frowned, folding her arms.
Where would I hide something like that? There has to be a secret drawer. Her frown deepened. But then… if I actually had something like that… I wouldn't leave it lying around in my room, not even in a secret drawer. Especially if I thought my top-secret assassination plan had been overheard by someone earlier. No, if I had something like that… there's only one place I would keep it. And that's with me at all times. There was a sound behind her, a kind of silvery whisper. She spun round, and gulped as she saw Zant standing in the doorway. He bowed, keeping the sword he held perfectly level.
'Good evening, your Majesty,' he said in a voice dripping with sarcasm.
'Erm…' Sheik replied, backing away slightly. Zant carefully closed the door behind him. Not getting out that way, Sheik thought, taking a few more steps back.
'I was wondering when you'd turn up,' Zant said conversationally.
'Were you?' Sheik replied, keeping her eyes fixed on the sword. It moved hypnotically back and forth, getting ever closer.
'Yes. I assume you're looking for this?' Zant asked, reaching into a pocket and withdrawing a slim letter. Sheik almost lunged for it, but stopped herself just in time. Okay, she thought. This is it. Deer in a landslide. I've slipped, I'm off-balance, but I haven't been crushed yet. If I can just manage to get to safe ground, I'll be fine. That's the letter I want, right there. I just need to get it from him somehow… She folded her arms, raising an eyebrow.
'What's that, your shopping list?' she asked with as much disdain as she could manage, which wasn't much. It was enough to make Zant frown, however.
'No, you moron. It's the letter I'm going to send to a very good friend of mine, who will then go and kill your little friend Zelda.'
'My friend? Please. Zelda is a lot of things, but my friend is not one of them. Now how exactly do you expect me to believe that that is a death warrant? It's probably just a folded-up newspaper! You're trying to scare me! And it's not going to work.' She raised an eyebrow, in what she considered to be quite an impressive manner. She had seen Impa's eyebrow-raising enough times by now, and had learnt from the master. Zant's frown deepened, and he opened the letter, holding it up in front of her. Ah, Sheik thought. He wants me to be sure that it's real. He wants me to be scared. So he'll do anything to convince me. She grinned very slightly. Maybe this was going to be easier than she thought.
'Sorry, I can't read Twili,' she said, pretending to squint at the sheet of paper he was brandishing at her.
'It's in Hylian! Or can't you even read that?' he sneered. Sheik leant closer, trying to ignore the sword waving around near her left ear.
'How do I know you even wrote that?' she asked, taking another step forward.
'Maybe because I signed it? Or because it has my seal on it? You can act as ignorant as you want, but this letter is all I need to destroy you and the Princess, and you know it.'
'I'm not really sure what I know, looking at that,' Sheik commented, leaning close enough that she could almost touch the letter. 'Ye gods, your handwriting is atrocious!' Zant paused, put off by her attitude. Nearly there, nearly there… 'So what you're saying,' she said, taking one final step closer and reaching into her pocket, 'is that this letter, in effect, proves that you are plotting to kill Zelda and thereby committing an act of treason?' Zant thought about this.
'I suppose…' he said, sounding unsure now. His mind was running ahead of the conversation, and had just realised where Sheik was going with this.
'Then I'll be taking that,' Sheik said, reaching out and snatching the letter from his grasp in one smooth movement. Then, without giving Zant time to react, she hurled the Deku Nut in her other hand on the ground. Zant raised a hand to shield his eyes, but as soon as the flash faded he brandished his sword, ready to make short work of the intruder. His mood, already darkened by the thought of his schemes being revealed by a common thief, was not improved when he saw that said common thief was nowhere to be seen.
He yelled for the guards, and Sheik could hear the sound of many heavy boots clumping along the corridor outside at high speed. However, this knowledge had to be temporarily put to one side in favour of a more pressing problem: she was currently hanging from the window-ledge by the tips of her fingers, over a forty-foot drop onto solid rock, and her grip was slipping.
A/N: An actual and literal cliffhanger. Or window-hanger. Close enough. Anyway, you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if Sheik survives this!
