1Phew! I'm glad you guys liked that. I didn't want to get into a lot of detail because sex scenes are a bit hit or miss so I figured maybe I'll save the smut for later. I finished this chapter in two days which for me is one hell of record. Anywho continue the reviewing and everything, makes me happy to hear from ya...
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The morning of Solissay. There would be cheering and celebration and presents for every citizen of Hyrule.. There would even be some of that in the castle. Though many of them would be anxious. Tonight they would learn if there was promise of war.
Link didn't sleep at all. He ransacked the kitchen help for meatbread and a chugger of brum in passing. They had been too busy preparing the Solissay meals to miss it.
He was now sitting alone on the rise of grey wall where he'd seen Malon singing seven years ago.
He sucked down another gulp of brum. His brain was fogging of course. The shit was really strong and it was only half the bottle already.
"You know it won't kill you to admit that thinking back now, you wish you just kept walking to the castle that day."
Link jolted. The voice he heard sounded corporal. He wasn't alone!
He jumped up. Not a good idea when you feel like you were whipped around a windmill at top speed. He stumbled backwards clutching at the Stone for leverage.
"S-show yourself," he declared swaggered in all ways.
"Pathetic. Hero of Time sitting up here all by his onesies and drowning in his angst like some gutter fool."
He pulled out the kitchen knife he had been eating with and began to haphazardly slice around in front of him.
"Come on!" he challenged as he struggled to focus. "Don't hide! I'll take you!"
"Don't be an idiot. You couldn't take on a cute little bunny right now. This isn't you, Link."
The voice materialized. A black shadow with two lazy red lights as eyes.
"You've survived the most traumatic battles ever placed in front of a warrior and yet me kidnaping one little girl would drive you to...this." He made a condescending motion with his hand.
"Get the fuck outa my head!" Link snapped. In his delirium he jerked the bottle to splash the brum in the shadow's face. Of course it had no effect and only made a wet splat onto the grass.
"That was really mature, Link," it chastised. Then it's eyes turned brighter. "Well if this form doesn't please you, how about this one?"
Suddenly the shadow shifted its face and colored. Pretty soon he was staring into the eyes of his betrothed. She was sneering.
"Or maybe this one?"
Next thing he knew red began to bleed over the blonde and the features shifted.
"Oh Link," the Mock Malon sapped. "Why did you hurt me so? Why couldn't you just admit that you lied to me? Why couldn't just be man enough to admit that you prefer to fuck blondes?"
"This isn't you Malon!" he crowed. He threw the cursed bottle of brum against the wall where it smashed into shards. "Go away!"
"What's wrong, Link?" she taunted. "Can't handle the truth? It's far too ugly to bear without the help of a pretty mouth to speak it."
"Is this a means of revenge?" he shouted, not caring who saw him raving drunkenly at thin air. "You wanted this, Malon? Are you coming from the grave to herald my failure?"
"Link get serious," she snarked. "I'm just here to make you miserable until you come save me from the oh-so horrid conditions I'm in."
Link teetered backwards. He absently swiped at the hair that fell in front of his eyes but he didn't finally catch them until his second try. "Oh-so horrid? Why do you say that? You sound like he was offering you a cozy place to stay."
Her grin was sadistic and Link had a hard time looking at it. "Something tells me that would bother you more than finding me dead."
Link grabbed her shoulders. Or at least it felt like that. "Don't say that!"
"Is it possible that maybe since he had gotten this soul, he might just be taking your place in my heart?"
He threw her from him. "I won't hear this!"
He turned away and plugged his fingers in his ears. It was no use. He could still hear her voice in his head.
"How very selfish you are. Did you honestly think that while you married and started a family, I'd spend my days pining over you. That just one day I would hope and pray that you'll come home to me a free man. The thought that you might not be the head of my heart anymore would just kill you wouldn't it? I think you would prefer to find my cold lifeless corpse rather than in the arms of another man."
He made braying sounds now. Something anything to block out the voice but it still remained. That horrible ghost of his conscience was circling him, her voice was spinning around him.
"Why can't you just say it?" she pestered. "Even the greatest heroes have their vices. It will be our little secret. Come on! Set yourself free! Do it! Say it! Say it! Say it!"
"NO!" Then he lunged for her, hitting and swinging for all he was worth.
"Sir! Sir! Stop it!"
Link could hear the sounds of the sentries. His fists found nothing but the grass to rip and punch.
Her image shimmered out from under him. He barely felt the iron clasp of hands dragging him to his feet.
Zelda brought up the rear. Her eyes were wide in worry at the sight of her betrothed raving like a drunken lunatic. His shirt was untucked and gaping at the neck.
She held out her right hand and "lifted" his feet out from under him. The guards released him as he began to rise into the air. He kicked and flailed.
"Put me down now!" he shouted. "I said now!"
Zelda nodded and obeyed. He hit the ground hard, the wind drove out of his lungs. He became still. One guard checked over him to make sure the fall combined with the high concentration of alcohol in his system didn't kill him.
"What happened?" Zelda asked easily.
One guard removed his helmet. He was older than the others and he spoke with elegance. "My apologies for the disturbance your majesty. I had seen him on my patrol, taking his meal at the wall. Of course I left him all things considered. But then he began talking and then raging at nothing. I had the called the rest of the guards for backing."
Zelda pondered and was deeply troubled by this news. "What was he saying? The best to your recollection."
"I'm afraid it was too far from my earshot to say," he admitted. "Though as I came closer with the guards, he was spouting some words that I cannot repeat in the presence of a lady."
Zelda raised her brows. This wasn't Link's nature to be so reckless. He wasn't perfect for his young age and of course he was entitled to a slip up. But what if someone had seen him? It would have meant serious trouble.
"Bring him to his chambers where he can rest," Zelda replied dully. "None of you shall speak a word of this to anyone. Not even the King. We will make the most of this Solissay. When night falls, prepare yourselves for anything."
She abruptly left them with their orders. She couldn't stop disgust from crawling up her throat. What in the name of the Three had gotten into him? He had never turned to drink as an aid for anything. These passed nine days all he did was train and train and sharpen blades. Now the day has come and he falls apart.
She wasn't even going to try to figure out why. Deep down she had an inkling of what Link was facing. However if she dug any deeper, she feared she herself would be in for a world of pain.
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For some reason the mattress on which she slept on was more comfortable than she remembered.
She was too tired to open her eyes. Her body was fatigued and her muscles ached. Thoughts , no memories opened like a flood gate and thus forced her to open her eyes to see if it was true.
There was a form lying beside her. He was on his back and his head lolled away from her. His arm had been holding her close to him, tucking her full flush to his body.
Chemen's Rest had been their final stop.
She grimaced as she tried to move. The pain in her lower body was dull but in truth she wouldn't have traded the feeling for the world.
His selflessness was much appreciated. The experience in all its glory had been nothing short of enlightening and fulfilling and...and...there was no other words.
It had been like pushing a series of buttons. If he touched here or if she used her tongue there, there would be a rewarding gasp or even to some part a pleasured scream. The memories were vivid. She could feel his hands entwined with hers, his eyes locked on hers, his lips caressing her skin. The sound of the water crashing around them.
And it didn't stop at the bath either.
Malon nuzzled into the warmth of the sheets from their bodies. The musk of their loving encircled them.
She rolled over and decided to play with a few strands of his hair. She breathed it in. He smelled like rain. Rain and something darkly sweet. She pressed her lips against his forehead. Then she went to his cheekbone. Then she looked at the part of his chest where his heart would be.
That had been the first part of him that had become real. She pillowed her cheek on that area, listening for the sound of it. Just the faint thrumping against her face filled her entire body all over again with sunlight. She gave his chest a grateful kiss. A heart that she was grateful to hear beating.
He moved beneath her. His head turned towards her but his eyes remained closed.
Malon could only look at him with a warm and happy smile. Nothing could ever look better against white sheets than his unclothed body.
He reached up and began gently tracing his fingers over her face as though he were trying to remember her by feel. She turned her face into his hand.
He never woke up. Instead he only held out both arms so Malon could settle herself within them. She lay her body across his, keeping her cheek pressed to his chest. Without caring one wit of what was happening and what was yet to come, Malon allowed herself to be lulled to sleep, letting him take her with him to the world where dreams may come.
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Presently, a guard was rushing up the stairs with a lighted torch. Dusk was upon them and he had to get to the room where Link had been resting.
There was someone standing in front of his door.
The guard froze.
His scream shattered in his throat as the figure fell upon him, silencing him forever.
Link jolted awake. Without second thought, he snatched the letterknife from his bedtable. His head was pounding and his stomach was lurching horribly. He threw open the door, brandishing the letterknife.
A group of four guards had heard the scream and had come running only to find themselves face to face with a rabid hero, the sliver blade warding them all back.
"What are you all doing here?" Link hollered. "I could've killed any one of you right just now!"
"No disrespect sir," said one as he gestured with the long spear he held. "We heard a scream up from our post just bellow."
"Why are you patrolling the ground bellow for?" Link asked.
The one that had spoken gave him an odd look. "The princess gave us orders to stand bellow in case anything should happen. The moon is rising at full swell. We sent Keiko up to rouse you and then we heard him scream."
All eyes went to the floor. Nothing there. No body or evidence of murder.
Link held the blade up into the light where the tip glittered dangerously. "It ends tonight, Now."
He dashed into the room grabbing his old blue tunic and the sheath of weapons he had prepared. The rest followed him like a death march up the stairs.
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Zelda stood in the audience chamber, the cold feeling of foreboding tightening a wire around her belly.
Her father stood with Ingo and Talon.
The celebrations of the castle were over. Now at the moon's rise, guards had been sobered and placed on their patrol. The servants were to stay into the audience chamber at all times. The Surgeon and healer stood at their post with the Twin witches Koume and Kotake.
There was an agitated murmur in the crowds until the doors opened, revealing Link and a few men.
"Link?" she called out as he approached. He stopped in front of her.
"Order for these men to stay behind," he whispered.
"They were meant to come after you if there was any trouble," Zelda insisted.
"Please Zelda," he told her. "It is not I who needs the protection. If it will ease your mind choose one and leave the rest. "
Zelda took in a breath and then she nodded. "Men take your places among the others," she told them steadily. She pointed at the guard to the right. "You are to come with us."
The moon outside had just begun to wane. The time was now.
He made a steady ascent up the stairs. Zelda and the guard behind him and the Twin witches along with Ingo made the rear.
It was cold in the corridor. Link pulled a sword free and pointed in front of him.
"We aren't safe here anymore," he told Zelda as he entered the threshold of the wrecked red curtains. "There is something on the loose in the castle."
There was no organ music this time. Their voices echoed in the still stone way leading to that hated purple-gold door.
Zelda gripped her skirts in tight fists trying to keep up. "Why? What happened?"
"One of the guards on watch," he began, not stopping a beat. "He screamed outside my door. He was as good as gone by the time I got outside."
Zelda paled.
"There wasn't a body," he reported when they made it to the end. "But it's best if we keep everyone mostly in one place."
He fitted his hand around the gold insignia and waited until the door slid up in place for them to enter.
The room was beckoning. The lights glowing a dim red casting that seducing allure around the room.
Zelda glared around the room. "As soon as this is over, I'm having this room hollowed."
Link looked up and around. This didn't make sense. How did moonlight get into the room? The room was windowless.
"It comes from a false wall. It has to," Zelda told him. "There should be a window behind it."
"Koume?" he called towards the witch. "Do you have the lens on you?"
"I do," Kotake replied instead. She produced it from the pocket hidden in her robes. She gave its rose hued glass a quick clearing wipe and handed it over to him.
He accepted it and held it up towards the wall in front of him. Then he turned.
In the back wall, the far corner was a window only seen through the glass. The image of the swollen moon perfect. He let the lens down.
"Link!" he heard Ingo shout. "The mirror! It's moving."
His head turned. Every single one of the candles were killed, pitching the party into darkness. The only light available was from the long awaited moon.
The glassy reflection was wavering.
"As the shadow of a rose in a mirror of silver, as the shadow of a rose in a water-pool, so was the rose that blossomed on the topmost spray of the Tree." Kotake chanted.
Link's heartbeat hastened at the sight.
"None of you come after me," Link told them. "I'll return before you know it."
He reached out for Zelda and embraced her. His eyes held an unspoken promise before he finally faced the mirror.
He touched his fingers to the fluid that had become of the reflective surface. It was cold and vicious around his skin. Soon he plunged his hand into its depths. His arm followed. Then the whole right side of his body.
Finally all that remained of him was his left arm which was finally swallowed up like a hapless swimmer in a seastorm.
Zelda couldn't help herself anymore. She went to the mirror and plunged her hands forward.
The glass had already solidified.
"Wha-" Zelda searched every inch of the glass for a soft spot. Anyway to get to him.
"It's no use Princess," Koume told her with a hand on her shoulder. "There's a reason why it's called the Shadow of a Rose and not Roses."
Only one can go. Zelda realized with a defeated sigh.
"Ramo," she shouted to the guard. "Get to the audience chamber and bring two other men with you when you return."
He went to obey her order.
"Then it's best for all of you to get back to the chamber as well," she said faintly.
"What about you Lady?" Ingo asked.
"I'm staying here," Zelda proclaimed. "I'm not leaving until something comes through that mirror."
Ingo came up beside her. "Neither am I."
Koume sighed as she moved toward Zelda and Ingo. "We took it this far. We will see it to the end as well."
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The Solissay holiday had been rough on a few of the residents of the Kakariko Village. Namely the ones who had one too many drinks.
One man stumbled to the front of the gates and slumped against the wall, his belly full from turkey and Solissay pudding cake.
He took a pull from the long pipe he had clenched in between his teeth.
It had been a wonderful day. Food, beautiful gifts, drinks, family, drinks, dancing, drinks...
He scratched his thigh before something caught his attention. The angry pounding of hooves on the field. He looked up.
His gaze was addled. The image of the man on the black steed was fuzzy. He didn't even seem corporal. He seemed almost ghostly.
The horse checked his speed. Rearing up on its hind legs, it gave a loud whiny.
The combination of the drinks and the weed-pipe delayed his regular fear factor. Though he wasn't sure if he had seen him.
Then his question was answered.
The steed began pumping at full throttle in the direction of the village. He let out a strangled scream as the thing moved at supernatural speed towards him.
He made to run. His legs tangled themselves in the new confusion of being used. He fell.
Nonononononononononono!...He scrambled up.
It was too late. The thing drew its blade...
The poor villager's head was separated from his neck and landed with a meaty thud before he could make a cry for mercy.
Nothing left of him but a bloodstain across the grass...and the wall.
The Horseman stopped to triumph in his work. He eyed the village with a voracious hunger.
This appeared to be a nice place to start.
No! Stick to the plan.
But he could always get back on track. For now who was to stop him from getting a bit of satisfaction...