Part III
CHAPTER 15: CHANGE
A musician sat at a large piano. He usually played cheerful music, but it was different this time. He pressed his fingers into the keys, beginning to play a somber tune. The music echoed across the walls around him, filling the room with a rather gloomy sound.
Two men, one young and one older, sat in the room together, listening quietly to the music. It was beautiful, but extremely sad. The pianist was a talented man.
"I will punish whoever let him get away," the younger man suddenly spoke.
The pianist fingers halted for a split-second, stopping the music. He eyed the two men quickly and went back to playing, attempting to ignore the pit of his stomach dropping in fear.
"I have to say, I expected for this to happen," the other man said. "Your father is a smart man. He's good at getting himself out of seemingly dire situations."
The younger man scoffed.
"That's rich, especially coming from you," he said sarcastically. "You aren't the one to give compliments, and especially not to him."
The older man rolled his eyes.
"Please. I'm just stating what I've observed. He's no idiot."
Suddenly, the music abruptly stopped. The pianist stood up from his seat and slowly turned towards the two men.
"K-King Aiden, may I be excused?" he asked nervously. "If you don't mind, I would like to grab some breakfast."
Aiden stared at the pianist, his jet black eyes boring into his skull.
"You may," he finally said.
The pianist bowed quickly to the two men and scurried off, quickly shutting the doors behind him as he walked out of the room.
Aiden turned towards the man in front of him.
"Jack, I think it's time we grab something to eat ourselves," Aiden stated, rising to his feet.
Jack followed suit and rose to his feet as well. They both walked out of the room and headed towards the dining hall.
They walked to the large table in the middle of the dining hall and seated themselves in it. There was not a single noble in sight, who were usually seated at the large table in the mornings. There were no cooks. There was nobody. Except for one servant.
A beautiful woman walked into the room with two plates of food in her hands. She had an unreadable expression on her face, making it hard to tell what she was thinking. She walked over to the table where the two men were seated and placed the plates of food in front of them.
"Good morning your highness, Sir Jack." She plastered a fake smile on her face and bowed to each of the men politely.
"Who is this?" Aiden asked Jack, completely ignoring her greeting. He eyed the woman up and down, making her extremely uncomfortable.
"This is Jessica," Jack introduced. "She is one of the few servants we have left in this castle."
"It's a pleasure," she said politely, bowing quickly.
Aiden continued to stare at Jessica from beneath his eyelashes, as if he was trying to figure her out. She shifted uncomfortably on her feet from his odd gaze. Finally, after a few moments, he averted his gaze towards his food and began to dig in.
"Would you all like some water?" she asked kindly, her voice soft.
Aiden shook his head, not making any eye contact with her. However, Jack looked up at her, his dark eyes staring into her green ones.
Since she was hired as Zelda's personal servant, he never had been this close in contact with her. He had never gotten a good look at her face, or anywhere for that matter.
His eyes raked over her form. He noticed the curves of her hips and her smooth, pale skin. His gaze moved up to her chest, lingering there for perhaps too long. He trailed his stare up to her face, studying her full pink lips and her beautiful green eyes. A sudden wave of desire washed over him. He wanted to see more.
"Yes," Jack replied smoothly. "I would like that." A small smirk grew on his face, forming a dimple in his right cheek.
Jessica quickly turned around and walked away to grab a glass of water. Jack's strange ogling did not go unnoticed by her. A chill shot up her spine, causing her to shudder. For the first time in a long time, she was truly afraid.
Link fluttered his eyes open, groaning in pain immediately as he woke. His head pounded, and his right shoulder burned harshly. It was perhaps worse than the pain he felt the day before.
Link sat up in his bed, rubbing his face tiredly. Last night, him and the others in the cart had been taken to the Hyrulian army's camp stationed near Kakariko village. There was practically nowhere safer than where they were right now, considering the possibility that Hyrule was now swarming with Volagio's troops.
Link was shirtless and was sweating profusely. He practically ripped his shirt off while he was trying to sleep. He was unbearably hot, sweating under his covers like it was a million degrees. He could barely sleep the night before, considering the fact that his shoulder was burning all throughout the night.
Link's head began to pound harder, causing his vision to blur. The tent around him began to spin, causing him to become extremely nauseous.
Suddenly, the flap of the entrance to the tent was pushed up, and a large man entered.
Link barely noticed the man walking into his tent. He continued to stare down at his lap, ignoring the man who had just walked in.
"Linky?" the beefy man asked, stepping closer to him and his bed. It registered in Link's mind that Barnes was the man who had just entered his tent. Link lifted his eyes slightly towards Barnes.
"H-hey," he managed to croak out. He noticed how incredibly dry his mouth and throat felt.
"Boy, you don't look so good," Barnes said nervously, stepping a little closer to study Link's face. "Why are you sweating so much?"
Link shrugged slightly.
"C-can I have some water, please?" he pleaded.
"There's a glass on the floor," Barnes said, motioning to the glass next to Link's bedside. "I'll grab it."
Barnes knelt down and picked up the glass of water off the floor. He rose to his feet and carefully handed Link the glass, making sure that he didn't spill it.
Link raised the glass to his dry lips and took a sip. To Link's disappointment, it did not take away the dryness of his mouth.
"So," Barnes began, clapping his hands together. "Let's take a look at that shoulder wound of yours."
Barnes bent over slightly and dug his fingers under the bandages. Link winced in pain as Barnes's fingertips brushed over his wound slightly.
"Careful," Link mumbled, squeezing his eyes shut in pain.
"I'm sorry," Barnes apologized awkwardly. He started to loosen the bandages, careful not to touch Link's wound again. Once he was done, he let the bandages fall off Link's shoulder, revealing the wound. Barnes gasped in shock, his eyes widening a fraction.
"I-is it bad?" Link asked nervously.
Barnes didn't respond at first. He was too shocked at what he saw.
"Holy mother of the gods…" he murmured in horror. "Not good, not good!"
Barnes rose to his feet and backed up a bit, attempting to study Link's wound from a different point of view. Link began to grow worried as a horrified expression grew on Barnes's face.
Barnes bit his fist in horror, his eyes continuing to widen. Link curiously looked over at his shoulder, attempting to see for himself what his wound was like.
Instead of being red like a normal wound would be, the wound was jet black. Small, black veins jutted out of the wound, seemingly spreading down his arm. Instead of blood pooling from the wound, a strange black liquid poured out of it.
A sudden wave of nausea rushed over Link again. He began to panic, worried by how strange his wound had looked. Why did it look like that? Was it infected?
"I-I'm gonna go, um, get someone," Barnes sputtered nervously. "I'll be right back-"
Link suddenly hunched over a vomited all over the tent floor. Barnes yelped in surprise, honestly not expecting for that to happen.
"Oh, gosh…" Barnes mumbled nervously. He clutched his head with his fingers. He didn't particularly have a strong stomach when it came to these sort of things. "I-I'll be back! Please don't…um…throw up again."
With that, he whizzed out of the tent, practically at lightning speed.
Link's head was spinning out of control. He felt weak, like he was barely strong enough to lift himself out of his bed and walk. Another wave of nausea washed over him, and he turned to the side to vomit for the second time.
Barnes burst back into the tent, now with a pudgy man trailing behind him.
"So, infected shoulder wound?" the man asked, still not facing Link. He turned towards Link and noticed the vomit all over the floor on the side of his bed.
"Oh, gosh," the man said, pressing a palm to his forehead. "Barnes, please go grab him another glass of water-"
The man suddenly stopped speaking, freezing in place. His gaze was now on Link's right shoulder, noticing the angry-looking wound.
"What on Earth…" the man mumbled, squinting at the strange gash. He turned back towards Barnes with a look of horror on his face. "Barnes, you said this was an infection."
Barnes scratched the back of his neck nervously.
"I don't know!" he sputtered, throwing his hands in the air. "I've never seen anything like that before! It's scary-looking! I kind of panicked, especially since he started barfing! I have a weak stomach!"
The man pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, irritated at the fact that a soldier couldn't handle the sight of someone throwing up.
"Barnes…just…please get a few other doctors in here," the man said, clearly irritated. "Please."
Barnes rushed out of the tent again, hurrying to find some more doctors.
Hagen lay in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. It had been a long time since he had slept on something other than the floor.
His long hair was now neatly buzzed, and so was his beard. Without the beard and long hair, he looked much younger.
When the castle was taken by Volagio, Hagen immediately got his own bedroom. There was a million rooms in there, and there wasn't much people to inhabit them anymore.
Hagen was completely horrified by what had happened the night before. The Volagio soldiers practically slaughtered around seventy percent of the people living in the castle. It was cruel. He couldn't believe that he was even involved with such malicious people.
He still had a vague idea about the motives of Jack and Aiden. It made no sense to him, especially with the books. Why was Jack thrown in the dungeons because someone found a book of his? He assumed that the book was a diary, and maybe Jack had written some awful things in there.
His head constantly spun with questions. He wondered why on earth Jack wanted to kill his own father. Was he just completely insane? Who would want such a thing?
He better understood why Aiden wanted him dead, considering the fact that Link had practically took his spot to the Hyrulian throne when he married Zelda. However, he still didn't understand why he was so worked up about it after all these years. He had his own kingdom to run. Why did he want Hyrule so bad? Was it just a vengeance thing? Hagen assumed it was.
Hagen's mind constantly floated to his daughter, wondering where she could be. Jack still refused to disclose any information about her whereabouts, which raised Hagen's suspicions slightly. He wondered if Jack was lying to him just to keep him around.
He didn't want to think on that. To get his hopes up so high about finally being able to see his daughter, just to find out that she was dead or long-lost would shatter his heart.
A soft knock came outside of Hagen's bedroom, causing him to lift up his head slightly.
"May I come in?" a soft voice of a woman asked. "I have breakfast."
Hagen sat fully up in his bed and faced the door.
"Yeah, sure," he replied. "Come on in."
The door opened, revealing a beautiful young woman with a plate of food in her hands. She had pale skin and long, dark hair, along with a pair of stunning green eyes. She looked like she was around her late-twenties.
"Good morning," she greeted, plastering a wide smile on her face. Hagen could tell it was fake, basing off her nervous body language. Was she afraid of him?
"No need to be so nervous," Hagen reassured, sending her a bright smile. "I'm not like one of those guys. I'm not even from Volagio. I kind of just got sucked into their scheme by mistake."
The servant raised her eyebrows in shock, surprised on how open he was about being against Jack and King Aiden.
She calmed herself down and walked towards Hagen sitting in his bed, no longer feeling tense. She handed him his plate of food. Instead of walking out of his room, she began to speak.
"How were you sucked into their plans?" she asked curiously.
Hagen sighed and rubbed his face in stress.
"I am looking for my daughter," he stated. "Jack told me if I helped him he would help me find my daughter. He told me he knew her."
The servant nodded in understanding. That explained it.
"Although, I believe he's lying to me," Hagen admitted, putting a finger on his chin. "He refuses to even tell me where she is. Maybe he's just bluffing to keep me around."
The servant realized that this man was extremely talkative. He was honest with her, even thought she had not even known him for two minutes. That didn't matter to her, however. At least there was someone in this castle that was on her side. She was already beginning to trust him.
"What's your name?" she asked, suddenly very curious about him.
"Hagen," he said, smiling at her. "What's yours-"
"That was my father's name!" she suddenly blurted. Hagen raised an eyebrow at her, wondering why she was so excited that her father had the same name as him.
"Sorry," she mumbled, staring at her feet. "I just haven't heard someone with that name besides my father. It's a pretty rare name, I suppose."
"Ah," Hagen said, nodding his head in understanding. "Does your father work here too?"
The servant shook her head.
"No, I never met him," she said sadly. "My mother told me he left before I was born."
"Oh, got it," Hagen said, feeling a little bad for the young woman. "What's your mother's name? Is it as rare as your father's?"
The servant smiled widely, her face glowing at the memory of her mother.
"Francine."
Hagen's heart practically stopped beating. His mind ran through a million memories, thinking of his days before he was thrown in the dungeons. It was like time had stopped moving forward. He felt like he was in a dream.
"Jessica?" he thought, his spirits practically soaring.
He honestly didn't know what to say. Should he tell her that she's his daughter, or was that too soon? What would she think of him? Would she be angry?
He was too stunned to even begin to form words in his mouth. He realized that Jack had lied to him about her whereabouts, but he didn't really care at that moment. Tears began to form in his eyes, causing his eyes to become glossy. His daughter had grown up to be beautiful, just like he had imagined she would.
"I miss her a lot," Jessica continued, oblivious to Hagen's state of shock. "She passed away a few years ago from illness. She was a wonderful mother."
Hagen's heart suddenly shattered into a million pieces. Francine was dead?
"Anyways, I better get going," Jessica said sweetly. "I hope we can talk some more. You seem like a kind man."
With that, Jessica walked out of the room and quietly closed the door behind her, leaving Hagen in a state of shock.
"Hm…I don't have a clue what the hell this is. Impa? You know?"
Four doctors surrounded Link, all studying his wound closely. They were all men, except for one woman, who's name was apparently Impa. She had been called in by the other three doctors for some help. She was apparently educated on strange injuries like Link's.
She was tall, with broad shoulders and strong arms. She had long, white hair that was tied up into a high ponytail. She didn't seem like she could be a doctor at all. Link assumed that she was Sheikah, basing off her bright red eyes.
"Huh," she said, studying Link's shoulder. "That doesn't look so great."
Link began to become increasingly irritated at all the doctors just staring at him like he had two heads. They had been standing there for around thirty minutes and took turns looking at his shoulder, besides Impa who had just entered.
"Thanks for stating the obvious," Link thought sarcastically.
"Hmmm…" Impa squinted at his wound, leaning closer towards it. Link resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Were these doctors all completely useless?
Suddenly, Impa's face turned even paler than it already was. She looked horrified.
"Oh," she said quietly, barely inaudible. "Gods…"
Link's heart rate began to quicken. She seemed horrified.
"This is dark poison," she stammered, pointing a shaky finger towards the wound.
All of the doctors collectively gasped. Looks of horror crossed over all of their faces.
Link began to panic. Poison? Could it kill him?
"How did you even get this wound?" she asked Link.
Link took a sip of his water, attempting to take away the dryness of his throat before he spoke. However, it didn't work.
"I-I was hit by a stray arrow when escaping from the castle last night," he croaked out. His mouth and throat were so dry that it was difficult for him to speak.
Impa raised an eyebrow at that statement.
"Why are Volagio's weapons covered in dark poison…" she mumbled to herself.
She shook her head of the thought and turned towards the doctors behind her.
"We need painkilling potions for him," she demanded, her voice extremely stern. "Now."
All three of the doctors nodded quickly and scurried out of the tent.
Impa let out a shaky breath and turned back towards Link.
"Is it bad?" he croaked out.
Impa pursed her lips together in thought, thinking of how to break the news to him.
"I'm going to be honest with you, it's not very good," she slowly explained. "That specific poison will eventually spread all throughout your body and drain yourself of fluids and vitamins. Eventually, once it's fully spread, it will kill you."
Link's eyes widened in shock, his heart rate thumping at an impossible speed. That was it. He was going to die.
"However," Impa continued, causing Link's heart rate to slow down a bit. "Your death can be prevented. You will need to constantly drink water so you don't die from dehydration before the poison even can get to you. If you continue to do that, it can give us enough time to find the place where the poison can be permanently removed before it's too late."
Link nodded, relief washing over for him.
"How can it be taken away?" Link asked curiously.
Impa sighed and pressed her palm to her forehead.
"You must visit Faron. He is the only one who can cleanse you."
Hey guys! This is a pretty short chapter. Probably the shortest I've written in a while. I didn't particularly like this chapter, for numerous reasons, but you've got to start somewhere, right?
I kind of wanted to add Impa to the story, so I did! She's actually very important, even though she's just a doctor. You all will see soon how she will tie into the story.
Alright, I have some news for you all. Lately, my writing hasn't had that creative spark that it usually has. My ideas have been pretty dry, and I've overall had little motivation to even write at all. My life has been extremely busy, and it's been hard to cram in time to write these chapters. I've also not been getting as many reviews as I usually have, so I haven't been motivated enough to write.
I've decided to take a break for a few months. No, this does not mean I'm abandoning this story. I am just taking a break so I can kind of get my life together a bit more and get back into a busy routine. I'll be gone for three months at the most. I apologize to you all who have been following along with this story. I promise that I will be back. Do not worry!
Anyways, like I've always said, please review! I cannot thank all of you enough for all the reviews I have. I'll see you all when I get back!