(edited 6.30.20)


At the End of a Rope

Frigid water struck Link's face like an icy slap, saturating his bloodied hair. Instinctually, he recoiled and hugged his knees to his chest as he lay on the ground. Everything hurt. On top of that, it was beyond cold. And now he was soaked. Despite all that, he was alive.

But then the memory of what he had last seen hit him, and it did so like a physical impact. He may have been alive, but Auru was not alive. Neither was Mido. As Mido's lifeless visage crossed his mind's eye, his hand automatically went inside his leather jerkin and produced the red-haired sailor's stocking cap. It was the same color as Link's green jerkin. In memory of Mido and the rest of Divine Beast's crew, he put it on. Then he opened his eyes. He was in a small prison cell lying on its stone floor. No wonder he was so cold. In the doorway of his cell was a man in the uniform of the Hyrulean castle guard holding an empty - but still dripping - bucket.

"Get up kid, your trial is about to begin."

Trial? Link thought. "I'm on trial?" He attempted to rise, but his aching legs gave out. His sinuses were clogged, and he sneezed.

"Yeah, you damn traitor. You nearly killed one of the guards in the marketplace, and then you led HRNS Divine Beast on a reckless mission into the west which resulted in the deaths of her entire crew at the hands of the merciless pirates."

"What?!" Link was aghast. "The King ordered that voyage!"

The guard looked taken aback. "He did no such thing!"

"Do you honestly believe that lying scumbag? He sent bloody bounty hunters out after me!"

"Hold your treasonous tongue, boy! If you aren't careful, you'll find yourself hanging at the end of a rope," the guard added darkly. "Now come on! My lieutenant won't look kindly on me if I don't get you to the throne room soon." The man moved forward and seized Link's shoulders, hauling him up onto his feet. The young sailor made a weak attempt to run but his legs gave out again, sending him crashing down onto the stone floor of the dungeon. The guard chuckled. "By Din, they sure did beat you well enough." The man bound Link's wrists behind his back with a length of rope, and picked him back up forcefully.


"Where is Father?" Zelda whispered sidelong to her brother.

"I believe he is still in bed with his fever. I sent the old hag Kotake to his quarters last night to take him some red potion," her brother responded quietly. She sighed. Prince Daphnes Nohansen had grown sickly in the past months, and his two children worried about him.

Shortly, one of the castle guards practically dragged the incriminated sailor into the throne room, and a few people looked on in silence from seats lining the grand room. In one of those seats, the secretly worried princess sat next to her brother.

"Gods," She whispered to Zeric, "what have they done to him?" Link's face and white undershirt was splattered with blood and grime, and the right sleeve was nearly torn off at the shoulder seam. His once clean cropped beard looked haggard. His nose was slightly crooked, appearing broken. Blood was caked in streaks from his face down to where it stained his shirt. His forest green jerkin had multiple small holes in it and he wore a green stocking cap which he had not been wearing on the day of Pipit's rescue.

The siblings looked on in distress as the man who had brought him in shoved him forcefully down to his knees before the short stairs to the throne.

Sitting on his immaculate seat, the King of Hyrule looked scornfully at the bruised and battered man kneeling before him. "Ahhhh, so this is Link Forester; the young man who freed a criminal, assaulted my guards, and commandeered my galleon HRNS Divine Beast, resulting in the brutal murder of her entire crew, including the noble Captain Auru."

"I commandeered no ship!" the young sailor cried out, attempting to rise from his kneeling position. The guard standing by him shoved him back down, however, sending him to his hands and knees. Ghirahim smiled devilishly as he watched his soldier then step on Link's back between his shoulder blades, forcing his face down against the stone.

From their seats up in the gallery where royal members of the audience attended events such as a high scale trial or even coronation, Zelda began to stand up in protest, but Zeric caught her arm, bringing her back down.

"This isn't right!" the princess practically yelled at her brother, though in a whisper.

"Zelda, it bothers me just as much as it bothers you, but we cannot afford to give away our stance just yet. If Ghirahim was to find out that we were against him, there is no telling what he might do," Zeric said quietly, locking eyes with her. After a moment, the fire in her eyes subsided and she nodded.

"You're right. I just…" She murmured, looking back out to where Link was pressed against the floor at the base of the few short stairs which led up to the royal seat. Then something else caught her eye. Behind the throne in a dark corner stood an imposing figure in a dark cloak. A hood shrouded its features, but the figure appeared to be hylian. "Look there!" she whispered, pointing minimally in the general direction of the figure. "Behind the throne," she added to clarify.

"Who in Din's name is that?" her brother whispered back. The cloak which covered the strange figure was black with sparse yellow designs on it.

Zelda didn't answer, but she suddenly felt a palpable tension in the air, almost as though static electricity was running through her, and she became very afraid. She couldn't tear her eyes off the figure. A certain intangible darkness radiated from it, and something deep within her could feel that foreboding shadow. Something within her very soul. It was almost as though she had seen it before. Her heart rate began to increase and her skin grew warm.

Then the gaunt ruler cackled, and her attention was drawn to it. Without her noticing, she began to return to normal; the moment of tension past. All tension was not relaxed, however, and as she saw the reason for his cackling, she fought the urge to rise to her feet again and cry out in anger. He had produced - as if from nowhere - a red hot brand and was shaking it in the sailor's face.

To her surprise, however, the emotion that was written on Link's face was anything but fear. He knelt stoically in front of the brand and didn't flinch as the guard tore open the front of his jerkin.

Zelda knew what the brand was, but she hadn't seen Ghirahim fetch it this time. It branded a person a traitor so that all would know what they were for the rest of their days, no matter how many or few those days numbered. It would scar his flesh just beneath his right collar bone so that it was easily reachable for anyone who wanted to see it. Every man she had ever witnessed receive the brand had screamed at the pain.

The guard had ripped away his shirt now so that his chest was exposed. Link did not quaver though; instead he stared Ghirahim straight in the eyes with such intensity that the king himself actually shuddered briefly. The sailor's steely blue eyes pierced the ruler's flesh and penetrated into his soul.

Growling, the tyrannous monarch jabbed the brand onto Link's upper chest, just beneath his collar bone. Zelda immediately whipped her head away, not willing to watch. Her face went into Zeric's shoulder as her heart invaded her throat. His hand went to her head and stroked her hair as he watched painfully.

She didn't have to watch to know what was happening though. The sickening hiss that was produced caused her to shudder.

She heard Link groan through clenched teeth. He glared into Ghirahim's black eyes, ignoring the obviously agonizing pain of the blazing hot iron on his skin. Furious at the boy's minimal reaction, Ghirahim stepped back with the brand and hurled it aside. As it clanged and clattered away, he stepped back up to his throne, fuming. When he reached it, he whirled around, pointing a long bony finger at Link.

"I sentence you to death!" the half-crazed king exclaimed. "You shall be hanged, drawn, and quartered as a traitor to the royal crown of Hyrule!"

Zelda's eyes were back on the room below in an instant when she heard this. "Noo!" she cried out, unable to stop herself. All eyes in the throne room swung up into the galleries to rest on her, including Link's and Ghirahim's. Hot tears sprung to her eyes and she sat back in her seat, embarrassed.

"Excuse me, my dear niece?" the King queried with an evident hint of malice.

Zelda could clearly see the irritation in his features, and the genuine confusion in Link's when he recognized her. She regained her composure. "Your Imminence, with all due respect, I do believe that this man should be given a fai— "

"You forget your place, princess," Ghirahim added her title with explicit disdain, nearly spitting it out of his mouth. "Am I to understand that you favor this violent scoundrel?" Both Zelda's and Zeric's mouths fell open at the indisputable insult, and Zeric immediately came to his sister's defense.

"King Ghirahim, as a member of the royal family, Princess Zelda has a rightful say in the goings-on of your court, and it is not in your power to— "

"Be careful how you address your king, boy! Do not forget who the one with absolute power is. I have the power to destroy you AND your pathetic father! Guards, send them out of my presence at once. I do not wish to argue with them further. And as for the boy, his sentence shall commence at once! Fasten him to a hurdle and draw him to Gallow Tree! String him up and then wait for my arrival to begin the execution." Link's handler bowed low and nodded his understanding, then jerked the condemned sailor back to his feet.

"They cannot do this!" Zelda cried as she rushed out of the throne room with Zeric hot on her heels. They surged down the stairs from the gallery, through various spacious hallways and out of a side door in the castle."We must get to Telma!"

"Wait Zelda," Zeric said, stopping briefly and catching his sister's arm.

"What?! We have to hurry!"

"I know, but I don't want you to do this. The risk is too great. Let me go on my own, that way if I am caught, you are still safe and able to remain unassociated with rebellious folks." At her brother's words, Zelda's features softened.

"I know it's dangerous, Zeric," the princess murmured, "but it is very much my fault that he is in this position. I helped him rescue Pipit." Zeric stayed in front of her.

"All the same. You will be a far better monarch than I. If either of us should be at risk, it should be me. I'm a fighter, not a strategist."

"Zeric, I'm going. Come on! The sailor doesn't have much time!" With that, she brushed her brother's hand off her arm and dashed around the corner of the castle. Sighing, Zeric followed her. They both knew that they had to stay in the alleys, running in the narrow gaps between buildings, and staying away from the main thoroughfares where guards were liable to be.

They raced through the narrower passageways in the outskirts of Castle Town. It did not take them long to reach Telma's bar. They burst through the door and Zelda addressed the healthy barkeep. "Telma!" The darker-skinned woman looked up at the sound of her name, and cocked her head in confusion. She knew she recognized this young woman, but could not place her.

"Who— " she began, but the desperate princess cut her off.

"No time to explain! They are executing Link!"

Then the barkeep had it. She was the girl who had helped Link rescue Pipit, but now she was wearing an elegant pink dress and it had thrown her memory off. "WHAT?! Why in the name of Din would they be doing that?!"

The princess repeated herself. "No time to explain! We must save him, but how?"

"It depends," Telma said with a terrified glint in her eye.

"On what?" Zeric spoke up.

"On what sick method they're using."

Zelda looked sideways at her brother, but when he didn't say it, she sighed. "They are to hang, draw, and quarter him as a traitor," Zelda practically whispered, her eyes downcast. The sentence was almost too horrible to utter out loud. She had only ever seen one man executed in that way, and she would never forget the way he had shrieked and screamed as they had removed his entrails before his eyes. She shuddered just remembering it.

"Gods no," Telma breathed. There were others in the bar, and they went from quiet to utterly silent at the proclamation that the young sailor would be executed in such a brutal way. Suddenly, the large woman sprang to action. She seized a broom from under the bar and raised it up and jabbed the ceiling with it. "Pipit! Come down here at once!" Turning to the two royals, she said: "I've been hiding Pipit in the attic ever since you rescued him. We must make our move while they are hanging him. I will ask P— "

"WHILE they are hanging him?!" the princess blurted out.

"As much as it pains me to admit it, yes. That will be our best chance to make a move since he will be stationary, and more likely than not, onlookers will be as well. I'll ask Pipit to load his two flintlocks and grab his sword," the tavern keeper explained, taking control of the situation. Pipit then descended the stairs and joined them in the main dining room in front of the bar. "Pipit, we don't have much time, Link is being executed! We've gotta rescue him!" Immediately, the dark-haired sailor bolted back up the stairs.

Zeric and his sister meanwhile, were getting very impatient.

"Hey! What are you two doing here?!" The two royals spun around as a guard in uniform stepped across the threshold of Telma's bar looking accusingly at them.

Spontaneously, Zeric bluffed. "Oh guard! Thank the goddesses you're here! I chased a man here; he was going to attempt a rescue of the traitorous criminal! We must stop him!"

The guard fell for the ruse immediately. "Which way did he go?"

"That way!" Zelda joined in now, pointing up the stairs. The guard began to move that direction, but as he passed Zeric, the prince tapped him on the shoulder, calling out to him.

"Wait!" The guard whirled back around to see a fist flying at his face. Zeric's knuckles connected with the man's nose squarely and powerfully, knocking him out cold.

"Hurry up Pipit! Link is running out of time!" Telma began to make long strides toward the stairs when the Pioit appeared there again, this time with two flintlocks strapped across his chest as well as a cutlass hanging at his hip. Sitting on his head was a stocking cap like the one Link had been wearing, except Pipit's was yellow.

"Then let's go save him," the sailor said as he descended the stairs.

/\
/\/\

More and more people had begun to follow the horse that dragged Link along through the streets. The guard who had fetched him from his cell and brought him before Ghirahim now paraded him around the marketplace in an attempt to gather more of a following.

"This is Link Forester, assailant and traitor. He has been fairly tried by the just King Ghirahim and has been found guilty! He will be taken to Gallow Tree to be hung until he is nearly dead, and then he will be brought down and drawn open!" The crowd was not acting the way he wanted; they were strangely quiet. Unbeknownst to the man, rumors of Link's true deeds had been spread amongst the populace in the days following his arrival to castle town, and as a result, few members of the gathering crowd truly believed him to be a criminal deserving of this fate. "His filthy entrails will be extracted and he will be beheaded! Shortly thereafter, his body will be quartered and his quarters displayed at each Castle Town exit to warn any who might oppose his righteous majesty!" A few cheers rose from the crowd but not nearly as many as he normally received at that time.

Agitated since he had not achieved the reaction he was looking for but satisfied that he had rounded up a fairly sizable throng of people, the guard dragged Link's hurdle to and out of Castle Town's south gate. Gallow Tree was very close to the end of the draw bridge which crossed the moat and was called such because of its sturdy branch which was located at the perfect height to hang criminals at. And countless criminals had been hanged from it. And today, Link would be hanged from it, only not until death. The soldier's horse stepped off the bridge now and onto the hard dirt road. Guiding the horse slightly to its left, Ghirahim's servant brought the young sailor to Gallow Tree.

Beneath Gallow Tree, a small stage on wheels had been built. The condemned would be marched up the stairs of the unsteady contraption, then have the noose tied around his neck. The stage would then be rolled away, leaving the criminal to hang by their neck.

The blonde sailor had been stripped of his torn green jerkin and his bloodied white undershirt, and now the hurdle he was bound to drew to a halt. He knew exactly where he was. He himself had watched plenty of criminals hanged for their crimes from Gallow Tree. Had he truly been a murderer, a pirate, or a traitor, he may have been at peace with accepting his fate, but he was none of those things, so he wouldn't go down without a fight. He was searching for his best route of escape. He couldn't well make a run for it across Hyrule field, as the other guards would easily catch him from their horses. He couldn't very well attempt to kill all the guards because he was unarmed, weakened, and severely outnumbered.

As he was considering this, his handler came up to the hurdle and unfastened him. He drew Link into a kneeling position and then produced a small length of rope with which he moved to bind the condemned's hands together. Link flexed his wrists as hard as he could as the rope went about his hands, but the guard was tying them so tight that it didn't help him at all, and now he was bound again. The guard looked at him and chuckled, but when Link's eyes met his, the guard angrily struck down on Link's face, sending him down onto his hands and knees. As two more soldiers moved to Gallow Tree to help the hangman prepare his noose, Link's guard wound up and delivered a kick to his exposed ribs. The gathered crowd was silent as the sailor lay on his side.

Normally, the crowd would be hurling insults and rotten fruit and would be jeering at the criminal, but today they merely watched in anxious silence, and it was setting the soldiers' nerves on edge. Link's handler grabbed the green stocking cap on the sailor's head which was somehow still there, and yanked it off, hurling it in a random direction. Then, he snatched a handful of Link's hair and hauled him up by it. The young man grimaced, but didn't make a sound. The guard then practically dragged him to where the noose was being completed and forced him up the rickety wooden steps to stand upon the deck of the stage.

"It's ready," the hangman announced gruffly, putting out his hand to accept the doomed sailor's bindings.

Link's handler nodded to the man with a crooked smile and put the length of rope between Link's wrists into the hangman's hand, transferring Link to the professional killer. "Don't screw it up this time, Byrne. We need him alive when his royal highness gets here." The man in the black hangman's hood simply grunted assent.

/\
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The central avenue which led out the south gate and across the bridge was relatively crowded, so it was an ideal route for the rescuers to take out of the city. Pipit, followed by Zeric and Zelda, turned onto the cobblestone road cautiously, making sure there were no Hyrulean soldiers nearby. When he was sure there were none, he began to lead them south, making progress. They wove their way through the crowds, drawing nary an eye with hastily acquired cloaks draped across their shoulders and hoods over their heads.

It wasn't long before they passed through the gate and were crossing over the bridge. Slightly to their left, a vast crowd had gathered. A small portion of the crowd was being boisterous, but the rest were relatively quiet. In the past, executions had drawn far larger crowds and the people there had been far more hostile toward the condemned, but within the last few months, the people had grown less excited about the executions since it was known that Ghirahim was an unfair judge and ruthless enforcer of his law. Many citizens knew of people who had been needlessly executed.

Pipit led confidently, and as they reached the throng, he began to plow his way through the people, evoking several muted curses from startled members of the mass.

Worry rose in Zelda's heart with every step that she took as they pushed their way through the crowd, fearing that they would be too late and the young sailor would already be doomed. Images flashed through her mind of Link hanging by his neck, his lifeless eyes staring coldly at the ground. It seemed as though her whole being shook with anxiety. Her breath was coming faster. Then she heard the horribly familiar sound of creaking wheels and a woman's muffled cry from up front. At that moment Pipit broke into as much of a run as possible, barreling through whomever was in their way.

Finally he reached the front of the crowd and they saw Link, swinging slightly, his feet roughly three feet off the ground. Cuts and bruises were rampant on his torso and his flesh still bubbled slightly where he had been branded on his chest. The rope behind his head forced him to look down, but he struggled weakly.

"Link!" the princess cried out.

Five soldiers stood around the area, making sure no citizens made any moves toward the criminal. When Pipit emerged from the crowd, the nearest guard immediately moved to him.

"Hey! Back up, peasant! This is— wait, I know you. You're—" the air was suddenly driven out of his lungs as Pipit's fist struck him with lightning speed. He doubled over gasping for breath, and the dark-haired sailor yanked the rapier from the man's own sheath and then plunged it down into his thigh. In an instant, the soldier was on the ground howling.

Realizing they were under attack, the four other present guardsmen drew their weapons to engage Pipit. Simultaneously, the crowd of onlookers instinctively gave the developing skirmish more space. Swiftly, Pipit dropped the soldier's rapier and drew his first pre-loaded flintlock from his bandolier and fired it at the next nearest soldier. The man shrieked in a combination of surprise and agony as the lead ball from Pipit's pistol punctured his hip and crashed to the grassy field. Pipit's other hand already had his second flintlock out and was firing it at the third oncoming man. This time, the lead ball struck its target in the dead-center of his chest, punching a wide hole through his breastplate and killing him nearly immediately. Zeric moved to engage the fourth and Pipit drew his cutlass to attack the final member of Ghirahim's guard. As Zeric incapacitated his guardsman, Pipit avoided an attack from his own adversary and ended the fight quickly with a swift counterstrike.

All five present members of Ghirahim's guard downed either temporarily or permanently; the rescuers moved toward the hanging sailor. Zeric reached the trunk of Gallow Tree where the rope was fastened, and cut it with his blade. Wrapping his arms around Link's legs, Pipit lowered his fellow sailor down to the earth softly.

The crowd which had gathered simply stared dumfounded at the event that had just unfolded so quickly. One moment, the young navy man was to be executed and the next, he was free.

Now he was doubled over on his knees coughing with the girl and one of the other young men by his side with hands on either of his shoulders. He recovered quickly though, and after they helped him to his feet, they looked out at the crowd nervously.

In the moment of uncertainty, Zeric stepped forward and addressed the throng of people confidently. "My fellow Hyruleans, today you have seen first hand the tyranny of the king. This man has committed none of the crimes for which he was to be put to death for," he said, loud enough for everyone present to hear. Ghirahim is a jealous scoundrel worthy of naught but the darkest cells in Hyrule Castle's dungeon. He has turned our beloved home into a land of fear and poverty! From this day forward, I and my most noble sister will take up this sailor's cause and strive to overthrow the terrible king!" A couple of cheers rose from here and there, but not all of the Hyruleans in attendance agreed.

"How can you hope to overthrow King Ghirahim?" a voice from within the crowd cried out.

"Who are you to speak such treason?" called another.

"I am Prince Zeric, and my sister is Princess Zelda; we are the son and daughter of the king's noble brother, Prince Daphnes! Myself and my family will defend the poor and powerless, and we will from this day forward attempt to right the king's wrongdoings and bring his bitter rule to a swift end!" After he finished, the crowd was silent for a time; stunned that he had the audacity to speak so boldly and so openly against the crown.

"The king is coming with his entourage! You must get away!" Zeric and his fellow conspirators looked to where the voice was coming from, and it was a man who had shoved his way through the (still quiet) crowd to the front. Pipit recognized the man as Gepper, an employee at Mama's Cafe in Castle Town.

Just then, trumpets could be heard accompanied by the sound of hooves clattering over the draw bridge.

"Where is Telma?!" Zelda asked nervously. "She was supposed to be right behind us!"

"It takes longer than you might think to get horses yolked to a wagon, but she'll be here in time," Pipit answered quietly.

Suddenly, the trumpets were less organized and spattered confusedly and then ceased altogether. Voices shouted commands, but from beyond the crowd, none of it was understandable. Momentarily, the top of a covered wagon was visible behind the people, and the crowd began to split hastily down the middle to make way for it.

"HURRY UP, Y'ALL !" Telma bellowed as her horse-drawn wagon rumbled over the grassy field through the peasants and toward the companions. Not too far behind her were a few mounted guardsmen in pursuit, and further behind them, the rest of the king's entourage.

As quickly as they could, Pipit and Zeric helped Link run toward the wagon with Zelda behind them. As Telma approached them, she hauled on her reins. One of her horses neighed loudly, but they never-the-less stopped the heavy cart shortly in front of the four companions. Pipit took a seat next to Telma on the bench driver's seat of the wagon while Zeric and Zelda helped Link into the back.

Before they were all the way into the wagon, Telma had the horses moving again. As they picked up speed, a loud crack rang out and a lead ball tore through the canvas cover of the wagon, narrowly missing its occupants and whizzing out the front between the heads of Pipit and Telma. A second later, another flintlock reported and another projectile punctured the canvas. This ball grazed Zeric's shoulder and exited the wagon via the opposite fabric wall.

Moments later, one of Ghirahim's horsemen drew up beside Pipit. He was so close when he appeared in Pipit's peripheral vision that the dark-haired sailor jumped slightly, but his reactions were too quick for the assailant. His cutlass was out in a flash and struck the soldier square in the bridge of his nose with the razor sharp cutting edge. The man's head whipped back and he toppled over his steed's rump.

Another guard was galloping beside him a moment later and attempted to transfer to the wagon while his horse was at full gallop. He grabbed ahold of Pipit's shoulder and hauled on him, trying to pull him off the wagon, but Pipit's cutlass descended upon the man's arm, shearing through his white shirt easily and biting deeply into the unarmored flesh. The man cried out in agony and let go immediately, losing his balance between his horse and the wagon. A split-second later, he was falling to the grassy plain below.

At the rear of the wagon, Zeric was fiercely trying to shed an attacker as the soldier attempted to board the wagon from behind. Grappling with the man, the prince was completely matched. Ghirahim's man had nearly pulled Zeric over the edge of the wagon when his eyes went wide and his grip on the prince released. He fell backward and off the wagon clutching at his chest. Zeric looked down as the man fell and saw a hand outstretched from behind him holding a now bloody dagger.

He sat hastily back, relieved that the brief wrestling match was over, and looked up at his rescuer. It was Link. Behind the sailor, his sister sat wide-eyed.

"Thank you," Zeric said earnestly, taking a shaky breath.

The blonde sailor nodded. "Thank you too," he said.

\-][- /...to be continued...\ -][-/

A/N - Alright folks: for any of you who are consistently interested in this, thank you SO much. The huge delay was mostly due to lack of motivation and I apologize for that. The computer I had been writing this on crashed and I lost all of it and many other things, including the map that I had drawn on paint for myself for reference while writing this. So yeah, low motivation is a killer when it comes to writing. Anyhow, I uploaded a picture to deviant art a few weeks ago depicting how I imagine Link in the first part of this adventure. If you're interested to see that, my profile name over there is hockeybro777 and it is my only upload.

Thanks for your time if you have read all the way to here!