Chapter 8
It was hot and dusty that mid-morning up on the machine gun emplacements on the border fence between Lake Hylia and the desert. The Hylian corporal on duty tried to wipe the muddy sweat from his face and only succeeded in smearing it around. There were days he wondered what they were really doing up here because nothing ever happened. It seemed to him like the Bulblins had finally wised up and stopped trying to raid the town a long time ago.
A fly buzzed around his head and he swatted at it, missing the fly and hitting himself in the face instead. Across the way, the other guardsman on duty at the opposing emplacement saw it and laughed.
"Keep your eyes on the desert, private!" He yelled in embarrassment at the lower ranking man. He raised his own binoculars to his face to do a quick sweep.
"Nope, nothing, as usual." He said as he turned his head slowly from south to north. "Wait a second, what's that?" He trained his binoculars on the slow moving specks and raised the magnification. "Private, we've got hostiles to the north! Rotate your guns..." He started to say. Then the "hostiles" came into better focus. "Hold!" He shouted. "Hold your fire!" There were six people riding on Bulblin boars. Four of them, wearing gray guard uniforms, rode alone. The fifth boar had one person in green riding with one in pink and silver in front of him. "Well, I'll be damned." He said, lowering his binoculars.
He picked up his two way radio to call to his guard captain. "Sir, you know those lunatics that came through yesterday wanting to run off into the desert?"
"Yes." Came the terse reply. Of course you do, the corporal thought, smiling at the memory. How could anyone forget?
"It looks like they've returned, and they've got someone else with them. It looks like someone dressed in pink and silver," he took another look with the binoculars, "I think it's the missing princess."
"I'll be right there." The guard captain said hastily.
"Yes, sir." The corporal replied.
"Well, they're not shooting at us, I guess that's a good sign." Daniel said hopefully.
"Yeah, nothing says 'welcome back!' like not getting riddled with bullets." Rodney retorted.
They had spent the night in outside the ruined prison in the abandoned Bulblin camp, each of the men taking watch. Zelda had sat up watching the stars with Link on his watch.
"How long has it been since we just watched the stars together like this?" She asked as she sat next to him.
"Too long." He said, holding her hand.
The desert night was cool, and she began to shiver. Link took off his leather jacket which he had still been wearing and put it around her shoulders.
"Thank you." She had said. Her mind had been thoughtful for a while. "You'll have to come back to the palace with me. You know that don't you? Your life will never be the same again."
"It never is." He agreed. "I'm not leaving you again."He had said.
She had put her head against his shoulder, and they just sat like that undisturbed while the other men slept.
And now it begins, Link thought as they came up to the border fence. "Open the gate!" he called out.
"On whose authority?" Came the guardsman's response.
Shepherd then called out, "On the authority of her royal highness, Princess Zelda, guardsman." Motioning to Zelda, who also looked up at the guardsman.
Zelda picked up her cue, "Open the gate guardsman!" She shouted, "Now!" Her tone of authority brooking no room for argument.
"Yes, ma'am!" The guardsman called back, and they could hear the sounds of people rushing back and forth in a hurry. Finally, the gate rolled back on its small wheels, and they were allowed to pass through the fence with their mounts.
"It's best to turn them back loose into the desert," the guard corporal told them, pointing at the boars. "We don't have anywhere to keep them."
Zelda looked at the men she was with and said, "Do it." And they all dismounted and pulled the saddles off of the creatures before hitting them on their backsides and turning them back loose into the desert. She then turned to the guardsman in front of her, "Where is your commanding officer?" She demanded.
"I'm right here, your highness." Came the voice of a white mustached Hylian captain. "And I speak for all of us when I say that we are so glad you are safe."
"I'm glad to hear it." She said. "If it wasn't for the Hero and these brave Ordonian men, I might not have come back at all." Shepherd had told her of their encounter with the prejudiced guard captain, and she noticed the red scratches from the man's encounter with Link. Good, she thought. If only the other racists in Hyrule could be dealt with so easily. "You will provide us with transport and escort to Hyrule Castle." She ordered.
"Y... Yes, your highness." He stammered out, looking in terror at the men he had harassed the previous day. "If you wish, you can take my personal vehicle. It's more comfortable than a guardsman's unit. And I'll send two units to escort you."
"That will be satisfactory." She told him.
"We'll need to make a couple of telephone calls too. We have to notify the palace of the Princess's successful rescue." Shepherd joined in.
"Of course, general." The guard captain said. No trace of disrespect appeared in his voice. "Right this way."
Overhearing the conversation, Daniel couldn't help but smirk. "Remind me not to get on her bad side." He whispered to Rodney in the background.
"You haven't seen her bad side yet." Rodney replied. "Believe me, you don't want to."
"Personal experience?" Daniel asked.
"Long story." Rodney told him.
"I'd love to hear it." Bill said, still overjoyed at his new found ability to understand the language of Hyrule.
"We all would." Link chimed in.
Rodney threw him a dirty look, "Later, okay?" He said, annoyed.
Twenty minutes later they were riding in a blue, luxury electric car down Hyrule's Highway 2a escorted by two gray R.H.M.G. units with red and blue flashing lights in front of their car and behind it. Cars that had been on the road pulled over to let them pass as they sped on by towards Castleton. The people that had pulled over to the side watched the small parade wondering who was in the blue car that merited such attention.
It was a seven hour drive from the Lake Hylia barracks to Castleton under escort, but they only stopped once at a traveler's rest area for a rest and food, and then to recharge the car and get more water for the guard units. For her own protection, Zelda was kept away from the rest of the people stopped there, though many tried to come close to see what all the commotion was about while Daniel and Bill took what funds they had to get dinner for all of them from the diner that was there and bring it back in to go bags. Link never left Zelda's side. The four additional guardsmen from Lake Hylia kept watch to either side of them when they were out of the car to stretch their legs.
They finally arrived in Castleton later in the evening, though they could see the glow of the lights of the city from much farther away.
"That looks like New York!" Bill said.
"Yeah, or London." Daniel agreed. "It's grown a lot since we were last here."
The city itself began about ten or twenty miles from the ancient castle walls. It started with simple brick buildings and outlying business and homes, and the graduated into row houses, and then metal and glass skyscrapers until they crossed the drawbridge of the ancient fortress wall of Old Castle Town. Inside the wall, it looked as though a great deal of effort went in to preserving the original look of Hyrule's ancient capital, though there were some obvious "upgrades."
"Are those satellite dishes?" Rodney asked. "And power and telephone lines?"
"Yes, of course. Did you think we were still in the dark ages, Doctor McKay?" Zelda asked him.
"Well, no, it's just... It's been a long time since I've been back here." Rodney said. "I hadn't expected all of... this." He said.
Over head, the whine of a dirigible airship's engines could be heard. "Wow." Rodney said again, seeing the source of the noise.
The crowds of many different kinds of people in the mostly pedestrian streets parted for the procession of vehicles as they continued across the cobblestone streets. They reached the fountain in the middle of town, and circled the roundabout before proceeding north and into the palace grounds.
"We're home." Zelda said with relief.
King Daphnes had been pacing the ancient room for hours ever since he had received news that his daughter's escort had almost arrived. The old council table, worn from centuries of use, stood empty in the middle of the room. He stopped pacing and pressed his hands on the back of his own, high backed seat at the table, gripping the carved Deku wood back until his knuckles turned white.
His eyes were bloodshot, and his salt and pepper hair and beard were much less combed and cared for than they should have been. He had reacted with pure joy when he received his "general's" telephone call.
"You have no idea how grateful I am to you and your men, Colonel Shepherd." He had told him earlier that day. "I look forward to meeting you and your men in person. You have my deepest, and sincerest thanks."
And now they were almost here. He could hear footfalls on the stone floor outside the chamber and the wooden door opened on the chamber. Four men entered wearing the gray of Hyrule's military guard. One entered wearing the traditional green clothes of the Hero the King had seen in the pictures and portraits adorning the castle walls all of his life, and then finally, in the pink, white and silver business suit she had been taken in entered the young woman who had been the joy of his life. He couldn't contain himself any longer as he rushed over her to hold his daughter in his muscular arms, tears flowing freely. "Oh my little girl!" He said to her. "Oh my dear sweet little one. I thought I had lost you!" He kissed her the top of her hair, pressing her firmly to his chest, sniffling with tears as he did so. "I thought I'd lost you." He said again.
"I'm okay, father," she said calmly, "really." but she didn't push away from him. After several minutes he finally let go of her, turning to see and address her rescuers. Four seemingly Ordonian men, and of course, the Hylian Hero.
"You have no idea, gentlemen... You have no idea how grateful I am to see you here and meet each one of you. Two of you... I mean of course three of you," He said acknowledging Link as well, "I know of from my history books, and of course you will receive every consideration from me and my family. My family, my palace, and my fortune are at your disposal. Ask anything you need or want and I promise you, it will be yours."
"Thank you, your majesty. We didn't really do this for any reward, and we eventually need to return to our own world." Daniel said.
"Of course, of course. And so you will, but don't think this king's gratitude is miserly. While you are here, you will want for nothing. I will see to it... uh?" He then searched for the man's name.
"Doctor Daniel Jackson, your majesty." Daniel said.
"Doctor Jackson, then." The king snapped his fingers, "I have heard of you too! From my ancestor, King John's journals! From the trouble with his brother Talon! I was just reading them last night as a matter of fact."
"Thank you your majesty, but our job isn't over yet." Shepherd told him. "The sorceress who kidnapped your daughter is gone, but not the bigger threat that brought her," and then gestured to Link and Zelda, "and them here to this world. We can't go anywhere until that bad guy has been neutralized."
"Of course, and I wouldn't want you to." The king replied. "Again, I am very grateful for your continued service to my kingdom. Your rank in the Royal Hyrule Military Guard, General Shepherd, will be made absolutely official as of today. In all of Hyrule's military, there will be only myself and one other man higher than you for as long as you are here." The king said, glancing at Link.
And then he turned to the green and brown leather clad teenager who refused to leave his daughter's side. "Great goddesses, you look exactly like the portraits in the palace halls," the king said. My own ancestor, here, in the flesh, he thought. "I welcome you home, Hero of Hyrule." He said reverently, tracing a series of three triangles over his head, and then his right and left shoulders.
The teenager knelt awkwardly in front of the king as he had seen other people do all of his life, and the older man would have none of it. "It is I who should be bowing to you, Hero." The king told him. "You have saved our world, and our princess, countless times and once again you have returned to deliver us again. No, you will never need to bow to me. I won't have it. Not from my own ancestor reborn. Not now, not ever." He said, standing Link up again. "I have already given orders for you, my son. You will have your ancient rooms again here in the Castle across from my daughter's. I have no doubts now that the seal will open for you. And you will retake your ancient place as Hyrule's supreme military commander. Only I will supersede your authority where Hyrule's military is concerned."
Zelda then took Links hand and squeezed it reassuringly in front of her father. It was a gesture he couldn't fail to miss. Of course, he thought. What better man could be found for her? Who else could be more appropriate? The king nodded slightly in approval. "Who am I to oppose destiny?" He asked out loud, and his not so secret message was understood perfectly by both of them.
"Your majesty," Link began, overwhelmed, but needing to ask, "I need to make a telephone call to my foster family back in Ordon. I want to let them know I'm okay. We didn't know if I would be coming back."
The king was surprised by such a simple, honest request. Yes, he certainly approved of the young man. "Of course, my son. And we will do better than that for them as soon as we can."
"I'll take him to a telephone, father." Zelda offered.
"Of course, dear one." The king told her.
As the two teenagers left the room, he turned back to the four men from another reality. "I am overjoyed at what you have done for us, and for my family personally. I can't honestly ask any more of you than you have already done." He told them.
"It sounds like there's a 'but' in there somewhere." Rodney said.
"But," he continued, "you have come at a time when we may need your military and scientific expertise most desperately. Just this morning, the Republic of Hyrule has declared war on our United Kingdom." The King explained. "Their new president has been pushing his propaganda teams for months since his election last fall to rally the eastern people against us, and he's finally gotten enough support for it with the politicians of his government."
"New president?" Shepherd asked. "What's his name?"
"Xehanort." The King replied. "Ansem Xehanort."