"And what happened then?"
"I charged the bars of the cell," Link said for the umpteenth time.
"And then?"
"I fell," Link said acrimoniously. "I was in chains, if you recall, your lordship."
"And then what?" Lord Cox demanded of him.
"The intruder disappeared," Link replied.
"What do you mean he disappeared?" Lord Cox said. "Be specific."
"I mean he vanished," Link replied. "He just melted into the darkness."
Lord Cox slammed his hand down on the table in front of Link in what was meant to be a threatening gesture. Link didn't flinch, and returned the lord's glare that with a look that was part hateful and part disgusted. Embarrassingly, his stomach chose that moment to voice a complaint or two to the entire room.
Link frowned down at it, willing it to be quiet. It would not, and with good reason because he was fairly starving. The dark, depressing dungeon beneath Hyrule Castle was hardly a true dungeon at all. Thieves and other petty criminals who were arrested in Castle Town stayed only briefly in the Castle Town dungeon before they were carted off to the countryside to serve out their sentences there. Even high-profile criminals enjoyed only a brief sojourn in the dungeons before they met their fates.
As a result, during Link's stay in the dungeon the entire complex had been silent and completely empty, save for him. Guards came by once every three hours to check on him, and three times each day one of them would come by with a meal for him. Without the light of the sun to guide him, it was the only way to keep track of time. By his estimates, the guard had been killed in the wee hours of the morning, around midnight, meaning that the next guard had not arrived until three, by which time the body had grown cold and the doppelganger had long gone.
The next guard who swung by had taken one look at the corpse and, after hearing Link's account of what happened, dashed off down the corridors in search of the killer despite Link's protests. At about six o' clock, by the time the third shift finally swung by the second guard still hadn't returned and Link doubted that he ever would.
The third guard, however, was less amenable to hearing Link's story than the last one and Link quickly found himself chained and dragged upstairs to wait for Lords to arrive for his hearing. Unfortunately highborn sorts were infamously late risers, and although they arrived with unusual alacrity, no doubt enthused by the idea of doing away with the Queen's lowborn fiancé, but they still took their own precious time arriving.
By the time all nine lords had assembled some two hours later, Link was tired and he desperately wanted something to eat but despite his persistent and repeated requests, no food appeared forthcoming. He was half-tempted to take a bite out of Lord Cox, just to show him he meant business.
"You don't honestly expect us to believe that, do you, Sir Link?" Lord Cox asked.
"You asked me what happened," Link said with a scowl. "I'm telling you what happened."
"I don't quite think I like your tone, Sir Link," Lord Cox said sharply.
Link narrowed his eyes. "I don't quite like yours either," he said.
"You're on unstable ground as it is, Sir Link, you've already been accused of high treason," Lord Cox growled. "Don't make me add murder to the list."
Link nearly rolled his eyes at that. While it hadn't been readily apparent when he was first hauled into the room in chains, it was now quite clear to him that he was not going to be given a fair trial. If they had their way they would see him found guilty punished to the full extent of the law. Luckily, in their eagerness to see him dispatched, they had forgotten to invite Zelda to the trial and no verdict could be passed without her presence.
Before Link could tell Lord Cox exactly where he could put his list, the heavy wooden doors at the end of the hall began to open with a great creaking of hinges. Lord Cox looked away from his interrogation of Link, ready to sink his teeth into the poor fool who had interrupted him, only to fall silent before he saw who was standing in the doorway.
"Your Majesty!" he cried.
Link craned his neck just enough to catch a glimpse of Zelda charging towards them around Lord Cox's broad-shouldered bulk. She didn't exactly charge, being too dignified to move at anything faster than a brisk trot, but her short, crisp steps and the square set of her shoulders made it clear that she was biting mad.
"What is the meaning of this?" Zelda demanded of the assembled peerage. "How dare you take my fiancé into custody without informing me?"
"Your Majesty—" Lord Cox began.
"And then you have the audacity to attempt to question him in secret, without my knowledge, like a common criminal!" she continued, looking directly at Lord Cox.
"We did not think the proceedings of this hearing would concern you, Your Majesty," Lord Cox said.
"Didn't concern me? Perhaps you are forgetting, Lord Cox, that Sir Link is my betrothed and will soon be Prince of Hyrule," she said frostily. "Please bear in mind that any and all debates regarding him are my business as well. Or did you expect me to stand idly by while you haul him off to an execution?"
Lord Cox fell silent and Zelda glared at him for a moment more before asking, "What crime is he accused of?"
"Murder, Your Majesty," one of the soldiers said. "One of the guards was found in front of his cell in a pool of his own blood."
Zelda nodded her thanks to the guard and then turned expectantly to Link. "Is this true?" she asked.
"Yes," Link replied, "but I didn't murder anyone. That guard stopped by to let me out under your orders, but your little friend from the other night apparently decided to pay me a visit at the same time. I didn't see what happened after that. When I looked around the guard was already dead."
Zelda's expression faltered for a moment. A brief glimmer of that same wild, profound fear that he had smelled on her that first night flickered across her face, then she schooled her expression into an impassive mask and the fear was gone. "You saw it?"
"He looked exactly like me," Link said, shaking his head as he tried to make sense of it all. "Exactly like me, but his voice was all wrong. After he murdered the guard, I raised the alarm, but no-one answered."
"If Her Majesty's attacker and Sir Link's killer are indeed the same man then the threat on our hands may be greater than we thought," a new voice said. Link was curious how there could be any greater threat than a plot to assassinate the Queen, but he was glad to hear from someone who didn't seem to have his imprisonment foremost in their mind. At length, he was able to recognise the owner of the voice as Lord Curley. Link had never heard Lord Curley speak before; he hadn't realised that he could.
"I propose we start a special task force to catch this criminal," Lord Curley said." Sir Link, of course, should be the head of this task force. It is his place as the Queen's champion to deal with this sort of threat, and he is the only person who has seen this person with his own eyes, Her Majesty excluded."
"A worthy idea, Lord Curley. I shall consider it," Zelda said, looking directly at Lord Cox once more to see if he would reply.
Lord Cox, realising that he had already incurred enough of the Queen's wrath for one day, wisely kept his mouth shut and his opinions to himself. However, one of the women hovering over Zelda's shoulder snorted derisively and then tried to disguise her indiscretion with a loud cough.
"Is there a problem, Lady Chiswick?" Zelda asked.
"Your Majesty, with all due respect, this is madness," Lady Chiswick said. "We are trying to ascertain whether or not Sir Link is the killer in the first place and Your Majesty and Lord Curley want to make him head of a task force to catch a killer that may or may not be him?"
"Sir Link would never take an innocent life," Zelda said dismissively. "And if his word is not enough for you, know that I have been down to his cell myself and I know for a fact that he could barely even reach the bars chained as he was, far less for slit anyone's throat."
"You've gone down to the dungeons to see him?" Lady Chiswick said with interest.
Zelda shot her a scathing look. "He. Is. My. Fiancé," she said. "Of course I would go to see him."
"Your Majesty—" Lord Cox began
"Enough! I don't know why I am even entertaining this drivel; this is not even a real meeting of the Council!" Zelda said. "You've already upset me enough for the day without forcing me to sit through more of what I perceive to be a grievous waste of my time. You are all dismissed."
Several members of the Council, Lady Chiswick in particular, looked as though they might protest but Zelda decisively ended the conversation by getting up from her chair. The guards unlocked Link's manacles at once and the chains slithered off him, falling heavily to the ground and the Council watched in silence as Link fell into step with Zelda and the two of them left the great hall together.
They took the circuitous route back to Zelda's study, and not a word passed between them during that whole time. Only once they were both safely within the confines of her study and the door was shut firmly behind them did Zelda let out a loud sigh and clasp her hand to her chest.
"Good goddesses, that was nerve wracking," she said, her voice trembling.
"Hey, it's alright," he said, as soothingly as we could. "I'm alright. We're alright."
Unsure of what else could say to calm her, he opened his arms for a hug and, to his relief, she readily came to him. Her arms wound tightly around his waist, fingers digging into the fabric of his clothes like she was afraid that he would drift away from her.
"What am I to do with you, Link?" she said finally. "You have such a knack for getting into trouble. How am I supposed to keep you safe if you can't even keep yourself safe?"
Link didn't know what to say to that and instead pressed a tentative kiss to her cheek. Zelda's shoulders relaxed and she leaned further into him, pressing their bodies flush together. Link tried to ignore the butterflies that had suddenly taken flight in his stomach.
"You guys need some privacy?" Ashei's voice said suddenly.
Zelda let out a little cry of alarm and pushed Link off her, scooting a respectable distance away from him. He shot Ashei a baleful look for interrupting their moment with her intrusion, which Ashei ignored entirely. It was beyond him how Ashei was able to sneak around so efficiently.
"You've done well, Ashei," Zelda said. "I dread what the Council might have done to Link, had you not informed me of their intentions."
"I'm much more concerned by the fact that a guy who had the guts to murder someone right in front of me is still running free," Link said brusquely. "Lord Curley had the right idea. We should be trying to catch this bastard."
"Lord Curley does have a point," Zelda said, "but we must be careful. However human that creature looked, it was most certainly magical in origin. We can't ignore the idea that someone may have sent it after us specifically, in which case sending you after it would be a poor choice indeed."
"Fine," Link said, unwilling to let the matter drop. "I won't go. We'll send the soldiers after it."
"Link," Zelda said in a long-suffering voice. "This creature, whatever it is, killed an innocent man just because he happened to be near you. What do you think it would do if we sent troops after it?"
"So what are we supposed to do then?" Link demanded. "Wait for him to come back? What if he succeeds the second time?"
"Well unless you have a way to apprehend its master then I'm afraid that that's exactly what we shall have to do," Zelda said. "I'm sorry, Link."
"Hmmm, well that shouldn't be too difficult," Ashei said, scratching her chin in an exaggerated gesture. "Well, who do we know who can use magic and has beef with Link? Oh, I know…"
"Prince Alistair," Link snarled, finishing the thought for her. "That rat bastard. I'll kick his ass."
"Link, please! Language!" Zelda reprimanded.
"Fine. What I meant to say is that I intend to apply my foot to His Highness' posterior with great force," he said. Does that suffice?"
Zelda groaned and threw her hands up in exasperation.
"Yeah, let's kick his ass," Ashei said eagerly. Ashei was never selfish where handing out beatings was concerned. "I've never beaten up a prince before. I hear they're soft and squishy, like babies."
"No-one will be beating anyone up," Zelda said decisively.
"Alright fine, but he's still the prime suspect in an assassination attempt on the Queen's life," Link said, a bit too eagerly. "Let's arrest him."
"A high-profile suspect," Zelda put in. "We don't need to strain out relationship with Holodrum any more than necessary by arresting their youngest heir, now do we?"
Link only looked at her sullenly.
Zelda groaned and rolled her eyes at him again. "Fine, we shall just have to agree to disagree," she said. "Now if you'll excuse me I have a bath waiting for me upstairs. It's much too early for this sort of nonsense. As for you, you should go up to your quarters and get some rest. You look positively exhausted."
Link felt exhausted, but he'd be damned if he admitted it, especially when there was danger around. "I understand," was his only reply, a reply that often preceded an act of disobedience.
Zelda must have somehow picked up on it, for she turned to Ashei and said, "Ashei, see that Link returns to his quarters without distraction."
Link opened his mouth to protest but Zelda was gone, turning on her heel and departing from the room in a flurry of silk skirts. Ashei grinned up at Link and elbowed him in the ribs. "Bedtime, kiddo," she said.
Troublesome though she was, Ashei was as loyal as they came and saw to it that he made it to his barely recognised his bedroom anymore, it was so tidy. His bed had been straightened and made with fresh sheets, the marble floors were freshly swept and gleaming and all his battle trophies neatly arranged on his previously-empty bookshelves. The servant girl that had been in the room before them, sweeping up whatever single specks of dust had been, gave a loud squeak when he entered and almost dropped her broom in alarm.
"Alright, get in," Ashei said, jerking her head in the direction of his bed.
"Ashei this is ridiculous," Link protested, trying to appeal to her common sense. Ashei was a soldier, and would be easier to convince than Zelda. "We're wasting valuable time we should be using to catch this thing."
Unfortunately, Ashei was made of sterner stuff than he had expected. "Don't make me say it again," she warned him with a smile. "I'll put you in there myself."
Link groaned but complied. He stripped off his dirty, smeared clothing in a last ditch attempt to scare her off, but Ashei remained completely unfazed by his display of indecency. The servant girl, however, looked on with a mixture of discomfort and avid curiosity as he stripped down to his underclothes and climbed between the sheets.
Ashei nodded her approval at him and excused herself from the room, nearly dragging the maid out with her. "Make yourself comfy," she said.
Link spitefully refused to make himself comfy. Several times, he peeked out the door to see if Ashei was still there but she always was and she made threatening gestures in his direction when she saw him looking at her. She was obviously deriving way too much enjoyment from pushing him around. Somewhere in between Link's petulant sulking and devising plans that would get rid of Ashei, sleep finally claimed him. He did not rest peacefully, visions of Alistair's gaunt face and his double's cruel, bloodthirsty eyes haunted his dreams, chasing him, throwing insults, clawing at the edges of his consciousness.
When he finally pried his eyes open he knew at once that despite his unwillingness he had managed to sleep the day away. The heavy velvet drapes had been shut to keep the daylight out, but a column of stark white moonlight still streamed through a chink in the curtains, illuminating the unused desk by the window.
Cursing himself for falling asleep, Link fought his way free of the sheets and reached for his sword, but instead of the well-worn hilt of his blade his fingers closed on empty air. Link cursed again. He usually slept with his sword leaned against his bedside table, within arms' reach in case he had to answer a call in the middle of the night, but now the room was clean and the weapon was gone.
He dressed himself in the dark and then spent a good fifteen minutes pawing around for his sword before he eventually found it displayed on a wall-mounted stand. His shield was nearby, wedged into the crevice between his chest of drawers and the wall. What was the point of having a clean room if it only made things harder to find?
He eased the door open a crack and peeped through it, searching for Ashei, but the hall was as still and silent as the grave. Ashei must have given up trying to outwait him and gone to bed. He pushed the door open further, let himself out and proceeded down the hall as quietly as possible, making sure to take the staircase that led away from Zelda's apartments, not towards it.
"Where do you think you're going?" Ashei's voice demanded in a voice that was sharp, but quiet. Obviously she had no intention of raising an alarm.
Link turned slowly. "Depends on who's asking?" he said.
Ashei gave him a measured look. "A friend," she replied at length, meaning that whatever he said next would be off the record.
"I'm going after Prince Alistair," he whispered. "I need to know if he sent that double after me and Zelda."
"Zelda said to leave it alone," Ashei said.
"Zelda says a lot of things," Link retorted, "but she's not a military woman. Are we really going to leave another dark wizard to run around the realm and turn into the next Ganondorf?"
When Ashei did not reply immediately Link knew he had her but, troublesome to the end, she put up a last bit of token resistance. "Okay, so what if you track down Prince Alistair and it turns out that he's the guy?" Ashei demanded. "What are you going to do then?"
The fingers of Link's sword hand twitched. "Let's hope for both our sakes that it isn't him," he said carefully.
Ashei was not fooled by the euphemism. She was just as battle-hardened as he, if not more so, and had long since come to understand the secret language of warriors. She lingered on the landing a moment longer, torn, and then pattered down the stairs to join him.
"You don't have to come with me," Link said as graciously as possible.
"Link, shut up and drop the macho act, yeah?" Ashei scoffed. "I'll be damned if I let you take this thing down by yourself and hog all the glory as usual. You need an extra pair of eyes out there. I'm coming whether you want me to or not."
A/N: Soooo...I haven't updated this story in a month. More than a month actually. I bet you guys were probably thinking something along the lines of "Girl, so you quitting this story or nah?". Well, I'm not quitting it's just...college tho [looks wistfully off into the distance]...college tho.
This would be a pretty shit time to quit because this chapter marks the half-way point in the story. Obviously, these guys have had it too good for far too long and it's time to see some blood, sweat and tears. Especially tears, those are my fave. Please stay tuned for chapter titles (probably), Link and Ashei friendship, and the third major plot point. It's a doozy.