Nine: Power

In Which Power is Seductive and a Dangerous Thing

There was a steady, dull ache in Ganondorf's legs and chest as they made their way into the ruins. His heart still pounded softly in his ears, and he could still feel the demon's breath on the back of his neck, its claws grazing his hair.

A shudder went through him and he rolled his shoulders to rid himself of the sensation, trying to focus on what was ahead, not what had already passed. However real it had seemed in the moment, he was certain the demon's presence had been a trick of the forest, an image drawn from his own subconscious. He had nothing to fear. It hadn't been real.

To centre himself, he inspected this new, hidden part of the forest they'd discovered. It was hard to tell how old the ruins were, but given how overgrown and derelict they were his best guess was centuries. Most of the floor had been completely reclaimed by roots and grass, with small yellow and white flowers poking up through cracks in the stone, and the walls that still stood were almost completely hidden behind curtains of ivy and other climbing plants he didn't recognise.

It was quiet, and still, and remarkably sunny compared to the rest of the woods. Ganondorf lingered in the patches of sunlight they walked through, letting its warmth seep into his skin. It was still colder than the desert sun, but after so long in the clammy gloom beneath the trees even this much light felt like a blessing.

As he watched a butterfly flit silently across the grass ahead of them, he became aware of a presence nearby. It wasn't human, nor was it monstrous. In fact, it barely felt like a living thing at all, and when he looked there was no one there but Zelda and Link. The presence lingered though, a kind of pressure against his skin, a fluttering inside his skull, but also a deeper resonance with something so far within him it might have been his soul, and suddenly he knew that everything the forest had put him through had been leading to this moment.

His feet moved before his rational mind caught up as he followed the feeling, or perhaps was drawn to it. It didn't feel like he had much say in the matter. All he knew was that he was being called, and he would not resist.

'Ganondorf?' One of the others called after him but he couldn't tell which, their voice distant and muffled as he drifted away.

He passed a broken flight of steps and ducked round a precariously tilted pillar, not sure where he was going but at the same time knowing exactly where he needed to be. The further he went, the more the world fell away, his ears full of a chiming he knew, somehow, as intimately as the voices of those he held dear. It rose and fell in time with his breaths, beckoning. The sweet peals of some great, ethereal bell.

Something glowed up ahead, a soft, brilliant gold that pulsed in time with the chimes. He quickened his pace, rounded a final crumbling wall, and-

And there it was. In the middle of a long, crumbled room stood a weathered pedestal, its sides coated in moss, and above it there floated a ball of shimmering golden light. Its ringing grew deafening as soon as Ganondorf's gaze fell upon it, and though he desperately wanted to cover his ears he found he couldn't move. All he could do was stare, transfixed, and somehow it felt as if the light was staring back.

'Ganondorf, where're you…' Link's voice trailed off almost before he could speak, and Ganondorf heard his small gasp of awe from just behind his left shoulder.

'What the fuck is making that noise?' Zelda, coming to a halt on his other side, asked.

'It's- I think it's a piece of the Triforce. I…I think we actually found it!' Link's voice was soft and amazed, full of a reverence Ganondorf shared.

'Huh,' Zelda said, and even she seemed impressed. Whatever she felt or saw with her gifts, Ganondorf knew she felt just the same as him and Link.

But when he stepped forward, a hand grabbed him and pulled him back.

'What are you doing?' Link demanded, tightening his grip as he tried to pull away. 'You can't just go up there and grab it.'

Ganondorf looked at him slowly, and every movement felt sluggish as he turned his attention away from the Triforce. 'Why not?'

'Well-' Link gave an annoyed huff and frowned. 'We don't even know if it is the Triforce. For all we know it could be cursed! You could...you could catch fire or explode!'

'I am not going to explode,' Ganondorf replied, and his voice sounded strange to his ears. He had never used such a dreamy, airy tone before in his life. It might have been embarrassing, if he'd thought to care. All he wanted was to turn around and walk right up to the pedestal, so that he might feel the golden light on his skin for even a moment.

Link tightened his grip further, and little bolts of pain shot up Ganondorf's arm. 'You don't know that! What's got into you?'

'It calls to me,' he said, and looked away. He didn't feel himself pull his arm free but suddenly it was and he moved toward the pedestal. 'I have to…'

'For the love of the goddesses…' Link gave a bitter little mutter and then he was in front of him, hand held level with his chest as if to halt him. 'I'm not going to let you just go up there and grab it.'

'You cannot stop me,' Ganondorf said sharply, and Link set his jaw. 'You must not.'

'What's the problem, Link?' Zelda piped up from behind them. 'Just let him get it, this ringing's doing my head in.'

'No!' His voice rose and he grimaced before pulling it back under control. 'No. Not until we know for sure. I'm not risking you getting yourself cursed, and I'm definitely not letting you touch it when you're obviously in some kind of trance!'

Ganondorf stared at the Triforce over Link's head. 'You get no say in this matter. You will move, or I will move you.'

He put on his best authoritative voice, his 'Prince Voice' as Nabooru called it, and watched Link seriously consider obeying before he shook his head and, quicker than Ganondorf could have anticipated, threw himself forward. Hooking his arms around his waist, he sent them both crashing to the ground.

Ganondorf landed hard on his back, the air knocked from his lungs, and he reeled as Link scrambled upright to straddle him, grabbing his hands as if he had every intention of binding them. It was difficult, though, when Ganondorf's hand were larger than his and he only had the use of one.

'How dare you,' Ganondorf wheezed, struggling, and even dazed he managed to pull his hands free of Link's grip. 'Unhand me at once!'

'What are you, the king?' Link spat as Ganondorf managed to reach one of his shoulders and began to push him away. In any other situation, he might have laughed at the irony. 'Bloody hell, why are you so strong?'

Baring his teeth, Ganondorf didn't reply, too focused on shoving him off. He had just about succeeded when something solid struck him in the ribs, and what air he had managed to reclaim was knocked out of him all over again. He groaned and fell back, and Link gave a yelp of pain as he was hit too.

'That's enough!' And there was Zelda, her voice ringing across the space, stick in hand and poised to strike again if necessary. 'What do you think you're doing? This is not the time or the place to be fighting!'

'Says the one constantly trying to pick fights,' Link muttered, then squawked when Zelda jabbed at him.

'Is somebody going to explain what just happened?' she demanded, and raised her eyebrows expectantly.

'This degenerate just attacked me,' Ganondorf said as he sat up and wiped his mouth, coughing lightly.

Link spluttered indignantly. 'Degenerate? I'm trying to keep you from killing yourself, you prick.'

'And I assure you that you need not,' Ganondorf snapped, rising carefully to his feet. He brushed the dirt from his clothes and straightened them, a wary eye on Zelda's stick. 'I will be fine.' He was sure of it, surer than he had ever been in his life.

And he was growing tired of Link getting in his way.

Zelda inhaled deeply through her nose, the pointed end of her stick an inch from Link's throat, then she pressed her lips into a thin line and nodded to Ganondorf. 'Go on.'

'Are you fucking kidding me?!' Link exploded, grabbing the stick and trying to wrest it from Zelda's grip. She held firm, and though Ganondorf was sure she was accidentally going to stab Link in the throat he returned the nod and sidestepped his struggling companions.

'Zelda, what are you doing?! You can't let him- you don't know what'll happen!'

Ganondorf heard Zelda answer but couldn't process the words as the Triforce's chiming returned, drowning out all sound as every part of him vibrated in response. He felt like some divine tuning fork, at the mercy of a power he couldn't fathom, but he wasn't afraid.

He took a slow step forward, then another. Inched closer, closer, closer, until he stood before the pedestal and all he could see and hear was gold. Now that he was so, so close, he could see the ball of light had a source and wasn't simply a mass of energy. At the heart of the glow, there floated an radiant triangle of molten gold, small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, that spun and bobbed as if it had a will of its own.

Ganondorf reached out and hesitated, his fingers hovering in the light, a hair's breadth from the Triforce. His skin buzzed and the light was warm, alive. He took a breath, then closed his fingers around that small, shining triangle.

The world exploded.

Or, it felt like it did. Ganondorf stood in the centre of his own personal storm as waves of energy spread out from the Triforce, out from him, the chimes deafening and all-consuming. He closed his eyes but could still see the golden light and for a moment it was as if it were pouring out of him, but no, it was pouring into him. The Triforce's power, seeping through his veins, through his soul, until all that was left was golden light.

He dropped to his knees and might have cried out, but it was hard to tell over the ringing in his ears. As he was engulfed, he curled in on himself to bear the storm. He didn't know how long it lasted – moments, hours, eternities – but finally it began to settle, a constant simmer beneath his skin. There was an incessant, jabbing pain in his right hand and when he cautiously cracked one eye open, he found the symbol of the Triforce etched into his skin like a gently glowing tattoo. As he watched, the glow faded until all that remained was the faint yellow outline of three stacked triangles.

Letting out a slow, shuddering breath, Ganondorf sagged as his head began to pound and his hands shook. He felt drained and exhilarated, the Triforce's power still simmering away, like it might come boiling out of him at any moment. He took a few deep breaths to steady himself, reining it in as best he could. He had no experience with wielding magic and had no idea if he was doing it correctly, but after several long, painstaking moments he felt more in control.

A low, pained groan behind him made him jump, the power flaring within him in response. The air around him shuddered ever so slightly, but he squashed it down as he craned his head over his shoulder.

'I hope he exploded,' Link groaned from where he lay slung awkwardly over the low remains of a wall, as if he had been flung over it. Zelda was down too, sprawled in the long grass, expression dazed as she sat up slowly. 'Oi, Ganondorf, are you exploded?'

'No, I am perfectly fine,' Ganondorf replied, though it felt like a lie. He wasn't anywhere near fine, because he felt like he really could explode, without the slightest warning, but he was whole and unharmed and strangely giddy.

'Great,' Link said, but didn't sound like he meant it.

One by one, they picked themselves up and looked themselves over, and after a few minutes moved to stand in a huddle a little way from the now empty pedestal.

'How d'you feel?' Link asked as he massaged his back with a grimace.

'Well,' Ganondorf said, and was startled when he grabbed his hand and raised it to eye height, squinting suspiciously at the marking that had appeared on the back.

'Never seen anything like it,' he muttered after a long moment, not relinquishing his grip. He pulled Ganondorf's hand closer, prodding the mark gently and then with more force.

Ganondorf yanked his hand free with a small noise of protest, frowning at him. 'Do you mind?'

'No, no I don't.' Link glared at him for a moment, then grumbled, 'I'm glad you're not dead. And you don't seem to be cursed, so.'

'I told you I would be fine.' He was unable to stop a little smugness from entering his voice as he flexed his fingers and stared at his new, magical tattoo.

'So, do you feel any different?' Zelda said after several seconds of silence, carefully adjusting the silk over her eyes.

'I feel…' Ganondorf paused, a list of words running through his head. Unstable? Powerful? Excited? 'A little different, yes. This Triforce is unfamiliar. And powerful.'

Zelda nodded a little. 'Interesting. And you're definitely not going to explode?'

'I do not believe so, no,' he said with the slightest hint of a laugh. 'We will have our wishes yet.'

'Excellent,' Zelda replied, as Link frowned at both of them. She clapped her hands together. 'Right. Well. It's been a long few days so I say we set up camp and relax for a bit before trying our luck with the Lost Woods again.'

'Oh, Farore,' Link groaned, a pained expression appearing on his face. 'That's a thing we're going to have to do, isn't it?'

'Yep,' Zelda replied, then paused. 'Have either of you seen my stick? I dropped it when we got blown away.'

It didn't take long to find, and then they set up camp in surprisingly companionable silence. As the other two slumped in the grass, Ganondorf paced slowly round and round their camp, full of restless energy as the Triforce continued to sing just beneath his skin. He wanted to experiment with it, but he was afraid of blowing himself, or someone else, up in the process. It felt so volatile, and he had no idea what it could do.

He stopped pacing and crossed back to the as of yet unlit campfire, folding himself onto the ground opposite Link. 'Will you tell me,' he began, as Link looked at him in something like surprise, 'what you know of the Triforce? You said there were legends about it – what do they say?'

'You couldn't've asked me that before you took a bit of it?' Link grumbled, but his voice was dry and his eyes lit up at the request as he sat up eagerly.

Ganondorf, meanwhile, sat back and settled in for an afternoon of stories. He would learn as much as he could about this "goddess-given" power before he tried to wield it in any capacity.

Most of the legends Link recounted told Ganondorf little beyond what he already knew – that the Triforce had been created by Hyrule's goddesses and gave its wielder unimaginable power – but Link had a way with words that made the afternoon enjoyable nonetheless. He was clearly well-versed in the art of storytelling, and had a seemingly bottomless end of tales to tell.

As night fell they lit the fire and huddled around it. Link once again handed over his weapons and asked to be tied up, to a crooked pillar this time, and Ganondorf begrudgingly obliged when it became clear he wasn't going to take no for an answer. All the same, he and, to everyone's surprise, Zelda both positioned themselves closer to Link than they had before.

The night passed quietly, calm and undisturbed, until Ganondorf found himself being woken by an awful, inhuman shrieking.

He started awake, his heart lurching painfully in his chest as it sped up, and as it pounded in his ears he jerked upright to find the source of the noise, which subsided briefly only to pick up again from a different direction.

'Whasgoinon?' Link's voice came from nearby, slurred with sleep, as Ganondorf's eyes locked onto a figure perched on one of the nearby crumbling walls.

It was small, child-sized, and wore a strange, wide-brimmed hat, a brown tunic, ragged green trousers, and small boots with pointed toes. It held in its gloved hands a roughly hewn flute; the source of the horrible noise.

Ganondorf locked eyes with it – an uncomfortable sensation because the thing's eyes were little more than two glowing orange pinpricks in the shadow its hat cast – and watched as, with slow, deliberate movements, it lifted its flute to its mouth and blew. Hard.

Recoiling from the deafening, grating screech that emerged, Ganondorf sprang to his feet as the creature fell about laughing, the sound high and gleeful.

'What the fuck is that noise?' Zelda demanded from where she, too, had been rudely awoken, and Ganondorf turned towards her.

To see a trio of those things bouncing around atop broken pillars, each with their own flute clenched in their hands.

'There are creatures here,' Ganondorf said, spinning as he tried to keep his eyes on all of said creatures at once. 'I do not know what they are.'

'They're about to get stabbed is what they are,' Zelda growled, pushing herself to her feet with her stick as her face settled into a fierce glower.

The beings all laughed at this, one of them tapping Zelda on the head with its flute as it bounced past. She whirled and lashed out with her stick, but all she hit was empty air.

'Took the shiny, didn't they?'

'Gonna be so mad, they are.'

'Silly grownups, taking what isn't theirs!'

'They'll get their eyes scratched out, for sure.'

Voices rose around them, high and sharp and filled with childish amusement, harsher than the Kokiri's. Less like the rustle of leaves and more like the snap of twigs, the crunch of gravel underfoot.

One of them, whose face was covered by a small, horned skull, skipped to a halt not far from Ganondorf, who regarded it warily. It twirled its flute through its fingers and lifted it to its mouth, then paused. 'What're you looking at, mister?'

'I…' Ganondorf didn't know what to say. The creatures bewildered him, and he didn't know whether to be afraid or annoyed at their presence.

'This one took it,' a voice said at his side, and when he looked another one of the creatures was there, inches away from grabbing his hand. It snatched its hands back when it caught him looking then bounded away.

'Shouldn't've done that.'

'They're gonna be so mad.'

'What are you talking about?' Zelda had her staff clenched tightly in her hands and her mouth was drawn down at the corners, but she looked less like she was about to stab anything that got too close. 'Who is?'

'Who is!' Several voices crowed as laughter erupted from all directions. 'What a silly question!'

'The Kokiri, of course,' the one wearing the skull said, its eyes glowing behind its mask.

'Uh, guys?' Ganondorf turned towards Link, who sat straining against the rope binding him. 'Can you let me out in case we need to fight?'

'What's he doing all tied up?'

'Grownups are so weird.'

'Piss off,' Link said to nobody in particular as Ganondorf untied him, glancing over his shoulder warily every few seconds. He didn't trust these interlopers not to suddenly launch an attack of some kind.

As Link rose to his feet and rolled his shoulders, the group of creatures formed a huddle nearby, whispering amongst themselves. Zelda drifted over to stand next to Ganondorf, still scowling in their general direction.

'So, what are we going to do about this?' she asked in a low voice after a moment, to which Link shrugged.

'Leave as soon as possible?'

'And go back into the woods that probably want to kill us and are filled with apparently angry demon children?' Zelda shook her head. 'No thanks.'

'Perhaps we should try to figure out why they are here,' Ganondorf suggested, as the creatures continued to mutter to one another.

Link frowned at the huddle of spiky hats. 'I think they're skull kids. They're kind of like the Kokiri, but they're supposed to be more secretive? And folklore can't decide whether they lead you astray or lead you where you want to go.'

'Let's hope it's the latter,' Zelda said flatly, and at that moment the skull kids disbanded, the one with the horned mask bounding up to Ganondorf again. It seemed to be the leader of the group.

'Want to play with us?' it asked, bouncing lightly on its toes.

'No,' Zelda said.

'Wasn't asking you,' the skull kid replied, which made her scowl even more pronounced. 'How about it, mister? We'll lead you outta the forest, if you can find us.'

'Better be quick, though,' one of the others added, 'or the Kokiri'll scratch your eyes out!'

The leader gave a solemn nod. 'They're not happy you took the shiny.'

Ganondorf's gaze dropped to his right hand, where the mark of the Triforce still lay, seeming to glow ever so slightly in the bright morning sunshine.

'You say you will lead us from these woods?' he asked, looking at the head skull kid who nodded vigorously.

'Sure! If you can find us.'

'Find you?' Ganondorf repeated, but it was too late. The skull kids all leapt up into the canopy and disappeared with a shower of leaves, and the ruins grew quiet and still once more.

'Uh...' Link said, and Ganondorf couldn't agree more.

'What do they mean 'find them'?' Zelda asked as she plucked a leaf from her hair. 'Are you telling me they want us to play hide-and-seek with them?'

Link shrugged. 'Who knows.' He gathered his rope and weapons absently, frowning up at the canopy. 'But I guess we should decide if we're going to believe them about the Kokiri or not.'

'I'd rather believe we're about to be eviscerated by demon children than not,' Zelda replied, stomping over to her sleeping space so that she could collect up her bag. She swung it over a shoulder with obvious irritation. 'Better safe than sorry.'

'I guess,' Link said, and sighed.

'But how do they expect us to play – how did you call it? 'Hide and seek'? – with them in a forest as large as this?' Ganondorf asked. He was fairly sure he knew what the game was, if he was translating it correctly. Young Gerudo played a similar game; he had played it himself, in the halls of the palace.

Zelda gave a frustrated shrug and sighed harshly. 'Who even knows.'

As her words fell to silence a new sound emerged, small and distant; a flute. No longer was it a harsh, discordant screech. No, now it was a tune, strange and high and unlike anything Ganondorf had ever heard. All his hairs lifted in response, a shiver passing through him.

'D'you hear that?' Link asked after a moment, and when Zelda shot him a disdainful expression he pouted. 'Think it's the skull kids?'

She jabbed her stick into the earth. 'Most likely.'

'Are we…supposed to follow?' Ganondorf pondered, tilting his head as he listened to the flute.

All at once he realised a second had begun to play, in harmony with the first, the melodies weaving together to produce something eerie and almost mournful. This new flute, Ganondorf noticed, was louder. Nearer.

And then there was a rustle of leaves and a skull kid popped out of the canopy, the flutes dying as it did. It appeared to be hanging upside down from a branch, the skull mask clasped in one hand. Somehow its hat hadn't fallen off, but Ganondorf could see a little of the face underneath for the first time. Bright, round orange eyes and a small pointed beak for a mouth. He wondered vaguely how it played its flute.

'What're you just standing around for?' the skull kid asked, as it began to swing back and forth. 'If you don't play, you'll be dead.'

'Is that a threat?' Zelda demanded, and it giggled.

'Nope, it's a truth!' It laughed again, high and bright. 'The Kokiri are coming and they're not happy. Come find us or get eaten!'

Then it vanished back into the canopy.

Zelda let out a long groan, sagging where she stood. 'Ugh. Kids.'

'Guess we have to…follow the flutes?' Link said, as the music started up again. It was closer now.

'Then follow them we shall,' Ganondorf replied, turning towards the sound resolutely. The Triforce thrummed in his veins, and he knew he wouldn't give its power up for anything. The Kokiri could try all they liked, but they would not get it back.

'Fine, fine.' Zelda relented as Link nodded, face set with determination, and they set off in search of the skull kids' flutes.

As it turned out, the task was not as simple as it first appeared. Whenever they drew close to what seemed to be the source of one of the flutes there would be a giggle and a rustle and the music would halt, only to start up again in a completely different direction, far away once more. All the while the skull kids' warnings weighed on Ganondorf, and no doubt his companions as well, and their search was pursued by a heavy sense of foreboding and a creeping dread.

How long before the Kokiri found them, if the skull kids had spoken true? How long did they have to escape? Until they were swarmed?

The answers were unclear, and time moved strangely in the woods. There was no way to tell if the trees wanted them gone or wanted to keep them there until Ganondorf relinquished the Triforce.

But he had already decided he would not, no matter what. He thought, once or twice, that if it came to it he would sacrifice his two companions, so that he might not be parted from his Triforce piece, but he tried to quell the cruel impulse. If they were caught, he would find a way to use its power to protect them all and make sure they escaped. He wouldn't leave them to a grisly fate at the hands of the Kokiri, while he escaped alone.

It seemed as though hours passed, as they wandered this way and that in the damp gloom of the woods, and they had no way of knowing how long the trial would last, or if they even were being led from the forest. But of the two factions of child spirits, Ganondorf would rather trust the ones who at the very least seemed to want to help.

After an indeterminable amount of time had passed, Zelda halted abruptly. She seemed to have a knack for telling which direction the flutes emanated from, perhaps because of her covered eyes, so when she stopped Ganondorf's heart sank. Had they lost the trail?

'Do you hear that?' she asked, turning to look back towards Ganondorf, who brought up the rear of their small procession. They stood on the edge of a dense patch of brambles he wasn't looking forward to hacking through, but he thought he could see a pair of pointed boots dangling from a branch across the thicket.

'Hear what? The fucking flutes?' Link replied as he gave the brambles a tentative smack with his sword. They rustled and rebounded, and he took a hasty step back.

'No, the rustling.' Zelda lifted her free hand to an ear, her brows drawing together in a frown. 'There's no wind, so what is it? Is it getting louder? I can't tell over these damn flutes!' She raised her voice pointedly at the last part, and somewhere nearby someone giggled in reply.

'We cannot stop,' Ganondorf said, drawing his own sword as he approached the brambles. 'We may lose the music.'

'Yeah. Okay.' Zelda faced forward again and they began hacking their way through the thicket.

As they reached the halfway mark the music screeched to a halt, then picked up away to their right. They followed, but now that Zelda had mentioned it Ganondorf thought he could hear a rustling too. It was faint, and it did sound like wind in some far-off part of the woods, and, like Zelda, he couldn't tell if it was getting closer.

They pressed on, until she suddenly grabbed Link and then, seeming to realise what she had done, shoved him ahead of her. He yelped and stumbled, and for a moment they were all surprised. Zelda had made it very clear she would tolerate little to no physical contact, so for her to grab Link…

'What the-?' he began, but Ganondorf cut him off.

'What is wrong?' he asked, moving to walk beside her.

'That rustling's definitely getting closer,' she replied, prodding Link in the back with her stick. 'Speed up. I think it's the Kokiri.'

Dread curled cold in Ganondorf's stomach, and he glanced over his shoulder instinctively. The trees behind them were still and quiet, but there was no guarantee they would remain so. He had only caught glimpses of the Kokiri before, but he remembered the long, clawed fingers and inhuman speed with which they had moved.

'Yeah, okay,' Link said, sounding a little nauseated, and broke into a light jog.

Ganondorf and Zelda followed, and he resisted the urge to look back again. It would slow him down and only panic him.

It was like running from the demon all over again, except he had no idea when his pursuers would show themselves this time. His right hand prickled; when he glanced at it the dull yellow had begun to shine, the top triangle now full where before it had been an outline. As his heart began to race the power began to sing beneath his skin, begging to be let out and used, and sparks of gold flickered in the corners of his vision. He tried to swallow it down but it was stronger than him, stronger than everything. He could only keep it contained for so long.

He continued on, even as he felt like he was burning from the inside out, as the flutes rose and fell around them and the ominous rustling grew ever nearer.

Then the screeching began, and Ganondorf couldn't help but look back. He nearly stopped dead out of instinctive, frigid terror.

The trees were full of Kokiri. Their faces might once have been childlike, but now they were warped into something near-demonic, all dark eyes and needle teeth and burning, searing hatred. As he turned away they were advancing, flitting through the canopy, gaining on him and his companions. Tiny voices, twisted by fury, cried out all around them.

'Give it back!'

'It's not yours!'

'Thief!'

'We'll scratch your eyes out!'

'Shit!' Link yelped, and then, with no fear of the consequences, grabbed Zelda's hand and broke into a sprint. 'Run!'

They ran. It grew hard to hear the skull kids' flutes over the cacophony the Kokiri raised, but they strained their ears and followed, careening between the trees with no care for roots or thorns or low-hanging branches.

On and on they ran, until Ganondorf could see movement in the trees above them. Until there was a demonic screech and something light and warm dropped onto his back.

He staggered and, on instinct more than anything else, reached up to grab the spitting, snarling Kokiri and dragged it off, flinging it away from him. Claws raked down his arms and across his hands but it found no hold and went flying.

'Keep going!' Ganondorf ordered as Link slowed, looking back, and pain prickled in his arms where the claws had caught him. He ignored it and drew his sword and ran. Heart in mouth he ran, as his legs burned and his head pounded and his lungs screamed for air.

A Kokiri dropped into his path and he swung at it, haphazardly, more to drive back than to injure because they were children. Awful, demonic children, but children nonetheless, and the thought of harming them made his stomach churn. Still, his blade connected and the Kokiri screamed, backing up as Ganondorf charged on, and he ignored the guilt that bit into him. Ignored the gleeful bloodlust that raised its head. Ignored the golden tide rising within him.

Link was still ahead, guiding Zelda, unarmed because the one hand he could use was in hers, but Ganondorf could see his right hand flexing, no doubt itching to maim and kill. Even as he watched said hand drew Link's sword and he yelled something in an angry, frightened voice but there was nothing he could do.

They ran on.

Some hundred metres later and another weight dropped squarely onto Ganondorf's back, but this one was quickly followed by another as small hands latched onto his ankles, claws digging into his skin through his clothes. He stumbled, lost his balance, fell. He hit the ground hard, and before he had time to react, to even try to rise, he was completely swarmed.

Weight fell across every limb and the screaming rose to unbearable levels, words unintelligible from the sheer number of voices, and Ganondorf cried out as claws and fangs dug into his flesh. They going to eat him alive. He bucked and twisted and fought, but they wouldn't shift.

The golden tide shifted within him, so close to breaking free, but he couldn't let it loose. He didn't know what would happen and he couldn't afford collateral damage. He wouldn't risk Link and Zelda's safety for his own. He clung to it, held it in, until he feared he might combust.

'Get off him!' A voice – Link – yelled, and Ganondorf felt the weight of several Kokiri lift off of him.

He kicked and struggled, managed to get up onto all fours as more of them fell away with cries of pain. Throwing out a hand he scrabbled desperately for his sword, which had been flung away as he was swarmed, and his fingers met the hilt with the familiar warm tingle of magic. He grasped it and clambered to his feet, watching as Link cut through the horde of Kokiri with a brutal grace.

His eyes were wild and scared, but a smirk played on his lips, his sword grasped firmly in his right hand. There was blood on his face, on his clothes. Ganondorf couldn't tell if it was his or the Kokiri's.

'Link, we must go,' he said, in as authoritative a tone as he could muster, breathless and pained as he was, and when Link glanced at him and advanced he barely managed to lift his sword in time to block the blow from Link's own.

Not sure what else to do, as he stared into Link's terrified eyes and his cruel smirk, he rocked back and kicked him hard in the stomach. When he reeled, Ganondorf disarmed him with quick, practised movements.

'Piece of shit,' Link gasped in a voice that was definitely not his own, but Ganondorf ignored him as he scooped up his sword and turned to run once more.

Zelda was trapped fifty metres in front, her staff a blur of movement as she whipped it to and fro, and while her strikes weren't accurate their force and ferocity seemed to be enough to keep the Kokiri at bay. It helped that Ganondorf was their main focus. He moved towards her and, with a sword in either hand, slashed a path through their attackers. There was no time to feel more than flickers of guilt.

'Keep going, Zelda,' he commanded as he glanced over his shoulder at Link, who had his right shoulder in a tight grip, his face a stony mask as he dodged Kokiri and advanced. He saw Ganondorf looking and nodded with a grimace, and when he held out his left hand Ganondorf offered him his sword. Then, without sparing another moment, he took Zelda's hand and they ran.

Behind them, the Kokiri began to regroup, but up ahead Ganondorf thought he saw sunlight and then there it was, the edge of the forest. A mere hundred metres away, the trees abruptly fell away to a sunny green expanse of fields and he could almost taste freedom as he forced himself faster, faster, faster, Zelda's hand gripping his so tightly he could feel the bones grinding together.

They were close, so close, they were almost there. Almost, almost…

And they were free. Bursting out into the sunlight, the bright blue sky near-blinding in its intensity after the forest's murk, the ground solid and level, the air sweet and fresh and warm.

Choking on ragged gasps Ganondorf staggered to a halt, a good distance from the treeline, dropping Zelda's hand and his sword in favour of leaning on his knees to catch his breath. A metallic taste coated his tongue and his throat ached, sharp pain shooting through him with every breath. As his head pounded and the world swam he thought for a moment he might throw up, but he swallowed hard and tried to calm his breathing.

As the adrenaline began to fade, so too did the golden tide within him, settling down to a gentle burn once more. He'd maintained his control, he hadn't been overwhelmed.

Somebody groaned behind him and there came the heavy thump of a body collapsing, and when he turned back, wiping sweat from his forehead as it stung in his eyes, he saw Link sprawled in the grass, chest heaving, face scrunched up with pain or exertion. Zelda stood a little way away, trying her best to look composed, but she was just as exhausted and flushed and sweaty as Link or Ganondorf.

Beyond them, the treeline was empty and still. Not a single Kokiri to be seen. Ganondorf wondered where they had gone – perhaps they couldn't leave the woods.

As he watched, though, a small figure appeared on one of the wider branches at the edge of the trees, wide hat askew and skull mask firmly in place. When it saw Ganondorf watching, it raised a hand and waved energetically.

'That was fun!' it called, bouncing on its chosen branch until the wood creaked and threatened to snap. 'Feel free to come back any time!'

Zelda gave a long, pointed groan, and Ganondorf looked on in silence as the skull kid waved and vanished back into the forest.

They were free.

They had done it. They had survived.

'Oh, shit.' Link sat up suddenly and turned to Ganondorf with a look of panic on his face. 'We forgot about the mask.'