The Legend of Zelda: The Return
Chapter 24
I slip quietly inside the door and shut it behind me, then lean up against it and breathe a sigh of relief, sliding down the cool wood and sitting on the floor.
Within the next 30 minutes someone will notice I'm missing and start a ripple of panic throughout the Fortress and they'll tear this place apart to find me.
If I'm lucky I'll have an hour to myself.
But it's been a long time since I've been lucky . . .
The statue of my mother greets me with a sarcastic, crooked half-smile.
I suppose Navi will be mad at me . . . I left her sleeping in my hat back in my room . . .
Oh well. Navi's always mad at me.
I reach into my pouch and pull out the Ocarina of Time, setting it to my lips and beginning to play.
It's been a week since I let that damn Maeasm sting me. I spent most of it in and out of consciousness, and the parts I can remember are filled with feverish dreams, pain, and confused thoughts. I know that the Witches were just messing with my head. I know I only fell for it because of the combination of the poison and their magic. I know that what I saw didn't happen, and probably won't happen . . .
But it still disturbs me.
I can't get over how easily that other me killed everyone I – everyone he – used to care about.
That could be me . . .
I could turn into him . . .
Hunter says I'm overreacting (he seems to think I do that a lot). Said it was just the Witches screwing around with me and trying to make me into another Ganondorf, and even if it is possible I could turn out like that, I wouldn't without their influence on me.
But still . . .
I can't help but wonder . . .
The ease with which he killed those people . . .
Like he'd been doing it all his life . . .
He was so . . . impersonal about it . . .
Like it didn't matter . . .
Killing is nothing new to me. I've killed lots of things . . . tektites, dodongos, lizalfos, wolfos . . .
And people . . .
I've killed one person.
Detsu.
Except . . . when I killed him . . . it was personal.
I pull the Ocarina away from my lips and scowl down at it, clutching it hard.
"Don't stop," says a voice from the other side of the statue. "It sounded nice . . ." I blink in surprise.
"Hunter?" I ask. He laughs and stretches out on the floor, turning his head to grin at me.
"I couldn't get through your personal body guard," he says. "I figured you'd get sick of the constant attention sooner or later and try to go somewhere and hide." He looks back up at the ceiling. "Figured if you'd go anywhere you'd go here." He glances at me out of the corner of his eye. "You're still worried about that vision or whatever it was, aren't you?" He asks.
"What are you, psychic?" I demand.
"Yes," he answers.
"Hmmm, you learn something new every day," I say. He smirks at me.
"Don't ever leave me alone with Gerudo again, all right?" He asks. "Neesha is the only one of them who has something even close to a sense of humor, and hers is definitely rough around the edges."
"Ha," I say with a grin. "So is Neesha." We share a smile and I set the Ocarina back to my lips and start to play again.
"So, uh," Hunter says after a moment over the music, "I've been bored out of my mind for the past week, between you being sick and Neesha being busy with whatever it is Gerudo do, and I kind of did some digging . . ." I raise an eyebrow at him as I continue playing. "It turns out that Ganondorf's old room isn't far from this one. Down the hall and around a couple of corners." I give him a look that says 'So?' He looks back up at the ceiling. "The last time you saw your Dad was about fifteen years ago . . . apparently back then the spell to create something like Dark Link didn't exist. Regardless of how it was accomplished, Ganondorf would have had to have made it up as he went. And dark mojo like that isn't easy to just come up with it. That would have required experiments, trial and error, notes of some kind . . ." My eyes widen and the notes of my song trail off as the implications of what he's suggesting settle into my mind. "If Dark Link really is Brayden . . ." He looks back over and meets my gaze. I shove my Ocarina back into my pouch.
"Let's go," I say, getting to my feet, Hunter right on my heels.
"Finally," he says. "Something to do!" I pause at the door.
"Um . . ." I say, "you first. I don't think they know I'm missing yet, and I'd rather not give myself away." He grins at me as he slips out the door.
"Not liking your new status?" He asks.
"It's not the status, it's the way people react to it," I say. "I've been awake, what? Two days? And they're already driving me nuts. There's always a minimum – a minimum – of five Gerudo with me wherever I go. And every time I go somewhere, they're all bowing and going quiet and everything else . . ." I shake my head. "I'm starting to regret having ever told them about it. I mean . . . it's not like I've changed, right? So what if I'm their King? I'm still just me." I shake my head again. "I don't even know anything about these people, Hunter. I don't have a clue how they work, or what they like, or who they are . . . some King. I should have thought this through better."
"Well," Hunter says as he peeks around the corner, checking for Gerudo, "maybe I can help that part a bit. We had to study a bit about the Gerudo during our history lessons." He makes a face. "Impa's great and all but she's so damn long-winded. I zoned out for most of it, but I'll tell you what I remember. What do you want to know?" I raise an eyebrow at him.
"Impa's long-winded?" I demand. Hunter nods.
"Yeah," he says. "At least on the topic of history. You can't get her to shut up once she starts."
"Hmm, guess you really do learn something new everyday," I say. "Well, what can you tell me about the Gerudo?" Hunter scratches his head as we walk.
"Well, at its most fundamental level, their societal structure is a lot like the Gorons, only instead of them all being brothers, they're all sisters."
"They seem a bit more uptight than the Gorons," I point out.
"That's where the Gerudo start getting more complicated," Hunter says. "They're only like the Gorons at the most basic of levels. You go any deeper than that and there's a world of difference. For instance, the Gorons still have individual family units within their larger extended family. Darunia has a son, and they're a family and that's all there is to it. The Gerudo don't have individual family units. When a baby is born, it's raised by society as a whole. The Gerudos take turns at taking care of the kids, the same way they take turns at guard duty and cooking. There are no mothers or aunts or grandmothers in their society, just sisters. Their sisters are their first priority." He paused thoughtfully. "Second priority," he corrects himself. "You're their first."
"So what am I supposed to be? Their brother? Father?"
"King," Hunter answered. "No less, no more. You are above and beyond them. You lead them, and they follow you, and it's as simple as that for them."
"Joy," I mutter.
"Depends on your perspective," Hunter answers without missing a beat. "But anyway, the Gerudo also have a hierarchy that's a lot more structured than the Gorons. Which is to say they have a hierarchy at all. You can tell a Gerudo's general status by her uniform. Purple is the lowest rank, worn by the children and those who have yet to prove themselves worthy of going up a rank. Purple Gerudo are usually assigned to the more menial tasks. The majority of Gerudo are the purple. Gerudo who display exceptional fighting skill are given the red uniform to wear. The Red Gerudo are usually assigned to guarding prisoners, or driving off enemies, etc. etc. etc.. If their fighting skills continue to advance, or if they show an exceptional intellect, they can be promoted to the green uniform. The Green Gerudo are usually given more administrative jobs. They handle the day to day running of the base. Who's on what duty, who gets promoted, equipment, food, and so on."
"What about the white ones?" I ask.
"I'm getting to them," Hunter replies. "From Green, and sometimes from Red, they can get promoted to White. It requires an extreme amount of skill and discipline to get to White, and not many Gerudo manage it, which is why they're known as the Elite. They're the best of the best of the best."
"Do they all have short hair?" I ask, trying to recall all the women I'd seen dressed in white.
"Except for the head of all the Gerudo, yes," Hunter answers. "The Leader is always an Elite, and she is the only Elite allowed to grow her hair long. It's kind of like a badge of office."
"So Nabooru . . ."
"Is an Elite," Hunter says. "And that's why she's the only Gerudo in White with long hair."
"And they taught you all that in history lessons?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.
"Ah," Hunter says, "no. They taught us that Gerudo live in the desert and like to steal things and that we fought them during the Great War."
"So where'd you learn all that from?" I demand. Hunter sighs and rubs the back of his head.
"Remember when I told you I've been bored out of my mind?" He asks. I nod. "Well, that's an understatement. So . . . I asked one of the Gerudo about it, and they told me." My eyebrow goes up further.
"Some random Gerudo just decided out of the blue to share with you, a Sheikah, all about their people?" I ask. Hunter rubs his head again.
"Uh . . ." He says. "Well . . . so it wasn't a random Gerudo . . ."
"It was Neesha wasn't it?" I ask.
"Uh . . . yes," he admits.
"You followed her around on her punishment didn't you?" I ask.
"What is this an interrogation?" He demands suddenly. "I was bored, remember? What else was I gonna do? You were unconscious, and when you weren't unconscious, your self-appointed guards wouldn't let me through anyway, and it's not like Neesha was willing to just skip her punishment, which is really stupid anyway by the way, and do something so . . . I followed her around." He raises an eyebrow at me as I try my hardest not to smirk at him. "This isn't funny, Link, I'm going stir crazy. This desert is making me insane." It's too much.
I laugh at him.
His lip twitches at the corner but he refuses to smile.
"Shut up," he says, but his voice quavers just a touch.
"You sound crazy," I tell him. "Look, we'll get out of here soon, all right? Once we get word from everyone that they're ready to go." He finally grins at me.
"Sorry," he says. "Like I said. Desert. Crazy."
"Right," I say with a grin. "Blame it on the desert." He hits me. I stagger slightly and he catches my arm.
"Sorry," he says. "Forgot you were unconscious for a week. Probably didn't help your stamina much, eh?" I grin at him as I regain my balance.
"Don't worry," I say. "We'll just blame it on the desert." We stop in front of a blatantly large door. "Let me guess," I say. "Ganondorf's room."
"This is it," Hunter says, putting his hand on the handle. "I guess he was a fan of grandiose, eh?"
"You better believe it," I say. Hunter struggles with the heavy door and I move to help him but hesitate suddenly.
Ganondorf's room . . .
Do I really want to go in there?
Ganondorf almost killed me . . .
Ganondorf almost defeated me . . . on more than one level . . .
And I never really did manage to do anything permanent to his state of living . . .
Locked away is not permanent . . .
For a half an instant I feel irrationally afraid.
For a half an instant nonsensical worries run through my mind . . .
What if by going in there I somehow manage to bring him back . . .?
What if I go in there and he's just waiting for me . . . he's never really been gone this whole time, he's just been waiting . . .?
I shake myself when Hunter lays a hand on my arm.
"Hey, look," he says, studying me concernedly, "if you don't want to . . ."
"No," I interrupt him. "No, I'm fine. I just . . . Ganondorf is . . ." I shake my head. "It doesn't matter. If there's any information in there about my father I want it." I step forward and throw my weight into the door. Hunter studies me for a moment more then adds his weight to mine. The creaky old door finally swings ponderously inward and Hunter and I finally manage to squeeze in through.
We blink and take in our new surroundings.
Oh my Goddess this place is creepy . . .
Heavy black drapes are thrown over the windows, allowing in only a few thin slivers of light. There is a huge mahogany desk over against the wall littered with books and papers and an assortment of odd objects like small bones, feathers, oddly colored stones, and Din knows what else. Strange runes are engraved into the walls and on the floor in odd symmetrical patterns. A huge shelf lies against the wall directly across from us and is overflowing with books. Candles are scattered all over the room and a thick layer of dust lies over everything.
My blood runs cold and shiver races up and down my spine.
Hunter's expression mirrors my own opinions.
I don't even want to know the kinds of things he did in this place . . .
I just don't want to know.
"Let's just . . . hurry up and see if we can find anything," Hunter whispers. "This place is creeping me out."
"You take the shelves," I say. "I'll take the, uh . . . the desk."
"Brave man," Hunter mutters, crossing over to the shelves, lighting candles as he goes, and carefully avoiding stepping on any of the runes. I follow suit, heading for the desk. I reluctantly drop into the large chair behind it and blow the dust off of the items on it. It rises into the air in a billowing cloud and I cough on it. Once it settles again I gingerly start picking through what was under it. Most of the papers are written in some language I've never seen before with hurriedly scrawled notes that I can read on the sides of them. Looks like some kind of prophecies . . . the words Hero of Time, King of Evil, and Triforce seem to figure prominently in the translated parts, but the writing's so old as to be illegible in most parts.
I clear off one corner of the desk and start a 'looked-at' pile.
An hour-later my looked-at pile is huge and I've still got nothing to show for it except a healthy disrespect of Ganondorf's penmanship skills.
"Found anything?" I call over at Hunter with a slightly defeated sigh.
"Nope," he answers. He's about a quarter of the way through the shelf. "You?"
"Nope," I reply.
"Damn," he says.
We go back to looking.
Another hour passes . . .
And then another . . .
And then another . . .
I sigh in frustration finally.
"This is useless!" I cry, dropping my head onto my arms, the sudden motion knocking a pile of stones onto the floor. "Oh for love of . . . " Muttering darkly to myself I get up and start picking them up.
"Maybe we should give up," Hunter says, watching me toss the stones back onto the desk. "At least for today anyway. We can always come –"
"Ow! Farore!" I cry, sticking my finger in my mouth.
"What happened?" Hunter asks, setting his book down and coming over to me.
"Stupid stone," I mutter, pulling my finger out of my mouth. "It had a sharp edge."
A single drop of blood falls from my finger and lands on the runes under my feet . . .
The runes flare into light which quickly spreads in a spiderweb patter through some of the other runes on the floor and wall.
"Oh that can't be good . . ." Hunter says as we move back to back and stare wide-eyed at the lights on the wall.
"Maybe . . . we should . . . leave," I say slowly. Hunter nods.
"Uh-huh," he agrees. "One of your better plans I think." We turn and take no more than a step towards the door when the spot where my blood fell suddenly erupts upwards with light. Hunter and I cry out and jump back, then freeze.
A translucent, life-size Ganondorf stares back at us.
I take another step back and inhale sharply.
"I, uh . . . I take it that's Ganondorf," Hunter says softly, stepping back with me. I nod slowly. "Big isn't he . . ."
"Keyword?" Ganondorf asks. We continue to stare at him stupidly. "Keyword?" He repeats. Hunter pokes me in the back.
"Say something," he hisses.
"What?" I demand, turning to stare at him. "Why me? You say something!"
"Hey, I'm not the one who turned it on," he hisses back. "You say something."
"It was your idea to come in here," I argue. "You say something."
"He's your arch-nemesis," Hunter argues back. "You say something." He gives me another shove and I stare apprehensively at the Ganondorf image.
Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man . . .
I'm gonna say something and he's gonna fry me, or cut me, or eat me or something equally nasty, I just know it . . .
"Uh . . ." I say. "Um . . . uh . . ."
"Try Brayden," Hunter hisses.
"Brayden," I say. The image blurs for a second and I jump, but it straightens itself out again.
"Not found," Ganondorf says. "Keyword?"
"Uh . . . Shade," I say. The figure blurs again, and this time disappears completely.
"Oh great, you broke it!" Hunter cries.
"I did not!" I say, then frown at where it used to be. "Did I?"
The image leaps back into existence so fast I yelp and jump backwards.
"Some Hero," Hunter says sarcastically.
"You screamed too," I point out. He hasn't got a comeback for that one.
"Six entries found," Ganondorf says mechanically. I look back at Hunter.
"Now what?" I demand.
"Ask it to tell you what entries," Hunter says. I look back at Ganondorf.
"Um . . . what entries?" I ask.
"Summoning a Shade, Imprisoning a Shade, Binding a Shade, Killing a Shade, Controlling a Shade, Dark Link."
Hunter's and my eyes widen simultaneously.
"Dark Link," I say hurriedly. "Show me Dark Link." Ganondorf fades out again, this time his image is replaced by that of Dark Link. Ganondorf's voice begins to speak.
"A half-century's research into Shades, a demonic life-form from a plane of existence apart from our own, has finally come to a head. What started out as idle-interest has turned out to be of great use to me."
"Shades? Idle interest?" Hunter hisses in my ear. I shush him with a wave, my eyes riveted on the form of Dark Link. Ganondorf's voice continues.
"I discovered recently two ways of manipulating a Shade: how to control it's hungers and focus them on one objective, and how to bind a Shade to a creature from this plane of existence. Initial experiments proved to have rather interesting effects ranging from instant death to insanity to a gradual decomposition of the subject's body, however recent experiments have proven highly successful."
I feel like I'm gonna be sick . . .
He's talking about this like a normal person would discuss their experiments in the kitchen . . .
'Well, I tried mixing this ingredient with that one, and the cake turned out kind of lopsided, but hey I think I've got it now!'
I shudder.
Dark Link's image fades out and Ganondorf returns.
"End of date's entry. Continue with next date?"
"Yes," I say without hesitation.
"I've done it!" Ganondorf says excitedly. "I've perfected the method for combining a Shade with a creature from this plane!" His face twists into a sadistic grin. "And I think it will come in quite handy. A loyal servant of mine sent to track down the renegade Natalia and destroy her and her male spawn, although failing in his original mission, provided me with the perfect subject to use this spell on." I grip Hunter's arm tightly suddenly, my eyes wide.
This is it . . .
This is it!
Ganondorf's image fades out and is replaced by the image of my father.
"Sweet merciful Din," I whisper. I take a step forward but Hunter stops me.
Ganondorf continues speaking.
"Detsu has confirmed my suspicions that Natalia's son is not only heir to my throne, but is also the Hero of Time, and as luck would have it, he also has possession of one of the Triforce pieces that evaded me." The bitterness in his voice warms my heart. "Luckily, Detsu, incompetent though he may be, managed to capture the boy's father: Brayden of the Sheikah." My heart skips a beat and I unconsciously hold my breath as Ganondorf continues. "I bound the Shade to the Sheikah's body, and suppressed his will while focusing the Shade's on one simple thing: find the boy, Brayden's son, and destroy him. Utterly. The focusing had an interesting effect, however. The physical appearance of my new pet shifted. According to Detsu he looks like the adult Hero of Time who arrived in our time recently and apparently thwarted Detsu's attempts to kill the boy. Perhaps the focus was so strong that it manifested itself physically. I'm not sure. More experiments may reveal the answer, but until then, it would appear that through my experiments, I have created a . . . Dark Link."
Brayden's image disappears and Ganondorf reappears.
"End of date's entry," he says. "One date left. Continue?"
"Yes," I say.
Ganondorf's expression shifts to one of intense thought.
"The Princess has finally revealed herself!" He says, his words short and rushed. "She has spent the past seven years disguised as a Sheikah and managed to evade my attention in that way. But she discarded the disguise upon the arrival of the Hero of Time – foolish boy that he is. She is in my possession, and the boy is on his way to play the part of the dashing Hero, rescuing his princess. Fools. Both of them. All three Triforce pieces are almost within my grasp . . . my victory is at hand." He pauses and frowns darkly. "However, the prophecies speak of a possibility of defeat. They do not say how, merely that should it occur, I will not die, but be sealed away somewhere – a seal which can only be broken by the Hero's blood. I have taken precautions in light of this. I have shifted the focus of Dark Link slightly, from destroying the boy outright, to using him to free me before completing his destruction. I can't afford to have my pet destroying the only thing that might be able to break me from my supposed prison. I have also instructed my generals that they are to do nothing in the event of my defeat until Dark Link comes for them." He pauses for a moment, and his face takes on a thoughtful cast. "The Hero's blood . . ." He muses to himself. "It's ironic that the key to breaking the seal holding the Shade and the Sheikah who houses him together, would also be the key to breaking my –" He freezes and his face suddenly alights in triumph. "He's entered the Tower! This is it! The beginning of the end of the Hero of Time!" The emotion fades from his face and he once again stares blankly out at us.
"End of entry." I blink.
"No!" I say. "Continue!"
"End of entry," he repeats.
"How do I separate the Shade and Brayden?" I demand of it. The image flickers and solidifies again.
"Keyword not found," he says. I open my mouth to say something else but the door behind us suddenly opens. We gasp and whirl around and Ganondorf's image disappears as the rune's dim back to darkness.
"There you are!" Rue gasps, leaning up against the wall in relief. "Where the Hell have you been all day? Why are you in here? What are you doing? Did you touch anything? What made you think . . ." Her voice fades off. "What's wrong? What happened? Why are you so pale?"
"I . . . I . . ." I say.
"Nothing," Hunter says. "We just . . . we were curious about what Ganondorf was like outside of battle. Just wanted to see . . . if there was anything in here that could give us some kind of an edge against his forces. Right Link?" He asks. I shoot him a grateful glance.
"Right," I say.
"You shouldn't have come in here," Rue says, casting a nervous glance around the room. "He didn't . . . he didn't like people in here. He did things in here . . . there's no telling what could happen . . ."
I look back down at my dried blood on the floor . . .
"No," I say in agreement. "No telling . . ."