She moves quietly through the forest, her two attendants at her heals. She sees the cave hidden by the greenery in the distance and turns to tell the two who walk behind not to fallow her any longer. The thick, jeweled thing that hangs at her side is heavy. Alone, she descends into the darkness. She comes upon the glimmering pool, lit in its own dim, green light. She removes her shoes, wading into the water as the hem of her dress trails behind her. She kneels, her hands clasped together.
"Oona, Queen of the Fairies, I beseech you." She said.
The water glows brighter as the winged figure appears from the pool, shimmering and wild as she looks upon the kneeling princess.
"What do you want of me, little Goddess?" She asks.
The princess stands, and unties the thick golden key from her belt. She holds it aloft.
"Please... I need you to break this into three parts again. I must give them back to their original owners. This key opens a door to knowledge that must stay hidden until..." She pauses, she cannot say his name.
"...until the knight comes again..." She says.
The Fairy Queen tilts her head, she senses the girl's sorrow.
"The knight has fallen?" She asks and the princess looks up at her through tears.
"Yes... Please, I ask humbly... break the key." She says.
Queen Oona swims down through the air toward the princess.
"What knowledge is it that you would seek to hide?" She asks.
The princess looks into her ancient, indigotic eyes.
"Hylia must be allowed to fade, and the things I have sealed with this key must fade with her." She says.
The Fairy queen comes to stand on top of the water, her glassy, ethereal wings opening and closing as she thought.
"So you will lock her up and let the ages take her?" She asks.
The princess nods.
"Yes... her time is over... and I made a promise."
Queen Oona raises her hand, and the princess holds the key aloft again. In a bright, green flash the key shatters. The princess gathers them up and turns again to Queen Oona. She holds the forest shard in her outstretched hands.
"Please... keep watch over this shard. It belongs to you more than anyone else." She says.
Queen Oona's long fingers grip the shard of jewel and gold.
"It is not mine to keep. It belongs to the Forest Prince beneath what was once your city. I will place it there, where it will be safe." She says
The princess kneels again, head bowed and hands clasped as she thanks her.
"Please..." She says, as she rises.
"...when he comes again, please... tell him to find me. I will not know who I am...nor will he."
Zelda opened her eyes to near total darkness as she came fully awake. She lay in the dark for a while. The silence was oppressive and so she sat up on the straw mattress. She shivered, and stood.
Before the dawn, Zelda crept down the hall with a lit candle to the room that Link had been shown to the night before. She had awoken from yet another strange dream in the hours before the sunrise and so, frustrated and unable to sleep any longer she dressed again in the delicate mail and leather armor and made for her companion's chamber. In the dark, the phantasmal ring of candlelight illuminating only feet in front of her, she suddenly felt as if she hadn't woke at all; as if she still wandered the space of her shared consciousness, pursued by the darkness of ages. The thought frightened her, and she quickened her pace. Without knocking, she opened his door and slipped inside. On the far end of the room he lay on a crude mattress upon the floor. He slept as he always did, all arms and legs about the bed and the blankets kicked halfway off of him as if he had been fighting them in his slumber. Zelda sat gently down on the side of the bed, blowing out the candle and turning the lamp up a slight to push the shadows back. Link stirred, lazily turning himself over onto his back and laying his forearm limply over his eyes. Zelda smiled at the sight of him. He had freckles on his shoulders, and she could see for the first time, in the dim yellow light, the soft definition of his bones and muscles through his skin. Zelda quickly pulled her gaze from the sleeping form of the boy, her cheeks burning. She sighed, and she looked about his room for a moment in the stillness. His clothing lay hung over the chairs around a little table that had been absent from her room. The same wash basin as the one she'd used the night before sat there still half full of soap and water. All else was bare stone and even as Zelda could sense the calm, sleeping aura of her friend, the off-putting nature of the place began harry her once more. She turned her eyes again to the boy. Very gently, she placed her hand on his shoulder and shook him.
"Link, wake up..." She said softly.
The boy groaned and turned onto his side, pulling the thread-bare pillow up over his head. Zelda sighed.
"Come on now, up with you." She said.
After a moment, Link pulled himself up and sat wearing a look of tired disorientation at her side. She laughed softly
"Good morning, sleepyhead." Her voice was sweet and welcoming as the boy faded into the waking world.
Link smiled incoherently in return, the moment and her presence beside him wonderfully natural.
"...Morning." He said and he stretched his arms back, his joints popping loudly.
It took him a moment to realize that he was shirtless before he absently stood and pulled his still slightly damp undershirt over his head. He flopped back down onto the edge of the bed, self-conscious but only mildly. He turned to Zelda.
"Is it dawn yet?" He asked, his voice foggy.
"I am not sure, though we should be going soon… from what Impa told me we have quite a ride ahead of us." Said Zelda.
Link nodded, looking back at her through heavy lidded eyes as he combed his fingers through his tousled hair. He recalled then what he had dreamt of during the night; a horrible, shadowy creature endowed with a single red eye, its disembodied hands banging an enormous drum somewhere in the watery dark of the dreamscape. The rhythm of it was still with him even now as the world became solid again. Zelda's eyes flitted to his as she read the slight vexation in his face.
"How did you sleep?" She asked
Link inhaled deeply and gave a little shrug.
"I slept alright. I had nightmares… but they weren't too bad... you?" He returned.
Zelda sighed.
"My night was the same. Though, I feel much better than I did yesterday… I will, however, be happy to leave this well. Something is, or was, very odd here." She said quietly.
It was then that the two of them heard a soft knock at the door, and Impa entered the room with a steaming jug and two wooden steins.
"Good morning. I see, surprisingly enough, that I do not have to wake either of you." She said, setting the objects down on the table, the scent of fresh coffee filling the room.
Link grinned, amply grateful for the small luxury as he stood and walked over to the cluttered table. He thanked Impa as he poured himself a rather large cup of the dark liquid. Zelda shuffled up behind, eagerly grabbing the second stein and filling it to nearly overflowing. As she sat down in the rickety chair, the absorbed look of bliss on her face as she sipped the steaming cup was enough to make both Impa and Link chuckle as the three sat down together at the little table.
As the morning broke above them and the army barracks awoke beneath the well, Impa restocked Zelda's dwindling supply of arrows and equipped Link and the princess with thick cloaks of fur and wool as well as dried provisions for the trail ahead. After the Sheikah lady had left the room to attend to some business down the now lighted hallway, Link spread Yolandae's map carefully over the table.
"The pass we're looking for is going to be somewhere north of here, I think off of the trail by the river…" Said Link, pausing as he searched Yolandae's hurried lettering for some way around the lake to the caves that led to the northern mountain range.
A sigh of frustration escaped him as he found that he could see nothing in her notes to indicate such a route.
"It looks like the only way up there is connected to the river… We're going to have to go mostly on foot unless we can find a way to get the horses up the trail with all this gear. It's straight up the side of a waterfall..." He said.
Zelda sat back, the chair creaking behind her as she crossed her arms. She glanced down at the map, suddenly remembering the stone tunnel that fed the river water beneath the castle.
"Link, I believe I know of a way that we could get the horses to the pass." She said, placing a slender finger on a tiny line running across the top of the paper country.
"This is a waterway that leads from the upper river. It should be shallow enough for us to pass through on horseback. It pulls water from upper Zora's River, we'll be right on top of the waterfall. It's this mark here. See?" Said Zelda.
Link looked down again into the map, absently toying with an earring in contemplation as he followed Zelda's finger down the faint line.
"We will have to keep a low profile, as we'll be very close to the castle, but we should have no trouble getting the horses up the river and into the mountains from there. " She added.
"Alright then, that sounds like a plan." He replied.
He tuned his head as Zelda rested her elbows on the edge of the table, staring down into the faded map. Her expression became suddenly concerned.
"...You know that this place we seek is home to the lord that launched the Northern Invasion, yes? I do not know what kind of reception we will be given. It's very possible that we will be turned away." She said.
The boy turned in his chair as he began to fold the tattered parchment, he looked to Zelda.
"We'll break in if we have to. We got into the castle didn't we? If we can sneak around the Lord of Darkness, I really don't think we'll have much of a problem doing the same in some rich old man's house." He said, smiling.
Zelda laughed brightly
"I suppose you're right." She said.
There was a knock on the open door way, and the two of them looked up to see a still sleep disheveled Khai holding a few pairs of thick underclothing. He regarded the two of them with a sleepy gaze.
"…Morning, Impa asked me to bring you these. She's loading your horses up right now. Princess Zelda, Eolan wants to talk to you, he's down the hall on the left." He said.
Hesitantly, Zelda stood. She looked to Link and then quickly to Khai before she brushed past him.
"I'll be brief." She said, as she left the room.
Khai watched her disappear down the hallway before he ambled into the room. He took the empty chair next to his friend and poured himself a cup of the now nearly cold coffee into Zelda's abandoned stein, sitting back in his seat with a sly look in his dark eyes.
"So… you kiss her yet?" He asked.
Link jerked his head toward the impishly grinning Khai.
"What? No!" He exclaimed, and Khai laughed, pouring the contents of his flask into the stein.
"Calm down Link, I'm kidding. Seriously though, I think you could get away with it. I think she likes you, you should totally go for it." Khai said, teasingly.
Link groaned, sheepishly threading his fingers through his hair, aggravated by Khai's simpering countenance.
"Shut up, Khai! It's not like that at all." He said, feeling the blood heat in his face.
Khai tittered at his annoyance.
"Oh I think it is." He said, grabbing the socks on the floor beside the table and stuffing them inside of his black undershirt.
"Oh Link! You're so brave, let's get married! I want your babies!" He cawed, in a forced, high-pitched voice which cracked as he spurted into laughter.
Link let out an exasperated sigh, his eyes narrowing.
"Shut up..."
Khai, grinning madly, patted his friend lightly on the back.
"It's just a joke, kid... But honestly Link, you probably could get her to marry you after all this. She kind of owes you after everything that she's put you through." He said.
Link sighed again and shook his head, staring down into the uneven wood of the table.
"It's not her fault. All of this is something that's been happening for thousands of years. She and I have our parts to play in it... that's all... She's not some prize that I win at the end of it and I would never ask her to be... She matters too much to me…" Said Link, regretting the utterance the second it had left his lips.
The two boys sat in silence for a moment, and Khai noticed now in the dim light the blush that had spread over his friend's cheeks. His smile fell.
"...You're falling in love with her, aren't you?" Said Khai, accusation in his voice.
Link did not reply, he only stared sullenly up at Khai through his eyebrows. Khai exhaled loudly and rolled his eyes.
"She's going to break your heart, kid..."
Taking a long drink from the stein, he stood.
"I won't say anything else, you know how I feel." He said, and he walked now to the other side of the room, examining the sword and shield that sat against the wall as another lull passed between them.
"Well... this is a pretty fancy sword." Said Khai, picking the blade up from the wall on which it lay.
He found that the weight of it seemed impossible for its size and he struggled to right it in his hands. Link turned in his chair to watch, curious as to what would happen.
"This thing is ridiculously heavy, how do you carry it around all day, Link? It's as big as you are." He said.
Khai gripped the elaborate blue and gold scabbard in his hand as he tried to pull the blade from it. The sword stuck fast and refused to budge even as Khai's arm began to tremble under the sheer muscular force he exerted on the hilt. Khai uttered a frustrated grunt.
"I can't get this thing out! It feels like it's cemented in there!" He nearly shouted.
Link smiled as he rose from the table. He genially thumped his friend on the back as he took hold of the scabbard, the sword feather-light in his hand. Easily, with a melodious ring Link pulled the blade from her scabbard and held it gleaming in the lamp light for his friend to see. Khai raised his eyebrow.
"… How did you? That thing wasn't coming out." Said Khai, his face in an expression of befuddlement.
Link ran his fingers along the flat side of the blade.
"My soul's imprinted on it. It's… mine. I'm the only one who can use it." He said, solemnly.
Khai screwed up his face as he stared at the blue-eyed boy in astonishment. The both of them then heard a woman gently clear her throat from the doorway. They turned to see Zelda standing there, raising an eyebrow as she looked questioningly to Khai. He had forgotten to take the two socks out from under his shirt. Quickly, he pulled them lose, tossing them both at Link and hitting him in the side of the head.
"Your highness…" He said, with a shallow bend. With that, he quickly left. He could hear laughter as he made his way down the hall.
As the morning drew on, Epona and Midge were fed, watered and promptly loaded with all manner of supplies. As Zelda and the boy prepared once again to take to the road, they stood in a small circle with Impa, Khai and Eolan at the tattered gates of Kakariko.
"Please be safe, your grace, the trail to the peak is a treacherous one. I only hope that the provisions we have given will serve you well. May Farore speed you forth." Said Eolan.
To his surprise, the princess stepped closer. She gently wrapped her arms around the old knight. Perplexed, he softly patted her back and she pulled away offering him a tender smile.
"Thank you, Eolan." She said softly.
Zelda then turned to Impa, who wore a look of stark unease. The two embraced, and the Sheikah woman held the girl tightly for a moment. She then helped Zelda to mount the now rather overloaded Midge. Her eyes shifted to Link
"Guard one another, and be swift. There is precious little time." Said Impa, as she clasped the boy's arm.
Link nodded as he turned to Khai, now in a full suit of armor. The dark-haired boy morosely kicked the dirt as he stood there, unenthused to see his friend off into the wilderness again.
"Happy trails, kid. Don't die." He said flatly.
The two of them shared a quick hug, Link's eyes moving to Epona's overburdened saddle. He held Khai's shoulders for a moment.
"There's something I want you to have." He said, and he turned quickly to the cloth bound object strapped to Epona's back.
He handed it to Khai who looked quizzically down at the rolled cloth and then back to Link. He unwound the bundle and stared in awe at the sword and scabbard that lay across his palms.
"Link… is... is this Roland's?" He asked, and Link nodded.
"It is… the last one he ever made. I think you should have her Khai. Her name's Dìoghaltas." He said.
Khai let out a short, loud exhale, and his lips pulled into a rueful smile as he unsheathed the sword and held it aloft in the morning light. After a moment of admiration, he sheathed it once more and looked again to Link.
"Are… you sure?" He said.
Link lovingly clapped his friend's shoulder.
"Of course..." He said.
With final good byes and wishes for luck said, Link and Zelda sped off into the field; leaving their friends to watch as they disappeared on the sun blasted horizon. They rode hard, each knowing now that time was limited and that the lives of thousands rested on how much ground they covered from then until the last page was finally within their grasp. They thundered over the empty, stone laden field with the mountain at their backs, seeing every so often small bands of roving Bokoblin in the hilly distance. As they passed over the Bridge of Eldin, the remnants of a charred blockade still littering the stone, they found themselves lost in thought. Zelda, every so often looked across to the boy as the wind swept over her and felt the unease that emanated from him. Link stared ahead into the horizon, still brooding on his earlier conversation with Khai. In the windy solitude of the ride he sorted the colors of his his feelings, resolving to seal them deep within his heart and breathe not a word of his growing affection for the princess to another soul. By the afternoon they had reached the fields of the upper Lanayru province and the two saddle sore riders, along with their exhausted horses, stopped for a moment in a shady spot beside a rocky stream. Epona and Midge lay in the soft, green grass nibbling the abounding clover as Zelda and Link drank from the quietly babbling water and stretched their stiff, chafing legs. Link rested his back against a tree, closing his eyes as the cool, sweet scented breeze fanned across his skin. Zelda plopped down next to him with a small loaf of sugared bread stuffed with spiced pumpkin meat. Eolan had given her two loaves of it during their meeting that morning. She carefully ripped it in half and softly nudged Link with her shoulder, prompting the boy to open his eyes.
"Here, I thought that since we have stopped, it would be a good time for lunch." She said, offering Link the chunk of bread.
He took it with a nod of thanks and the two of them ate in the shade of the little tree, looking off at the white, boulder wrought faces of the surrounding hills. Link glanced down at the remaining bread and then back to Zelda; her eyes preoccupied, staring out into the distance.
"This is really good, where'd you get it, Zelda?" He asked.
"Eolan made it, actually." She replied.
Link paused for a second, his brows knitting in disbelief.
"He bakes?" He queried.
Zelda giggled.
"Apparently." She said, finishing her half of the loaf.
"Well, that's kind of surprising. He didn't strike me as the baking type…" Said Link.
Zelda turned toward him, brushing the sugar stuck to her fingers off onto the grass.
"He is not as stern as he seems, though I doubt he would like anyone to know that." She said.
Link let his head fall back against the tree with a light sigh, thinking now of his friend; left behind at the gates of yet another ruined town.
"Yeah...That's kind of how Khai is too. Except he turns everything into a joke. If not that, then he's rediculing you for something. He can actually... be pretty mean sometimes. He definitely never holds back when he tells you what he thinks. He's always been that way... since we were kids... Mariana was the only one he ever really let his guard down with." Said Link.
Zelda nodded, turning herself toward the boy.
"He loves you though, I'm sure." She said.
Link shifted himself against the tree, a wistful smile on his lips.
"He does...it's his way of being protective. I was always the smaller one of us...not so much now but, growing up. Roland was always harder on him, being the oldest."
Zelda's eyes fell into her lap.
"I wish I would have said more to him when I'd had the chance … he seems to hate me so adamantly..."
Link shifted forward onto his elbows, turning his head to the discomfited princess.
"It's not that he hates you, Zelda. You were just... an outsider to him. I think that I told you before, he doesn't trust people in general and he trusts nobles even less." He said.
Zelda sat in silent contemplation for a moment, thinking of the dark-eyed boy's harsh words toward her in the scorched forest village; his blame still stung her heart. She turned her eyes to Link's.
"How did he come to live with you?" Asked Zelda.
Link drew his knees to his chest, laying his elbows across them and resting his cheek against his forearms. Zelda watched his chest expand in a soundless sigh.
"Roland, my father and Khai's were all ordained knights that fought in a company together. Roland was older than both of them, so he kind of took them in as a mentor. They all became really good friends. When Khai was three and I had just been born, our families decided that they wanted to move south; to a place that we could grow up in peace away from the city... Roland's family had owned land there for years, so he already had a name for himself in the Faron Province and my father already had our house built by then. Then...the north invaded, and all three of them were called to service. Khai's father was killed...so was mine. Khai's mother died in childbirth so my mine took Khai in...till she got sick. It happened so fast, and I was too young to really know what was going on... and then one day, she just didn't wake up. I don't remember a whole lot, but I do remember, it was Khai who knew to go get Roland. He held my hand and we walked through the forest to his house... we stayed with them after. That's how the two of us became so close. For a long time I thought he was my brother until I was old enough to really understand what happened..." Said Link, staring into the grass.
He lifted his gaze to Zelda beside him.
"I am truly sorry." She said.
Link shook his head.
"Don't be, it's not something that anyone can change. it just...is. Khai could never really accept it though. He's carried this anger with him his whole life. I remember him telling me when we were really little that he thought it was stupid and unfair that he would never know his father because of an argument between rich people... he told me that he didn't really believe in anything anymore because if anything matterd, my mother would still be alive, and so would his family..." Link said, looking up into the afternoon sky.
Zelda looked up at him.
"Do you feel bitter, as he does?" She asked, softly.
The boy gently shook his head.
"No, it just makes me sad sometimes. I had time with my mom. I have memories of her. I wish I could say the same about my dad but... Roland made sure that what was left of my childhood was good, and he was a father to all three of us." He said, still scanning the sky.
"What was your mother's name?" The princess asked.
"Releigha."He replied.
Zelda looked down at her hands as she traced a cricle in the sandy soil.
"I never knew my mother. I haven't the vaugest memory of her... besides this one moment, when I was two or three, I remember her looking over my crib. Sometimes I wish I had more of her...others I am glad I don't. I've been told my whole life how much I look like her." She said.
Link uttered a soft, short laugh.
"I've been told the same thing... that I look like my mother."
They were silent for a time, listening as the leaves rustled in the warm wind. At length, Link looked to the princess.
"We should get going, we need to make it to at least the upper river before we camp tonight. We've still got a ways to go." He said, standing and offering his hand to the seated Zelda.
After another two hours of vigorous travel, the two now made their way toward an ornate bridge, spanning a small brook in the distance. The eminent spires of the castle came into view as they rode forward; now looming and ominous in the cloudless sky. Vigilantly scanning their surroundings for guarding monsters, they soon came upon the small, man-made lake. The water backed to the steel grating of a large stone structure behind the walls of the palace gardens. Link and Zelda then followed the stream back to a towering wall of rock. Burrowed in its side was the lighted tunnel to the upper branch of the river. The two of them dismounted, taking their horses by the reins and leading them down the short stairway into, what Zelda now noticed, was an extremely shallow stream. Link stepped down onto the stairs first, tensing a bit at the cold air creeping from the waterway as he tried to coax Epona down the short staircase. Reluctantly, with her ears turned stiffly back she followed her master and Midge followed her, stepping slowly into the water. The boy and the princess once again mounted their horses from the staircase and began to trot into the dark. As they rode through the tunnel, Zelda noticed to her puzzlement that the stream was not flowing at all. Instead it stood, cold and motionless, on the white brick. Making their way through the cavern, the princess sensed something amiss. Her fears were only amplified with every step they took into the increasingly chilly cavern. Shivering, the both of them pulled the heavy cloaks that Impa had sent along with them out of their stuffed saddle bags. After nearly six miles, the pale light of early afternoon became visible in the dark passage. As they emerged from the tunnel, each of them surveyed their surroundings in dismayed confusion. The river of the Zora tribe had frozen entirely solid. Zelda pulled Midge abruptly to a stop on the ice. Link stood beside her, his mouth agape.
"Zelda… What happened?" He asked, his eyes still scanning the snow covered rocks in disbelief.
The princess turned upon her horse to him.
"In times of great malevolence, Zora's Domain will freeze itself, along with its inhabitants… It is a sign that something is terribly wrong in this realm." She said, and she quickly reined midge toward the caves and Link followed at her heels.
At Zelda's insistence, the two of them had left the horses near the opening to the mountain trail and now quickly made their way up the stairs, as they had weeks before, to the icy court. Walking upon the frozen pool, Zelda now beheld the form of Queen Rutolla; in cold stasis upon her throne. Her marble-like face held a look of the most desperate anguish as the girl went to her side. Sadly, Zelda reached out and gently stroked Rutolla's cheek, feeling the life that still lingered slumbering in the hall of the Zora Queen.
"She is still alive… all of them are...if we destroy the threat, the ice will melt." She said.
Zelda pulled slowly away. Kneeling, she pressed her hands together and offered a prayer for Queen Rutolla and her people trapped beneath the aberrant ice. The princess opened her eyes again and looked resolutely once more into Rutolla's sleeping face.
"I promise you… you are not doomed to this…on my life..." She said.
Zelda felt her friend's hand on her back then. She rose and turned to meet his gaze and they regarded each other silently. She turned for one last look at the Zora Queen as they started back down the hallway, to the stairs and then to the caves below.
The passage to the northern mountain trail was a steep and slow journey, the climb cold and grueling. In the center of the cave, as the temperature continued to drop, Link and the princess were forced to dismount and lead their overwrought horses by the reins up the rocky slope. It was close to evening when they finally emerged out onto the snowy cliffs. The land rolled down below them in marshy, frosted taiga. An imposing vertical forest of fir trees dotting the mountain. After a short dash through heavy evergreens, they began the climb to the peak. The wind was biting as the travelers navigated the cliffs. The view incredibly beautiful in the setting sun despite the frigid air, the sun turning the snow to various shades of yellow and lavender. They trotted carefully along the path curving through the mountains. Rocky peaks loomed around them, casting blue shadows down into the deepening snow. The cold was oppressive, pervading everything and seeming to turn to fire in their ears and fingers. Epona and Midge, overloaded, had no choice but to slow their pace as the terrain steepened. Their heads down against the wind, Link and Zelda spoke aside to one another.
"I think this is my least favorite place we've been so far." Said Zelda.
The boy shivered, bracing himself against another blast of sharp wind.
"Worse than the temple?"
Zelda glanced over at him.
"Well... I suppose not, but at least the temple was warm, horrible though it was." She said.
Link pulled his horse closer alongside the princess.
"I know it's cold, hopefully the peak's not too far off." He said, intently scanning the trail as they rode on.
He looked to the girl, staring with a pained expression into her saddle. The temperature was dropping still as the sky darkened.
The sun finally set behind the mountains, before they had passed a bridge over a deep ravine. They found themselves now on a slope amidst a small patch of conifers. It was then that Link noticed that the princess had begun to shiver as the moon climbed into the sky. He pulled Epona to a stop and looked across to the trembling Zelda at his side.
"You're shaking…" He said over the wind.
Zelda swallowed and pulled the cloak tighter around her slender figure, her muscles tense with unrelenting cold.
"I am fine. We must keep going, I don't think it is even possible to camp here." She said, her breath like a cloud under the moon.
Link slid down off of his horse, unrolling one of the blankets packed behind the saddle and grasping the tightly bundled sleeping mat.
"We're not camping, I'm going to make a fire and feed the horses. We're only stopping long enough to warm up a little. We're not any good to Hyrule if we freeze... Come on." He said, and Zelda hopped down from Midge's back. The wind seemed to cut right through her.
Link wrapped her in the thick blanket and handed her his bedroll.
"Go on and sit down. I'll join you in a second." He said.
Zelda did as he asked and she watched from the small cave of blanket and wool as the boy cleared away the snow from the spot in front of her. He pulled the bone-dry, finely chopped logs from the drooping bag behind Midge's saddle along with a small bale of compressed hay. He fed the two horses and then set the logs in position, lighting a match, he lit the oiled logs ablaze. Link, now feeling the full effects of the sunless cold himself, quickly sat down shivering beside Zelda on the mat. She wrapped the other corner of the blanket around him, taking his freezing fingers in hers and gently rubbing the warmth back into them. At length, the two relaxed and began to chat quietly as the fire crackled before them. Just as the feeling had finally started to come back to their toes and fingers, the two of them decided to start again down the path. In the dark, the trail had become nearly indistinguishable, and Link thought anxiously for a moment on the possibility of becoming lost in the endless snow. As they stood, rolling up both the mat and blanket and tethering them back to the saddle, Link noticed that Epona had become rather restless. She pawed the ground, shifting from side to side and nickering angrily as she stared off into the distance.
"What is it, girl?" Link asked, his voice seeming to die on the rushing wind.
A long, wailing howl, answered by several more rang about the gusty peak in the dark. Instinctively, both Zelda and Link drew their swords as they stood together in the snow, peering into the darkness.
"Wolves?" Link asked, not taking his eyes from the darkened hillside.
"No... Wolfos... Wolves hunt for food, these things are evil earth spirits. They're elementals. We are trespassing on their mountain... " Said Zelda.
While she spoke, six pairs of glowing red eyes drew closer as the sound of ghostly snarling because audible in the dark. The two readied their swords as the wolf-like beasts, who seemed to be made in part from wind and snow, charged and beset Link and the princess with unnaturally large claws and fangs. Back to back they slashed at the agile creatures as they defended both themselves and their braying horses. One of the larger entities managed to clamp its jaws down onto Zelda's forearm and it flung her on to her back in the snow. Three more of them surrounded Link, snapping mercilessly at him as he frantically tried to fend them off the ever dodging wall of jaws and fur. The beasts tore viciously into his right arm and leg as he fought his way toward the fallen girl. Zelda, deflecting more snapping jaws, ran the thin blade of her rapier clear through the neck of the second assailing Wolfos. She kicked the smaller one at her feet in the face, stunning it as the first still violently shook her bleeding arm in its jaws. It took three good jabs before the creature fell and she scrambled to her feet, slashing about her at the other two beasts as she rushed to aid the surrounded boy; her blood bright in the snow. As Link leaned into another evaded thrust, bleeding from three deep punctures in his arm and leg he saw then in the distance an enormous gray dog bounding toward them. The dog, barking fiercely, slammed into the remaining pack of Wolfos. It quickly bit down on the throat of the largest one and dropped it dead in the snow before it turned on its massive paws for the next. After a few more moments of slashing, barking and snarling, the six creatures lay slain on the mountainside. The strange dog, along with the travelers, stood panting in the dark. The mammoth hound turned to Link, his canine mouth in a smile and his bright pink tongue lolling out as he wagged his tail. Zelda came to kneel beside the dog who happily licked her face as she scratched his head, quietly thanking him. She sighed out an exhausted laugh as the dog stood again, taking a few paces ahead and looking back at the two bloodied youths. Zelda stood.
"I… I think he wants us to go with him. Perhaps he belongs to the mansion." She said, audibly winded.
Link nodded and sheathed his sword, his heart still racing as his adrenaline began to ebb and the pain began to swell. He gently took Zelda's injured arm in his hands, examining the wound.
"I think you're going to need stitches." He said, breathlessly.
Zelda looked fretfully down at the scarlet blotches on the boy's right arm and leg.
"I need stitches…" She said.
Link looked himself over, realizing now how badly he was bleeding. They heard the dog whine impatiently in front of them and so, wounded, they saddled the horses once again and followed the great, shaggy hound over the rock and snow.
Not even an hour's ride later, sure enough, the dog had led them to the doors of the peak mansion and the two dismounted now on the stone landing below a wide flight of steps. They followed the dog as he hurried up the stairs, pawing and barking loudly at the huge, iron braced doors. Link and Zelda stood, shivering in the silvery moonlight as the dog continued his clamor. The princess could sense an unspeakably dark energy flowing from the place and as they heard the latch open from the inside, she felt every hair on her body stiffen. A tall, stately man with a thin, dark mustache came to the door. His look and clothing suggested high nobility and he stared with a mixture of amazement and suspicion at the pair. He glanced down as the blood covered dog ran into the house behind him.
"Bràthair Mór, what have you dragged to my house you land-roving mutt?" He cried in exasperation.
He looked back to Link and the princess, his blue-gray eyes peevishly scanning their figures.
"Well, what do you want? No one comes out here without some kind of ill-advised reason." He said.
Zelda stepped forward.
"Please sir, I am wounded and so is he. We were attacked coming through the pass. Your dog helped us and we followed him back here. If you would let us in long enough to rest and tend to our injuries, we would be very grateful." She said, with a slight bow.
The gentleman narrowed his eyes.
"You didn't answer my question; why are you here?" He insisted, and Zelda drew back for a moment.
Link stood silently, feeling the blood beginning to collect in his boot. The man's expression finally softened.
"Well, I suppose as much as I enjoy ornamentation on my steps, your frozen corpses would hardly do for that end. And if you intend on robbing me I assure you that will you find nothing worth stealing… You have horses too?" He said, gazing past the teenagers to their mounts. He turned his head back into the mansion.
"Meryl!" He bellowed, and moments later a nearly zombified looking maid appeared next to the man in the doorway.
"Take the two horses and put them in the stables with the others." He said.
The woman nodded and pulled a greatcoat of stained white fur from the coat rack beside the door before she shambled passed them. As she gripped Midge and Epona's reins, Link turned and unfastened one of the saddle bags at the horse's side. The man stepped aside and gestured for the two of them to come in.
"I am Lord Demeru, welcome to my house."
After walking down a short hallway lined with various suits of armor, the floor carpeted in red out into a large foyer with two grand stairways against either wall, Link and the princess found themselves in a dark, though lavishly decorated living room. A fire blazed in the hearth on the far wall. Bràthair Mór lay on his side before it, his tail thumping on the ground as his master and the two strange youths entered. Beside the hearth sat a long, red silken couch with a low standing cabinet and two lavish arm chairs. Above it there hung a portrait of a much younger looking Demeru. Beside him stood a smiling child. The lord bent and pulled a snifter from one of the many shelves within the cabinet and poured a glass of brandy as Link moved to seat Zelda on one of the brocaded chairs. Demeru snapped to attention, irascibly waving his arm.
"Don't, don't sit down! You'll get your blood all over my chairs!" He barked.
"Here." He said, offering the now rather irritated Link the glass of liquor.
Gripping the stem with a nod of thanks, he turned to Zelda, very gently pushing her sleeve up to her elbow and drizzling the alcohol onto the still bleeding bite mark. She inhaled sharply, wincing a slight as it began to sting. The man uttered a low noise of shock as he trenchantly grabbed the glass out of Link's hand.
"What are you doing?! This is good brandy, not that you would know." He said, quickly turning and disappearing into a door on the other side of the room.
Zelda turned to Link, reading the annoyance in his eyes as he stared in the direction of the door. She laid her hand against his cheek and he turned his face to hers.
"Be calm… something is very strange here." She said.
A moment later the lord returned with a wooden chair and a large bowl of hot water and herbs; a soft rag floated on top. He gestured to Link.
"Now you may clean her wounds, and don't forget to clean yourself up and wash the blood out of your clothes. There is a cauldron of water on the fire in the kitchen as we speak." Said Demeru harshly, moving to the door from which they had entered.
"Meryl!" He shouted loudly into the hall.
Again, the strange maid appeared in the room. Her eyes, Link now noticed, ringed with a color somewhere between purple and brown.
"Fetch me my medical tin before these two bleed all over my hardwood floor." Said the lord.
With a small curtsy, the maid disappeared into yet another door on the opposite side of the room. She appeared again moments later, quickly handing the box of medical supplies to Link.
"Thank you miss. I hope you didn't have too much trouble with the red mare, she's a little crabby, to say the least." He said amiably.
The girl only stared up at him through her brown bangs before she turned and disappeared back into the hallway.
"She's mute, and most likely insane… one would have to be, to willing stay here." Said Demeru, slumped on the couch and sipping another glass of brandy.
Link and Zelda took their turns bathing and stitching each other's wounds. After the princess had mended the alarmingly deep gashes in the boy's leg and arm, Link found himself in the strange, rude lord's kitchen. He was bandaged and washing his bloodstained leggings along with the sleeve of his undershirt. He felt an overwhelming sense of something aware of his presence, watching him as he stood cold and shirtless in the uncomfortable place. He thought on this as he stood there, reading the dark, his hand near the hilt of his blade. He wondered if Zelda would know what it was. After some time next to the fire, the deer-skin appeared dry. Link quickly dressed and fastened his sword and shield back into place, the weight of them welcome in this foreboding house. Both garments were still quite damp. He pushed open the door to the living room. Zelda sat on the chair, her arm wrapped in cloth bandages as she leaned down to Bràthair Mór, cheerily rubbing his shaggy stomach. The lord looked up and gestured for him to sit.
"So, you never did answer me. What are you doing in these mountains? Are you two suicidal or just idiotic teenagers? I cannot tell which." He said.
Link fidgeted in his seat, looking as if he were about to speak as Zelda straightened, setting a soft hand at his knee.
"Neither. I am Zelda, Princess of Hyrule." She said.
Demeru raised an eyebrow.
"Are you now?" He said, and Zelda nodded.
"Yes. This boy here is the chosen defender of our realm. There is a great evil that grows stronger with each passing day, and we seek a way to dis-empower and destroy it; lest it tear the land asunder. We are searching for the lost chapter of the Sky Sage's book." She said.
The lord froze for a moment, looking incredulously at the odd fair-haired girl as he took another sip of his brandy. As if the glass had been wretched from his hand, the snifter flew across the room, shattering on the wall near the door. Blinking slowly for a moment, Demeru reached again into the cabinet, pulling from it another glass and Zelda could see now that there were very few left upon the shelves. He poured himself a glass of liquor as if nothing had happened as the two regarded him with wide eyes.
"So you come to my door, claiming to be the daughter of the king that killed my brother and then proceed to spout some asinine doomsday malarkey? Well, as charming as that all is..." The lord was cut abruptly off by a shrill howling from the upper floors of the house.
Bràthair Mór leapt to his feet beside the fire and quickly nosed the door to the hallway open, running off into the darkened foyer. Link stood, looking to the slightly opened door and then back to Demeru.
"What was that?" He asked.
"That's none of your business." He said, and Zelda noticed that his hands were in a visible tremor.
The princess took a breath, her stomach churning with the malevolent aura of the place.
"Please, sir. I am telling you the truth."
"I have no idea what you're talking about, child. What's a Sky Book? Better yet, why are you at my house looking for it?" Asked Lord Demeru.
"We were told that what we seek may be somewhere in this mansion." Said Zelda.
Lord Demeru scoffed.
"Perhaps you should check your sources."
Link moved to stand behind the princess, noticing out the corner of his eye some slight movement on the bookcase against the wall.
Without cause, books began to fling themselves from their shelves, some with enough force to hit the wall on the opposite side. The two travelers watched in nervous confusion as the book case nearly emptied itself. When at last it stopped, they turned uncomfortable gazes back to the lord. He sat perfectly still for a moment, his mouth and eye twitching involuntarily before he took a long drink of his liquor; draining the glass and pouring himself another. At length, he spoke.
"As I said, I have no idea what you are talking about. I haven't had contact with the rest of the realm since the war. However, if you are looking for a book I am the owner of a most expansive library..." Said Lord Demeru.
Zelda and Link looked at each other. Zelda looked back to the lord.
"That's a start. We could..."
"However..." Demeru interrupted.
"Even if you are who you say you are, princess, why should I let you roam around my home?"
Zelda gestured to Link for the saddle bag. He obliged her, and she pulled the contents from it and held it for the lord to see.
"This is the Sky Book. About three hundred years ago, my great, great grandmother came here with a third of the the final chapter of this book. She left it with the lord of the northern mountains... Our families were close once, sir. My ancestors trusted yours with a very important piece of this relic." She said.
Demeru raised an eyebrow.
"Perhaps the king should have considered that when he condemed the valley towns to starvation. Women and children died that winter, princess. Over the king's ego and what was clearly the prattling of a madman." He shot.
Zelda bowed her head slightly, returning her eyes to the lord.
"On behalf of my father, I apologize. I am not here to justify the king's actions, I am here because the situation is dire and I must gather those pages. My father...has passed on. We were betrayed from within and now a demon sits on my father's throne. So many have died... You must feel it, even from here... You must have noticed that..."
Demeru cut her off.
"Notice that it's been snowing all summer? That there are horrible creatures everywhere? Yes your highness, I have, in fact, noticed this. What does it have to do with you?" He asked.
Link and Zelda glanced at each other.
"It... is a long story. We must find the pages in order to stop this. I..."
As she spoke, another piercing scream ripped through the upper chambers of the house; its sound chillingly inhuman. This time the Demeru perceptibly jumped, loudly setting down his glass and burying his face in his hands. Link gripped the hilt of his sword, anxiously watching the doors as Zelda looked from him to the lord.
"There is some terrible evil in this house, isn't there?" She asked.
Demeru took his hands from his face, resting his elbow on the arm of the couch and his head against the web of his hand.
"Haven't you figured it out yet, girl? This house is haunted...no...tainted. It has been since I aquired it." He said, shifting himself upright once more.
"Do you want to know how the war really started, princess?" Asked Demeru.
Zelda shifted toward him, her eyes wide and curious. Link glanced back at him, listening as he continued to watch the doorway. The lord sighed and folded his hands.
"As I'm sure you know, my brother, Dejiro, was mad. I'm sure it's all that history will remember him for one day. He was always a few eggs short of a cake but once our father died, he became much worse. Being nearly ten years older than me, I was subject to his insanity long before his reign of terror reached to the valley below. Dejiro was obsessed with magic. He studied ancient Gerudo rituals, learned Sheikah, taught himself a few spells. I stayed out of his idoicy as much as possible... which is why I didn't see what was to come, until it was too late. The more time he spent in his studies, the more obsessive he became... his usual bouts of delusion and mania became darker. He was fixated on summoning spells; things that could call into service spirts from the creation of the world. It was shortly after my daughter was born, that Dejiro became convinced that his power was rival to that of the royal family's. His delusions grew, as did his ambtion to take the throne. He excerted these ambtions on the cities in the valley...grew slight support for his crackpot ideas. He told the king to piss off, and broke Snowpeak from the rest of the realm... Then...we starved durning one of the harshest winters in history. An army formed, led by my psychopathic brother. He marched what was left of our men to the capitol and attacked without warning... it was a bloodbath. Hundreds of soiIders, townspeople and northmen lay dead in the aftermath. I fled of course, with my wife and daughter. After my brother was beheaded, I returned to this house. My wife died of fever... among other misfortunes that occured soon after. Then strange shadows and faces began to appear in windows and hallways at night, objects flinging themselves across the room, foot steps in empty halls at all hours of the night...and that was only the begining..." He paused, seeming to gather his thoughts.
"...My daughter, Ashelia... She is possessed you see… by whatever demon my brother summoned into these walls to give him the strength to crush a more powerful army. She has been for years now. The screaming you've been hearing is coming from her chambers…" Said Demeru.
Zelda dropped her gaze to the floor.
"I am sorry. Perhaps… Perhaps Link and I can help her somehow." She said, lifting her eyes back to the lord.
Demeru stiffened, his face hardening again as he turned to the girl.
"How will two vagabond children accomplish what all the priests in Hyrule could not manage? Unless..." He stopped, looking the princess up and down.
"...Unless you really are Princess Zelda. The women of the royal family are said to have strange powers."
Zelda stood, and the lord looked to her and then to the scruffy young swordsman beside her.
"If, and only if, you two can find a way to drive the demon from my daughter… I will let you look around all you want for your pages." He said.
Zelda looked to Link, who moved to stand beside her. She softly cleared her throat.
"I can likely do it. This book is filled with banishing spells, and I myself have...abilites, as you said. " She said, feeling fear build in the pit of her stomach.
Demeru stood then, turning to a box upon the mantle. From it he pulled a large, iron key.
Following behind Lord Demeru, Link and the princess made the short walk through the hallways and up the stairs to the tower above them. The grey-eyed man stopped before the door, handing Link the key.
"Please, however things go… please don't hurt my daughter." Implored Demeru.
Cautiously, as Zelda held the book beneath her arm, Link turned the key in the lock of the hulking door. The room they stepped into was nearly pitch black save for the cold moonlight streaming through the window, and the two of them as they entered tried not to gag on the stench of rotting flesh that saturated the chamber. Lighting the candles along the wall, Zelda could now see that the floor was littered with the carcasses of various small animals and broken toys. In the corner, chained to the wall near the bed slumped a thin figure; her hair matted with what looked like years of filth. Link stopped in shock as he beheld her pitiful condition.
"She's been in here for so long..." He said, and it was then that the girl raised her head.
Her eyes glowed bright yellow in the dark, the rest of her face obscured. She began to giggle, the sound perverted and unnatural.
"Ah, the beauteous majesty of Hyrule... The smell of holy blood. Have you come to save the girl?" Asked the creature, its voice neither male nor female and seeming to emanate many different tones within the one.
Zelda did not answer. Slowly she approached the figure on the floor and opened the book, sickened and unnerved by the foul presence. Link moved carefully behind, setting the candelabra beside the princess and watching intently as the demon began to titter again, menacingly.
"You will fail. I am Ainbertach. I am ancient as the blackest earth. I root and feed. I am eternal. You are naught but a mortal woman now, imbued with the blood of the White Goddess, the blood of the old world. I will feast upon your divine young flesh and consume your soul! I will take your power for my own!" It cackled.
Then the creature lifted its face to the light. Below its glowing eyes there sat a maw of needle like teeth jutting through its lips and cheeks. With an ear-splitting screech, the demon sprung and Zelda just barely caught the iron chains about its wrists in her astral grasp. With all her strength, she forced the writhing creature to the ground as its yawning jaw snapped desperately for her. Trembling with exertion, she placed her hand on the top of its head and began to recite an incantation. A phantom wind began to whip about the chamber as Link stared wide-eyed at the scene. The bed began to thump violently on the floor as the gale intensified, blowing out the candles and tearing the binding from Zelda's hair, tossing it madly about her face. To Link's astonishment, the princess began to glow with a golden radiance as she chanted the banishing spell; her voice somehow filling the room over the rushing air. The demon wailed, and it was then that Link turned to see that the writing desk in the corner of the room had begun to levitate. Within an instant, the chair hurled itself in the direction of the entranced Zelda. Quickly drawing his sword, Link sliced the flying object in two, its pieces landing with a wooden thud on either side of the room. Next came the desk itself as a barrage of books and papers swirled around the room. The boy leapt upon the flying desk as it shot forward, knocking the air out of his lungs as he found himself being pelted by the animated books. The windows above them shattered, raining glass down upon the room as the large chest of drawers began to bang loudly against the stone. Link felt the shards of glass scrape his cheek and neck as he hurried toward the now floating chest. It pitched its shelves at him, striking him in the face and ribs with those he did not manage to cut in half. He flung himself down upon it, frantically trying to keep the chest from launching itself at the princess across the room. Suddenly, the tumult came to an abrupt halt. The flying objects dropped all at once to the floor and Link was tossed onto his back from the floating drawer. Bruised, he got to his feet, quickly making his way to Zelda as he absently wiped the blood from his nose and lip. The princess stood, unblinking and still aglow as a purple fire engulfed the figure of the girl. With a small gesture of her hand, Zelda completely shattered the thick chains around the girl's wrists as the odd flame dissipated. Asheila lay in a heap. Sobbing, she cried out for her father. Moments later, the door flung open and a panicked Demeru appeared. He looked first in wonder at the motionless princess, alight with divine power, and then to Asheila curled upon the floor. The lord dropped the torch to the stone tile and rushed to the girl, scooping her into his arms and gripping her as if she would float away. As the father and daughter embraced, the light surrounding Zelda began to fade and she stumbled backward with a soft, shuddering groan. Link caught her as her knees buckled and he brought her gently to the floor, holding her up as she slumped unconscious against him. Slowly, Demeru stood and carried Asheila to the doorway as the girl lay quietly whimpering against his shoulder. As he opened the door, he turned once more to regard Link with the spent princess in his arms upon the ground.
"I'm sorry I doubted you two." He said.
Zelda awoke sometime later on the red couch next to Bràthair Mór nudging his way under her arm. After a brief moment of confusion, her head ringing with pain, she looked about at her surroundings. On the floor beside her sat Link with Asheila as his side, talking quietly as the boy showed her the hand sketched pictures in the Sky Book. Ashelia turned her head as she heard Zelda stir, her gray eyes bright and her dark brown hair now in soft ringlets around her face. The puncture wounds about her mouth had already started to heal. She tapped Link's shoulder and he looked first to her and then to Zelda behind. She rose dizzily to sitting as Link moved to settle beside her. The girl smiled shyly before she stood and headed off into the kitchen. Zelda returned the expression in spite of the pain in her head. Link turned to her.
"How are you feeling?" He asked.
"Very dizzy… my head aches.…I remember very little... " She paused, rubbing her temples.
"I think... she took over... toward the end of it..." She added.
Link nodded, his eyes sleepy. He reached beside the couch to the saddle bag and picked up a leather object. He handed it to Zelda. She looked down at the ornate leather satchel and back to the boy.
"Link...is this?"
Link nodded again.
"They weren't that hard to find. The door was in the library. One of the bookcases slid back and there was a little alcove behind it with this sort of cage. Above it there were music notes carved into the stone. It was that song you taught me... it opened the cage." He said.
Zelda opened the satchel, gently pulling the ancient parchment paper from its leather crypt. She flipped delicately through them. Suddenly she paused, her brows furrowing as she looked at a particular page.
"What is it?" Link asked.
"It's a map of Hyrule." She answered.
She studied the map for a moment. On the western side of the map, where the desert lay, a small X was etched in ink near where Zelda recognized was likely the Arbiter's Grounds or somewhere close by it.
"It's a clue. The next place we must go is the desert..."She said
The kitchen door creaked open then, Lord Demeru, Meryl and Asheila all passing through it as the girl gestured in Zelda's direction.
"See? She's awake." She said.
Demeru made his way to the chair in front of the princess, sitting slowly down as his daughter stood beside him
"I owe you an apology, your grace..." Said Demeru with a slight bow.
"I'm sorry for my rudeness with the both of you. I can't thank you enough for what you've done." He continued, and he motioned for Meryl to set a platter of fried potatoes, eggs and ham before his two guests. Zelda laughed softly as she watched Link become visibly excited.
After breakfast, while the sky began to take on the dim blue of dawn, Lord Demeru, Bràthair Mór and Asheila stood on the steps of the mansion as Meryl brought the oddly compliant Epona with Midge tied behind her from the stables. Handing the reins to Link, she turned to the still exhausted Zelda. She examined the princess as Asheila came about to Zelda's side, her expression shy and timid.
"Take care of yourself, Asheila." Said Zelda.
Asheila looked pensively into her eyes for a moment before she wrapped her arms around her beautiful champion's shoulders.
"Thank you..." She whispered.
She then turned to Link and gave him a shy smile before she returned to her father's side.
"I wish you and your swordsman safe travel, princess. I am forever in your debt. I can only hope that, this may be a new beginning between the north and the rest of the kingdom." Said Lord Demeru.
With a low bow, he turned with his daughter beside him he pushed back through the doors, leaving Link and Zelda alone again on the landing. Zelda stepped toward the horses, already trembling as the muscles in her legs quivered under her weight.
"I... am not looking forward to this ride... though, I shall be overjoyed to sit down again." She said, disjointedly.
Link stopped and looked back at the princess and he began to climb into the saddle.
"Are you alright? You're not going to fall off again are you?" He asked.
Zelda shook her head as she climbed on to Midge.
"No.. let's just..take it slow, yes?"She said.
The boy nodded and the travelers hitched their horses forward as the two silently rode out over the cliffs into the breaking dawn.