Amid the boisterous laughing, the door slammed open, interrupting them. Impa burst in, saying, "We have to leave. Now."
"Did you get your radishes?" Lure asked, trying his hardest not to snicker.
"What?" Impa said, too distracted to give him her full attention. "Who cares about radishes?"
Lure and Link dissolved into another fit of laughter. In trying to remember how to breathe, Link forgot how to sit and he fell to the floor, too weak to get back up. Lure just pointed and laughed harder.
"Have you been smoking Addle Weed up here?" Impa snapped. Prodding Link with the toe of her boot, she said, "We. Need. To. Leave. NOW!"
"What's wrong?" Zelda asked, her laughter forgotten in the presence of Impa's urgency.
"They're here."
The princess's face swiftly drained of all color. Gathering her composure about her like a safety blanket, she whispered, "How far away?"
"If we leave now, we'll make it," Impa said.
Link sat up, all traces of mirth gone from both his and Lure's faces. "What's wrong?" he asked, unconsciously repeating Zelda's words.
"Trouble. That's all you need to know," Impa said as she began to gather their gear up. "Get your butts in motion, gentlemen. We'll explain when we've time to explain."
As Impa swept off to rouse Ganondorf, the rest quickly readied themselves, unanswered questions racing about their minds. Link tightened the strap of his pack and Lure asked, "What do you think's going on?"
Link shook his head. "Someone's after us. That's about all I can guess. That, and that we don't want to be caught by these people."
"There's a comforting thought," Lure said with a grimace.
Emerging from Ganondorf's quarters with the disgruntled Gerudo in tow, Impa saw that they were ready and barked out her next set of orders. "Head down to the stables. Marek's started to saddle the horses, and I've ordered grooms to help. We don't have enough for everyone, so Princess, you ride double with me and Lure, you ride double with whomever."
Lure cast his eye about, measuring each potential carrier. He swiftly past over Ganondorf, turning to Link who subtly shook his head. With an understanding shrug, Lure said, "All right, Malon. You're the lucky one."
Link let out a relieved breath and followed everyone outside. He wasn't sure if Epona would have taken another rider and he hadn't wanted to take Lure with him in case these unknown enemies knew him, making him a risk to be around.
Outside Marek already sat on his mount; the other three horses and Epona waited for them, the late afternoon sunlight adding ruddy highlights to their coats. I see you didn't attack the grooms this time, Link said to her, amusement laced in his words.
Epona tossed her head, a snort escaping her. This one was a sweetheart. I didn't have the heart to kick him across the stable.
How magnanimous of you.
Oooh, learning big words, are we?
Before Link could think of a scathing reply, Impa hurried the rest of them into their saddles, setting the pace at a brisk canter as they left the hostel. Doesn't that woman realize I need to warm up before being made to work so hard? Epona grumbled in his mind.
Link just chuckled, glad for a break in the tension he could feel thrumming in the air. They left the city, taking obscure alleys and streets, avoiding most of the traffic and perhaps something more. At the gate, Impa talked to the sentinel who opened the way for them, and they were out, the wide expanse of Hyrule Field greeting them, husks of burned and long-abandoned houses dotting the green land.
"Where to now, fearless leader?" Lure asked, looking over Malon's head to Impa.
"We're not safe, not yet," she said, her face focused, her eyes constantly darting over the land in search of something. "We'll press on, try to make it to sanctuary by nightfall."
Lure and Link exchanged puzzled glances. Turning away to study the landscape on his own, Link asked Epona, Do you have any idea what's after us?
Whatever it is, it's not magical, from another realm, or any other sort of mystic thing. I can't sense anything off.
Neither can I. But it can't be something as small as bandits...
Epona didn't bother to reply, knowing that he was musing, focusing her attention instead on keeping pace with the horses. It was hard not to race past them, but she knew they didn't have her endurance or speed. No creature from this realm did.
After a candlemark or so passed, Link noticed the approach of familiar surroundings. The crumbling walls and outbuildings of Castleton were coming into focus, the spires of the castle fading into the gray sky, the falling sun reflecting off the western side, turning the castle into a study of blood and the death-like pallor of a corpse. Forcing back his reservations, Link followed the rest past the city walls, their small party delving deeper into the city. It was hard not to stop and stare at the silent buildings, once full of life, now dead like many of the their owners.
Impa finally pulled up her horse and Link smiled wryly in recognition. They had made their way to the temple ruin's he had loved to visit before. Even now the land radiated peace, the temple one of the rare things that had hardly changed since the Cataclysm.
Impa waited for Zelda to dismount before she got off, signaling to the others to follow her example. "We rest here," she said, the tension seeping from her body as she spoke. So he wasn't the only one to feel it.
"There's still part of the Temple standing," Zelda said. "We can set up camp there."
Link and Malon were left behind to unsaddle and feed the horses while the rest continued to walk further into the marble grounds. As she groomed Phooka's coat, Malon looked over her mount's back and said, "It's kind of ironic we're back here, isn't it?"
Heaving off the saddle on Impa's mount, glad the mare wasn't reacting to him, Link smiled at Malon. "Fate seems to always work in a circular fashion."
She gave him an odd look and he said, "What?"
Shrugging her shoulders slightly, she removed Ganondorf's horse's bridle. Pausing, she said, "It's funny. You used to say you never believed in fate. You'd go off on some speech how you'd decide how you live; no one else ever would."
Link smiled, his face still similar to the boy she had known, though his eyes were much older. Much older, and sadder. "People change, I guess." He turned back to his work, leaving her to mull over his words.
Once finished with their work they walked further into the ruins, the structure Zelda had mentioned looming over them, the white walls glowing in the twilight. A small fire crackled inside, at the foot of what appeared to be an altar, the four figures around it priests ready for the ritual. Zelda spoke up, breaking the scene, saying, "We've got food ready."
Malon sat beside her. Link continued past them, caught up in his surroundings. He laid a hand on the smooth marble walls, the stone cool to his touch. Steps beside the altar lead farther in and he walked up them. A giant doorway leading to another room stood before him, the vague etchings of the Triforce above the lintel catching the firelight as it danced over the walls. Stepping inside the little room, his steps echoed, the air chilly and clean against his face. A dais took up the floor in the middle of the room, the raised gray surface barely visible in the deep shadows. He looked up and saw the evening sky, stars beginning to dot the velvet. The Blade, the constellation shining brighter than the others, was framed by the window, like a picture made from a union of nature and man.
"I like it here, too."
He looked over at Zelda, who was gazing up at the night sky as he had. "It's very peaceful here," he said.
She nodded and faced him. He could barely see her expression but he heard the tremor in her voice as she said, "I wish I could stay here forever."
He nodded, then placed an unsure hand on her shoulder, not used to giving comfort.
"The Sword resonates here."
Link started, still anxious around Ganondorf's presence. He dropped his hand back to his side and turned to the Gerudo. Ganondorf held the supposed blade of the Hero in his hand, the blue steel reflecting firelight into his face, lighting his gold eyes. "How do you know that is the Master Sword?" Link asked.
Ganondorf looked up at him. "When you hold it in your hands, you know. There is no way to explain it." He hesitated, hefted the blade, then thrust it forward, saying, "Hold it."
Link recoiled a step. "I thought that those of impure hearts could not touch it lest they die from it. I don't think I'm a good candidate."
Ganondorf did not pull the sword back. "Hold it," he said. When Link made no move, he continued. "Consider it a test. If you don't get fried when you touch the hilt, I won't kill you tonight."
A test? Link turned the Gerudo's words over in his mind, finally realizing what Ganondorf meant. Letting out a breath, he said, "All right." He reached forward, his hand hesitating over the leather-wrapped hilt. Strengthening his resolve, he wrapped his fingers over it, nearly dropping it when Ganondorf let go.
Every muscle in his body screamed with tension and he waited for the magic in the steel to strike him down, turn him to ashes. After a minute he opened his eyes, surprised he was still alive. He was ready to tell Ganondorf that now he had definite proof this wasn't the Hero's Sword, but he stopped. He could feel a tingle, the touch of magic imbued in the Blade rising up to greet him, as if it were a cat curious to meet a stranger. He stared at the Blade, wonder rising up in him as he felt the magic swirl around him, touching him, leaving behind imprints of its presence. This Sword, he knew this Sword, knew every nuance, every inch of its surface, every secret it held within its strange blue walls, and it knew him. It recognized him, the magic curling and twining around him, greeting him as if he had been on a long journey and had finally come home.
He hadn't realized he had closed his eyes until he opened them. Drawing in a shaky breath, he felt the cold of the floor seeping into his knees and saw that he was kneeling on the marble floor, the Sword still held in his hands. Leaning forward, he pressed his forehead on the cool floor, trying to still the racing in his heart that surged the blood through his veins with a roar. He felt a hand touch his back and perhaps someone spoke. He couldn't hear them over the beating of his heart and the song of the magic, the two tones in counterpoint to the other, rising in a seamless harmony.
When the force of the magic died to a soft roar, he was able to take in his surroundings once more. He was looking up to the Temple's ceiling, the top hidden by fathomless shadows. A flash of blue caught his eye and he turned to see Zelda watching him, eyes wide with concern and something else. "Irony of ironies," Ganondorf said as Link slowly sat up, the Sword still clutched in his hands. Link turned to him, the Gerudo a mountain as he knelt by Link.
"What is?" Link asked fuzzily.
"I've learned a bit about your history. It seems ironic to me that one who denounced his status as a Guardian would turn out to be the one who would own this Blade, the Sword of the greatest Guardian of all time."
Link blinked, not able to follow his words. His head still rang with the aftermath. Instead of trying to figure the man's words, he offered the Sword back to Ganondorf.
The Gerudo stared at him. Fury crept into his face, and he snarled out, "Even now do you renounce yourself?" He let out a growl and stood up, his every movement filled with barely checked anger as he walked over to the fire.
"What's wrong with him?" Link asked, angered by his reaction.
Zelda sat back with a sigh. "He...doesn't like to see things wasted." She looked at the Sword held between Link's hands. "The Blade is yours now. It recognized you as its true master. I..." She trailed off and failed to finish her words. Link turned to her and was surprised to see a sheen of tears over her eyes. He reached to her but she leaned away, shaking her head. "I am sorry," she whispered, hastily rubbing a hand over her eyes. "I am truly sorry." She got up and left him, gathering her composure, masking her tears so that the others could not see when she sat beside them by the fire.
Link watched her go, puzzled, worried, and feeling completely clueless. Looking back at the Sword, he took a deep breath and reached a hand out to steady himself as he rose. His hand brushed against something and he found the scabbard Ganondorf had kept the Sword in. Watching the Gerudo by the campfire, Link resolved to offer his old sword to him. But that would have to wait until he had time to sleep and Ganondorf had time to cool down.
* * *
Link shifted the scabbard, balancing the new weight over his back. He adjusted the baldric's buckle, one eye keeping watch as the rest readied themselves to leave. A faint mist clung to the ground, weaving between buildings, hiding pockets of ground with hazy fingers. A raven spied upon them from above, its black form starkly visible as it lurked in a skeletal tree, the rising sun lighting its feathers. Impa's mount let out a shrill neigh before calming under the Sheikah's hand. Once the fire had been put out and everyone was mounted, they headed out once more.
Zelda sat behind Ganondorf this time, though Lure still rode with Malon. No one had said anything, but judging by the tension in the air, he could tell that Impa and the Princess had another disagreement. He just wished he knew over what. He also wished he knew where they were headed. Impa had chosen a path that lead southwest, but where it terminated was known only to her and the Princess.
Around mid-day he thought he saw something near the horizon. The expanse of Hyrule Field bared everything to view, and he soon could separate the black dots into figures on horse-back. He was about to alert Impa but saw that she was watching them, one hand ready on the hilt of her curved sabre. "Perhaps we weren't so lucky," he heard her murmur.
His hand crept up to the Sword's cross-guard, feeling the hard form, Impa's tension jumping over to him. "Do we run?" he asked the Sheikah woman.
She shook her head. "Wouldn't do any good."
A banner, its pole propped against the stirrup of one of the encroaching riders, was swept up by a rising wind. The crest was of a galloping silver horse over an earth brown background, three stars rising over the figure and strange runic symbols on the bottom. He recognized it instantly, remnants of his schooling rising up despite the dirt of years covering them.
"Calatia?" Lure's voice rang out. Link saw him twisting his body to look around Malon, staring at the flag in disbelief. "What's Calatia doing here?"
"More importantly, how are they here," Ganondorf said. "The countries no longer exist."
"The country may not, but the people do," Impa said, her hand securely on her hilt. "You all stay back. I'm going to talk to them." She looked back at the Princess when she spoke and Zelda nodded in agreement. Impa smiled a small smile and urged her mount to a gallop, eating up the distance between the two groups.
They watched her meet up with the riders, watched as they talked, the strangers becoming more animated with each passing moment. "Everyone prepare yourselves," Marek said, loosening his sword in its sheathe.
Malon let out a loud breath and blushed when everyone turned to her. Link grinned and she returned the smile, the kamas strapped to her back ready for action.
"Ready for things to get interesting?" Lure said to them. Grinning at Malon, he said, "I'll try not to lop your hair off when I swing my sword."
"You better not! Or else I'll have Phooka dump your butt on the ground so fast you'll implode on impact."
"As much as I enjoy your banter," Ganondorf drawled, "I believe we should be paying attention to what is going on."
"Party killer," muttered Lure, though he did as Ganondorf said.
A flash of sunlight on steel sent a thrill of adrenaline through Link's veins. One of the riders had pulled a sword on Impa and was waving it about, shouting something unintelligible. The Sheikah kept her cool, and it seemed that she was calming the riders down when he heard a dull thump! break through the air. Zelda screamed out Impa's name, scrambling from behind Ganondorf to reach the woman who had slumped over her horse's withers, the shaft of an arrow protruding from her back.
Link felt both hot and cold as he watched the riders swarm around her like ants. Epona let out a shrill whinny, rearing in anger at the attack. She tried to surge forward, to join Marek and Malon's horses as they raced forward to help, but a dark figure atop a white horse stopped her. She snaked out her neck to take a chunk out of the horse's neck, but a swarthy hand reached out and caught her hackamore. She trembled in thwarted rage, her hind end dancing about as Ganondorf said, "You can't go up there."
"Why not?" Link's voice was soft, barely audible over the clash of steel.
"You know why not," he growled. "Unless you wish to put your friends' lives at an even greater risk?"
Link ignored him, looking past him to see the two Guardians and Malon fighting with all their strength. They were holding their own, using higher ground and strategy to make up for their enemie's greater numbers. Watching them struggle, Link realized something. "Where's Zelda?" he asked the Gerudo.
"Dammit." Ganondorf scanned the area, finally turning to look behind them. A displeased grimace covered his face.
Link turned around to see what Ganondorf was looking at when something connected violently to the back of his head, turning everything to darkness.
* * *
His head throbbed with every heartbeat and something hard and rough was poking him in the back. He tried to shift his body but discovered he couldn't move. Frowning slightly, he tried to recall his last memory, and immediately stiffened, his eyes cracking open in suspicion. He saw a campfire, two men in brown and gray uniforms sitting beside it. Looking down, he saw rope binding him to the trunk of a tree. For goddess' sake! he yelled silently, the anger making his headache strengthen. Regaining his composure, he searched for any of the others or clues to where he was. Sunlight filtered through the tops of giant oak and cottonwoods; the wind sighing through the latter's boughs made it sound like rain was falling gently to the earth.
Turning his eyes back to the earth, he saw that one of the men had noticed his awakening. Cursing himself for giving that up, Link watched him approach through narrowed eyes. The man, his curly brown hair and hesitant smile giving him a friendly air, squatted near Link. "I see you're finally awake," he said. "How do you feel?"
"Like I was hit in the back of the head." Link glared at him, blaming the Calatian for his headache and overall bad temper.
The Calatian's smile broadened. "You can't be too bad if you're able to be sarcastic."
"You'd be surprised. He could be half-dead and still manage to be a nuisance." Link turned to his right, not surprised to see Ganondorf tied to another tree. "Nobody asked you to speak up," he said, trying not to let his relief show. At least there was someone else with him, even if it was the Gerudo.
"Interesting talk between comrades," the Calatian said.
"Nobody ever said we were comrades," Link muttered.
"Now that the sleeping prince is awake, would you care to tell us why we were captured by you?" Ganondorf demanded, ignoring Link's comment.
The Calatian shifted back on his heels. He looked over his shoulder to the other, who shrugged. "Don't see why it'd hurt," he said. "Maybe we can learn something from them since the Princess refuses to speak."
"Princess?" Link said in surprise. "Where is she?" His face darkened and he strained against the ropes, saying, "If you've hurt her..."
"Peace, my friend," said the brown-haired man. "She's in perfect health. The remnants of the Calatian government sent us to capture her and her companions. She has information we need, and once we extract it, our Queen must speak with her. There's no need to be hostile."
"Even though you kidnapped us and shot one of our friends in the back? I guess I see your point." Ignoring the man's attempts to placate him, he said, "Why would you need to speak to Zelda?"
The Calatian's eyes widened slightly. He exchanged glances with the other again, then said, "She's the reason for the Cataclysm. Everyone wants her, though most have more sinister intentions than we."
Link sat back, unable to comprehend what the man had said. Finally he managed to garble out, "How?"
"That's what we're trying to learn. If anyone knows a way to stop the Death Riders and heal what she has caused, it would be the Princess herself. Yet she refuses to speak to us."
Link looked over at Ganondorf who only gazed up at the treetops, as if he were pondering the answers of the universe. Turning back to the Calatian, he said, "Can I...can I speak to her?"
Again the exchange of glances, as if the two were able to communicate with a look. "Don't see why not," said the soldier by the campfire.
"All right." The Calatian freed Link from his bonds, though his hands were still held together. Holding him by the arm, the Calatian led Link past the fire to another clearing a yard away. He saw Zelda sitting on the floor, her hands bound like his. She had her face to the forest, turned away from a man who seemed to be barraging her with questions. Upon hearing footsteps, the two looked up to see Link and his guard walk over.
"What do you think you're doing, Rhys?" demanded the man by Zelda.
"Ease up, Leam. He wanted to speak to her," Rhys said, nodding his head in Link's direction.
Understanding smoothed some of the frown lines on Leam's face. "Fine." He moved a distance away from Zelda, still remaining within earshot. Rhys did the same. Link didn't care, he was too busy trying to calm his roiling emotions.
He sat down beside her, his movements made awkward by his bound hands. For a moment he couldn't speak, there was no way he could make his mouth form the words. Zelda broke the silence. "I am sorry Link."
That snapped the bindings of his tongue. "You're sorry? That's the best you can do?" He choked. Clearing his throat, he said, "You're the one responsible for everything."
Zelda nodded, unable to look at him. "Why?" he said.
"I wanted to protect my people."
"Protect them?!"
"I, I worked a spell, an ancient one from the Book of Mudora. It, it got out of control. I didn't have the knowledge, I wasn't ready, and the magic escaped me. It struck out at Castleton, at the other capitals." She took a deep, steadying breath, trying to make her words coherent. "I received a vision. Hyrule and all of its people were destroyed, everything I knew and loved gone. In my fear I wanted to do anything I could to make sure this glimpse of the future never came to pass. I found the Book, knew that it contained spells of the ancients of our people. In it I found a way to create protectors that could watch over the land and keep the people from harm. I preformed the spell, and something went wrong. I lost control of the power. The magic corrupted somehow, striking out at all the capitals, not just Castleton." She paused, her fists clenched around each other, her breath shallow and ragged.
"What of the 'protectors'?" Link asked quietly.
"I, I chose seven people to be the country's protectors. The spell would have imbued them with great magical power, and so I wanted to make sure that their minds were pure enough to handle the power." She finally looked up at him, checked tears glistening, her eyes like blue water. "You agreed, I swear you did. After you gave up your duty as a Guardian, I asked you if you would help me. You said yes, but now you remember nothing of it. I swear I never meant for this to happen. I've condemned seven people to endless torment and my people...I made my vision come true! I swear I never meant for this to happen!"
Link drew his knees up to his chest and rested his aching head on them. No words would come to him. He could offer her no comfort or hope. She was the cause of all this! She had used him like a tool, used all of the Death Riders, and she had warped them into monsters. What was even worse was that now he could not completely hate his brethren. There had been no sign or hope of humanity in them, and he had been free to despise them. Not anymore. Now he truly felt the kinship between them.
"Link?" he heard Zelda say tentatively.
"Don't," he said. "Just, don't say anything right now. Don't speak to me." He could tell his words hurt her, but he couldn't bring himself to care.
He heard the shuffling of feet on the leaf-littered floor, knew that the one called Leam had taken Zelda back to the campfire. He sensed Rhys hovering over him and said, "Don't touch me."
The menace he felt must have been apparent in his voice. Rhys backed off, letting him sit in silence, trying his best to ignore the feel of the Calatian's eyes watching him. His body felt knotted, his hands going numb in protest to his clenching. He wanted badly to be beating on something, anything to get rid of this feeling that he was going to explode. That his headache had grown steadily worse only compounded his problems.
"Listen," Rhys broke in. "I need to take you back."
Link looked up at him and he paused. Rhys cleared his throat and said, "Hey, I'm sorry, but I have to."
"Did you know that I'm a monster?" Link told him conversationally.
"What?"
"A genuine demon. I'm no longer human. Makes you wonder if I ever was one in the beginning. But see, that's not what really makes me angry. You want to know what does?"
"Not really."
"What really makes me angry, is that not only did she do this to me, but that I let her." He stood up suddenly, making Rhys jump back. "I don't see any reason to believe her, and yet I do. I let her turn me into a monster. I ran away from my duty as a Guardian; I'm always running from everything; and look where it got me!" He was advancing on Rhys, the man's fear triggering the predatory instinct to stalk. He backed him into a tree and stepped closer to him. "And the worst thing of all, the thing I'm most afraid of, is that maybe, maybe I like being a monster." Suddenly he turned away from Rhys in disgust. Rhys took the chance and darted away from Link, putting distance between them.
Rhys drew in a slow breath. "I still need to get you back."
Link looked at him and burst into laughter. True laughter. Rhys cocked his head in puzzlement and Link laughed harder. When he caught hold of himself, Link smiled wryly at him. "I apologize for laughing, but your persistence was amusing. I also apologize for my earlier behavior."
"Think nothing of it, I guess. Come on, Gorry'll have food ready by now."
Link allowed himself to be led, wondering what was to come now and if the others were all right.
* * *
A/N: Once again, much thanks goes out to Tori and the LoZ ff:ml, who prevent this from turning to a pile of mush, and to you, dear reader, who continues to read my mush. =) Hopefully this hasn't gotten too confusing. Hopefully.
