She finds herself in her room this night, though she is vaguely aware that it is not exactly her room as she hovers near the window overlooking the darkened palace gardens. She is waiting eagerly for someone, as she has many nights before. He appears now in her window; still dressed in his school clothes, a beaming smile on his face and she feels something electric in her as she regards his cherished features in the moonlight: his sky colored eyes, his strawberry-blonde hair a mess with cowlicks, his mischievous grin. He's barely sixteen as he stands before her, taking her hands in his. She has watched him blossom from a scrawny orphan child into the tall, comely young knight he has become. Now, as they sneak out of her window and down the ladder for the hundredth time to some after-hours adventure, she finds that in this moment, she loves him more than anything else. They wander the gardens together under the moon; talking merrily, laughing about one thing or another. Life has always been this way. She cannot imagine it otherwise. They wade together in the knee-deep water of the fountain and she allows the hem of her dress to fall in joyful abandon as she watches the stars. On a whim, she dashes from the fountain and waggishly steals the boy's shoes; holding her soaking dress as she runs giggling through the courtyard with the boy in delighted pursuit. He catches her of course, in the field laden with Ipomoea plants behind the temple. He wrestles her to the ground as she still refuses to give up the mud caked boots, holding on to them with all the strength in her fingers as the two of them become nearly limp with laughter. She manages to keep them away from the young knight until he finds the ticklish spot on her ribs after which she quickly concedes, and they lay there together for a while in the grass as they catch their breath. When she stands again she notices that the field has bloomed with the round, white faces of the abounding moon flowers. She takes his hand as she fondly thanks him for the night; thanks him for all the nights he has taken her out and allowed her to be something simple in the starlight. She leans into him as she puts her arms around his shoulders. She closes her eyes and presses the warm, slender body of her dearest friend against hers. When she pulls away it's like she's standing in space. The boy and the flowers are gone as is all light that does not emanate from underneath her skin; she hears the echo of many voices whispering around her in the dark. She drifts there for a moment in confusion before she looks down at herself; her hands and the front of her gown are soaked dark with blood.
Zelda awoke with a jolt, as her eyes adjusted in the pale light of the overcast morning she sat stiffly up on her palate. It took her a moment to realize exactly where she was as the waking world flooded her senses but as she looked about to the red rocks and the sleeping Link beside, the small panic she had briefly felt subsided. She sighed as the cool, damp wind of the early morning ruffled her hair. The dream had shaken her and she shifted uncomfortably under her blanket as she looked to Link; sprawled on his back, breathing lightly at her side. Zelda found that she wanted to wake him as she sat in the quiet of the mountain side but chided herself inwardly for the notion. Still though, she felt her nerves quiver a bit under her skin. She could not tell if the dream had been a memory or a premonition. It had been especially vivid, and she felt now full of some ineffable sorrow as the vague recollection of it floated in her mind. She found herself anxiously wondering if the dreams would become more visceral now that she knew truth, what other violence had Hylia to show her? What other inveterate mistakes would she bare beneath her light? Zelda sighed, and turned her attention now to the book that lay beside her. She examined the curling leather cover as she gently thumbed the book open. In the stitched binding there was a faded, but well sketched map of the country on the first page. The author had drawn a little Triforce mark where the Faron province now lay. Intrigued, Zelda flipped through the book to find that every bit of it was hand penned, containing hasty drawings of various creatures and locations. Pursing her lips, she flipped back to the first page and began to read; the language so archaic she found herself stumbling a bit over the syllables in her mind.
"This is a chronicle of the first years of the land named Hyrule by the Goddess incarnate, Lady Zelda of Skyloft. Ours is the history of the earth and sky..."
Zelda, her brows knitting, read on. She soaked in the story of the Goddess who had rent the earth and sped her people skyward, along with the Triforce and the holy sword. She shivered at the distant memory. The day that she and Hylia had merged flashed again through her mind. The blood and fire all too bright as she read the primordial text. The book told of the deeds of a young Skyloftian knight who had drawn the sacred sword of his people and gone in search of the maiden who had fallen through the clouds. He had descended; striking down the evil held imprisoned inside the land and reuniting the Hylian people with the surface. Zelda paused there, and she pondered now all other history she had learned in the passing days.
I wonder if this is not where the tale of the Picori boy who came from the sky originated… if this is the true history, it is almost a wonder to see how skewed it has become in the time that's passed.
Zelda continued perusing the book as the sun climbed higher over the hills. She read over the history of the sky city and its residents, as well the tiny capital that had sprung from what the book had called the Sealed Grounds after the defeat of the Demon King, Demise. The book told of, as the owl had said, the divine nature of the first Zelda and the incarnation of her chosen knight's ability to wield both the holy sword and the then little understood relic of the Gods. Zelda stopped; fascinated with the past, she had forgotten for a moment what it was she sought. She flipped carefully through the pages, finding towards the center of the book a chapter documenting the discovery of the Sheikah tribe deep in the outlying forest. She found numerous spell crafting instructions there; with directions for many powerful arcane tinctures and incantations for anything from soothing a wound to raising the dead. In addition, the author had cataloged and explained demons and spirits that the Princess had never heard of; yet there was nothing as far as she could tell that could separate her father from the darkness that had consumed him. As she became discouraged, she began to notice that with every mention of the Triforce, the author had hastily scrawled a page number as a reference to a later chapter. Curious, she flipped to the end of the book only to find that the entirety of that chapter had been meticulously sliced out. A small squeak left her as she sat impotently with the incomplete book in her lap and for a moment, she felt like screaming. She heard Link stir beside her and glanced over at him as he turned on to his stomach. He opened his eyes for a moment and lazily scanned the area before he closed them again, rolling on to his side with a light sigh.
"Are you awake?" Asked Zelda, softly.
"Mmhm…" Link muttered.
Minutes later he opened his eyes and hazily met her gaze. He blinked slowly a few times before he pushed himself up and sat beside her, still heavy-lidded and half asleep as he looked to the tome Zelda held open in her lap.
"How long have you been up? You could've woke me you know." He mumbled and Zelda closed the book.
"I could have, I considered it for a moment but I thought I would let you sleep, you looked so peaceful… I did not want to disturb you." She said.
He shuffled himself closer to her, their shoulders touching as he looked curiously down at the unintelligible lettering on the cover. He looked again to Zelda, noticing now the look of discontent she wore.
"Is something the matter?" He asked.
Zelda sighed as she opened the back cover of the book to reveal the missing chapter.
"There is nothing here that will help my father and all of the pages with information on the Triforce have been cut out… For what reason, I do not know." Said Zelda, her voice full of exasperation as she let her head fall against her knuckles.
Link, his brows furrowed, pulled the heavy text into his own lap and examined the strip of cleanly cut pages with growing frustration; etched into the inside of the back cover there was an inscription. Gently poking her in the arm, he pointed down to the words.
"What does this say?" Asked Link.
Zelda straightened and turned the book toward her.
"Penned and gathered by Sir Groose of Skyloft, Sage of Sky." She read.
The two of them sat in reflective silence for a moment, the name of the author bringing a cloud of hazy remembrance that neither Link nor Zelda could quite grasp. As she thought, in a feather-light wave a vivid memory of a boisterous young man with bright red hair swept through the mind of the Princess. She had sent him on that errand, hadn't she? Sent him off to discover a land that wasn't supposed to exist. Zelda smiled in spite of the missing chapter at the recollection.
"I think...We knew him well… do you remember, Link?" She asked.
The boy thought for a moment, phantom memories of the burly red-head that had fought alongside him in the dreamscape surfacing. He smiled as he looked to the thick lettering that spelled the name of his long ago friend and comrade.
"I do, actually." Said Link.
As the sun rose to mid-morning, the two of them dressed and ate a small breakfast of walnuts and what remained of the plums. They talked of their frustration, bitterness in the Princess's voice as the boy tried in vain to make light of the situation. Zelda would not have it, and so Link was ultimately quiet. Neither mentioned the events of the night before, they hovered in restive understanding above the two and so there was no need. They sat, saying nothing as Zelda ate her breakfast with a look of contemplative defeat. Link pulled the dust-covered sky book into his lap. He gently turned the pages, the lettering foreign though the images sketched into the yellowed paper stirred memories, faint like watercolors, within him. As Link continued to flip through the pages he suddenly felt a vague but clamorous notion creep into his thoughts. This book had shaped his fate before, and hers. He looked across to the downcast, golden-haired girl as she cracked another walnut.
"Zelda." He said, and she forlornly met his eyes, humming her response.
"Do you get a weird feeling from this book?" Asked Link.
Zelda gave a pronounced shrug.
"I do not know, I suppose it would be had to tell with all the other weird feelings I have at the moment..." She said, dropping her chin heavily back against her palm.
Link sighed, and moved to sit beside the disgruntled Zelda.
"I promised Impa that I'd go see her after we found the book. I think I'm going to head down there soon... hopefully she'll know at least something." Said Link
Zelda nodded, staring down at the walnut in her palm. Her face softened.
"Yes... I only wish I could go with you, I miss her terribly." She said.
Link glanced over to the white cloak upon the ground and back to Zelda.
"You can go, if you want. I know you probably have a lot to tell her, after everything." He said, and Zelda softly shook her head.
"I need to study the sky book in conjunction with the books I've taken from the library; it will take the better part of the day. Perhaps this thwarting mystery can be solved within the combined text. Please, give her my love and be safe, I am unsure whether or not we are still hunted by the guard." She said, gathering the three books beside her and laying herself back down onto her palate.
Link rose, grabbing the cloak and his sword belt from the ground. He hung the belt about his waist to conceal it under the heavy mantle he donned once again and then he turned to Zelda. She lay on her stomach, propping herself up on her elbows and staring fixedly down into the pages.
"I'll be back soon." He said.
Zelda smiled up at him from beneath the curtain of yellow waves about her head and back.
"I shall be waiting." She said warmly.
Link couldn't help but grin affectionately over his shoulder as he raised the hood. She looked rather adorable now, fragile and innocent, lolled on the ground. Then the boy turned and skidded down into the graveyard below for the third time.
Link passed the cemetery gates in meditative silence. He ruminated on the events of the night before and the strange connection he felt to the book as he headed down the path cut through the rocky hillside. He felt suddenly very lonely. When he was by himself, with his thoughts, the monumental weight of eternity seemed to press down on him relentlessly. It was as if an endless corridor of lives and their respective mysteries lay like a ghostly maze inside of him, just beneath his skin, befuddling the flesh and blood that his soul dwelt within. His body was little more than a jacket really. A thing that would be cast off and the all the memories of the form that now carried him would someday have their own door in that long, ephemeral hallway. That would be the final resting place of the faces and names of everyone dear to him. Link wondered now, would he remember? Would this life become a strange dream that he would wake from in some distant future? He glanced up at the sky, his brain knotting in trying to comprehend what his soul somehow understood. His thoughts found their way again to Zelda, the only constant in this endless cycle. No matter the span of years, he would find her again; their memories entangled through centuries. She was the only one that could ever truly understand the bounden nature of their shared destiny. All others likely passed him by as he drifted in and out of his lives. The thought saddened him. He did not want to think of his love for Rue, Khai and the others as something that would fade with him, but he knew that death would wipe his slate clean. He would lose them on this eternal vigil; guarding the land and the souls that walked within it. Though, he would always have Zelda, at least there was that. He smiled, warming at the thought of her. Being near her, despite everything, it felt as if the piece of himself that had been restless all his life had finally found some kind of peace. Though, it made sense he supposed; the two of them had known one another hundreds of times. He smiled as he thought of her. Link had grown very fond of the Princess as of late, perhaps too fond. Zelda was, after all, still the King's daughter and though the blood of a knight ran in his veins, he was still little more than a peasant. When he stood before her; the crown upon her head, the eyes of courtiers upon him, deference would be expected then. Though, it was easy enough now to forget her title, especially when the mood caught her. Lost in thought, Link rounded the corner into Kakariko. Upon beholding the town he stopped short, a small gasp passing his lips. Nearly the entirety of the place had been burned to ash, the buildings like broken, blackened teeth against the pale sky. Only a few houses and store fronts remained standing undamaged. The hordes had doubtlessly come. Link felt nearly choked as he surveyed the destruction through wide eyes. The boy cursed under his breath as he walked on. He felt responsible; the burned out shells of homes and the pale sky brought a stinging reminiscence. He made his way through the charred town, passing a few ragged villagers as he went; compunction growing in him like a thorny, hateful plant. He stopped in the street as he looked up to regard Ipma's house with dismay. It had been entirely demolished. He began to panic quietly there, before the rubble of the house with black roof-tiling. Had Impa survived? Link drew a breath and steadied himself. He looked to the tavern, one of the few buildings that had remained untouched and saw that there were lamps lit within it. Perhaps someone there would be able to tell him the whereabouts of the lady Sheikah. He sighed and turned toward the bar with a pit in his stomach. As he stepped up on to the first stair leading to the door, he noticed that the wanted poster that had once hung there had been ripped forcefully off of the wall; the remnants of the paper still stuck to the nails that had secured it. He smiled wryly as he ascended the wooden stair case.
The tavern was nearly empty save for a few distraught looking patrons that hung near the back tables and two soldiers that sat at the bar across the room. Warily, Link took a seat at the bar a few stools down from them; listening to their lightly slurred conversation as the barmaid stepped up to him. He looked up at her from under the hood.
"What'll you be having sweetie?" She asked, her voice kind and worn.
Link let out a long sigh as he glanced down to the scratched table and back to the plump, ruddy face of the woman.
"The darkest stout you have please." Said Link, and the barmaid nodded amiably as she turned to fetch his drink.
She returned promptly, and set the glass of black and brown beer in front of him. He thanked her, and then he sat sipping the sweet and malty liquid; listening to the audibly drunken guardsmen converse beside him. He caught bits of their conversation as they talked of the raid, but nothing they'd said had been relevant to finding the one who he was seeking in this place. Link anxiously swirled the dark liquid around in the glass. Moments later, the boy stiffened at the feeling of a hand on his shoulder.
"Excuse me friend, my partner and I were wondering if you had a few rupees to spare. I really hate to ask but we ran up a way higher tab then we thought we would." Said the husky and oddly familiar voice.
Link looked circumspectly up at the face of the knight beside him, to his joyful astonishment he met the dark countenance of his oldest friend.
"Khai!" He exclaimed, and he pushed the hood back to reveal himself.
A look of elation lit up the face of the black-eyed boy as Link stood beside him.
"Link! Well fancy meeting you here!" Said the giddy, ecstatic Khai as the two of them embraced tightly.
The older, silver-haired knight turned in his seat to view the chance reunion, his eyebrows lifting as he recognized the face of the boy he had carried mortally poisoned to Zelda's chamber.
"This is Link?" Asked Eolan, looking to Khai and puffing his oversized pipe as the boys took their seats next to each other.
Khai turned to him with a wide, crooked grin.
"Yeah, that's him. Why, do you two know each other already?" He asked.
Eolan reached a hand across the bar top to Link, who clasped it respectfully.
"Do you remember me?" Eolan inquired, his green eyes intense under his bushy, gray brows.
Link tilted his head, scanning the man's face intently.
"I think I recognize you from somewhere." He said, and Eolan smiled tepidly.
"It was I who carried you to Princess Zelda's room. Truthfully, I never expected you to rise from that bed. It is a miracle that you still breathe." Said Eolan.
A grateful smile pulled the boy's lips as he regarded the old knight.
"So that's how I got in... I'm sorry that I don't remember much, I was pretty sure that I was dying when we met that night. You have my thanks sir, Zelda saved my life." He said.
Eolan nodded and took another draught of liquor from the glass.
"I don't doubt it, she is very skilled in the arts of medicine. I'd heard that you had absconded with her in tow. I had actually planned to find you and kill you myself but something in my conscience stopped me. I couldn't tell if it was your resolve or the will of the Gods, so I did and said nothing and Delvion's men did not find you. Ironically, you may be the only hope Hyrule has left." Said Eolan, casting his eyes down to the sword that hung at Link's side.
Slowly, the old knight pulled the white cloak up to behold the hilt of the sacred blade, resting at the hip of the blue-eyed boy beside his squire.
"So, you are the Hero of legend. I have heard the fairy tale all my life and until recently, I had believed it to be just that… Link was it? It is I who should be grateful to you; if you had not come, the King's daughter would have been among the first to die." Said Eolan, withdrawing his hand.
Link dropped his gaze and stared tensely down into his drink as the captain took another long sip of his, finishing the glass. Khai shuffled fitfully upon his stool.
"Eolan, do you mind if I have a minute with my friend? He and I need to talk." He said.
Eolan nodded, tossing a handful of rupees on the table and standing slowly. He laid a hand softly on Khai's shoulder.
"I will see you at the base." He said, and without another word he turned and left the tavern.
Khai turned again to Link, offering him a drunken smile.
"He seems like a real grouch, I know. But he's actually not so bad once you get to know him, I dare say even personable… So… you mad at me?" He asked.
Link met his friend's eyes in earnest.
"A little… More than anything, I'm just glad to see you." He said.
Khai sighed and took a long draught of his ale.
"I'm sorry, Link. I couldn't stay there… I just couldn't." Said Khai, his voice suddenly frail.
Link felt a sharp ripple of grief cut through him as he looked to his childhood friend.
"It's alright. Just… what happened that night Khai? I was terrified I was going to find you dead somewhere…" He said.
The black-eyed boy emptied his glass and then cleared his throat.
"I rode all night, after I left the village. I don't really remember a whole lot of it; that must have been the drunkest I've ever been in my whole life. I ran into Eolan and his men in the field around the castle gates. I guess I yelled a lot of garbled nonsense and then I fell off my horse… busted my stiches too. Eolan took me to the infirmary for the night, fixed my leg and shoulder, and came to see me the next morning… asked me what I was doing there… I told him about what happened in Faron… told him that I wanted to become a solider, that I had a birthright to it… because of who my father was. At first he wanted to send me home but I pretty much begged him to take me on as a squire. Eventually he did, as you can probably tell…" Khai paused there, swallowing hard; his eyes cloudy.
"… A day later, Eolan and I were walking out in the yard when we heard screaming coming from inside the castle. When we got there…" He paused again, taking a breath.
"… when we got there, there were all these soldiers... they were dead, Link... most of them didn't even have skin anymore and they were just... killing everyone in sight. A handful of people got out of there and we all came here to Kakariko… right before those horned bastards came and burned this place too... They didn't kill as many here as they did in Faron though… we made sure of that." Said Khai, tears finally sliding down his cheeks which he quickly brushed away.
Link laid a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"I'm so sorry Khai… part of me feels like there was something I was supposed to do. So many people have died... and I didn't stop it... all I've really done is find a book I can't even read by myself… I can't help but feel like I've already failed..." He said.
Khai turned bleary eyes to him again.
"You haven't failed, Link...One man can't fight an army. What you need to do is figure out how to stop him; the one controlling all of it. I saw him... Eolan and I both did... We went up into the tower, I stayed behind him with a broad sword while he fought through those things. We were looking for Daphnes but when we found him... I've never felt anything so evil… it was like… there was black smoke rolling off of him... It was inhuman, he just stood there on the stairs... watching those things kill everyone...Whatever he was, Eolan said that there's no trace of King Daphnes left in him." He said.
Link let his temple fall against his knuckles and quickly finished the rest of the stout in his glass. They sat in despaired silence for a moment before Link at length spoke again.
"Khai, do you know a woman named Impa? That's who I came here to find." Said Link, and his friend nodded.
"Yeah, of course I know Lady Impa. She and the few knights we had might be the only reason why anyone survived the raid at all. Our base is under the well on the other side of the village; that's where the army's staying now. I can take you there." Said Khai.
With a silent prayer of thanks Link stood, feeling a slight relieved as he and his friend emptied their wallets on the table. They bid good-day to the barmaid and quickly left out the door to the ruined town below.
Khai ambled abreast of Link as the two of them made their way to the empty well; something like a cloud hanging oppressively above them.
"So where is the Princess anyway?" Said Khai at last.
Link gestured toward the wall that separated the town from the cemetery.
"She's up in a pass on the hills, translating what's left of the book along with some of the others she brought from the library." He said.
"What is that book? That was what the key you two were looking for opened the door to, right?" Asked Khai.
They stopped for a moment at the mouth of the well, and Link peered down into the darkness as he spoke.
"Aye. It's writing from before Hyrule really existed, it documents the oldest magic in the world. It has the earliest known information on the Triforce too… that is if the last chapter wasn't missing." He said.
Khai looked up bemusedly at his flaxen-haired friend as he stepped down on the first rung of the latter.
"You know, you never really did tell me what was going on kid. You more or less just stole a Princess and disappeared." He said.
Link smiled drolly as he began to follow his friend into the well.
"I didn't steal her, she wanted to come... it's a really, really long story Khai." Said Link.
"That's the impression I get. You should just tell me anyway, give me the short version or something." Replied the dark-eyed boy.
Link took a breath and loosely explained the events of the past week as he and Khai climbed down the seemingly endless ladder.
"So… all that Triforce fairytale nonsense was true after all… that's actually… pretty scary." Said Khai below.
"I know. I still haven't figured out exactly why the Goddesses left it here… All I know for certain is that I have to make sure it's safe… that nobody destroys the world trying to obtain it... I... was born to guard this thing… it's my purpose in life." Said Link, his voice hushed.
Khai caught his friend's solemn expression as Link turned his head to glance over his shoulder. When they arrived at the bottom, the two ventured into the darkened tunnel that lay beneath the well and Link stopped short as he regarded the solid wall of gray brick in front of him. Khai smiled back at him over his shoulder.
"Want to see something amazing?" He said, and Link came to his side as he pulled a small object on a chain from beneath his breast-plate.
The item Khai held looked to be a type of magnifying glass made from a deep purple stone. Khai lifted it up beside him.
"Look through it, I found it down here the other day." He said.
Link obliged him and saw through the reddish glass that there was, in truth, no wall blocking the way forward and he nodded as Khai threw the glass back beneath his armor.
"That is amazing, though it's not the first time I've seen it. Zelda called it a glamouring spell." Said Link, and Khai nodded as they passed through the false wall.
"So did Impa. It's weird; I'm still not used to it." He said.
The boys proceeded down a stone hallway into the torch lit chambers ahead. Already Link could hear murmuring voices of those below echoing off of the stone walls. Khai led his friend down another ladder and into bowels of the well where a small group of knights stood chatting softly in a ring. Eolan was among them, and he offered them a slight wave as they passed. Khai led Link past the men and down a long stone corridor. They passed through a large, square overhang and into a room with four individual doors to the smaller chambers within. Khai gestured to the door at his right.
"This is her room. I'll wait here, she doesn't really like it too much when people knock." He said.
Link turned to his friend.
"Thank you Khai. I'll come find you when I get done with this… I'm really happy to see you... seriously, you have no idea." He said
Khai smiled.
"I think I do. Go on, Mr. Hero." He said.
Link returned his friends expression, and then he turned to the gnarled wooden door; knocking loudly on it. He heard an annoyed voice from within cry "enter" and Link slipped into the room as Khai turned to join the knights in the main chamber.
Impa sat in the lamp-lit room, her long white hair wild and unbound about her face, scribbling raptly on a piece of parchment at a desk near her disheveled makeshift bed. About the desk lay maps of different regions and the innards of the palace, all with various marks upon them. The Sheikah lady looked up as she set the quill down, Link watched as her expression phased from irritation to delight.
"Link, you have returned." She said, rising from her seat and stepping briskly to the boy in the doorway. She clasped his arm tightly as she greeted him.
"Did you get the book?" Asked Impa.
Link nodded.
"We did Lady, that's actually why I'm here. Zelda's translating it now… what we have of it." He said.
Impa looked to the floor, seeming rather dispirited as she motioned to the wicker chair beside the doorway.
"The last chapter is missing, isn't it?" She asked.
"Did you know that it would be?" Link returned, taking a seat in the chair.
Impa sat down on her bed, her slim shoulders sagging with exhaustion.
"No, not when I had sent you for the book. It is a recent discovery. As of the past weeks, I have been frequently spying inside of the castle. Along with other things, I found a letter marking a place in a very old book I had kept in my quarters. It was a letter to a great grandmother of mine, from an ancestor of Zelda's informing her that she had hidden the pages of what she called the sky book elsewhere in the land; that the information they contained was far too dangerous to remain with the rest of the text. I had hoped she'd talked of a different book…" She said.
Link leaned forward on his knees, his eyebrows raised.
"Did this letter say where to find them at all?" He asked.
Impa looked up at him, and Link could see now the dark rings of sleeplessness beneath her eyes.
"It said only that the chapter was split into three and the first of the pages were taken to the mountain range of Snowpeak. Where they now lie or if they are even still intact I do not know… and that is but a scratch in a long list of difficulties Hyrule currently faces. I have seen the army of the dead; it grows still. When the hordes invaded, they… were taking bodies back with them to the castle..." Impa paused, wincing at the memory.
"I have never seen a sight so terrible… Everyone in the palace and the surrounding town has been killed or has fled to the forests and the mountains. I fear the strength of this legion, and I think time may be short." Said Impa.
Link glanced uneasily down at the floor.
"What about Zelda's father?" He asked, raising his eyes again to Impa.
She slowly shook her head.
"From what I have seen… I do not believe any magic could restore Daphnes. He has been fully consumed by the beast. All that could be done now would be to remove the Triforce of Power from the King of Evil. If that is done, much of his vile magic will be reduced to naught." Said Impa.
Link breathed a heavy sigh.
"So then, the only way to end this is kill him." He said dolefully.
"Yes… Ride to the northern mountain range. There is a great mansion upon the tallest peak; it is the gateway to the city below. Perhaps someone there will know of the pages. Regardless of whether or not they are found, Ganondorf must be destroyed… you are the only one who can do this. Within a week's time, Eolan and I will mobilize the remainder of the resistance, and we will march on the castle. It is then that you must fight him. I will furnish you and the Princess with the basic necessities for traveling the northern mountains. If you do manage to find the pages, and a way to unbind the Triforce from yourselves, it stands to reason that this demon will be unable to ravage the land as he has in our lifetime... that when he comes again… he will be weakened. As long as the Triforce of power dwells within the beast, he cannot truly be killed, only sealed within a fallible prison. If the Triforce is made whole, and the demon dies a human death, balance will be restored again to the cycle. He will be mortal and his incarnation will forget, as you and Zelda do..." Impa paused, noticing the woeful look in the eyes of the boy across the room.
"...I know the two of you have been through much, and you must be very weary. You should stay here tonight, there are beds here for you both. I have much I must share with Zelda… including the fate of Daphnes… Come Link, take me to her." She added, getting to her feet.
Link stood along with her, his chest tight. Preparing to exit the room, he turned again to the Sheikah woman.
"Lady Impa, Zelda and I will do what we can as far as the pages go but... I want you to know that either way, I will stop this before the rest of Hyrule suffers the fate of this village… and mine. I... I hope that our actions now will bring some kind of sustained peace in the future… I want to find a way to put the Triforce some place safe... Some place where Ganondorf can't get to it. He's destroyed the land so many times looking for it... to end him, even to put him down for long enough for the land to really heal… that would be something." He said.
Impa smiled, and laid a graceful hand on Link's shoulder.
"That it would." She said.
Zelda gently closed the cover of the sky book and gingerly rubbed her aching eyes. She had been reading for hours now, her head filled to near bursting with bestiaries, spells, fables and the flood of emotion that had come over her in the passing hours. She rolled onto her back; staring up at the sunless sky and letting her ridged shoulders relax against the ground. She realized as she lay there that somehow, the reading of the books had exhausted her more than had the quest to find them; the varied feelings of her previous incarnations bleeding into her through the text. She felt the color of paint that had been mixed too much, frustrated by how elusive the individual motivations of her former selves had been as they slipped from her mind the moment they entered. Hylia had begun to fully awaken in her, and she remembered far more than Zelda could perceive in the world of the living; far more than she wanted to. The Princess closed her eyes, feeling a slight nauseated as she lay there, fearing another involuntary dive into her subconscious. She thought of Link, and found herself wondering now when he would be back. Silence was far less frightening when he was nearby. His presence was to her, like a fire adrift in a sea of ice. She was drawn to his warmth and the powerful familiarity he carried with him. Zelda sighed. He really was something; bright with the good humor and kindness that lay within that pure heart of his. The brief moments they had spent together as companions, as simple people, were among the most precious in the whole of her life. Whether the boy had meant to or not he had become her dearest friend, and she knew now that this was probably always the case. It was as if there were a string tied to each of their thumbs that never broke, that lead them back to each other time and time again. Zelda's thoughts meandered to the night before, to his arms around her on the steps of the fated chamber, and her stomach quivered in restless butterflies.
He is always the same… and he has forgiven you countless times.
The spectral voice whispered. Zelda shooed her away and pushed herself up; drawing her knees close, her cheeks hot.
"Yes… but how can I forgive myself?" Said Zelda, softly into space.
It was then that the flustered girl heard the sound of scraping over the rocks. Relieved, she stood as she waited for Link to climb again over the side of the hill. To her surprise, a snow-white head appeared before her, followed by the beaming face of her guardian with Link close behind. Zelda smiled blithely as she rushed to embrace the tall woman before her. The two of them stood, clutching each other tightly in the blanched light of the afternoon. Impa gently pulled away. Holding her by the shoulders, she looked the girl over with a soft laugh.
"Well, look at you. Is that my armor, Princess?" She asked.
Zelda giggled.
"It is indeed, how do I look?" She asked, jestingly.
"Beautiful as ever, though you look a little thin." Impa replied, ruffling the girl's hair as Link came to stand beside them.
Zelda turned to him with a wide grin which he readily returned. Impa regarded the two as she gestured toward the main road through the hillside below.
"Come, there is a bed and food waiting for you. Zelda, my child… you and I have much to discuss." She said.
The trio made their way on foot down the rocky path and out into the field, passing the shattered gates into the ruined town. As the demolished piazza came into view, along with the angry peak of the mountain, Zelda looked on in voiceless horror. She stopped, as Link had, shocked and incensed by the destruction of the last Sheikah town. Impa turned to see the boy gently take the Princess's hand in his as she stood hanging on Midge's reins, struck by the violence that had been wreaked upon the village. He calmly spoke words of comfort to her as she began to murmur phrases of disdain in languages that had been dead for centuries. The Princess held his hand to the mouth of the well; her delicate lips in a tight, nettled line. When they had descended into the depths of the rebel stronghold, the residing knights regarded their pale monarch with long enduring veneration; dropping to their knees at once as her form drew closer. It was a long overdue homecoming, or all that could have been given, due to the circumstances. Eolan approached from the small group of bended knights and Zelda looked upon him with a wan smile as Link and Impa stood beside her.
"Your Highness… It brings me great joy to see you unharmed. I have prayed many a night for the day that I would see you returned safely… Though, I must say, you look now more like a warrior than a Queen." Said Eolan, kneeling before her, his silver hair falling limply about his shoulders.
Zelda placed a hand softly on the top of his head.
"Rise Eolan… There should be no formalities between us here… I fight as you do; and you have none to thank for my wellbeing so much as this boy." She said, casting her eyes in Link's direction.
Eolan did as she said, coming to his feet with a small bow as he turned with a softened expression to meet the willful eyes of the fabled hero.
"We have been introduced, and I have given him my gratitude… I would hope that he would join us tonight in the square. We will be lighting a fire for the first time this week. My men would be quite pleased to hear the stories of your journey, young Link." Said Eolan.
Link smiled.
"And I would be happy to oblige you. Though, the stories wouldn't be half as interesting if Her Majesty wasn't there telling them along with me, so I'll be waiting here until Impa is done speaking with her." He replied, glancing up at the old knight and then back to the grinning Zelda.
Eolan set a firm hand on the svelte shoulder of the boy with a quiet smile.
"We shall wait then."
Khai had stood out of sight with his back against the wall during the reunion of his captain and the Hyrulian Princess; watching the as his oldest friend's eyes lingered on leather clad Zelda to his left, his expression far too soft as he gazed upon her. As they moved toward the dour Khai, Link's words as he and Impa had left to collect the King's daughter from the hillside echoed again in his mind.
She's my friend Khai… be nice to her… for my sake if nothing else.
Khai chuckled disdainfully; he didn't really have much of a choice now, did he? He crossed his arms, shifting uncomfortably against the wall as they approached him. To her, Khai thought, he, Link and all of the denizens of his villages were nothing more than surfs; goat herders hardly more intelligent than the animals that they cared for. He wanted to blame her, for all that had transpired in the weeks since Link had carried her unconscious into their village, though he knew not entirely how. Royalty could never grasp the concept of living as one without a title or an inheritance does. The common life was nothing but a fleeting pastoral thought to them. Something their children learned about and were taught swiftly to dismiss. Places like Faron thought to be primitive and people like himself deemed ignorant and never further considered by those who had not once felt soil upon their hands; people that were expendable. Despite this he had sworn allegiance to the crown, ready to die in battle for a chance at vengeance on the forces that had taken Mariana from him. Khai glanced back into the main chamber, to the King's daughter; her eyes resolute, her hair disheveled with miles of wind and riding. How far could he really begrudge the budding monarch? She was after all, really just a girl and Link seemed rather intent on following her everywhere that she went. He sighed heavily as he thought, the three familiar figures quickly coming toward him. Zelda jumped as she recognized his form, though she quickly curtsied to cover it.
"Khai…" She said softly; her eyes did not falter.
Khai, looking quickly to Link, uncrossed his arms and bent himself into bow.
"Your Highness…" He said, his voice flat but polite and then he looked expectantly aside to his friend.
Impa brushed past them, amicably looping her arm around the Princess whose eyes still lingered on the face of the dark-eyed boy who seemed to hate her so. She looked then to Link, standing beside him as he watched her walk away; his eyes were pained.
A little over an hour had passed. As the sun set above ground and the knights began to carry bundles of wood up to the town above, Link and Khai aimlessly wandered the hallways of the well. For a moment, as Khai recited a rather disgusting joke he had picked up from his fellow soldiers, Link felt almost as if he were home. He followed behind his dark-haired friend, laughing easily and remembering now some of the happier moments of his childhood. Trailing Khai through the forest; a wooden sword in each of their tiny hands, fighting bushes and occasionally each other; only pretending then to be knights. Lost in thought, Link stumbled over a pile of broken brick.
"Watch your step, there're holes in the floor in some of these spots that didn't get covered with the rest. They've got that glamouring spell on them so you can't really see when you're going to fall through." Khai warned.
Curious, Link strayed ahead; staring with interest at the nearly macabre images carved into the walls. A faint memory of a voice drifted like an errant breeze through his mind.
I can hear the spirits whispering in this room...
He paused, his eyes darting about the torch lit hall as Khai came to his side.
"What was this place? It seems kind of strange for all this to be under a well." Said Link, as he and Khai began to walk together again.
"I don't really know. Impa mentioned something about an evil spirit that used to be trapped down here, but other than that I have no idea. I've been here for almost a week and I haven't seen anything, like that at least." Said Khai, uncapping a flask at his side and taking a long drink of its acrid contents.
The boys looped around the hallway for the third time and Link pretended not to notice the constant presence of his friend's new silver traveling flask.
"Want to see something spooky?" Asked Khai, pulling a torch down from he wall.
"Sure." Said Link, and the boys ducked into a rusted, unexplored door at the end of a short hallway.
In the dark, Khai motioned for his friend to follow him. Link watched the orange glow of the torch descend behind the wall as Khai began to climb down.
"This is where I found that thing I showed you." Said Khai, his voice echoing eerily off of the stone walls as Link followed him down the iron rungs.
At the bottom, the boys stood on a stone platform above yet another ladder. Khai knelt, lowering the torch so that his friend could see into the darkness below. Faintly, Link could see a pool of water below and the air was dank with the smell of its stagnation. There was also a hint of rot there.
"Come on, let's go." Said Khai.
Link stood, stiffening as he looked down to the earthy floor below; he had been here before. Khai lifted the torch to see the strange expression fixed upon his friend's face. He chuckled.
"You scared, Link?"
"No." The boy replied candidly as he moved toward the edge.
The youths descended, crossing the wooden beam across the small pool of foul water that met the base of the ladder. Link glanced down at the murky, green liquid as they passed over; he could see what looked like bones jutting from the surface.
"Pretty creepy, huh?" Said Khai as they made their way into the underground atrium.
"Yeah... Is this what you've been doing Khai? Just kind of wandering around in here?" Asked Link, glancing vigilantly about him; the darkness seeming alive in this place.
Khai took another long swig from his flask.
"More or less. It passes the time. There're some really scraggly bomb flowers growing down here. Come on, there's a couple of rocks left that I didn't blow up yet."
The two boys made their way down the rocky corridors that led to a clearing full of tiny, malnourished mountain flowers. Khai set the torch down on the ground, the shadows flickering over their faces in shivering orange. Link watched as Khai pulled one of the little round plants from its stem and threw it back down the passage. The flower exploded with a bright pop, the sound exquisitely loud in this strange underground place. Khai tittered.
"They're not very big, but they're still fun." He said.
Link couldn't help but grin as he joined Khai in throwing the explosive flowers toward the rocks at the other end of the corridor, the small explosions lighting the cave-like walls and the faces of the two boys in white. For a time, there was no sound but the satisfying crack of the igniting plants. In the flashing light, Link watched as his friend slowly drained the contents of his flask. As they tossed the bombs, the boy wondered now if Khai had stayed this way since that terrible morning; if he had been keeping himself in a drunken stupor to block the grief that had circled both of them in their separate paths. Link continued to wait for his friend to speak of it, but he did not. He only continued to drink and toss the volatile, round flowers into the dark. After a long while of this, Link broke the silence.
"Are you alright Khai?" He asked.
"What do you mean?" Khai replied, whipping another bomb down the corridor.
"You know what I mean." Said Link, the flash of the explosion illuminating his face.
Khai shook his head, violently ripping another plant from the ground and hurling it forward. The walls echoed with another loud pop.
"Nope, and I don't want to talk about it... Do you?" He said.
Link came to stand beside Khai, both of their ears ringing in the now very quiet darkness. The boy sighed.
"No... I guess not...It's just that I haven't really had much time to think about it at all... with everything else. I've just had to kind of... be numb, and keep moving." Said Link.
Khai took a shaky breath.
"... I can't think about her... If I do, I'll go insane... " He said.
Link shifted his weight, the scraping of his boots oddly loud in the dimness.
"... Is that why you ran off and joined the army?" Asked Link.
In the flickering light, he saw Khai shrug before he moved to sit on the ground beside the torch. Link joined him there.
"I don't know... I guess. I just wanted a reason to kill them... the demons..." Khai paused, taking three long draughts from the silver flask.
"...I couldn't stay in Faron... I can't handle that now... if I can't be there then I should be doing something at least... Being a solider... it gives me a reason to pick up a sword and do something about this... I... We have to win this fight... so that it wasn't all in vain." He said.
A lull passed between them. Link shuffled forward, gently tapping his friend on the shoulder with the back of his hand. Khai turned to his friend.
"When we finally go home, Khai. You won't have to face it alone... you know I'll be there. " Said Link
Khai scoffed.
"If we make it."
They glanced at each other for a moment and there was a very long silence, the implications all too real for both of them. At length, Khai turned again to Link, his eyes pink and sleepy.
"... So... you're the reincarnation of some ancient warrior, right?" He asked.
Link sighed, rolling a rock he had compulsively scooped up in his fingers.
"...yep."
Khai laughed softly.
"Maybe it's because I'm kind of drunk but... I believe it now. It's so funny...You... you of all people." He said
Khai looked to his friend in the torch light; the boy's face had hardened somehow. His eyes, through still bright and soft, had an edge to them now that spoke of necessary violence. Link was silent, staring down at the backs of his leather bound hands. Khai looked off into the dark as he continued to speak.
"I thought you were being ridiculous when you left... but... I want you to know that I don't think that now." He paused, seeming to collect his thoughts.
"There was always been something odd about you, Link. Something that drew people to you. Something that made you... special I guess, for lack of a better word... The way you could just pick weapons up and use them, the way you'd remember things..." Khai sighed, there was hint of jealousy in his voice but ultimately it disappeared under the waves of brotherly affection.
Khai felt somewhat sheepish sitting there, next to his oldest friend in the dark. This slim, soft-spoken blue-eyed boy that seemed so delicate at first glance, he was in truth something iron willed and indomitably fierce; something ageless and powerful. The two of them looked at each other.
"I'm proud of you, kid. Really... You know...I've always thought of you as my little brother... and I've always thought you needed someone looking out for you to make sure you didn't walk off a cliff or something... but you don't do you?" Khai slurred.
Link smiled.
"No... I guess not." He said.
They were quiet then, each on the threshold of tears for a moment as something seemed to release itself between them. Link nudged the black-eyed boy hard with his elbow.
"You're still my best friend, Khai."
Khai dropped his head, laughing in spite of himself.
"Hey...we've been down here for a while, you want to head back up?" Asked Khai and Link nodded.
As they entered the main hall for the fifth time, Khai stopped and looked to the doorway that led to the well's exit.
"I think I'm going to head up. Come and find me when you get done waiting for your Princess, I'm sure Impa's going to be in there with her for a while still." He said, and as if his words had triggered the event, the Sheikah woman appeared in the hall before them.
She shot an unhappy glance at the two boys as she disappeared down the hallway to the town above. Khai chuckled as Link stared ahead in the direction from which she had come.
"Well that was random. I'm following her, you coming?" Asked Khai.
"Yeah… in a minute…" Said Link, and he started toward the center rooms.
Link tapped lightly on the door to the chamber that he had entered hours before. He heard Zelda's voice from within and slowly, he opened the door. There she stood, in an opalescent white-blue dress with the markings of the Zora tribe stitched into the bottom. The fabric made a barely audible swishing noise as she turned toward him, her face curiously placid though her eyes still glistened with tears. She looked impossibly beautiful; her porcelain arms bared, the fine lines of her delicate clavicle shadowed like an oil painting under the golden fall of her hair. Link stood silently as Zelda approached him, her movements graceful under the lustrous silk that trailed behind her like water. Slowly, she slipped her arms around his waist; resting her head on his shoulder as she felt a sense of numb serenity wash over her. He felt her sigh in his arms.
"I'm sorry..." Said Link, his voice hardly above a whisper.
She pressed herself against him a little tighter, and then Zelda pulled languidly away.
"Don't be. She did not tell me anything that I had not already suspected..." She said, turning now to the straw mattress against the wall.
The two of them sat down, side by side on Impa's bed; Zelda looking somehow more tired now than she had throughout the entirety of the arduous journey. Though, Link thought now, her aura felt markedly clearer as he sat there beside her. She shuffled closer to him, looking sidelong at him through yellow waves, her eyes vast, tragic seas; ancient as the heavens. Despite the sudden tenseness of his muscles, he reached out mindful fingers to tuck the hair back behind her ear.
"Are you going to be alright, Zelda? I know that... it couldn't have been easy news..." Said Link.
Zelda sighed loudly.
"When this quest is at last at it's end, and Hyrule is free; my people and my father will have been avenged and I will take comfort in that knowledge. I... I do not know how to feel... my thoughts are skewed with the thoughts of many other selves... Link..." She stopped, her eyes searching those of the boy at her side.
She seemed as if she wanted to say more, but only let out a small noise of discomfort as she lowered her gaze. Link watched her as she moved closer still. Zelda let her head fall against him.
"I have had enough revelations in the past two days to last a lifetime… I am tired. Though, I am happy that the day is over and that you are with me. We shall start again in the morning… but now, I would just like to linger here for a time…" Said Zelda.
Link let his arm drape lightly along her back, feeling suddenly encompassed in the preternatural glow of her. He allowed his cheek to lean against her head; feeling at peace now in the silence of the lamp-lit room although he felt his heart quicken a slight at her nearness and he wondered if she had noticed. They stayed close that way until both of them nearly dozed sitting upright. Zelda then, shaking herself inwardly, peeled gently away and rubbed her eyes. She turned again to the sleepy boy beside her.
"You promised Eolan that you would tell he and his men stories did you not?" She asked.
Link laughed softly as he brushed his hair back from his forehead.
"I did. Why?" He said.
Zelda gave him an enervated smile.
"let's go. I think it would do the both of us good… everything we have seen still hardly seems real to me. Perhaps if I hear you tell it all again... it will stop seeming as if I've dreamed it all up." She said.
Link returned the Princess's exhausted expression.
"If you'll help me tell it... you were there too." He said.
Zelda chuckled, and nodded her head. Link stood then, taking Zelda's hand in his as he pulled her to her feet. He looked down again to the iridescent dress that hung about her lithe frame. It reminded him a bit of the simple white gown she had been wearing the day he had met her wandering the countryside; the sword belt strapped about her hips, a look of steadfast resolve in her empyreal eyes.
"Where did you get that?" He asked softly, brushing the crisp sleeve with his thumb.
"Queen Rutolla gave it to me. Do you like it?" She returned, drawing closer to him, her hand still in his
He dropped her gaze as he felt his face threatening to redden. He let go of her hand and cleared his throat.
"I do… it's almost kind of weird to see you in a dress… oddly enough." He said.
And with that, Zelda threaded her arm through his with a subdued giggle. The two of them walked together to the well's exit in an air of moony surrender. The Princess desiring a distraction from her thoughts as well as the closeness of the boy. He in turn kept his arm in hers, happy to see that she had not disintegrated; that this girl was made of stern stuff indeed. They emerged beneath a starry sky, the soft glow of firelight in the distance casting the long blue shadows of the circled knights and straggling villagers across the cobble stone. They were welcomed warmly as Link and Zelda took a seat on the ground beside Khai and Impa, the young faces of the infantry turned fascinatedly toward them. Eolan greeted them with a soft nod.
"Hail, daughter of Daphnes. I see you and your swordsmen have decided to come about."
Zelda straightened.
"We have... Tonight is an excellent night for stories, Link and I have many." She said.
Eolan lit his bulbous, elaborately carved pipe as he turned green eyes to the boy.
"Well then, tell us." He said, and the other knights leaned in tighter; hungry for some story of triumph.
Link drew a breath as he smiled aside to Zelda. He turned then to Khai, sitting in a haze beside.
"Do you remember those ruins we found when we were kids?" He asked.
Khai shifted himself all the way upright, tracing his childhood for the specific memory which rolled out before him in green and gray; the elated face of the skinny, shaggy headed blonde clear as day.
"Yeah, I remember." He said.
"That was the first place we went. There was a door to an underground city there. The first shard of the Elemental Key was under the room you and I found back then." Said Link.
"Yes, that night I believe we stumbled upon what remained of what was once the Kokiri... The underground kingdom of the forest..." Zelda added, and the two of them began the astonishing story of the Kokirian Prince, and the great white stag.
They stayed until the fire burned to coals that night, as the small trope of surviving knights and townspeople listened in awestruck wonder to the strange tales of keys, beasts and mazes spun by the young man and their Princess. In this moment, Zelda felt at ease, in spite of everything. All that lay ahead in the morning, and lay behind in the passing afternoon she allowed to drift shapelessly on the wind as she listened to the soft, unassuming voice beside her.