Sheik had the Triforce of Wisdom.
Sheik was Zelda.
Sheik was gone, and Link didn't know what to do. He wished he could say that he didn't know why she had run off like that, but… She was such a suspicious, cautious person, Link guessed she was probably afraid he was going to betray her. Goddess, what would the rebels back at camp do if they found out?!
And though it left a bad taste in his mouth to admit, he couldn't blame her for being wary of telling him. How much had he gone on and on about Zelda being evil? Link didn't know what the story behind what was going on with the Royal Family was, but he liked to think he'd gotten to know her fairly well since they had met. Enough to know that she wasn't evil, enough to know that she was a good person. Certainly the kind of person who would go out of her way to bust Malon's father out of jail had to mean well, right? The kind of royal who would sleep in a hayloft for the peace of mind of a commoner surely had their best intentions in mind…
He didn't know where she'd run off to, but Link wasn't particularly concerned. She wanted to help the common folk, so they were bound to run into each other soon. That wound they'd just stitched would get a nasty infection if she didn't get it proper care soon, but she was smart and could take care of herself. Better than he could, if he was honest. All he had to do was explain the situation to Lord Eldin, and then if she ran into any of the rebels they could let her know it was okay to come back.
It was a good plan. The best he could come up with now, anyway. Sure, he could run around yelling for her to come back, but he'd seen how panicked she'd looked. All it would do was alert the camp that something was up with the 'Sheikah' they'd just been waiting to step out of line, and possibly put her in danger.
With that in mind, he returned to camp to get what sleep he could.
The journey back seemed to pass by both far too quickly and far too slow. It felt like everyone's eyes were on him: The freed prisoners watched him in awe, seeing the Master Sword slung across him back. The rebels watched him too, though in suspicion, all too aware of his companion's absence. Malon only occasionally glanced at him, obviously worried, but he had promised to explain after they reached Kakariko. For the first time in his life, he felt he could not trust the rebels. Not yet, not when they had just been waiting for a reason to accuse his friend of treachery.
But before he told Malon, Link had to tell Lord Eldin. He would know what to do, and he'd probably be able to put the pieces together better than Link could.
With that in mind, he made sure to take care of a few things first once they arrived in Kakariko before heading down to Lord Eldin's rooms. He invited Malon to help him with his horse in the stables, and they worked to un-tack and groom the animal. The mare was still technically hers, after all, and working with animals had always made her feel better. Afterwards she decided to stay and take a look at the menagerie of creatures the rebels had gathered, so he made sure to tell her where to find the inn before heading there himself.
Reaching the stairs to the inn's basement, he paused halfway down the steps when he heard someone speaking below. "… I see. Do you at least know the direction she went?" The voice that that of Lord Eldin.
"No." The second person sounded familiar, but he couldn't immediately place them from the single syllable.
There was a sigh. "I'm sorry, but there's not much we can do if that is the case. Thank you." There was a shuffling, and then the leader of the raid party appeared in Link's line of sight. The man said nothing as he passed him, face set in a grimace, and Link took his departure as a go-ahead to see his old mentor.
"Lord Eldin?"
The man looked like he wore the weight of the world on his shoulders as he beckoned Link to take a chair. "Link. I'm terribly sorry about Sheik."
So that must have been what he and the raid leader were discussing. Of course Lord Eldin looked so worried: She'd disappeared so suddenly that they probably thought she was a traitor or something, or maybe that they'd had some sort of cataclysmic falling out. The situation was still bad, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could've been. He shrugged. "It could be worse, but I'm sure we'll find her soon."
Lord Eldin's brow furrowed in concern. "You're taking this awfully well, are you sure you're alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Better than fine…" Now he knew why 'Sheik' had been so overly cautious all the time, why she'd been so hesitant to trust other people. But now he could tell Lord Eldin, and he would know how to tell everyone else. "Milord, you have to know that Sheik didn't run away because she betrayed us. She ran away because I found out…" It was strange to say aloud, and the words caught on his tongue before rolling off. "She's Zelda."
The Lord of Eldin's face went white. "You… Goddesses. Link, this is worse than I could have possibly imagined…"
Link could understand that reaction. The man didn't know her, probably didn't realize what this meant. "But… This means we don't have to kill the queen. She's on our side. She hates the horrible things that have been happening as much as we do!" Which meant that something else had to be going on, that someone else had to be responsible for all the atrocities committed by the crown.
Tired eyes stared at him as their owner seemed to age ten years in the span of a second. "Link, no. She's not on our side. I'm sorry, I am so very sorry, but Zelda is not on our side. She does not want to help us, she played us like the royal harp. You know the woman who went with her to scout ahead? Verona? Zelda was the one who killed her."
"What?" That wasn't right. "She said there was an aeralfos."
"She was lying." Lord Eldin exhaled. "According to the man I put in charge, Zelda said that they weren't able to touch the beast. And yet, Verona's dagger was bloody when they retrieved the body."
His blood seemed to freeze. He'd thought Zelda's arm wound had come from the aeralfos; it had seemed like it had been inflicted by a claw from the length and depth. But now that he thought about it, when she had been teaching him monster lore she had claimed that aeralfos relied on weaponry or fire rather than tooth and claw… "You think Zelda's arm injury was dealt by Verona."
There was a slow nod of agreement. "Yes. Verona's injuries appear to have been dealt by a sword, which we know Zelda was in possession of."
"But then… Why? If she really is against us, why save me in the woods? Why free Malon's father, and fight a wizzrobe to do it?" He didn't understand. Killing Verona in cold blood for no reason was incredibly out of character for her, even if she had intended to betray them from the beginning. There was no motivation, and all it served to do was bring more suspicion on her when she had returned to the group. Turning out to be evil didn't suddenly make someone lose all their common sense.
"I cannot say why she saw fit to murder Verona, but my best guess would be that the poor woman saw or figured out something she shouldn't have. Or perhaps she wished to drive a wedge between you and the rest of the group, by increasing hostilities against her. The intent behind the rest is a bit easier to decipher, however." The lord sighed. "She saved you in the woods knowing you could lead her to us. The queen knows that a rebellion has been brewing, but we'd been so careful to hide our location and numbers from her… And now that she has what she wanted, there was little incentive to keep up what was becoming an increasingly dangerous charade."
"Saving your friend's father was just a way to easily make herself seem to have good intentions," Lord Eldin continued. "You say she fought a wizzrobe to do so. But did you actually see the fight? Did she sustain any injury from it? If she didn't, it is rather likely that she was never in any danger from the monster in the first place. And I heard your friend Malon was found among the prisoners we freed. How would they have known how to catch her so quickly?"
He wanted to protest. She wasn't a traitor. She couldn't be a traitor! But… When he thought about what the Lord of Eldin had just pointed out… He hated to admit it, but it all was pretty suspicious. "It just… It doesn't make any sense! The way she acted… She cared. She cared about me, she cared about Malon, she cared about Hyrule!"
There was a long, sad sigh. "We already know that the queen is a very good actor. I'm sorry. I truly am, Link, but I'm afraid it was just that: An act. She was probably aware that you would come for the sword, waited for you there, befriended you… And when she had your trust, she had you lead her right to the rebellion that's been a thorn in her side for so long."
It made sense but it didn't make sense. How… How evil did someone have to be to do something like that?! He almost laughed bitterly at the irony of it all: Hadn't she told him that he was too trusting? Perhaps not in so many words, but he'd picked up on it. He was too quick to trust, and now it had finally come back to bite him.
"I know this is hard, Link. But… We can still salvage this." Link looked up. "Do you know which way she went?"
He hadn't seen her after she'd snapped her deku nut on the ground, but now that he thought about it… He had heard a horse run past while he was still stunned from the revelation. "I think… I think she went west."
Lord Eldin nodded eyes on a map that had been pinned to the wall. "That means she isn't heading straight back to Castle Town… We can use this. We have to strike before the queen returns with her information on our whereabouts and strength, and if we take the castle before she arrives then we can capture her." The lord's eyes met his. "Go upstairs and tell everyone to be ready to march by this time tomorrow. I'd guess we have less than a week to make our move."
Eager for something to distract him from thinking about Zelda, Link ran up the stairs without delay. Once he was gone, the Lord of Eldin retrieved a piece of parchment and began composing a letter. He would have to send it out under the cover of night, of course, but the delay would be more than made up for: A kargarok would be able to deliver it to Castle Town so much faster than a mortal messenger.
He smiled, and the expression was not a kind one.
She had been running for three days and four nights, stopping only for water and to care for her horse, and Zelda could feel herself falling apart. She knew she needed to stop, and after the first day she'd even thought about returning to Link and explaining everything. Sure, he knew her real name now, but he also knew her. He trusted her. He would understand if she just explained, surely. And as far as she could tell, she was of the most use to her people right now directly helping him, making sure he didn't get himself prematurely killed. What if he ran into a monster she hadn't yet explained? And yet…
As far as she could tell with the ordinary senses, she wasn't being pursued, but something told her she needed to keep running. Maybe it was the ache of her Triforce-marked hand that grew worse when she slowed her pace, maybe it was just paranoia. Maybe it was aura the malice that seemed to grow the deeper into Hyrule Field she rode, bearing down on her like hounds biting at a fox's tail.
She was being pursued. She didn't know who it was or why, since she couldn't fathom Link being registered as malicious by her senses or the Triforce, but she couldn't afford to stop. Not for much longer than the occasional hour, maximum, to give her horse a short reprieve…
But Zelda knew she couldn't keep this up much longer. Her arm desperately needed attention, and she could already see the telltale signs of infection growing. Her horse needed a good long rest, longer than she allow in the middle of the open plains, or she risked the creature injuring itself. She needed a good long rest. She needed something of substance to eat, desperately. And by the Goddess, she needed to figure out what she was going to do now.
Salvation seemed to come towards the end of the third day, as she neared a large plateau. It seemed incredibly out of place, a huge chunk of earth raised far above the rest of the earth with only a curving pathway offering a way up, but she recalled it from her geography lessons with Impa. It had once been a ranch where the best horses in all of Hyrule were bred and raised. The ranch had long since moved, but Zelda could see the faint outlines of at least one building standing on top. If someone lived there, she could ask for aid. At the very least, they might allow her to rest her poor horse.
Just one night. She could afford one night.
Upon ascending the plateau, she found the shambling remains of not one but several buildings. But even if no one still lived here and only ruins remained, it was still shelter. It would conceal them from the sight of their pursuers, if nothing else.
With that in mind, she walked her horse into to what seemed to have once been a barn and dismounted. She had never felt so exhausted in her life, every muscle screaming to collapse and never move, but she forced herself to un-tack the poor creature and offer her water. Then, deciding it would be unwise to deprive herself of any of her weaponry, she attached the Gerudo sword to her belt before making her way to what remained of a small house. She supposed that the rotting wood of the floor was probably rather uncomfortable, but the moment she laid down Zelda was out.
It was still dark when she woke, feeling as though molten rock had been poured over her hand. It subsided as soon as she sat up to inspect it, but then she heard it: Hoofbeats, and the clattering of metal.
Whatever pursued her had found her. She leapt to her feet, ignoring the protests of her body, and whistled for her horse even as she did her best to stumble out the door. If it had caught up so quickly there was no way that she would be able to escape on foot, and with her horse in undoubtedly bad shape… It would be a miracle to get away unscathed. And where would she go? She didn't know how much longer it would be until she or her horse just… Gave in. The shadow magic might buy her a little time, but—
Her thoughts were silenced as she saw them come up the path and into sight, the figures straight from nightmares. A beast she might have outwitted, a spirit she might have exorcised. But instead came four great warhorses, as black as the armor worn by the hulking forms of their riders. Riders far too large in stature to Hylians, the source of the malefic presence that had haunted her. Darknuts.
She made her best effort to start running to the other side of the plateau, whistling again for her horse. It didn't come. She whistled again, and this time when the creature did not answer she turned her attention fully on giving speed to her spent limbs. There were two thuds behind her and she guessed that two of them must have dismounted to pursue her on foot. They would likely close in on her, while the two still on horseback would cut her off if she tried to dart away.
If that was their strategy, she was a little flattered that they thought she might still be capable of darting away. But perhaps if she could steal one of their horses… Zelda chanced a look over her shoulder, to see that two of them had indeed dismounted, but upon closer look the horses themselves seemed to try and cover any gaps in the net. They were driving her towards the cliff, she realized. Either they would cut her down, or she would fall: She knew her limits, and knew that scaling the sheer face was far beyond her abilities in her current state.
When there remained only a few strides between her and the cliff, she whistled again, desperate for her horse. It did not come.
The two on foot advanced within striking distance, and in a last-ditch effort Zelda drew her knife. She was not skilled enough with the sword to best them there, but perhaps if the Goddess saw fit to grant a miracle… Maybe she could at least take one of them down with her, if she could get in a well-placed throw.
She did not have time before one of them raised its sword, and as the blade came down her tired body unthinkingly stumbled back to dodge the blow.
There was no ground to meet her feet, and she went tumbling over the edge.
Something cried out and the air filled with wingbeats, and then the last thing Zelda remembered was of her vision filling with lilac feathers.
Hello! Terribly sorry about the wait, I had midterms this week and the last few weeks have been a little hectic as a result. I hope you enjoyed this update! Please let me know what you thought of this chapter, I've been wanting to write the scene at the end since I first started this fic and I experimented with Link's point of view so I'd love to know what you thought of it. A little nervous about bringing loftwings into this fic, but I've been foreshadowing their appearance as early as the end of chapter two and they're pretty important to the plot.
As always, thank you for supporting this fic!
Edited 11/30/2016 to make a few sentences flow better.