As the sun rose into the morning sky and shone down upon Link and
Zelda making their escape from the Calatian palace, a more joyous affair
was taking place in the Hylian capital of Hyrule City.
With the preparations all finished, Mira, Torvus, and the rest of the
castle staff were more than ready to receive the Delaborean delegation.
Citizens lined the Via Regalis, the main road of the city, to
heartily welcome the Queen Julia and her son, Trine.
The two Delaborean royals, carried through the city in a grand
carriage, surrounded by an honour guard of more than fifty knights, stopped
before the great castle gates.
The crowds became silent as they waited for the gates to open and the
royal families to meet.
Slowly and silently the great doors began to open, and out stepped
King Torvus with Queen Mira at his arm. Attendants helped Queen Julia and
Prince Trine from their carriage, as well as two cloaked figures, and they
approached the Hylian monarchs. Without a word, Torvus and Julia embraced
in a stiff hug (They had never really liked each other). Then Mira and
Julia met in a strong embrace. At this, the people of Hyrule City cheered,
for when monarchs love each other there can be no wars.
Julia released her sister from the hug and smiled, tears rolling down
her cheeks. "Mira, it's been so long since we've seen each other. I
missed you so much!"
Mira, her face also wet with tears, said, "Julia, I can't say how
much I wished we could be together just like when we were young. You've
grown so much!" she exclaimed, her eyes looking over her sister, "Last time
I saw you, you were only- what? Twenty years old? It's amazing how much
Zelda looks like you!"
Julia smiled and looked at the assembled nobles. "Where is my little
sister? I'd like to see the beauty of Hyrule!"
Mira exchanged glances with Torvus and said, "Zelda is... away, right
now."
"Oh." Julia said, the smile fading slightly on her mouth. "That's
too bad."
Torvus raised his hands, "Well come on in! We can't have you all
standing out here!"
Saying that, he led the nobles and knights into the castle, the giant
doors closing with a sound much like lead coffin lids slamming shut.
The castle was busy from that moment until late at night. The servants were constantly ferrying things to and from rooms. The baggage of the guests had to be taken care of, the guests had to be showed to their rooms, dinner had to be prepared, and so on. Mira, Torvus, Julia, and Trine spent the evening relaxing in the Royal Gardens, with the two women catching up on old times. While Mira and Julia chatted, Torvus showed his nephew to the private shooting range. A bet had been placed on who could rack up the most points before dinner. "Come on, Trine! Surely you can beat an old man like me!" the king laughed and drew another arrow from his quiver. The Delaborean prince smiled. "I can beat anyone, Highness. I'm the best." With that, he quickly drew his bow and fired, the bolt piercing the red bull's-eye. Torvus grunted in surprise and notched his arrow. "You're good, Trine. How long have you been practicing?" The prince thought for a moment before replying. "Seven years." "Seven?!" Torvus exclaimed. "That's almost half of your life! Incredible!" Saying that, the king fired the arrow, narrowly missing the centre of the target. "Although," he added as Trine lined up for another shot, "I know someone who might be better than you." "Link." the boy said without shifting his gaze from the target. "I hope that I will be able to meet him while I'm here." The arrow was loosed and, again, hit the bull's-eye. "Perhaps." Torvus murmured. It's amazing, the king thought to himself, amazing how much the boy looks like his mother. Shaggy sandy blonde hair came loosely down to Trine's chin, encircling his sharp features (a trait of his father) and his brilliant green eyes. Jutting out from beneath the long hair could be seen the familiar pointed ears of the Hylia. "How good are you at magic?" the king asked. "Good enough." "As good as your mother?" "No." Was there disappointment in his voice? "As good as your father?" "Much better than him." There was definitely some anger there. "What did you and your father do together?" Several emotions flashed by on the boy's face. Sadness, longing, remembrance, anger. Anger was a prominent one. "We didn't do much together. He died when I was really young. My mother says he was a great father to me, but I can't remember him." A tense silence crept between the two, only to be interrupted by Mira calling to them that dinner was ready.
The next day, Julia and Trine were given a tour of the magnificent Hyrule Castle. The king and queen were personally guiding them. They passed through the vaulted chambers of the main hall, through the jewelled hall of the throne room, around the huge kilns of the kitchens, through the great gardens, on top of the giant new walls, and eventually to the huge main gates. The south wall of the castle was split into two halves with the gates in the middle. Around the gates rose level upon level of stone fortification ending with a wide covered walkway at the top. It was in this walkway that the royalty had stopped and were enjoying the view of Hyrule City spread out below them. "So," Mira asked Julia, "what do you think of the castle?" Staring out at the city, Julia answered, "It's beautiful, Mira. All of my memories of here have been nothing compared to the real thing. And so much has changed! Those walls, for instance, they are new, right?" Torvus nodded. "This castle is greater than anything we have in Delabor." Trine said. "You shouldn't say that about the land you may be ruling someday." the king said. Trine shook his head. "I'd rather stay in Hyrule." Mira looked at the boy. "You would give up the throne to stay here?" Trine slowly turned to look at his aunt, a slight grin on his face. Something about that smile was unsettling to Mira. She didn't have time to think about it more because the floor beneath their feet suddenly shuddered and began to crumble. The gatehouse was collapsing. To an observer watching the castle, they would have seen a great cloud of smoke billow from one side of the gatehouse and the entire gate begin to fall in on itself and four people on the top begin to run like hell to get off the doomed building. The four on the walkway were running for their lives. Just seconds after the explosion, a full third of the gatehouse had collapsed; the floor falling the five storeys to the ground close at the heels of the royalty. Before he knew what was happening, Torvus found the ground begin to break up under his feet and give way. Then a giant slab of stone uprooted itself beneath his feet and slide down into the expanding cloud of debris. The king of Hyrule gave a scream and fell. Mira heard his scream and turned to look for him. "Torvus!" she called hysterically after her husband. Julia grabbed her sister by the arm and pulled Mira with her to the safety of the castle wall where Trine was already waiting for them along with several guards. "Hurry up!" Julia heard her son call to her and she gave a last burst of effort and landed on the catwalk, pulling Mira with her, just as the gatehouse gave a final shudder and collapsed in a smouldering wreak. The guards swarmed the two women helping them up and checking for injuries. "Are you ok?" one of them asked Julia. She responded shakily and embraced Trine who was standing next to her. She began to cry in relief. Then she heard a shout behind her. She turned to see the guards kneeling over Mira, whose blood was rapidly spreading on the stone floor. "Is everyone all right? What happened?" asked a man worriedly running up to them. The man was Sir Gain Rampt. "We're fine, but the queen is injured." Trine said. "Right, right." he said. Suddenly his face drained of all colour. "Where's the king?" They looked about but could not see him. "Did he fall?" Julia asked. Carefully, Rampt and Trine edged to the rim of the wall and peered down into the still settling dust. "I'll go find him." Trine said and ran off to the wall steps. "Trine!" screamed Julia frantically, "Come back! It's too dangerous! Trine!" The boy was not listening.
Trine clumsily made his way through the wreckage of the gatehouse, searching for his uncle. "Sire!" he called over and over, getting no answer. He made his way to the middle of the debris and looked through the dust, seeing nothing more than ruin and white cloud. Then he heard a slight groan behind him. Turning, he walked to where the groan had come from. The groan came again and Trine looked down at his feet. There, under several giant slabs of rock, lay Torvus. "Trine!" the king whispered painfully. "Don't speak." Trine instructed as he began to pull some of the rocks off of the body. He continued in silence until the king's chest was fully exposed. He looked down in disgust at the blood soaked garments and ravaged skin. Torvus weakly extended a hand to grab hold of the boy, but Trine hit it away. Then, to the kings mounting horror, the boy unsheathed a wicked dagger and quickly drew it across Torvus' throat, silencing the shout of fear. As the king lay gasping in pain and confusion, Trine uttered a spell and lifted a large boulder until it was poised above the body of his uncle.
"Goodbye, uncle." the boy said dispassionately, and he then released the rock, crushing the life from the king. Two guards soon came running up to the boy kneeling in the rubble and looked past him at the crushed body of Torvus. One of them laid a hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, highness." The three stood motionless for a few minutes in respect and then the guards helped the crying Trine out of the wreckage. They looked at Sir Gain and just shook their heads. At this, Julia, who had been standing to one side burst out in tears and ran to her son. As if on queue, clouds began to fill the sky and blotted out the sun.
All of Hyrule was in shock at the news of the king's death and the injuring of the queen. Torvus' body had been dug out of the wreckage of the gatehouse and laid in the castle chapel until it could be properly buried. Mira was taken to her chambers where doctors from all over the land worked constantly to try and save the queen from death. For more than two days, Julia had never left her sister's side, always clutching the woman's pale hand. "Highness." Julia looked up from the bed to see Mendregere the Healer. Mendregere was renowned as being the best doctor in all the seven lands. "Yes?" Julia asked meekly. "I'm afraid all we can do now is to wait. There's nothing more I, or any other doctor, can do for her. Please, get some rest." Julia shook her head slowly. "No. I can't leave her side. If I do, she might die without anyone near who loves her." "I understand that, highness, but it does you no good to stay here and not sleeping. You need your rest. You need to be strong in case..." The Delaborean queen stood up quickly, pointing an accusing finger at the doctor. "You think she's going to die, don't you? All of you think she's going to die! Well, she's not because she's the queen of Hyrule and her people need her!" "What about your people?" Julia paused. "My people?" Mendregere gingerly helped Julia into a chair. "Your people need a strong queen, and your sister's people need a strong queen. If the Hylians see you moping around as if Mira is dead, they will despair. A grievous queen is not a good queen." "You- you're right. The people need me." That's right. Now get some sleep. I'll have a bed moved in here so you can still be near your sister." "Thank you, doctor." Mendregere silently ushered all of the staff and doctors in the room out into the hall. As he closed the door, Sir Rampt ran up to him. "Doctor. How is she?" If you mean Julia, she's still very upset, but if you mean Mira, then I don't know what to say. It doesn't look good." "Have you used all of the proper spells and medicines?" "Of course, sir. The best thing any of us can do now is wait and see." Gain nodded miserably. The doctor put his hands on the lord's shoulders. "Relax. It's not as if this was your fault." Rampt stared hard at the doctor for a moment and then quickly ran down the hall, heading for his room. Mendregere only shook his head at the fleeing lord. "Poor man." On either side of the door, the two hooded figures watched the man go. When Rampt had gone from view, they looked at each other and silently nodded.
"Yes, Rampt?" said the image in the mirror. Rampt was again standing before the magic mirror in his quarters, but this time, it was not to report. "That work you had me do on the gatehouse- that was to kill the king and queen, wasn't it?!" By this time, Rampt was shaking with anger. The dark image only shook it's head. "I assure you that was not my intention. I intended to march through the weakened gates to conquer the castle. No one was to die." "Then what happened?" "Perhaps it was your fault. You worked on the gates. You weakened them to the point of breaking." Rampt could only stare incredulously at the image. "My fault?! It was your idea! Don't blame me!" The image only shook its head slowly and vanished, leaving the lord staring at his reflection. Was it his fault? As the lord pondered his role in the death of Torvus, he failed to notice that he was not the only one to hear the conversation with the mirror. Silently, the eavesdropper left the room.
"Highness?" Julia woke with a start to see Sir Gain Rampt standing over her. "Y-Yes?" she muttered. "I ask permission to investigate into the gatehouse." The Delaborean queen woke fully. "Investigate? Why?" "I-I believe the gates were sabotaged, highness." "Sabotage! Who would do such a thing? How do you know?" Gain looked at his feet as he answered. "I don't know who would try to kill Trovus or Mira- or even you and your son- but I do know that the gate has stood for centuries and nothing more than a crack has appeared on it. I don't believe it is coincidence that it fell when all four of you were in it." Julia looked troubled and then nodded. "Do it, sir. If it is sabotage, I want the criminal brought to justice." Gain bowed and left the room.
Rampt stood before a collection of castle guards and the best masons in the city, as well as an assortment from the city police. He pointed at the rubble of the gates. "I want you all to go through that mess and search for anything suspicious." He waited for the groaning to subside before continuing. "The queen and I suspect someone tampered with the gates in an attempt to kill the king and queen. You have until Mira wakes up. I suggest you get to work." As the assembled men began to meticulously work their way through the rubble, Rampt started the walk back to his office and was joined by the castle chamberlain, Roland. "The queen Julia expresses her desire to grant you all the resources you feel are necessary to quickly get results. Use them wisely, Gain." "I thank the queen for her support, Roland, and I fully intend to use everything at my disposal to find the saboteur." "So you think it is sabotage and not some accident?" "I'm sure of it, chamberlain." "And what makes you so sure?" Rampt stopped and tried to stare the tall man in the eyes. "I just have a feeling; an instinct." The chamberlain looked calmly down at the lord. "Those same instincts that got you into the position where you are now?" "What are you implying, Roland?" The tall man turned his back to the lord and began to walk away. He called over his shoulder, "Nothing, Rampt. Nothing at all. Think what you wish about this 'act of sabotage'. After all, I'm sure you have some first rate knowledge as to what happened." Watching the chamberlain walk away, Rampt was filled with terror at the man's words and the implications he made.
The castle was busy from that moment until late at night. The servants were constantly ferrying things to and from rooms. The baggage of the guests had to be taken care of, the guests had to be showed to their rooms, dinner had to be prepared, and so on. Mira, Torvus, Julia, and Trine spent the evening relaxing in the Royal Gardens, with the two women catching up on old times. While Mira and Julia chatted, Torvus showed his nephew to the private shooting range. A bet had been placed on who could rack up the most points before dinner. "Come on, Trine! Surely you can beat an old man like me!" the king laughed and drew another arrow from his quiver. The Delaborean prince smiled. "I can beat anyone, Highness. I'm the best." With that, he quickly drew his bow and fired, the bolt piercing the red bull's-eye. Torvus grunted in surprise and notched his arrow. "You're good, Trine. How long have you been practicing?" The prince thought for a moment before replying. "Seven years." "Seven?!" Torvus exclaimed. "That's almost half of your life! Incredible!" Saying that, the king fired the arrow, narrowly missing the centre of the target. "Although," he added as Trine lined up for another shot, "I know someone who might be better than you." "Link." the boy said without shifting his gaze from the target. "I hope that I will be able to meet him while I'm here." The arrow was loosed and, again, hit the bull's-eye. "Perhaps." Torvus murmured. It's amazing, the king thought to himself, amazing how much the boy looks like his mother. Shaggy sandy blonde hair came loosely down to Trine's chin, encircling his sharp features (a trait of his father) and his brilliant green eyes. Jutting out from beneath the long hair could be seen the familiar pointed ears of the Hylia. "How good are you at magic?" the king asked. "Good enough." "As good as your mother?" "No." Was there disappointment in his voice? "As good as your father?" "Much better than him." There was definitely some anger there. "What did you and your father do together?" Several emotions flashed by on the boy's face. Sadness, longing, remembrance, anger. Anger was a prominent one. "We didn't do much together. He died when I was really young. My mother says he was a great father to me, but I can't remember him." A tense silence crept between the two, only to be interrupted by Mira calling to them that dinner was ready.
The next day, Julia and Trine were given a tour of the magnificent Hyrule Castle. The king and queen were personally guiding them. They passed through the vaulted chambers of the main hall, through the jewelled hall of the throne room, around the huge kilns of the kitchens, through the great gardens, on top of the giant new walls, and eventually to the huge main gates. The south wall of the castle was split into two halves with the gates in the middle. Around the gates rose level upon level of stone fortification ending with a wide covered walkway at the top. It was in this walkway that the royalty had stopped and were enjoying the view of Hyrule City spread out below them. "So," Mira asked Julia, "what do you think of the castle?" Staring out at the city, Julia answered, "It's beautiful, Mira. All of my memories of here have been nothing compared to the real thing. And so much has changed! Those walls, for instance, they are new, right?" Torvus nodded. "This castle is greater than anything we have in Delabor." Trine said. "You shouldn't say that about the land you may be ruling someday." the king said. Trine shook his head. "I'd rather stay in Hyrule." Mira looked at the boy. "You would give up the throne to stay here?" Trine slowly turned to look at his aunt, a slight grin on his face. Something about that smile was unsettling to Mira. She didn't have time to think about it more because the floor beneath their feet suddenly shuddered and began to crumble. The gatehouse was collapsing. To an observer watching the castle, they would have seen a great cloud of smoke billow from one side of the gatehouse and the entire gate begin to fall in on itself and four people on the top begin to run like hell to get off the doomed building. The four on the walkway were running for their lives. Just seconds after the explosion, a full third of the gatehouse had collapsed; the floor falling the five storeys to the ground close at the heels of the royalty. Before he knew what was happening, Torvus found the ground begin to break up under his feet and give way. Then a giant slab of stone uprooted itself beneath his feet and slide down into the expanding cloud of debris. The king of Hyrule gave a scream and fell. Mira heard his scream and turned to look for him. "Torvus!" she called hysterically after her husband. Julia grabbed her sister by the arm and pulled Mira with her to the safety of the castle wall where Trine was already waiting for them along with several guards. "Hurry up!" Julia heard her son call to her and she gave a last burst of effort and landed on the catwalk, pulling Mira with her, just as the gatehouse gave a final shudder and collapsed in a smouldering wreak. The guards swarmed the two women helping them up and checking for injuries. "Are you ok?" one of them asked Julia. She responded shakily and embraced Trine who was standing next to her. She began to cry in relief. Then she heard a shout behind her. She turned to see the guards kneeling over Mira, whose blood was rapidly spreading on the stone floor. "Is everyone all right? What happened?" asked a man worriedly running up to them. The man was Sir Gain Rampt. "We're fine, but the queen is injured." Trine said. "Right, right." he said. Suddenly his face drained of all colour. "Where's the king?" They looked about but could not see him. "Did he fall?" Julia asked. Carefully, Rampt and Trine edged to the rim of the wall and peered down into the still settling dust. "I'll go find him." Trine said and ran off to the wall steps. "Trine!" screamed Julia frantically, "Come back! It's too dangerous! Trine!" The boy was not listening.
Trine clumsily made his way through the wreckage of the gatehouse, searching for his uncle. "Sire!" he called over and over, getting no answer. He made his way to the middle of the debris and looked through the dust, seeing nothing more than ruin and white cloud. Then he heard a slight groan behind him. Turning, he walked to where the groan had come from. The groan came again and Trine looked down at his feet. There, under several giant slabs of rock, lay Torvus. "Trine!" the king whispered painfully. "Don't speak." Trine instructed as he began to pull some of the rocks off of the body. He continued in silence until the king's chest was fully exposed. He looked down in disgust at the blood soaked garments and ravaged skin. Torvus weakly extended a hand to grab hold of the boy, but Trine hit it away. Then, to the kings mounting horror, the boy unsheathed a wicked dagger and quickly drew it across Torvus' throat, silencing the shout of fear. As the king lay gasping in pain and confusion, Trine uttered a spell and lifted a large boulder until it was poised above the body of his uncle.
"Goodbye, uncle." the boy said dispassionately, and he then released the rock, crushing the life from the king. Two guards soon came running up to the boy kneeling in the rubble and looked past him at the crushed body of Torvus. One of them laid a hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, highness." The three stood motionless for a few minutes in respect and then the guards helped the crying Trine out of the wreckage. They looked at Sir Gain and just shook their heads. At this, Julia, who had been standing to one side burst out in tears and ran to her son. As if on queue, clouds began to fill the sky and blotted out the sun.
All of Hyrule was in shock at the news of the king's death and the injuring of the queen. Torvus' body had been dug out of the wreckage of the gatehouse and laid in the castle chapel until it could be properly buried. Mira was taken to her chambers where doctors from all over the land worked constantly to try and save the queen from death. For more than two days, Julia had never left her sister's side, always clutching the woman's pale hand. "Highness." Julia looked up from the bed to see Mendregere the Healer. Mendregere was renowned as being the best doctor in all the seven lands. "Yes?" Julia asked meekly. "I'm afraid all we can do now is to wait. There's nothing more I, or any other doctor, can do for her. Please, get some rest." Julia shook her head slowly. "No. I can't leave her side. If I do, she might die without anyone near who loves her." "I understand that, highness, but it does you no good to stay here and not sleeping. You need your rest. You need to be strong in case..." The Delaborean queen stood up quickly, pointing an accusing finger at the doctor. "You think she's going to die, don't you? All of you think she's going to die! Well, she's not because she's the queen of Hyrule and her people need her!" "What about your people?" Julia paused. "My people?" Mendregere gingerly helped Julia into a chair. "Your people need a strong queen, and your sister's people need a strong queen. If the Hylians see you moping around as if Mira is dead, they will despair. A grievous queen is not a good queen." "You- you're right. The people need me." That's right. Now get some sleep. I'll have a bed moved in here so you can still be near your sister." "Thank you, doctor." Mendregere silently ushered all of the staff and doctors in the room out into the hall. As he closed the door, Sir Rampt ran up to him. "Doctor. How is she?" If you mean Julia, she's still very upset, but if you mean Mira, then I don't know what to say. It doesn't look good." "Have you used all of the proper spells and medicines?" "Of course, sir. The best thing any of us can do now is wait and see." Gain nodded miserably. The doctor put his hands on the lord's shoulders. "Relax. It's not as if this was your fault." Rampt stared hard at the doctor for a moment and then quickly ran down the hall, heading for his room. Mendregere only shook his head at the fleeing lord. "Poor man." On either side of the door, the two hooded figures watched the man go. When Rampt had gone from view, they looked at each other and silently nodded.
"Yes, Rampt?" said the image in the mirror. Rampt was again standing before the magic mirror in his quarters, but this time, it was not to report. "That work you had me do on the gatehouse- that was to kill the king and queen, wasn't it?!" By this time, Rampt was shaking with anger. The dark image only shook it's head. "I assure you that was not my intention. I intended to march through the weakened gates to conquer the castle. No one was to die." "Then what happened?" "Perhaps it was your fault. You worked on the gates. You weakened them to the point of breaking." Rampt could only stare incredulously at the image. "My fault?! It was your idea! Don't blame me!" The image only shook its head slowly and vanished, leaving the lord staring at his reflection. Was it his fault? As the lord pondered his role in the death of Torvus, he failed to notice that he was not the only one to hear the conversation with the mirror. Silently, the eavesdropper left the room.
"Highness?" Julia woke with a start to see Sir Gain Rampt standing over her. "Y-Yes?" she muttered. "I ask permission to investigate into the gatehouse." The Delaborean queen woke fully. "Investigate? Why?" "I-I believe the gates were sabotaged, highness." "Sabotage! Who would do such a thing? How do you know?" Gain looked at his feet as he answered. "I don't know who would try to kill Trovus or Mira- or even you and your son- but I do know that the gate has stood for centuries and nothing more than a crack has appeared on it. I don't believe it is coincidence that it fell when all four of you were in it." Julia looked troubled and then nodded. "Do it, sir. If it is sabotage, I want the criminal brought to justice." Gain bowed and left the room.
Rampt stood before a collection of castle guards and the best masons in the city, as well as an assortment from the city police. He pointed at the rubble of the gates. "I want you all to go through that mess and search for anything suspicious." He waited for the groaning to subside before continuing. "The queen and I suspect someone tampered with the gates in an attempt to kill the king and queen. You have until Mira wakes up. I suggest you get to work." As the assembled men began to meticulously work their way through the rubble, Rampt started the walk back to his office and was joined by the castle chamberlain, Roland. "The queen Julia expresses her desire to grant you all the resources you feel are necessary to quickly get results. Use them wisely, Gain." "I thank the queen for her support, Roland, and I fully intend to use everything at my disposal to find the saboteur." "So you think it is sabotage and not some accident?" "I'm sure of it, chamberlain." "And what makes you so sure?" Rampt stopped and tried to stare the tall man in the eyes. "I just have a feeling; an instinct." The chamberlain looked calmly down at the lord. "Those same instincts that got you into the position where you are now?" "What are you implying, Roland?" The tall man turned his back to the lord and began to walk away. He called over his shoulder, "Nothing, Rampt. Nothing at all. Think what you wish about this 'act of sabotage'. After all, I'm sure you have some first rate knowledge as to what happened." Watching the chamberlain walk away, Rampt was filled with terror at the man's words and the implications he made.
