The Legend of Death's Edge

by John F.

Chapter 2: Disobedience to the Guild

"You! Mute novice, step forward!"

The dark figure steps out from the darkness and into the circle of light. He kneels down to the direction of the booming voice that emanates from the darkness.

"How has your assassination gone?"

The mute takes his left hand and moves it across his neck in a fashion that symbolizes the knife slash that never happened.

"Excellent. We were worried that the mission would fail with a novice on the job, but you have put our worries to rest. Please, show us your knife. Let us see the blood of the fair Princess Zelda."

The mute searches his body for the knife, but he already knows that it is not there. He had dropped the blade when he was staring into those eyes. Those eyes came back to haunt him once more. What was it about them? He had gazed into them, and all he could think about was how important this teenage girl was to his own future.

His own future? He has no future. There is no proof of kill. The princess is tied up very near to the guild's HQ. His emotions have ensured a short but extremely painful future. Death is imminent, but the boy just continues to gaze past death and into the darkness.

"This is unacceptable! Do you have anything with Zelda's blood on it? You may redeem yourself with it, but be warned! That dagger's worth is going to be beaten out of you!"

The boy simply shakes his head. He would not have to shake his head if he had been thinking! He could have pricked her. She may be important to his future, but a little trickle of her blood would be very helpful if the boy is going to make it to that future! The boy's lack of common sense while he was with the princess has sealed his fate.

What was this power that Princess Zelda used on the boy? Could this have been some sort of magic? Hyrule had just recently named a new royal sorcerer. Perhaps this was his doing. Did this man have the power to drive any would-be assassins to insanity?

"You have done well coming back here. It saves us the trouble of hunting you down like a dog. Isaac, step forward!"

Another figure clothed in black moves into the light and bows. "I am at your command," he says.

"You know what to do."

"Yes, master. I am to take my brother to the guillotine. If word comes back that Zelda is alive or missing, I am to let gravity guide the blade," chants Isaac.

"Excellent. This guild meeting is over. All but Isaac and the mute will return to their duties."

Within moments, the mute's head is in the guillotine. The boy turns his head toward Isaac.

"I never figured you to be the kind that would fail a mission. You were great, brother! I looked up to you! Now, I must turn my head from you in shame." Isaac turns his head away as he says those words. "As far as I am concerned, you are no longer my brother!"

A tear comes to the condemned boy's eye. He knew that his brother would be required to disown him, but it still makes him feel bad.

"Two children of an aristocrat, but our rich father was destined to die. The guild was nice enough to take us in. Why did you see it necessary to disobey them?" Isaac begins to shake his head. As his head moves back and forth, a clicking starts to come from his mouth. It comes again and again. It keeps on going, keeping a tempo to a sad tune that only Isaac can hear.

"Now you click your tongue!" Isaac starts laughing. "That is one of the reasons that I looked up to you, brother. Man with no tongue speaks no secrets. You may have cried and cried when they slashed it out of your mouth as a child, but it would have all paid off if you had ever been captured by the enemy. Everybody has their limits, but you would pass yours without giving any secrets a lot easier than I would. It is very fitting that the master does that as a punishment for being too much of a gossip. I think he should do it to us all." Isaac starts clicking his tongue again. "Nah, I think I prefer having my tongue. It was a funny thought, though."

Another guild member runs into the room. "Isaac, the word around the castle is that Princess Zelda was carried off by somebody matching the description of your brother!"

"Carried off?" Isaac replies. "Brother, did she get away from you?"

The boy wanted to nod. He wanted to say that she was long gone. What a spell it was that had been cast on him! He was putting Zelda's survival in front of his own! He shakes his head until he comes to his senses, then he shakes it some more to convey the message of "no" to his brother.

"I am going to take you out of the guillotine, then. You and I are going to go wherever it was that you put her. If she isn't there, I will have to kill you on the spot. Understand brother?"

The mute boy nodded.

As Isaac removes the boy from the device he mutters, "Sometimes I wish that you could still talk. This would have been so much less of a hassle if you could talk. But you can't change who you are, can you brother Link?"

Next up: Link and Isaac go to retrieve Zelda, and a mysterious man directs the story to the Old Continent. Later!