"Tabantha?" Zelda echoed angrily. "You act as if he's -"
"What?" Dorian sneered. "A murderer?"
Zelda's mouth hung open. She closed it slowly and averted her gaze. Teba tensed at her side, still untrusting of the Sheikah that had just moments ago admitting to them to working with the Yiga Clan. "Dorian," she said softly. "You cannot let my father do this."
"There is nothing I can do to stop him," Dorian said simply. "Besides. As he is, he poses a threat to our kingdom."
Zelda held her gaze on him. "Link can be saved. But if you let my father keep him captive, he will be lost. He will die. And then he will pose a threat to the kingdom and to me. But until that day comes, it is your duty to save him."
Dorian was quiet for a moment, holding his gaze on her. "There is nothing I can do," he finally said. "I'm being pulled thin as it is, and I have appearances to keep up with Kohga if I want to avoid suspicion."
Zelda fumed silently. She still wasn't sure if she could trust him. But for the moment, he seemed to be on her side. "Get us to Tabantha," she said. "The Champions will be there to get Link. I'm done standing by and letting them fight this war alone."
"Fine," Dorian said simply.
Zelda met his gaze, but she could not hold the genuine surprised expression that crossed her face.
"I'm not against you, Zelda," he said softly. "Everything I have done was to prevent anything bad from befalling you and Link. My methods may not make sense to you, but you must understand that plans have been in motion long before you were born. Plans to keep you and Link and all of Hyrule safe from the wars that threaten us."
Zelda turned away from him. She glanced at him over her shoulder when she spoke. "You're wasting my time."
Dorian's gaze hardened. Without another word, he raised his arm, and she and Teba vanished.
They weren't prepared for the cold Tabantha air that stung their skin when they appeared in the northern region. They were just outside of the prison, though the security guards did not seem to be surprised at their sudden appearance. They stepped aside as Zelda narrowed her eyes at them, and they moved passed them, pausing only when they heard the air snap once more behind them. Zelda spun on her heels to see the Champions standing before her, equally as unprepared for the Tabantha weather.
"Nice timing," Revali said with a grin.
The seven of them hurried into the prison, but this time, they were stopped by two more guards. To their surprise, however, none of them were Sheikah.
"Step aside," Zelda growled, and Paya moved to stand at her side, pulling her shoulders back in warning. The two guards looked to one another for a moment, then they, too, granted them entrance deeper into the prison.
After a moment more of navigating the halls, they finally found Roham. He turned to them when they rounded the corner, and his Sheikah guards stepped closer to him. Just beyond them, more Sheikah guards stood, with Link in their clutches.
Zelda moved toward her father, her lips pulled into a snarl. "Release him this instant."
The guards looked between Zelda and her father, which only infuriated her more.
"That is an order! He is not your king!"
The guards hesitated a moment longer before releasing their hold on Link.
"He is dangerous," Roham snapped at his daughter. "I will not have him near you."
"That is not your call. You are not -"
"I am your father!"
"You cannot treat him like this," Zelda hissed. "Not after all he's done for your kingdom."
"That makes no difference when he is about to undo all you have done to keep this kingdom safe."
Zelda met his gaze, her brows knit together as she regarded him. Her voice lowered. "I will not let you touch him," she said.
"You cannot let your feelings for him cloud your judgement," Roham said sternly.
Zelda blinked at him, speechless for a moment. She fought to regain her composure, her eyes narrowing at him. "I will not sentence a man to his death who has done nothing wrong," she hissed.
"As a ruler, you must be proactive -"
"As a ruler, I will not pass judgement on those who are innocent!"
"He murdered my men!" Roham barked. "He is hardly innocent."
"It was not his doing! You know what Kohga has done to him!"
"And what will you do if he turns?" Roham asked his daughter. "Let him destroy this kingdom?"
Zelda cast her eyes away from him. "If it comes down to that, I will do what I have to do to stop him."
"Can you, Zelda? Can you honestly make that call?"
Zelda did not answer him. Roham turned his attention to the soldiers. Their hands rested on the weapons at their hips, standing only inches from Link. His dark gaze flashed red as he looked towards Zelda.
"This ends now," Roham said. With a nod towards the soldiers, they drew their weapons, and Teba quickly responded by drawing his own.
"No!" Mipha cried, but Zelda was quick to react, lurching forward with her hand outstretched. A force wave shot through, knocking her father, the soldiers, and Link, backwards and against the far wall. They lay motionless on the floor for a moment before they started to come to. Link was the first to get to his feet, the darkness gone from his eyes for the moment. Daruk hurried to his side, pulling him to his feet. Link stumbled forward, his mind still spinning as he fought to focus. He allowed Daruk to catch him and steady him on his feet without much fuss.
"Paya," Zelda said, breathless. She turned to the young Sheikah.
Paya did not hesitate. She stepped forward, meeting her queen, despite Roham's threats. Teba, too, moved forward, stepping between Zelda and the soldiers.
"If you leave," Roham started weakly as he struggled to get back to his feet. He turned his cold gaze to his daughter. "If you leave, you will betray your kingdom. You will give up the throne. If you leave -"
"Go," Teba growled to them over his shoulder.
Zelda straightened and narrowed her gaze on him. "Get us out of here," she muttered to Paya. And with a flash, they were gone.
They were back at the ranch, where Kit, Rusl, and Aryll waited anxiously. They turned their gazes to the empty space that was suddenly occupied by the six Champions and Paya. Link was still leaning, exhausted, against Daruk. But before anyone else could think to speak, Zelda turned back to Paya.
"You need to go back for Teba," she said, her gaze fierce.
Paya nodded. Revali and Daruk joined her.
"We'll come with you," Daruk said. "You could use the help."
Without wasting a moment more, the three of them promptly disappeared into thin air.
Zelda turned to Link, her brows furrowed, ignoring Mipha's questioning stare. "Are you alright?" she asked carefully.
"Oh, yeah," Link said dryly. "In the past four hours, I took on an entire army of Yiga bastards, I went on a murderous rampage, I was stabbed by Revali, then dragged to a maximum security prison, where I was then attacked by you, and zipped through time and space back here. I'm fucking swell."
"The fuck?"
Hearing Aryll's voice, Link turned to his sister, but his expression was still hard. "Did I stutter?" he barked at her.
"Enough," Rusl growled.
"Yikes," Kit muttered. "What the hell did I miss?"
Paya, Revali, and Daruk found themselves in Tabantha once more. A light snow had started to fall, but they were otherwise sheltered by the trees as they stood at the edge of a dark forest. The prison stood out in the night, cast aglow by the surrounding spotlights outside.
"I guess they won't let us waltz on in this time," Revali mused.
"I don't think we'll be able to sneak past a bunch of Sheikah guards," Daruk said.
Revali turned to Paya. "Why can't you just poof us in there?"
"I probably can," she said. "But they'll sense us there. If I do that, we won't have a lot of time."
"We don't need time," Revali said. "Poof us in, we'll get Teba, then poof us out."
"I don't know where Teba is," Paya admitted. "There's something… off about the prison. I can usually get a good sense of who's inside and where they are, but."
She hesitated, then shook her head. "I can get us as close as I can to where I think he might be," she explained. "But we still won't have a lot of time."
"Do we have any other options?" Daruk asked.
Paya bit her lip. "Probably not." She sighed. "Alright. Let's take the risk." With a crack in the air, they were quickly pulled through space once more, appearing inside the prison.
"He'll likely be in temporary holding," Paya said. "They won't bother to keep him here for long. They'll transport him somewhere else as soon as more guards show up. He won't waste the Sheikah on Teba. He'll use as many as he can to try to find Link again."
"You seem pretty sure about that," Daruk said carefully.
"Don't you think they'll be expecting a rescue mission?" Revali sneered.
"We're better off getting him now before he gets moved and we lose him," Paya said. Her gaze narrowed down the empty hall. "This way," she said quickly, signaling them to follow her.
They moved quickly and quietly through the prison until Paya stopped in front of a door. She hesitated a moment before pushing the door open and stepping inside. The room was fairly large, with a desk, chair, and two monitors in one corner. The room narrowed into a hallway beyond the desk, though it was dark. At the far end was a small cell where Teba sat. He looked up with a bored expression when they entered, then got to his feet.
"I was starting to think you were going to leave me here to rot," Teba said.
Paya offered him a small smile. "Seriously? Zelda would be insulted."
Teba's grin disappeared. "We don't have a lot of time."
Paya nodded. "I know." She let her hand hover over the steel door that locked Teba into the cell. "There's not much I can do, though. It is heavily warded. The whole room is."
"Warded?" Revali repeated. "From Sheikah?"
Paya nodded. "As far as I know, only Dorian is capable of this kind of power."
"Why would Dorian need to know how to ward off Sheikah?"
"I don't know," Paya admitted uneasily.
"Well, he didn't think of a way to ward off me," Daruk said. He cracked his knuckles. "I got this."
Paya stepped aside as Daruk moved towards the door. He looked over it for a moment, the nodded to himself.
"Alright, Teba, get outta the way." He positioned himself in front of the door, raising his fist. He put every ounce of his strength into his punch as he let his fist slam into the steel door, successfully knocking it off its hinges. The sound of the impact echoed through as the door flew into the concrete wall at the opposite end of the cell. Both the wall and door cracked and crumbled from the impact.
Teba stepped through the opening, looking around in awe at the destruction Daruk had caused. "Nice, dude." He grabbed his holster with his gun still inside from the desk at the other end of the room and clipped it back to the belt on his waist. His eyes flashed to the computer monitor where he caught a glimpse of a group of guards rushing down the nearby hallway, Dorian among them. But before he had a chance to warn his friends, they burst through the door, weapons drawn.
Teba pulled his out quickly, stepping in front of his friends.
"Drop your weapon!"
"Don't shoot," Paya hissed to Teba. "You don't know what Dorian is capable of."
Dorian pushed through the guards. "You better listen to her, Teba. You've already been marked a traitor. Don't make this any more difficult than it has to be."
"Get bent," Teba muttered, holding his aim steady.
Dorian's brows knit together. "Drop the weapon, or you will leave me with no other choice."
"Do your worst."
As Dorian raised a hand to instruct the guards to shoot, Daruk thrust his fist down against the concrete floor. The room shook violently, knocking Dorian and his men off their feet. A crack shot across the room and up the wall, threatening the integrity of the structure.
"Move!" Teba shouted at them, pushing Paya forward.
The four of them sprinted out of the room as Dorian and the guards got back to their feet. Dorian shouted at his men and they quickly followed suit, chasing the escapees through the prison.
"Get us out of here," Revali snarled at Paya.
They turned a corner where another group of guards stood, stopping them in their tracks. Teba spun on his heels, his weapon raised as Dorian and his men came up quickly behind them, trapping them.
"Paya!"
Gunshots echoed off the walls and in a bright flash, they were gone.