A/N: I'm sorry, long time no update- and this is a really short, kind-of-set-up-the-end chapter, but bear with me! I have the next two chapters written and I'll be posting them as soon as I can edit them.

Discrepancies

They set off in the morning, preparing themselves swiftly and moving even faster. The feeling of the unknown cloaked their mindsets, as the facts did correlate. The forces were withdrawn, but still their was threat to the leader, and to the people. They moved across the field under a grayed sky into a blind danger. Link led the group, but Zelda was never far behind. There stops were few, and before the fall of night, shrouded in dusk, they reached the camp.

They stopped in a thicket, crouching to watch the encampment they saw before them. Surprisingly, many darkened and menacing soldiers had gathered in the clearing, and new tents sprang from the ground as weeds did in soft soil. They seemed weary, but the poisonous tinge of determination had seeped into the face of the military men. It was all together eerie. The makings of a final battle where carried by the wind.

Link muttered softly to her, barely daring to speak above a whisper. "This shouldn't be happening- we devastated their forces- their on their last limbs. This makes no sense."

"Why wouldn't they retreat?" Zelda drew in every detail of the sight before her.

"I don't know. It doesn't make sense." He ran his fingers through his hair, as he always did when he was perplexed by something to the point of frustration. "And how do you think we're going to find Ilia?"

"I haven't the slightest idea- but I have no doubt that if they think she's me, and they're interrogating her...that is if worse hasn't befallen her, she be with the leader, in the main tent, there-" she pointed, "which is quite ignorantly situated backing the woods, and not to far under the ridge line for a invasion from the hill. It's risky." She looked at his eyes, searching for a reaction. She found serious contemplation.

"It's a fool's mission." He said.

"I know," she whispered.

"But I've seen far more dangerous." He smiled a little. "I go through with it. Keep post, say, half a mile westward."

"We- we will." She touched his arm. "You'll be back quickly?"

"Of course I will." He smiled, reassuringly. He started for the camp, going into the enemy's nest- happily. Adventure called him, and while they could have sat and pondered plans for hours he ran with the first barely conscious string of thoughts that where thrown in the breeze. He was foolish, a man of action. She traced his path with her eyes until he disappeared into shadows, and led her group back to the safety of the thick forest. She shut her eyes as she turned, not being able to grasp the spinning world as she retreated away from him, not being able to anything in the world but pray to goddess, pray that he would return with the same grin he had left with.

His absence did not plague her for long, as he returned with in a half of an hour, unscathed. He was pensive, however, much more so than before. His sword was still secure in the sheath, he was unmarked, yet he did not have Ilia with him- he came alone. His face was marked with inquiry and new information. He sat with the group, and she instinctively grabbed his hand.

"What happened? Where is she?" Zelda asked, engulfed in the worst of thoughts.

"I saw her- Ilia. She was bound-" He stopped to organize his thoughts, "I was able to sneak in, the defenses were weak, an unusual wartime characteristic. The back of the tent was completely abandoned, and I entered. With luck, the chamber I chose to enter happened to be the one where Ilia was kept." He paused again, his face grew tense. "She was bound upon a pole, she had been beaten. When I found her she was barely coherent, and in pain. She barely recognized me. She was murmuring something. I strained to hear her, but I think she may be mad. She said something about glowing eyes, boring into her, and something about a cursed item. "Monarchical key, eternal life be," that's what she kept saying. I don't know what she meant, I don't know if she knew who I was." The wind blew hauntingly through the trees, whistling a dark melody.

"She had been tortured horribly, and her mind dulled with the pain. She gazed at me, like maybe there was still some familiarity- but she just cried. I tried to look around, but that of course was too dangerous. The one thing I did notice was there weren't any crests or hangings baring the symbols of the country of origin, which is rare for a national army. When I returned to free Ilia, she refused to let me. She said they already suspected that she wasn't Zelda, and that she was injured-and if we took her they'd track us down, and the 'key' was more important. She was right."

He sighed freely, his eyes scanning the tree tops.

"Does anyone know what she might mean? 'Monarchical key, eternal life be?'"

A dead silence feel upon the group. Rusl looked dumbfounded, and even the all-knowing Shad was in speechless stupidity. The weight of the air crushed their shoulders as they pressed themselves for so much as a hypothesis.

"Wait!" Zelda clambered to her feet and rushed toward the horses. "I know what it is! The key! It's in the castle."

Every one stood speechless in awe of the princess, who excitedly pulled herself onto her mount.