Ganondorf's army had made excellent progress. By the time Link had managed to finagle his way into the castle, they were merely an hour's travel from it on their horses. The spirit beasts knew no exhaustion or hunger; they ran without fatigue. Ganondorf rode at his own pace; sometimes ahead of his men, sometimes mingled among them, letting them move around him like a river. The first of the soldiers to spy the castle turrets let loose a battle cry, and the sound echoed behind him as the others shouted as well. Ganondorf smiled, his lips curling around his teeth.
"ONWARD!" he bellowed over them, and they began to use true speed now.
-
Zelda was starting to come back around when she heard the warning horns going off.
"An attack?" she groaned, as she rubbed her eyes and sat up. The water for her tea was almost ready, and with some reluctant permission, Link had been sitting by Zelda's bed, the oleander leaves already wrapped in a tea ball. Zelda forced herself out of bed, but her legs were weak, and she fell to her knees. Link jumped to his feet and tried to help her up, but Zelda shook him off and stood on her own. She tested her balance, and when it felt safe to trust it again, she moved on and gestured to Mila for a heavier and more regal robe over the thinner one she was wearing. Mila put it on her shoulders and tied it for her, trying to keep pace as Zelda headed to the door of her chambers. The guards snapped to attention.
"Call everyone! Call the reserve forces! Wake up those that are sleeping! An attack force has been spotted, and we must prepare Hyrule for defense!" Zelda barked out orders quickly as she moved, Link half-following her, glancing back at the kettle hanging over the fire. Zelda turned and glanced at him, pointing one regal finger. "You wait here, and watch that kettle, if you are so concerned for it." She turned back and left the rooms, and Link frowned, sitting back down reluctantly, stamping his feet.
Zelda walked quickly down the hall and out towards the main hall. Servants were astonished to see her up and about, bowing hastily. "Get to your rooms!" she snapped at them. "Can't you hear the horns? Get yourselves somewhere safe!" They ran off, the guards breaking from their posts and following her in a slowly-gathering horde.
-
Outside the castle market, the drawbridge was being hastily raised, as fast as its clinking chains would allow. A storm rolled towards the castle, thunder grumbling overhead. Hawkers scrambled to close their shops and tuck their wares away somewhere safe; people locked the windows and doors of their homes. The guards in the high watch towers kept their eyes peeled towards the mass heading their way, able to faintly hear the horses' hooves and screams.
-
Zelda summoned all of her guards to surround her in the main hall. "Inspect every corner, check that all are secure!" she shouted to them. They nodded, taking leave and walking as fast as they could.
She watched for a moment before slipping behind the massive tapestry just beyond her throne, taking a key that was forever tied around her neck and unlocking the hidden door. It opened without sound and she slipped in, walking a short distance into a small chamber. It took her a few minutes, but she managed to find the flint and knife kept on a sturdy wooden table immediately to the right of the chamber entrance and light one of the wall torches.
She looked around the room, studying the few treasures hidden there. Among them were a sword and shield, relics passed down for the royal family from hand to hand, for the first son of the king and queen to wield. Zelda had no brother.
She took them up in her own hands, awkwardly fumbling to bear their heft, before heading back into the main hall. A few of her guards reconvened with her, stunned at her wielding the revered weapons; but really, who else would?
-
Link had rapidly grown tired of waiting in the queen's chambers, and he stormed down to see what was going on. Zelda took her place, standing in front of her throne with several guards on either side, staring ahead at the doors. She was no fool; though the barricades around the castle were good, there were weaknesses that, in the throes of her sickness and father's death, had not yet been mended. Eventually, the Gerudo army would find their way in. Link approached her, and the guards eyed him suspiciously.
"Your majesty," he started. Zelda turned her head and glanced at him, a little thrown off that he had not sunk to one knee and glancing up into his eyes. "I am the one who led them here. I was not strong enough to defeat Ganondorf on his own lands. But I want to help you now."
Zelda looked him over again, weighing it out in her head. There was something in this young man that she was drawn to, beyond their obvious, mysterious connection through the Triforce and the will of the goddesses. "Fine. Give him a sword, and a shield," Zelda called, looking back ahead. A servant, standing panicking in one corner, ran to get the requested items. As they waited, Link could hear the people settling down in their battle positions; the slamming of doors and the rustling of feet; the occasional shout or whisper in the bowels of the castle.
Silence took hold. It was a heavy, dead silence, and on the edge of it was a faint buzz of tension and nerves. The maid barely made a sound when she presented Link with his weapons, but for the shuffling of her feet. He hooked the worse-for-wear sheath around his waist over his belt, and put the shield over his right arm. Zelda glanced at him and arched one eyebrow.
"You use your south hand?"
"Yes… is that so strange?" Link flexed both of his fingers instinctively, self-conscious over this minor trait for a moment. Zelda shook her head with the barest movement, staring ahead again.
-
They waited.
Link could feel sweat down the back of his neck, and his muscles were sore from holding them tense. It could hardly have been forty or so minutes that they stood in silence, watching the castle doors. He glanced at the queen, but she held herself poised and regal, her chin high. Despite having been sick for so long, her skin held a glow, and she stood with purpose, watching the far doors like a cat. Link fidgeted and tightened the straps on the shield; Zelda put out one hand to stop him and hissed at him in a whisper. "Hold still!"
At the edge of Link's hearing, just under the muffled ringing, there were screams and the clanging of swords. It was growing ever closer to the castle, and Zelda lowered her head a fraction. "They've already broken the walls, damn them."
She stepped forward, and the guards around her stepped forward immediately after. The clattering metal and heavy thuds of their steps made the hair on Link's neck stand up for that one second as he stepped forward as well.
Louder and louder the noises of battle grew, and Zelda squared her shoulders, planting her feet firmly on the floor. Unbeknownst to them, Dirmane watched from the shadows, his eyes narrowed. In his hands he held a thin dagger, lightweight and balanced to be thrown a great distance. He pricked his finger with the tip, testing its sharpness, listening to his heartbeat slow and steady in his chest while he waited for the perfect moment.
-
The doors leading to the castle hall were the original doors. They were hand-carved from the trunks of trees that some say were the very first trees the goddesses planted. They were no less than six inches thick, a deep golden honey color, and elaborately decorated with the family crest and filigree carved into the wood. Zelda watched them now as they shuddered with a thundering blow to their center. Again, and again, someone or some people rammed the doors with something massive in size and weight. The doors held as true as they ever had, but their strength and quality could not be said for the pathetic bar of wood that ran across their length to keep the doors from opening.
It cracked down the center at the next blow, and Zelda tightened her grip around the pommel of her sword. Link put his hand on the handle of his borrowed weapon, lowering his head slightly. "One more," Zelda whispered to herself. "Just one more strike, and they have it."
The next strike took longer than the previous few, possibly because those trying to get in had backed up farther than before. With this, the wood bar shattered, Ganondorf's army poured into the castle, and Zelda, Link, and the cadre of soldiers behind them rushed forward with their swords raised.
Dirmane swore and put his throwing blade away; it was near impossible to get a clear shot with the fray in the main hall. He would wait it out.
-
Link held his shield close, wielding his sword, careful of the queen right next to him. He jabbed forward, and failing to hit the man he was going for, he flipped the blade around by the pommel and swung with a step forward. He managed to catch one of Ganondorf's soldiers across the throat, and his opponent fell. Link tried to keep an eye on the queen, but Zelda looked safe, like she was holding her own. She held the sword with one hand as she parried her way through the crowd. The guards tried to keep a barrier around her as well as they could, and they were a far more effective force than Link on his own. He kept pace with them as best he could, the war cries of the two armies and the ringing metal armor making him near deaf.
They were so distracted in their fighting that neither of them noticed Dirmane sneaking up behind the crowd into the fray. With hardly a sound, he took free his dagger again and plunged it into Zelda's lower back. She screamed and arched, flinching; Dirmane already quickly moving back towards the outer edges of the confusion. Link stopped and turned to her, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Your majesty! Are you alright?!" She whimpered pathetically and staggered, and Link grabbed her, pulling her back from the fray, the guards filling in the gap.
Link held onto her tight, half-carrying Zelda back towards her chambers. She tried to stop him, hissing that she was feeling fine. "You shouldn't be out there anyway! You're in danger being right there, Your Majesty."
Zelda shoved him off and twisted away, arching in pain and falling to her feet again. They held still for a few minutes as Link stared at her in worry, unsure if he could help her up. Zelda forced herself up, looking like she was between crying and screaming with fury. But she stood, smoothing her skirts and glowering at Link, daring him to mock her. He cleared his throat and stepped back. They moved onward, Zelda walking separately from him and towards her chambers. "I would rather be fighting them off, like my own father did," she growled under her breath.
Link stared down at the floor as they walked. "Your father had you to live in his place if something happened to him, Your Majesty. Who will succeed to the throne if you die?"
Zelda shrugged her shoulders. "Whoever my father had written into his will." She waited as Link opened the doors to her chambers. He shut and locked them when they were both inside, and Zelda went back into her rooms, sighing heavily. "I was hoping I would no longer be this way. Being sick. It's that advisor my father took on after the war as part of a peace treaty. He's been poisoning me. I want to send him away, but I haven't had my coronation yet, and I've been so damned sick, and now this war…" She sat down on her bed, rubbing her eyes with one hand. "This whole thing is just a plot to take the kingdom. But we can't let them have it."
Link looked around, feeling a little awkward after her royal majesty's outburst, and his eyes alighted on the kettle. "The kettle!" he cried; he'd forgotten all about it. Link quickly took it off the fire and peeked inside; there wasn't much water left. Hopefully enough for one cup. He found the tea ball and put it into the kettle, letting it steep. Zelda watched him curiously, her brow furrowed. "Your Majesty, this potion… it's supposed to heal you."
Zelda frowned. "Another potion. And who told you it was supposed to heal me?"
"Your own father, the king."
Zelda paused and licked her lips, sighing. "Of course. He knew what was going on all along, didn't he?"
"I don't…"
Zelda turned away and sighed again, frowning. "I think my father was murdered. By that very same man that is poisoning me. We didn't exactly give the Gerudo a fair deal in our peace treaty. Father never really trusted their leader enough to give them a fair deal." She laughed bitterly. "If it'd been more traditional of a treaty, he probably would've given me away to marry into their bloodline and unite our two countries. That's how peace treaties are usually found."
Zelda fell quiet, and Link remembered the steeping tea. There was indeed just enough for one cup. Link handed it over and Zelda stared into the cup, holding it in her hands. The tea was a vivid green and it smelled faintly of honey, even though Link hadn't added any. They sat there in silence once more, Link listening to the battle down below.
It ceased suddenly, and he got up from the chair he'd sat in. Zelda was letting the tea cool in the air, and she watched as Link got up. Footsteps, muffled only a little by the doors, thudded their way. Link grabbed the first sword he found, the one Zelda had been using, and held it high. The footsteps stopped in front of the door, and Link watched in shock as the doors slowly swung open, even though they were still locked. Zelda sat down the cup and stood, grabbing the other sword and putting one hand to her lower back. She could feel wetness, and looked at the blood on her palm in shock. She figured she'd simply wrenched a muscle.
Ganondorf took a slow step into the room, eyeing the two of them. Link again felt the little hairs on the back of his neck rise, and he stepped forward. Ganondorf sighed heavily.
"At first, I was going to do this the subtle way," he started, speaking softly. "Poison her highness, make it look like you did it, have you hanged for high treason against the royal family, and then have one of my henchmen take over the throne, ruling through him." Ganondorf withdrew his sword now, the gleam of madness from a glut of power in his eyes. "Instead, I'll just kill the both of you myself and take over. The other way… well, I still wouldn't be true ruler now, would I? And I was never one for subtlety."
He looked up from thumbing the edge of his sword, testing its sharpness against his finger, before lunging forward and swinging violently with a battle cry. Link lifted his sword aloft and parried the blow, though Ganondorf had put a great deal of force into it. Link could feel the strength in Ganondorf's arms through the swords, and if it were not for the ridiculous calm that surrounded him, he would have been a bit scared of it. Instead, he shoved Ganondorf back and swung his blade upward. Ganondorf blocked it, holding his own weapon horizontally and pushing Link down and back. Link lunged forward again, keeping low and jabbing, trying to find a weak spot in Ganondorf's armor.
But the bulky king was moving much too fast for Link to focus; he struck him in the mouth with the hilt of his sword, and Link stumbled back, tasting blood and feeling a tooth fumble around in his mouth. He spat it out and jumped forward, pushing himself up and jabbing. Ganondorf raised his sword to block him, but Link had an advantage in his speed and managed to pierce one of Ganondorf's eyes with his sword.
Ganondorf roared in pain, clutching his bleeding eye socket with one hand. He bellowed again, ending it on a high-pitched, squealing note. Link fell to his feet and stepped back. Ganondorf slowly lowered his hands from the bleeding socket, and they could both see that his face was melting into a hideous, pig-like visage. Zelda seized an opportunity and grabbed the still-hot cup of tea, throwing it forward. Her aim was true, and the hot water sloshed into his injured eye.
Ganondorf screamed again, the skin hissing and bubbling. The poison in the tea coursed its way into his system, and Ganondorf shuddered, hunched over and hugging himself tight. Link and Zelda remained motionless, stunned as he shuddered and groaned in pain, rocking back and forth. He vomited blood, and looked up at them with murderous hate in his good eye.
Link jumped forward and thrust the sword, trying to stab him in the face again. Ganondorf caught the blade and held it tight, pushing it back, blood running down his arm. Zelda remembered herself and grabbed the other sword, stepping forward and bringing it up, piercing him through the throat. Ganondorf made one choking, gasping sound of pain, and slumped, his grip loosening on Link's sword. They both stood still, watching and waiting for Ganondorf to rear his head again.
When he didn't, Zelda slowly moved back, and Link followed, looking over to her. She stared down at Ganondorf's dead body until a movement in the door frame caught her eye. It was Dirmane, followed by a few of the guards. He gasped in shock when he saw Ganondorf's corpse, looking up at Zelda and Link. Zelda lifted her chin and pointed one finger, her voice booming in the small room. "Guards! Arrest that man for treason!"
The guards looked at Dirmane in surprise before lunging on him, pinning his arms behind his back and dragging him from the doorway. Dirmane seemed to have forgotten any sense of cover as he screamed and kicked, cursing their untimely defeat when they were so close to taking Hyrule for good.
Zelda sighed and sat down heavily on the edge of her bed, putting one hand to her forehead. Link looked around for the teacup, seeing the shattered pieces on the floor around Ganondorf's head. "Your majesty, that tea was supposed to heal you," he explained.
Zelda smiled to herself, glancing at him. "Like I said, I wasn't sick. Dirmane was poisoning me. He admitted it to me himself. With him arrested and his master dead, I should hopefully start to heal." Link sat down at the table he'd been at before, surprised to find how tired he was now that the adrenaline was wearing off.
-
Once Ganondorf died, most of the strange energy that imbued the army and gave life to their horses evaporated. The Hylian army was able to beat them back, and when they got word their leader had been defeated, they reluctantly surrendered. Zelda had her army escort them back across the bridge to Gerudo, and once the army was on the other side, they broke the bridge apart with mighty axes, letting the splinters fall into the rapids underneath. It took but a week for Zelda to get back to her full strength, with plenty of rest, though she always retained an awkward cough in the worst of winter.
Dirmane was held before the Royal Court and effortlessly sentenced to treason and conspiracy to murder the Royal Family once his room was searched and the poisons were found. His sentence was to be drawn and quartered, and then burned alive, but Zelda did not think she could handle the spectacle, and he was beheaded at dawn instead.
Ganondorf's body was completely beheaded and sent back with the Gerudo, along with the broken peace treaty. A new one was drawn up, the gist of which was that neither country would bother with the other on pain of death. Both agreed to send troops to patrol the river that separated them, and though the troops taunted each other across the rapids from time to time, neither tried to launch an official attack.
For his services to the Royal Family and his bravery in not only gathering the plant that would have ultimately killed her but also helping her to defeat Ganondorf, Zelda offered to grant Link anything he wanted that she could give him within her power. Link remembered what the king had offered him in exchange for taking on his task, but it sounded like far too much, even with what he had gone through.
"Your majesty, if it is not too much trouble, I just want a small plot of land for myself, with a little house of my own. Enough land for me to raise some crops and animals for food, and nothing more."
Zelda nodded. "It shall be done."
When Link did get to see his home, it was a three floor, sprawling mansion fit for a lesser Duke, with ten acres of land in each direction. The home was fully furnished in simple, tasteful furniture, with a massive entertainment hall, a complete kitchen, and stocked with servants. As was the stable, with no less than five horses and a groomer for each.
After a month of letting him become used to the place, Zelda went to visit, to see what he thought. She was stunned when she arrived, finding Link working the farm himself with the help of two other farmhands and the horses trotting around free. The servants stopped dead when the royal carriages trundled up to the house, and Link blinked over the cornstalks at the royal banner, feeling a chill of déjà vu.
He wandered out of the field and up to the carriage as two guards helped Zelda out of the carriage and onto the hard-packed earth. Link took off his hat and nodded in greeting, and Zelda curtsied, ignoring the violation of custom. "How have you been faring? Is the house to your liking? Do you have enough servants?" she asked of him, before anything else.
Link looked back at the crop and then towards Zelda again. "Uh, yeah, I've got plenty of all that. The house is a little much though; I've been staying in the farmhand quarters."
Zelda shook her head as she stared at him. "Why would you do that? You could be living like royalty."
Link shrugged. "It's just too big. I'm not used to it, so… I mean, the servants that can't fit in the quarters stay on the second floor, there's so many rooms, and third floor's storage. I meant it when I said I didn't need a whole lot."
Zelda nodded, feeling a little embarrassed. "True, I just thought… what you wanted wouldn't be appropriate for what you did. To be honest, I still don't think it's enough, so I've come to personally invite you to an awards ceremony, in your honor."
Link frowned. "Your majesty, you've already given me far too much, and I do not want this. Cancel it or something."
The queen sighed and looked away, folding her arms.
"Besides," added Link, "It's been an age since all that. Just let it go."
"Fine," Zelda replied casually, glancing at him. "But you're still being given a place of honor."
"Just don't have a big pompous ball about it," Link retorted.
"Fine."
"Fine."
They stood awkwardly for a few moments, and Zelda finally stuck out her hand. "Thank you again," she said, lifting her chin.
Link shook her hand, nodding. "You're welcome."
Zelda climbed back into her carriage, and Link watched them go until they turned a corner. He shook his head and went back into the fields, resuming his work.
When Zelda returned to her castle, she went to visit the monument she had designated. It was a plaque, declaring itself dedicated to Link's brave deeds for the Royal Family, and his courage in surviving the desert. The top of the plaque was intricately carved with the Royal Crest, declaring Link a High Knight of the court. Zelda smiled to herself as she looked over it one more time, and turned away, deciding she would like a cup of tea.