Present

Leaving Irank securely confined in the cell that they had found Taryn, Link and Zelda continued down the corridor with the ill-tempered King behind them.  He had been quiet, though the scowl had never left his face.  Realizing Link was the one who was in the lead, and had the support and leadership of the resistance, small as it was, Taryn had been begrudgingly compliant.  It had galled the ruler of Hyrule to be forced to acknowledge his debt to this mere peasant. 

Ignoring Taryn's open disapproval, Link followed the directions that Ahenous's servant had given him.  Around the corner, two rights, left at the large ugly statue, there it was.  He looked at Zelda, who shrugged.  She had told him earlier that she had never visited this part of the castle.  Looking around, he could see why.  It was plain out and out creepy.  The torches that were continually lit around the clock throughout the castle apparently did not extend to this section, and the only light came from the small torch she carried.  Beyond its glare, shadows seemed to form menacing shapes, and it would have been very easy to see ghosts and ghouls in every one.  And then, there at the end of the corridor, was the door Irank had spoken about.  Behind it, they hoped they would find Ahenous.  A faint glow was coming from under the door, so Zelda handed the torch to her brother and motioned for him to stay behind and out of sight.  Link had drawn his sword, and Zelda notched an arrow to her bowstring and drew it tight, ready to fire.  With a nod from her, Link raised his foot and kicked open the door, revealing a man upon the narrow bed.  Bandages wrapped most of his upper figure, and the red stains upon them revealed that he had been injured, very recently. 

"I thought you would find me."  A low, scratchy voice let them know he was not asleep as they had first thought him to be.

"It is over.  Get up.  We are going to free this castle from your clutches."  Link's sword was pointed steadily at Ahenous, leaving no doubt in anyone's mind that he would not hesitate one moment to use it if the occasion presented itself.

Past

"I thought the doctor had ordered complete bed rest."  I looked inside the door to see Link conferring with one of his aids over a pile of maps and papers that lay strewn about the covers.

"But I am still in bed, love."  Link gave me sheepish grin and the aid busied himself shuffling through papers

I crossed the room and set the tray I had been carrying down on the small table next to our bed.  "You do know that you are not the only one who could be doing all the work.  We do have trained people that serve under you."

He sighed, then looked at his aid.  "Can you give us a few minutes?  Go confer with General Zanning and get his opinion."

The aid bowed to me, quickly leaving the room on his errand.  "Link, your staff is perfectly capable of handling cleaning up this mess. "

"Its not that simple."

"Yes it is.  You are injured and do not need any added strain."

"Zelda, several of my commanders agree, that the orders being given to the troops did not originate with the Prince.  A man, a wizard, was the one who was actually in command.  From his troops we interrogated, it seems as if even the Prince was under his control."

"Oh."  I had to sit down.  If the Prince had not been in control, who was? 

"There is worse news."

  "Let me guess, whoever this leader was is not among the prisoners, wounded, or dead?"

He shook his head.  "It gets better.  From the descriptions of the man, it may be Ahenous."

That name struck a chord of icy fear through my stomach.  Link and I still did not completely understand why he had been kidnapped in the first place.  And obviously this man still had some evil plan in store for us.  "I had hoped that this invader was only taking advantage of your disappearance, not that your disappearance was any part of a larger scheme."

Present

The four walked out onto into daylight in the palace courtyard to see a small contingent of Xiano's troops making a valiant but futile attempt to break through Ahenous's forces at the front gate.  Their diversion had worked; it was now time to end it.

"Ahenous, call off your men.  You have been defeated."

Ahenous looked around, but as his troops saw him they began to stop their fighting and drop their weapons.  He had never had the loyalty of these men; they had fought because they were forced to.  Now they saw an alternative, and they were more than happy to take it.

"Tell them."  Link's dagger pressed tighter against the small of the man's back.

"My commanders, you have fought bravely, but we have been defeated.  Throw down your weapons, I have been assured of generous terms for those who surrender."  Ahenous's men looked startled at the words, but one by one his commanders threw down their blades, and the Hyrulian's were able to swarm in the gates and overcome the one or two who were still resistant. 

"Link!  Zelda!  The couple turned their heads to see Xiano himself and Impa riding through the front gates.  "We did it!  The enemy has been overwhelmed."  He turned to see Taryn standing sulkily behind the two for the first time.  "Your majesty, your troops are at your disposal."

"Hmmph."  Taryn gave a grunt.  He did not want to loose face in front of these people, yet he honestly had no idea how to order troops around.  "Commander, you are doing well.  I will allow you to continue."

"Yes your majesty."  Xiano rode of, going to supervise the final surrender.

"Link, I want you to escort this piece of filth to the dungeon and lock him up, good and secure."  Taryn turned, and without so much as a thank you dismissed him with a wave of his hand.  As soon as Link and Ahenous were out of earshot, he turned with angry eyes towards Impa.  "How dare you.  How dare you let my sister simply run off with that…that…that peasant.  That filthy, lowborn peasant.  And you," he turned to Zelda, who was quivering with suppressed rage and anger, "how could you treat your royal status with such disdain."  He huffed off, with a final parting remark.  "If anyone needs me, I will be in my quarters, washing this filth off of me."

Past

I touched my stomach where the Prince's sword had gone through me two weeks earlier.  It was still extremely tender to the touch, and I had troubles even walking.  Yet I knew what I must do, and I was the only one who could do it. 

"My love, I will not allow it."  Zelda had shown yet again the amazing ability to read my thoughts, and had come to stop me from packing.

"Zelda, I must.  That man is dangerous and has to be stopped."  I grabbed another tunic and shoved it in the knapsack I was currently packing.  "You know this as well as I."

"Wait.  Even a week or two.  You are in not condition to travel.  Look at you, you can barely stand upright.  And yet you think you have the strength to travel through time?"

"No one else can.  And no one has seen Ahenous for two weeks.  From reports I have gathered, he must have been wounded in the fighting, yet no one has seen or heard from him.  That can only mean one thing, he has traveled into the future and I must follow him, to save Hyrule."

"And what if something happens to you.  Are you willing to leave your child fatherless and me a widow?"  Her voice shook with anger and feeling.

I took her hand and led her to the bed, where we sat down next to each other.  Taking her hand in mine, I stroked the back of it with my thumb while I considered my next words.

"If our child is to have a life, if we are to have a life, this man must be stopped.  He has the ability to do more damage than anyone else in or outside of Hyrule.  I must go and get Link and Zelda's help.  Ahenous comes from their time; he may be there now.  With their help, we can stop him."

She sat silent for a moment, then looked at me with tears streaming down her cheeks.  "I am coming with you."

"Zelda, you know as well as I do that I am the only one that can travel through time.  And I will need you to help send me."

She leaned over until our noses and foreheads were touching.  "Promise me you will come back safe."

I kissed her in response.

Present

Link shifted his clothing uncomfortably as he stood watching the ceremony in front of him.  He was unused to wearing the full, formal uniform of a royal bodyguard.  In fact, he had never done so before.  Taryn had never allowed him to attend a royal function with Zelda, preferring to assign one of his own guards to attend the Princess.  However, the King's attitude towards Link had elevated significantly since his actual return to the throne.   At first it seemed as if Taryn would banish him from Hyrule, but Link had grown in popularity since his return.   Zelda smiled to herself as she could feel Link's restlessness from where she sat next to him.  She reached out her hand to grasp his fingers.  He gave her a slight squeeze back, once again grateful that her formal betrothal had been called off.  The two had spent hours late at night talking, and had finally decided that they would have to flee Hyrule if they ever wanted to live together. 

The sound of silverware tinkling on a glad caused the guests to sit up straight.  Link dropped Zelda's hand as the King rose to make his announcement. 

"My friends, we are gathered only because of one thing.  The courage and daring of my sister, and her loyal guard Link."  The rest of the company applauded, but Link could only stand and stare with his mouth agape.  "To reward such loyalty, I am going to give him the most precious gift the kingdom can offer.  You are all invited to his wedding to the Princess Zelda, two weeks from today."

Zelda rose and turned to Link.  They could only stare at each other in shock.  A stuttered, "thank…you," was finally heard from Link's lips before Zelda claimed them in front of the entire assembly.  The entire hall again broke out into applause as they watched the happy couple kiss.

"Let's eat." Taryn finally managed to make himself heard over the din, his voice laced with hidden disapproval.

The couple, however, took the opportunity of everyone's distraction to quietly slip away from the hall, unnoticed by everyone except her watchful nursemaid and friend.  

"Zelda, what just happened?"

"I do not know.  We have not even told him of our engagement."

"Do you know what this means?"

"We are getting married, in two weeks time?"

"And we do not have to leave Hyrule!"  He picked her up and spun her around, laughing in the middle of the hallway.

"Ahem."  Impa cleared her throat as Link put Zelda down.

"Impa, can you believe it."

"Yes."

"But how?  I know Taryn hates Link, and the thought of me marrying someone not of royal blood.  What changed his mind?"

She pulled out a large, old looking book.  "I showed Taryn this morning.  It is a very old and little known about law that allows the Princess of Hyrule to marry the man of her choosing, no matter his station in life."

"So that means…"

"Yes.  Taryn was just trying to save face.  With this law, and Link's newfound popularity, he risked losing his hold on the throne if he protested."

"I do not care, as long as we can be together.   I do not care what Taryn looks like to the people."

Link was examining the book.  "How did you know about this law?"

She grinned. "The Hero and I discussed it while you two were caught up in other matters.  He figured if a law was written in obscurity in the past, Taryn would be unable to stop your marriage in the future."