The Legend of Zelda: Reconciliation
Hey all!
Check me out! Second time I've put two chapters up within a week of each other! Wish I could say two in a row, but that's the way the cookie crumbles I guess. :-) I was going to hold off posting this one up (I actually had it done yesterday as a matter of fact) until next week because I figured if the next chapter's going to take me a month at least I could break up the wait with this one, but, I'm already more than half-way done Chapter 5 and with any luck I'll be finished IT soon enough as well, so I'm taking the chance and putting this chapter up anyway. I'd like to tell you this is indicative of things to come, but somehow, even as optimistic as I am, I doubt it. On the other hand, there was a time when I could pull that type of thing off, so I guess you never know.
I'm impressed with how many of you have actually played A Link to the Past. I was expecting a lot less of you, but I'd forgotten that they'd re-released it on the GBA. I mention it because when I realized that, I realized I should probably just clarify for reference that this story is based off the old Super Nintendo version. I don't think it really matters, as I don't think they made any sweeping changes to the game for the GBA, but just in case they did, as I've never played the GBA version.
I know there are at least a couple of you desperately hoping for some sight of the Fierce Deity (Oni Link, I think in Japanese, though I could be way off on that) mask from Majora's Mask in this story, and as much as I hate to disappoint you I figure better to tell you now, that that's unlikely, than later when you've gotten your hopes up. There are reasons for this, which will figure into a later story (assuming I get that far), but not this one, unfortunately. It's not quite time for that yet. :-)
I think that's it for now.
I really hope you enjoy the read!
Lady Rose
P.S. I don't thank you guys nearly often enough for the reviews, so consider this an expression of heart-felt appreciation for always letting me know what you think and for your support and understanding. :-) This whole endeavour would be a lot harder without it, and I hope I never let you guys down. Thanks so much!
xxx
Chapter 4
"Sir Link! Sir Link! Ohhhhh … please wake up! Sir Link!"
I pry my eyes open at the frantic whisper, vaguely aware of the fact that something is shaking me – which is really only making the pounding headache that's pervading my entire being worse. I groan and raise my hand to my head, trying to stop its shaking.
It doesn't work.
"Sir Link! You're awake! You're not dead!"
"What?" I blink and my vision slowly clears. "Marni?"
The short little cleaning-girl meets my gaze with huge, tear-filled brown eyes.
"Oh, I thought I'd killed you!" She practically sobs, shaking me harder.
"Marni …" I practically beg. "Please stop shaking me … please …" She gives a horrified little gasp and immediately releases me. Without her support I fall backwards again and just barely manage to avoid cracking my head off the ground yet again.
Concussion, here we come.
More like a fractured skull.
"I'm sorry!" She cries, then abruptly lowers her voice, casting a paranoid look around. "It's just … you startled me so, dropping into the closet like that … I just … I thought maybe you were … were a Stalfos or something, so I … I just … when you stuck your head out I just reacted, and … and I didn't know it was you, Sir Link! I swear it! I never would have hit you if I'd known!" I stare blankly up at her.
"You're the one that hit me?" I demand. She nods miserably. "With what?" I distinctly remember getting nailed and Marni's just a tiny thing. She's shorter than Malon, for Din's sake. The pounding in my head feels like I got hit by a Goron. She hangs her head and points at something to my side. I turn my head and look, taking in the cast-iron frying pan laying discarded there with a kind of wry, pain-filled amusement.
A frying pan.
Why am I not surprised?
I cover my aching face with my hands and groan.
"I'm sorry," Marni whispers miserably. "I'm so sorry, Sir Link. After everything you've done for me! You've always been nice to me! You've never said anything mean or untoward to me! And here I am, repaying your kindness by smashing you with my pan! Oh! I'll never forgive myself!" Her voice is getting louder again. I have to stop her or she'll start wailing and crying.
She's one of the sweetest people I've ever met in my entire life, but she has a penchant for drama and exaggeration that can be … loud to say the least. Partly due to the fact that she's only sixteen – same age as Neesha, I suppose, but Neesha's Gerudo and they're different in any way you care to mention – but I suspect that even if she was fifty-two she'd still act like this.
"Marni, it's all right," I say hurriedly, pushing myself up into a seated position, pausing for a moment to let the dizziness pass. "I'm all right. You only hit me in the head. Thickest thing on me, right? I'll be fine."
"There you go again!" She sobs. "Being nice! Trying to make me feel better! Trying to excuse my foolishness! But there's no excuse! Hitting a noble like that! If my poor, dead parents could see me now! My family's been serving the royal family for generations! And now their fool of a daughter is off … assaulting a Knight of Hyrule! And the Princess' consort besides! Oh!" She cries, turning a terrified look on me. "You won't send your Gerudo assassins after me, will you? I'd deserve it! I would! And I wouldn't blame you, but please, Sir Link, please! My brother's just thirteen! I don't know what he'd do without me to look after him!"
Princess' consort, eh. Is that what they're calling us now. I swear to Din there's a new phrase for us every week.
"Marni, calm down," I say grabbing her shoulders and giving her a stiff shake. I force her to meet my gaze. "Calm down. First off, I'm not all that noble. Second off, you hardly assaulted me—" That's a blatant lie, but sometimes these things are necessary "—and thirdly, if I'm going to assassinate someone, I'll do it myself, not send my Gerudo." Another blatant lie on every level, but Marni is a romantic at heart and she likes those kinds of stories. "And I'd never assassinate you anyway. Who would take my letters to Zelda when she's not speaking to me, hmm?" And probably reads every word of them. "And who's going to put my hat somewhere I can find it when I stay here at the palace?" She lowers her eyes like she's supposed to (though Din knows I don't require that and it annoys the Hell out of me when she does it) but a pleased blush has worked its way up her cheeks. "All right?" I ask. She nods.
"All right," she says, taking a deep breath.
"Good," I say, pushing myself unsteadily to my feet. "Now, I wish I could stay and chat, Marni, I've got three months worth of court intrigue to catch up on with you—" 'court intrigue' meaning mostly unsubstantiated rumours and gossip with an actual useful tip thrown in just often enough to keep me from giving up the endeavour entirely "—but I'm sort of on a mission."
"Oh!" She gasps as I move out of the closet. "Sir Link! Wait!" I turn and look at her. She shakes her head frantically. "You can't go," she says. "They'll catch you!"
"Who?" I ask.
"The palace guard!" She answers. "They're on high alert! They've all been woken up and sent out to look for intruders! You and your friends, sir! Sir Hunter and Lady Neesha!" I blink at her in surprise.
"And you didn't turn me in?" I ask. Marni looks offended all of a sudden.
"Turn you in?" She demands. "Sir Link, I'd never betray you! Whatever that awful Aghanim says you've done, I don't believe him one bit! You'd never do anything to hurt Hyrule! Or the royal family!" I feel a sudden surge of warmth for the girl and squeeze her shoulder to demonstrate it. She smiles ecstatically and ushers me suddenly towards the back of the little room we're in. "Here, take the servants' paths. They lead almost everywhere in the upper levels of the palace and will keep you away from most of the guards. Do …" Her voice dies off and she hesitates suddenly, then her face hardens and she draws herself up. "Do you need me to show you the way?" I offer her a smile and shake my head.
"It's a bit dangerous," I say, "and I don't want you to get in trouble for helping me. Like you said, your brother needs you still. I'll be fine." She opens the little door at the back that leads to a little hallway. "I've been in worse scrapes than this."
"Be careful!" She calls as I slip into the hallway and begin moving down it. I can hear her slip the door shut again behind me.
The servants' paths are a series of interconnected hallways – not quite secret passageways, as they aren't exactly secret, and they generally aren't concealed – that run through most of the palace. They let the servants of the castle move about freely without being seen and lets them keep up with their individual jobs, ostensibly without their getting in the way of the nobles, but it's more to keep the nobles out of the servants' way. The Hylian nobles, with a few good exceptions, are generally a useless bunch of people so caught up with pretension and frivolity that they've – in my opinion at least – lost touch with reality. Most of them fled Castletown as fast as they could three years ago when the Moblins attacked and took over. Many of those who didn't either died or were enslaved along with everyone else. There were two different types of reactions to this. They either learned something from the ordeal – these are the ones who have become the exceptions to the nobility rule – or it only served to make them more bitter and condescending towards the "common-folk" of Hyrule – they've concluded for some reason that the aforementioned lesser-folk owe them something for the time they spent among them.
These are the nobles that I can't stand and generally speaking if I'm at the heart of a scandal of some sort (which I usually am) then odds are the other person at the heart of it is one of those. They all hate me with a passion equalled only by my own distaste for them, but in general they stay out of my way. They're kind of scared of me. I might have lost my temper with one or two of them back when I first entered into the world of Hylian politics. Kind of hard to keep control when they're making snide comments about either my heritage or my hat.
I take both of those things kind of personally.
Needless to say after I fought, and won two or three duels (since apparently it's improper to just jump them right then and there), they stopped taking me up on them and started backing down. Which makes them more bitter about the whole situation but which suits me just fine.
I suppose it's partly because of that that they jumped on Aghanim's band wagon so quickly. I never bothered to hide my intense dislike of the mage nor he of me. The battle lines there were drawn pretty quickly.
Luckily for me, of the nobles who count, at least half of them sided with me. Not to mention the Sheikah and Zelda herself. Plus most of the servants like Marni (that is, the ones who are actually civilian servants, not undercover Sheikah). You wouldn't think it, but the people who work in the palace are every bit as politically savvy as the politicians and by nature of the fact that they go everywhere, serve everyone, and see everything … they can be a terribly useful ally to have.
Have I mentioned how much I hate politics?
It's like … take every single pet peeve I have, roll it all up into a bundle, and you'll have politics.
It's one of the few areas on which Hunter and I disagree entirely. Hunter loves it. He's in his element when we're here at the castle and he and Zelda together is enough to drive Neesha and I insane. They spin all kinds of schemes and plots and counter-plots … it's so complicated. I like Gerudo politics.
In Hylian politics, you say "do it" and they say "yes" but they really mean "all right, but you owe me for it and in ten years I'll pull up this favour out of nowhere and you'll have to sell me your soul to repay me."
In Gerudo politics I say, "do it" and they say "No." And they mean "no".
See? Simple.
No soul-selling involved.
A door further down the hallway opens and I panic and press myself flat against the wall as a yawning man with a broom steps into the hallway. He heads in my direction and for a brief, panic-stricken moment I think he's going to spot me, but he turns away almost immediately and moves through another door, leaving the hallway once again deserted.
I sage against the wall with a relieved sigh and thank the goddesses.
Man what I wouldn't give for one of the transformation masks right now. Not that Mikau or Darmani could really help me out here, but the little Deku Scrub could. Nobody would notice him running around …
But they're back where they should be, and I wouldn't take them back for the world. They asked for rest and now they have it. It would be unfair to take that back from them now.
So I'm on my own.
On the upside, the Servants' Paths are more or less deserted right now. Most of the servants are likely asleep with the rest of the world. Only a few, like Marni, are up, doing their chores while everyone else sleeps. Which means that short of an accidental bumping into someone, the odds of anyone catching me are slim.
I feel a twinge of smugness.
"I am the King of Sneak," I tell myself with a grin.
"The King of Fools, maybe," says a soft voice from right behind me. I just managed to strangle a yelp into a gasp as I jump and whirl around, my hand going for my weapon. Unimpressed green eyes stare, narrowed, back at me. "I'm pretty sure the note said 'go to the desert' not 'go to the Golden Palace.'" I release the hilt of my scimitar and narrow my own eyes right back at him.
"Oh gee, you mean the note with the blatant lies on it? The one that said 'gone out for a bit'? And 'we'll meet you there'? That note?" I demand in a hiss. "You could have at least told us the truth, Dad. Thanks for the vote of confidence. Nice to know you think we're idiots."
"First off," he replies flatly, "we didn't lie. We did go out for a bit. There's nothing false about that. And secondly, for someone who's not an idiot, you sure have a tendency for idiocy sometimes. You're interfering on a mission that was not assigned to you – not to mention compromising it – and you ignored a specific order from a Superior Agent."
"Yeah? Well how about a 'first off' of my own. First off, don't hand me that bullshit about lies versus half-truths. I am the king of half-truths dad, and I can out-dishonest you any day. And as for interfering on a mission that wasn't assigned to me, I may be a Sheikah, but I'm not an active one so it doesn't apply to me. Same goes for ignoring an order from a Superior. Bruiser's not my Superior he's my uncle. And you're not either, you're my Dad. So as far as I'm concerned you can take your 'order' and jam it. I've never taken an order a day in my life and I've no intentions of starting now." I look him up and down, taking in the rather large bloodstains on his side and shoulder and raising an eyebrow. Bruiser's nowhere in sight, either. "Besides," I add. "It looks like this mission was compromised long before we got here." He gives me the I'm-letting-it-go-for-now-but-you're-not-off-the-hook-not-by-a-long-shot-buddy look and does just that.
"What we?" He asks, raising an eyebrow. "Where's Hunter and Neesha?"
"Got me," I answer, with a concerned frown and a shrug as I turn around and start off down the corridor again. "Aghanim knew we were coming. He split us up." I pause and look around. "I'm kinda lost here. Do you know the way?" He raises an eyebrow at me.
"You're in love with this girl and you don't even know where her room is?" I roll my eyes.
"She's not in her room anymore Dad," I answer, glaring at him, "she's in the dungeons. Aghanim caught her." He blinks in surprise then abruptly runs his hand through his hair with a disgruntled noise.
"Dammit," he hisses. "That's just typical. Yeah I know the way. Follow me." He casts a glance over at me again as he pushes by to lead the way. "What happened to your head?" He asks. I rub the back of it and wince.
"It had a brief, steamy affair with a stone floor," I answer. "And then the floor's husband, Mr. Cast-Iron-Frying-Pan came home." Dad raises an eyebrow at me and I sigh. "I don't really want to talk about it, okay? It's been a long day." I give him the once over. "What about you?"
"You weren't the only ones Aghanim was ready for," he says.
"That much I figured," I answer. "But what happened? And why isn't Bruiser with you?" Dad sighs and a troubled look crosses his face.
"We made it to Zelda's floor without a problem," he says, "but we were ambushed before we got anywhere near her room. A dozen or so Hylian guards. I didn't really get the time to count. They had archers hidden somewhere." He points to his side and arm. "We split up, and so did they. The idea was to lose them and then keep on heading for the princess. We had to get her out, one way or the other. Well, I only just managed to lose the ones tailing me. I haven't seen Bruiser in close to a half-hour now. I've no idea where he went. Here's hoping he had better luck than me finding Zelda." He stops at a door to our right and slides it open slowly, taking a quick peek out.
"All clear," he says, then gestures me through. I step out of the Servants' Paths and into a stone stairwell that spirals downwards. "Three floors to the dungeons," Dad says. "And from there it becomes a guessing game until we find her cell."
"What about Hunter and Neesha and Bruiser?" I ask as we start downwards.
"With any luck, we'll find them on the way to Zelda," Dad answers, avoiding my gaze. "They're likely headed there too, right?"
"And if we don't?" I ask, frowning at him. He doesn't answer. "Dad?" I prompt. He tries to keep moving but I grab his arm and force him to look at me. "And if we don't find them?" I repeat. He holds my gaze for a moment then shakes his head.
"Sen quis lodanan sen vennan," he says quietly, turning away and continuing down the stairs. He continues to avoid my gaze. "'The quest before the conquered.'"
I freeze in mid-step and stare at his back, as my blood runs cold at the implications of that phrase.
There are times when the Sheikah seem more hard-hearted than any Gerudo.
xxx
A Brief Interlude
"Sen quis lodanan sen vennan," Hunter hissed to himself keeping his eyes on the ground and focusing on the phrase he had been repeating until the sounds had lost all meaning. "Sen quis lodanan sen vennan. Sen quis lodanan sen vennan."
First Zelda, he told himself. First Zelda. Then the desert. Then Thomas."Sen quis lodanan sen vennan." The mission first. Focus on the mission. You can't be distracted. You can't let yourself be distracted. Dad is dead. Uncle Bray probably is too. Maybe even Link. Someone needs to complete the mission.
"Sen quis lodanan sen vennan."
Focus …
He raised his eyes from the ground and glared at Thomas' back.
"Sen quis lodanan sen vennan." He didn't know what had happened to Thomas – didn't understand what could possibly take one of his best friends and turn them into a cold-blooded murderer – but the instant that arrow had cut into his father he had ceased caring.
He now believed beyond a doubt that it was Thomas behind the kidnappings.
He briefly wondered if Thomas had murdered Malon as well. And maybe even the rest.
That would explain why the Sages couldn't sense them anymore.
"Sen quis lodanan sen—"
A sharp, horrified cry interrupted him. His head snapped up as the soldier who had just rounded the corner ahead of them stumbled back out, clutching his stomach. The group froze in surprise. Thomas frowned darkly, crossing his arms and shifting his weight.
"What's the –" The soldier toppled over suddenly, his hands falling free of his stomach and revealing a bright red gash. Thomas tensed up. "Dammit." He hissed.
There was a scream from the back of the group. Everyone whirled around just in time to see a flash of silver and another soldier fall. But that was it. There was nothing else down the corridor.
"Form ranks!" Thomas shouted. "Guard the prisoners!" As the soldiers moved to do as he said, the torches along the walls flickered and dimmed. "Dammit!" Thomas hissed again. He raised his hand and spoke another sharp word and the torches brightened for the briefest of instants. Before much more could happen, however, the shadows they cast surged up, and over them, extinguishing them with a brief hiss. The corridor was plunged into darkness. Hunter and Neesha instinctively moved back to back, though the position did them little good with their hands tied as they were and their weapons removed.
Without warning a groan and a thud was heard from their left. Then another from their right. They were aware of brief disturbances in the dark from all around them, quick, precise, eating away at the circle of guards around them until Hunter and Neesha were painfully aware of the fact that they stood exposed and open to whatever it was picking them off in the dark.
Footsteps sounded in the dark.
The torches sputtered back to life as suddenly as they went out and left Hunter and Neesha blinking in surprise at the source of the attack.
Impa, Sage of Shadow stood panting over the bodies of the soldiers, clutching a bloodied katana blade in her hand.
"Impa!" Hunter gasped. He craned his neck around, peering at the bloodied soldiers. Thomas wasn't among them. "What happened to –"
"Gone," Impa said flatly, moving over to Hunter and Neesha to cut their bonds. "Traitor and a coward, and he never used to be either."
"Are you all right?" Neesha asked as Impa sliced through the ropes binding her hands. She frowned at the Sheikan leader. "You look ready to pass out." It was true. Though there was no evidence of wounds on the Sage's body, her hands were trembling and a line of sweat stood out on her brow. Impa nodded.
"I'll be fine, little one," she said, sheathing her katana again. "I've been poisoned is all."
"Poisoned!" Hunter cried, whirling on her.
"Lower your voice," Impa chided. "I said I'll be fine. I'm the Sage of Shadow, remember? I'm more resistant to poison than most. Give it some time to finish working its way through my system and I'll be good as new. Now come on. We can't dally here." But Hunter didn't move right away.
"Impa …" He said thickly. "Dad is …" Impa's face softened suddenly and she laid a comforting hand on Hunter's shoulder, giving it a tight squeeze.
"I know, Hunter," she said softly. "I found him." Hunter looked down, suddenly looking more like a little boy than a grown man.
"It was Thomas," he whispered. "He just …"
"Thomas has much to answer for," Impa said steadily, taking Hunter's chin and forcing him to look up at her. "And he will. One way or another we will get to the bottom of it. But right now, Hunter, you need to be strong. Your father was a great man, and one of the best agents I've ever known, and I swear to you we will mourn him properly later. But right now …"
"Sen quis lodanan sen vennan," Hunter said, almost too quiet to hear. Impa nodded slowly, squeezing his shoulder again.
"Good," she said. "Now follow me."
They moved out of the ring of bodies and headed further down the corridor, Neesha close on their heels.
She frowned to herself and made a mental note to ask Link what the Hell sen quis lodanan sen vennan meant.
xxx
Chapter 4 (cont.)
"You go left, I'll go right."
"Right."
"No I'm going right."
"You're being an idiot."
"Well do you want to go right?"
"Link."
"What?"
"Just shut up and go. I'll follow your lead."
I flash him a smart-aleck grin and throw myself around the corner, scimitar out, and to the left. Dad follows me out and heads to the right. The three guards barely have time to register the fact that we're attacking them before they're down on the ground and out.
"I thought you were going right," Dad says, wiping off his blade and frowning at me.
"Me? I thought you wanted it." He throws his hands into the air and rolls his eyes.
"Why?" He asks no one in particular. "Why am I cursed with a smart-ass for a son?"
"Because at some point in your life," I say with a smirk, "you were a smart-ass son. And then your dad probably prayed to the Goddesses – just like you do all the time – that you'd have a son just like you who would put you through everything you put him through. And from the looks of things, the Goddesses like you about as much as they like me."
"Which is to say not at all."
"Precisely," I agree. "And for the record, pray as hard as you want, but I'm Gerudo. You're going to have nothing but granddaughters for the next hundred years or more. How're your wounds holding up?"
"Fine," he says. "The arrows didn't go deep and I bandaged them fast enough to prevent any serious blood loss. You?"
"I feel like a Goron martial artist has moved into my head and started practicing on my brain."
"Well that explains a lot."
"Now who's a smart-ass?"
"Like father like son," he answers glibly. I roll my eyes.
"Please don't say that. I like to hold out some hope for myself." He aims a punch at my shoulder that I dodge with a grin. "Are you leading the way to the dungeons or are you trying to take me out?" I demand.
"Little bit of column A …"
"Ha, ha, very funny. Which way Mr. Comedian?"
"Left."
"Right."
"Please don't start."
"Like father like son," I throw back at him. He rolls his eyes.
"You know I hate it when you do this, right?"
"If you didn't, I wouldn't do it, now would I?"
"You're spending too much time in the desert."
"I haven't spent any time at the desert recently as a matter of fact, and I'm actually starting to miss it."
"Farore forbid," Dad says, rolling his eyes. "Well you'll never get back there if we can't find Zelda and the rest of them."
"So which way then?" I ask as we approach the next turn.
"Right."
"Left … sorry, I couldn't resist."
"All right, seriously," Dad says as we round the corner. "We need to shut up now. We're going to get ourselves c—" He straightens abruptly and tenses.
"What?" I demand.
"Shhh," he hisses, waving at me. "Someone's coming. Quick! Back around the corner!" We both slide back around the corner we'd just turned and hold our breath. I can hear them now too. More than one of them. A moment later the footsteps give way to voices. I blink in surprise.
I know those voices.
"Where's Mel?" Thomas of the Sheikah demands, his tone cold and flat.
"I left her back with Sheik," Bel answers.
"Zelda." Thomas corrects her.
"Sheik," Bel retorts stubbornly. Thomas doesn't react the second time.
"We need to get back there. Impa's got the other two, but I don't think she realizes their worth yet. We might be lucky and she may take them with her to rescue the princess. With any luck we may be able to capture them all again before the night is over."
"What about Link? Isn't he here?"
"Somewhere," Thomas agrees. "We'll deal with him when it comes to it. You know what our orders are. If he gets in the way, we kill him."
"Thomas!" Bel gasps, horrified.
"You know what happens if you disobey."
"Thomas … please … Link's a friend. You may as well ask us to kill Hunter, or Sheik, or you."
"And I may yet," he answers flatly. "Do as you will, Bel, but you know …" Their voices fade and a moment later their footsteps do too. I release the breath I'd been holding but not with anything resembling relief. A kind of cold dread has settled into my stomach.
"Did … did I just hear what I thought I heard?" I ask. Dad shakes his head and moves for the corner.
"Looks like Talon, Ingo and Acqul were right," he answers, his voice heavy. "We've got a rogue Sheikah on our hands. Poor Dune …" We both lapse into silence as we slip down the hallway, following the sound of Thomas and Bel's footsteps, all traces of previous cheerfulness and flippancy gone.
Nothing like hearing old friends plotting to kill you to ruin a good mood.
At least they'll lead us straight to Zelda.
And if we're lucky, they may just lead us to the bottom of this whole mess.
Here's hoping.
It doesn't take us long to arrive. There's a short set of stairs leading down maybe half a flight, and at the bottom we can hear voices.
"Give it up, Sheik," says Mel tiredly. "Aghanim made the lock himself. Your powers won't work on it." Even from up here I can feel the icy silence Zelda replies with. "Don't look at me like that! I told you there's more going on here than you know, all right? I haven't got a choice in the – Thomas! What happened? Where are the other two?"
"Impa has them."
"But I thought you said she was down for the count."
"Yeah, well, apparently Sages are harder to kill than I counted on."
"You tried to kill her?" Bel cries. "Thomas! That wasn't part of the –"
"I had to do something permanent or she'd just come after us and get in the way again. Like she has in case you hadn't noticed. Now shut up and listen. Aghanim needs all seven maidens for any of this to work. We need to get them back."
"Well how the Hell are we supposed to get them back from Impa?" Mel demands miserably. "Are you planning on fighting her? She could kill all three of us before we even know she's there. I went with her once, on a mission a few years back. I've seen what she can do Thomas. It's impossible."
"Nothing is impossible with Aghanim's help," Thomas responded flatly. "Not quit whining." I look over at Dad, who holds up three fingers.
It's just them. There aren't any others.
"Well what about Link? He's here too, isn't he?"
I raise a questioning eyebrow at him, and he nods once, decisively.
Time to go.
"For the last time, we'll deal with him if it comes to it."
I step off the stairs and into the room, levelling my scimitar at Thomas's back.
"It's come to it," I say flatly. Thomas whirls around and meets my narrowed gaze.
"Link!" Zelda – in Sheik form – gasps. There's an opaque black shell around the lock on her cage door. No doubt Aghanim's addition.
"Get him!" Thomas shouts, leaping for me. Bel and Mel exchange a tortured look and follow more slowly, hanging back as I meet Thomas' blade with my own. He blocks my first thrust easily and parries it effortlessly, and I jump back, taken aback by the apparent skill he's demonstrating with it.
Of the three of them, I would have bet my life on Bel and Mel being the biggest threat. They aren't much individually – I could take either one of them out easily – but put them in a fight together and suddenly things aren't so easy. They work with a perfect synchronization that not even Neesha and I can match despite how much we've practiced together. When one parries, the other thrusts, when one thrusts, the other parries. One goes high, the other goes low. You dodge Bel's attack and step into Mel's. Their timing is perfect. It's insane.
But, surprisingly enough, it's Thomas who proves a problem.
He's blocking my thrusts with a speed he's never possessed before, and he's countering them with an accuracy I've never seen him use. I duck under one of the aforementioned counter-attacks and stare at him in surprise.
Understand that Thomas has never been much for fighting. It's just not his thing. I think it may have something to do with how obsessed with fighting his sister was. There wasn't a day that went by where Ketari wasn't honing her own skills to perfection, and as tends to happen between siblings, one will not attempt what he knows the other is good at for fear of two things: a) the perception that he's only doing it to copy his sibling, and b) the chance that his sibling is and always will be better than him at it anyway. As a result, Thomas focused his attention on other things. Don't get me wrong, he knows how to fight – hard to find a person now-a-days who doesn't know something about weapons and how to use them – but to be blunt, he's just not very good at it.
Apparently, however, his feelings toward me aren't the only things that've changed over the last three months, because if I'm not careful this fight isn't going to go my way.
Thanks be to Din, however, Dad steps in before the twins can jump into the fray and complicate things more, intercepting them with his own blade.
Goddess dammit I want the Master Sword!
I haven't got half the reach with this scimitar, and to top it off I've only got one. I've been fighting with two for the last three months and you get used to that real fast.
I twist to the side and push Thomas's blade off course with my own, aiming for his kneecap with my foot while I'm at it. He leaps over the kick and pulls his blade off of mine. I meet it again as he brings it down and hold it there, pressing in close. Through the X made by our blade I meet his eyes.
I had intended to demand an explanation for why he's suddenly moved me and apparently everyone else from his Solstice List to his Hit List, but instead I find myself just staring at his eyes in shock.
They're normally a blue so bright its painful, but right now they're dull and flat instead. There's no shine, no real color …
… no life.
I've seen eyes like this before …
… "M-Mr. Ingo? Is that you?"
He twists around and to his feet to see who's speaking to him. He spots me and gives me a once over that sends a shiver down my spine.
I love how even though I have an adult body now, he's still taller than me.
"Do I … know you, boy?" He asks, scratching his cheek with the gold rupee in his hand. His eyes – normally sharp and eager as a hawk's – are dull. They look different. They look … dead … "You seem … familiar?"
And to think I hoped that this place at least would have escaped the darkness inflicted on Hyrule in the seven years I was in the Sacred Realm.
Something is seriously not right here …
… I throw myself frantically out of the way of the huge axe as it crashes into the ground behind me, shattering the stone floor and sending chips screaming across my back.
"Link!" Navi shrieks. "There's something different about this one!"
"Yeah, it hits harder!" I shout back caustically, scrambling to my feet and trying to manoeuvre around to the back of the Iron Knuckle. It's already recovered and is re-aiming its axe at me.
Son-of-a-bitch is smaller and faster too.
Gotta get that armour off it …
I push myself across the floor and twist out the way of its axe, ignoring the sting of shrapnel across my face and spin around and behind the damn thing. With a shout I push myself off the ground and reverse my grip on my sword, bringing it down, blade first on the base of the Iron Knuckle's neck.
As far as I can tell, I didn't hurt it – which is just spectacular – but I did manage to snap the piece holding it's helm on and as it turns to face me, axe once again at the ready, it's helmet topples off and to the side, revealing a long red ponytail, and a startlingly familiar face.
"Nabooru!" I gasp, frozen in place for a moment.
Her eyes are blank, dead of recognition or even life, and she brings the axe down at me again.
"LINK!" Navi shrieks …
… I hate this.
I hate this, I hate this, I hate this.
I've been trapped in this goddess forsaken world, reliving the same three days over and over and over, been dragged all over it by this psychotic little rat with wings – who, I might add, is not even my psychotic little rat with wings – to free these four goddess-damned giants so they can stop their psychotic little skull-kid friend from eating the world with his goddess-damned moon, not to mention dealing with that freaky little mask salesman who screams and tries to kill me every time I tell him, "No, you creepy little bastard, I do not have your stupid, ugly mask yet. Forgive me if it's a little more complicated than walking up to the Skull Kid and saying, 'hey buddy, can I have the source of all your evil power?'"
And for what?
For nothing, that's what.
I fought the monsters, freed the giants, summoned them here …
And that damn skull-kid is laughing at me.
His plan is ruined. The moon is stopped.
And still he laughs, as he floats up into the air.
"What's wrong with his body?" Tatl says above me.
I frown at the interruption of my pessimistic mental rant, but look at what she's pointing at anyway, and give a start when I do.
Why is his body so limp?
The Mask suddenly gives a little jerk and the skull-kid falls free of it, his half-closed eyes blank and dead looking, not bright and lively like a skull-kid's should be.
Several things click together in my head at once.
I've been fighting the wrong battle all along … the skull-kid's not the one to blame. He was being used. A puppet on a string …
The Mask stays where it is and the laughter continues as the skull-kid's limp body strikes the ground hard. Tael cries out and streaks over to him, but Tatl stays above me …
I should have known.
Nothing that ugly is ever a good thing.
At least now I know my real enemy …
What I wouldn't give, for my adult body and the Master Sword right about now … this only goes downhill from here …
"Get a good look, Hero," Thomas snarls, his face less than an inch from mine. "Because I'm the last thing you'll ever see." His arm streaks into my peripheral vision but before I can react he's buried a dagger in my side. I gasp and stumble sideways, crashing into Zelda's cell, just managing to keep my feet. I grind my teeth at the explosion of pain and tighten my grip on my scimitar.
"Link!" Sheik cries. I force my attention away from the knife in my side and twist out of the way of Thomas' attack. His weapon misses me by a mile and slides between the bars of Zelda's cell. Zelda, being the resourceful woman that she is, is read for him. Before he can recover his sword, she snatches his wrist and twists. He winces at the pain but refuses to drop his sword.
Doesn't matter.
She's bought me enough time to even the odds.
I move around Thomas, ripping my bow off my back as I go, pulling the light arrow out of my quiver. I nock the it to my bow and pull the string back, taking aim at the ebony shell surrounding the lock.
"NO!" Thomas shouts, ripping his arm free of Sheik's grip. He comes at me again just as I release the arrow. The black shell shatters beneath the glowing arrow and the next instant is surrounded by a purplish light. I almost can't hear the distinctive sound of the lock opening over Thomas's snarl as he comes at me again, but he's not on me long. The next instant the door is thrown open and Sheik rips out, throwing himself between me and Thomas.
"Tag," I manage with a weak grin at Sheik, despite the burning in my side, "you're it." His (or her if you prefer) crimson eyes crinkle at the edges with the smile that's hidden beneath his shawl for a brief instant before he throws himself at Thomas.
When it comes to fighting, Zelda – or rather Sheik, as she never fights in princess form – has gotten better over the last three years, but not amazing. Time for practicing the art of fighting is rare when you're the princess of Hyrule, but she does what she can when she can. However, what he lacks in skill, the ever-amazing Sheik makes up for in another department: speed.
Case in point: she's on Thomas before the latter can even recover from being thrown backwards. Though Thomas is definitely the superior fighter in this case, Sheik is twisting and tumbling too fast for him to catch, and on top of it, she's pulling off cheap shots that you can only learn from a Sheikah, hitting weak points, wounds, and soft spots with calculated precision.
It's only a matter of time before Thomas lands a hit, though, and Sheik won't be fast for much longer once that happens. I grind my teeth hard and pull the dagger out of my side with a hiss. I don't know what hurts more: the fact that there was a dagger in my side, or the fact that the guy who put it there used to be a friend. I throw it to the side with a pain-filled gasp, then pull another arrow out of my quiver. Not the Light arrow this time. The Ice arrow.
Thomas is getting closer to hitting Zelda every second, and Dad's already hurt and is wearing out. He's going easy on the twins, he doesn't want to kill them, but it's costing him. The dagger wound in my side is only going to get worse if I don't get it bandaged up and we still need to find the others and make our way out of the palace.
It's time to end this.
I nock the arrow to the bow and raise it, aiming at Thomas.
A freezing rush surges through my body and into the arrow as its tip explodes with frost.
"Sheik! Move!" I shout. She does, rolling to the side without question as I release the arrow. Thomas has just enough time to register the fact that I've shot at him before the arrow pierces his shoulder and throws him backwards, onto the floor. He cries out in pain and clutches at the arrow as a layer of frost creeps over his shoulder, originating at the wound. Won't be long before his lips turn blue and he starts to shake. I nock my bow again, with a normal arrow this time, and take aim at his prone form.
"Bel! Mel!" I shout. They both leap away from Dad and spare me a glance, freezing when they realize what's happened. "Weapons down," I snarl. They obey, instantly. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were relieved. "Now," I say, turning my gaze back to Thomas. "What in Nayru's name—" But all that's left of him is an already fading swirl of darkness and he's gone, my arrow laying discarded on the floor. I blink in surprise.
"We're sorry," Bel whispers, and she and Mel turn as one and bolt for the stairs. All three of us watch them go without pursuing. Once their footsteps have faded, I let my knees finally give out. I would have hit the floor too, had Sheik not bolted and caught me, slinging one arm around his neck and shouldering his way in under it to keep me up.
"Are you all right?" Dad asks, frowning at me in concern.
"Just peachy," I answer, putting my bow and arrow away with a wince and returning my hand to my side. "Hell, who wouldn't be after being stabbed in the side by the guy you used to play ball with." He doesn't say anything, but continues to stare at me in concern from the left while Sheik does it from the right. I sigh bitterly. "I'm hurt," I say, "I'll likely need stitches and Nabooru is going to kill me and Neesha when she sees it, but I'm not dying." I look down at Sheik. "I'd be doing better though if you were a girl," I point out. "No offence, but Sheik's just not as fun to hug as Zelda." Sheik rolls his eyes.
"If I was Zelda I wouldn't be able to hold you up," he retorts easily. "We can say hello properly once we're out of the palace." He shifts my weight and pauses. "Why Neesha?" He asks suddenly.
"What?" I ask, blinking.
"Why is Neesha in trouble if you're hurt?"
"Because I'm not supposed to let him get hurt," says a familiar voice from our left. Coming down the stairs on the side of the room opposite the one Dad and I arrived from is Neesha, Hunter, and Impa. I feel a thrill of relief and resist the urge to sag in relief against Sheik. They're safe. Neesha frowns darkly at me, eyeing my bloodied side. "What happened?" She asks, none of her usual brusqueness in her tone. I frown, taking in the dark expressions on everyone's faces. Hunter avoids my gaze entirely and Neesha shakes her head. I stare at them, suddenly feeling like I've shot myself with the ice arrow.
"Hunter, what is it?" I ask. "What's happened?" Dad's noticed it as well and has gone stiff.
"Where's Bruiser?" He demands.
xxx
We worked our way out of the palace in silence. It wasn't half as hard as I'd expected it to be. The way point I'd left with Farore's Wind let us bypass most of the palace, and between the Servants' Paths, secret passageways, and Impa's Shadow powers, we managed to avoid all except the odd group of guards, which were dispatched easily enough. Thomas, Bel and Mel made no more appearances. I'm not surprised. An Ice Arrow takes more than a bandage to fix.
It's hard to be sorry for shooting him, now. Now that I know what he's done.
But it's hard to be sorry I didn't finish the job too. The dead look in his eyes comes back to me every time I start to think about what he did to Bruiser, and I have to wonder …
How much of it was him?
We took the secret passage behind the Throne that leads through the sewers under the city and from there to the Temple of Time. From there Zelda jumped to the Sacred Realm, which was apparently part of the plan since Aghanim can't get to her there, promising Impa up and down that she'd stay there, then whispering a quick promise to me to meet us at the desert later. I would have taken two trips by Ocarina to get Hunter, Neesha and Dad and me to the desert, but we couldn't leave the pendant behind, and it was back at the shop, so instead we decided to take the long way. Impa got us safely through the streets and to the shop. We grabbed the pendant and jumped into the cart that Dad had used to smuggle Hunter in earlier that night. Hunter, Neesha and I all crouched down under the blankets in the back and Dad pulled his cowl up tight against the wind. Impa told the guard at the gate that we were on Sheikah business and he let down the bridge for us, then she snuck her way back to the Temple of Time and hopefully made the shift to the Sacred Realm as well.
The snow is finally letting up and between the clouds every now and then we can get a glimpse of the sunrise. No one's said a word since we said goodbye to Impa, and I doubt that's going to change any time soon. Even Neesha looks like she's been punched in the stomach and the Gerudo have a different view on death – particularly death in battle – than most. I can't see all of Dad's face from where he's huddled in his cloak against the finally dying wind, reigns in hand, but what I can is drawn and tired and looks a lot older than I remember. Hunter's sitting across from me, his back stiff and straight, staring out at nothing in particular without blinking. I want to tell him about Thomas … about the dead look in his eyes, but this isn't the time. He won't listen to a word of it right now, and I'll have to be careful about picking when I do talk to him about it. By the time we hit the desert he'll have worked himself up a hatred of Thomas so strong it'll take a miracle to break through it.
Hunter reacts to rage differently than I do. He has a different idea of vengeance and justice. If you've given me a reason to give in to fury – and admittedly it doesn't take much for me – then I'll indulge myself right then and there in a fit of temper. I'll scream and rail and rampage until I've worn myself out but then it's over. Neesha's the same way. So was Bruiser.
But Hunter … Hunter's rage is different. It's quiet and inward and cold. He doesn't indulge it, he doesn't throw a fit, he keeps it inside and it doesn't go away until he's acted on it. He'll let it eat away at him until the time is right. He'll bide his time – as long as it takes – until he can make you pay for whatever it is you did. And it won't be cheap. Not by a long shot.
I can't fault him for it. I can't fault him for hating Thomas. The larger part of me hates Thomas right now too. And Bel and Mel. What they've done has gone beyond betrayal. Beyond murder even. I can't fault Hunter for wanting to get them back for killing Bruiser. How can I fault him for it when I can't even promise myself that I won't kill Thomas the next time I see him?
But still that little, nagging doubt …
It might not have been Thomas. That look … that's not the look of a man in control of himself.
His fighting skill … that wasn't his. His style wasn't even Sheikan.
Bruiser was as much a father for Thomas as he was for Hunter. As he was for me, for Nayru's sake! That Thomas could just … murder him like that, in cold blood …
I just can't …
It doesn't make any sense, though I suppose these things rarely do.
And if I'm right … if he is being controlled …
I know the snake who's doing it.
I shake my head bitterly and push myself into an upright position, staring out the back of the wagon towards Castletown, barely visible from here.
So this is it then.
The gauntlet's been thrown.
The battle lines are drawn.
Aghanim's made the fatal mistake of declaring war, not only on me, but on everything, and everyone I love …
It's time to make him understand that the price for that is more than he'll ever be able to afford.
My eyes narrow at the horizon.
It's begun with blood on his hands …
… it'll end with blood on mine.