Someone was pounding on the door.
Link swore, rolled over, shoved his face into the pillow.
"Captain! Sir! Are you in there?"
Wow, entirely too many exclamation points for this early in the morning. Link mumbled something in reply. Unfortunately, his eyes were open now and he was mostly awake. Pushing himself up to a more-or-less vertical position, he yawned hugely. Why did he feel so tired?
He glanced around the small stone room, out the small rectangular window. Oh. Maybe because it wasn't even dawn yet.
"Who is that?"
"Rilie, sir, from the In-Residence garrison. Please, sir, it's an emergency!"
Link stood up, swerved towards the door. "Rilie, I speak from the bottom of my heart when I say that, for your own sake, you'd better not be overreacting."
The young guard's face was pale, beads of sweat standing out in harsh relief against the skin. Torchlight danced off his skin- too much torchlight, Link realized, for this time of night. The castle was awake. Something was wrong.
"Sir!" The guard stammered, suddenly speechless when faced with the impending wrath of his commanding officer. "Her Majesty- The Queen- Queen Zelda has been kidnapped!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Twenty minutes later, Link was fully dressed, armed, and more awake than he'd been in months. He stood, arms crossed, in the center of the Queen's personal chamber, surveying the remnants of an abduction. The blankets were thrown carelessly back, piling off the end of the bed and onto the floor. The cords from the drapery were missing. There was a dark, dried bloodstain on the floor and partially up the wall in the corner. He took all of this in silently.
There wasn't really a word for how he felt, save detached. Somewhere below his practical mind, rage and confusion and, so hidden that he barely noticed it, terror battled for attention. If one won out over the others, then he would be in danger- he could lose control. The only thing keeping him thinking clearly was knowing it wouldn't do anyone any good if his logic was dethroned.
Dethroned.
Link took a deep breath. Another. Didn't scream, or swear, or break anything. Just stood perfectly still until he felt stable again.
"Sir-?" a timid voice asked. Link turned. It was Rilie again. Bearer of bad news, Link thought automatically.
"Sir, the Royal Bodyguard would like to see you as soon as possible."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The five living Sheikah who had been attending the Queen that night knelt, silent, on the stone floor. Each of them stared resolutely down at the gray flagstone. Link stood behind Impa, watching, looking at the faces of the five who had let him down.
When Impa spoke, her voice filled the small hall like water being poured into a basin- that slow, that unstoppable. "And now you have told us everything?"
Five heads inclined ever so slightly.
None of them had seen the attackers. None of them had seen anything. Link's mouth turned down before he could control it. "This is useless," he whispered.
Five faces flinched.
"They know more than the rest of us," Impa said, her tone a gentle rebuke.
"The kidnappers know more than the rest of us," Link corrected harshly.
"And Sheranin," one of the five murmured.
"Sheranin," the other four agreed in perfect unison.
"Who's that?" Link demanded, not wanting to waste time with the constant ritual and secrecy of the Sheikah.
"The one who died," Impa said, her voice no longer gentle. Link's stomach dropped about level with his boots. His eyes flicked to the back of the tiny chapel where a still figure lay covered in a gray silk shroud.
"Sorry."
Six heads nodded, accepting the apology. "Don't trivialize their role," Impa said after a moment. "It's not much, but they can tell us something. Someone died for her, Link."
Link bit his lower lip, nodded.
"Good Mother-"
The Sheikah honorific took the two officers by surprise. They looked at the five.
The one kneeling in the middle looked back. He was pale, with black hair and gray-green eyes. There was gold embroidery on his tunic hem and sleeves. He was the captain.
"Dier?" Impa prompted.
He swallowed, adam's apple bobbing nervously. "Good Mother- Please, don't try to justify us. We, who were supposed to be the High Mother's last defense, failed first and last to protect her. We have no excuses. We beg for the grace of death."
Impa raised an eyebrow. "All of you?"
Nods echoed down the row. Link stifled an exclamation. The Sheikah were a people drawn to and employed by death- to demand it's embrace was asking the final mercy, salvation from a life that had become too difficult to bear.
Impa thought for a long moment. "...No," she finally said. "I would not have more of my people's blood spilled today. And I forbid the taking of your own lives."
Dier's head shot back up. Liquid crystal glinted in his eyes. "Good Mother, please-!"
"No!" Impa barked. For a moment, her face was lined with grief and fear. "No," she repeated softly. "There has been enough death, and there will be more to come, I think, before this is done."
All five remaining guardians slowly bowed their heads.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The morning sun peeked timidly through each arrowslit, poked into Link's eyes with every other step. He and Impa strode down the hall side by side- they must have made an imposing image, he realized. Servants were scurrying out of their way, looking guilty and nervous.
"...interviewing all the new staff," Impa was saying. Link blinked, coming back to the conversation. Really, it was more of a monologue. "We have guards searching the city, but I doubt they'll find anything. This kind of attack can't have been a spur of the moment thing- it was too well planned."
Link took an extra long look out of one arrowslit. He kept expecting to see something, anything productive- a squadron of soldiers coming back with news of the Queen. The Queen herself, riding from a miraculous escape.
Or, more practically, a single messenger, a white banner, a ransom demand.
"Link." Slender brown fingers snapped right under his nose, making him jump. Impa raised a white eyebrow sardonically. "Get your ass in gear."
"Sorry," he muttered, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "I'm not focusing."
Tossing him a 'No- Really?' look, Impa walked on. "We're tracking down every merchant and noble who left the capital this morning."
Link turned towards her. "Nobles left the castle this morning? Why wasn't I informed?"
"Because, technically, they were an In-Residence security issue until they left the residence." Impa smiled sweetly.
"That's low."
"And I told you three or four times. You were so worried about Her Majesty it just went out of your head."
"Oh." Link nearly blushed. "Care to refresh my memory?"
"Now that you've asked..." The smile dropped off her face, and Impa began to count off her fingers. "The Zoran, Gerudo, Kokiri, and Greenleaf parties all left shortly before dawn. Patrols caught the Gerudo representative- she traveled alone, with one horse. The Zoran party submitted willingly to a search. All we need to do is find the Kokiri and Greeleaf parties."
Memories flew. Link frowned. "The Greenleaf party is unaccounted for."
Impa met his eyes. "I think we're thinking along the same lines."
Link nodded slowly, decisively. "Feel like searching through some rooms?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
For proprieties' sake, they searched both the Kokiri and Greenleaf parties' rooms. There were three Kokiri and twenty-six Greenleaf rooms. Partially to save time and partially to make them feel needed, Impa and Link enlisted the help of the five living Sheikah guardians. Link took the Kokiri rooms alone, leaving the other six to search the Greenleaf suites.
Shit, he thought disgustedly, surveying all the child-sized furniture he'd have to go through. It was the first openly hostile thought he'd allowed himself all day, and, given that he was about to waste gods-knew-how-long searching the rooms of people he knew in his gut had nothing to do with the current crisis, he thought he was entitled.
"Shit," he said aloud, and enjoyed it.
There was nothing in any of the bureaus. There was nothing in any of the wardrobes. There was nothing in any of the child-sized privies. The mattresses hadn't been resewn recently. The furniture was all intact, except for one chair with a loose leg. He felt honor-bound to take it apart, and found it was, in fact, a chair with a loose leg.
"Damn it!"
The chair broke satisfactorily against the wall.
Someone rapped timidly at the door. A blond head wrapped partially in Sheikah ceremonial bandaging appeared. "Sir?"
Link did his level best to ignore the chair remnants. "Yes?"
A slender hand beckoned him out. "We've found something."
Link paced the hall behind the Sheikah, nearly running the shorter man over with his haste. All the way down the hall Link barked off questions- What had they found? Was it definitely evidence, or just a clue? The Sheikah refused to reply, saying the Good Mother wanted to explain herself. They strode into the last set of Greenleaf rooms, making the other Sheikah leap for their weapons until Impa barked a restraint command. The smallest of the five was more than halfway out the window, her ankles held firmly by Impa herself.
Link took a moment to assess the situation. "Did you drop it out the window?"
Impa looked up. "Not even close. Ready, Rowenie?"
There was a muffled affirmative from the Sheikah out the window, and Impa released her ankles. Link bit back an outcry- they were five stories up. He rushed to the window, pressing against the sill and staring down-
At the Sheikah woman as she caught herself neatly on an ornamental rim of stone, edged along on her fingertips to a gutter nearby, and, with complete disregard for the height or her own safety, monkeyed her way up it- all the way to the Queen's bedchamber in a high tower.
Link stared, dumbstruck.
"Wow," he finally managed.
"Yeah, that's pretty much what we said," Impa said calmly.
Link turned to his cohort. "I'd say this was pretty convenient if I needed to visit Her Majesty's bedchamber in the middle of the night."
She nodded. "I'd say."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Link sat, staring out over the dark, foggy landscape as night planted firm roots in the sky. The view from the battlements was amazing- he could see all of Hyrule Field- if a bit too open to the elements. The night wind was cold, still showing spring frost, and froze the tips of his ears, but he ignored it. He was getting anxious. It had been over six hours, and there was no word from the platoon of soldiers they'd sent out to collect the Duke of Greenleaf and his associates.
Free of possibility now, Link's mind began to ramble. If the Greenleaf party had done it (and every fiber of his being screamed they had), why? Did they want a ransom? Of what? Political power? Money?
What had they done to the Queen?
Was she still-?
He shook his head, trying to free himself of those thoughts. He wasn't thinking clearly- he hadn't been all day. This crisis was throwing some facts into harsh relief, facts he'd spent every other waking day ignoring or denying. Whenever Her Majesty- the Queen- his childhood friend- Zelda, intruded too deeply on his thoughts, he became distinctly uncomfortable. Wistful. Hopeful. Depressed. Giddy. That odd cocktail of conflicting feelings that filled his entire body and left no room for anything else.
"Sir-"
Biting off a curse, Link turned. "Yes?"
The pikeman in the doorway saluted sharply. "We think we've found someone."
Link swore, rolled over, shoved his face into the pillow.
"Captain! Sir! Are you in there?"
Wow, entirely too many exclamation points for this early in the morning. Link mumbled something in reply. Unfortunately, his eyes were open now and he was mostly awake. Pushing himself up to a more-or-less vertical position, he yawned hugely. Why did he feel so tired?
He glanced around the small stone room, out the small rectangular window. Oh. Maybe because it wasn't even dawn yet.
"Who is that?"
"Rilie, sir, from the In-Residence garrison. Please, sir, it's an emergency!"
Link stood up, swerved towards the door. "Rilie, I speak from the bottom of my heart when I say that, for your own sake, you'd better not be overreacting."
The young guard's face was pale, beads of sweat standing out in harsh relief against the skin. Torchlight danced off his skin- too much torchlight, Link realized, for this time of night. The castle was awake. Something was wrong.
"Sir!" The guard stammered, suddenly speechless when faced with the impending wrath of his commanding officer. "Her Majesty- The Queen- Queen Zelda has been kidnapped!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Twenty minutes later, Link was fully dressed, armed, and more awake than he'd been in months. He stood, arms crossed, in the center of the Queen's personal chamber, surveying the remnants of an abduction. The blankets were thrown carelessly back, piling off the end of the bed and onto the floor. The cords from the drapery were missing. There was a dark, dried bloodstain on the floor and partially up the wall in the corner. He took all of this in silently.
There wasn't really a word for how he felt, save detached. Somewhere below his practical mind, rage and confusion and, so hidden that he barely noticed it, terror battled for attention. If one won out over the others, then he would be in danger- he could lose control. The only thing keeping him thinking clearly was knowing it wouldn't do anyone any good if his logic was dethroned.
Dethroned.
Link took a deep breath. Another. Didn't scream, or swear, or break anything. Just stood perfectly still until he felt stable again.
"Sir-?" a timid voice asked. Link turned. It was Rilie again. Bearer of bad news, Link thought automatically.
"Sir, the Royal Bodyguard would like to see you as soon as possible."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The five living Sheikah who had been attending the Queen that night knelt, silent, on the stone floor. Each of them stared resolutely down at the gray flagstone. Link stood behind Impa, watching, looking at the faces of the five who had let him down.
When Impa spoke, her voice filled the small hall like water being poured into a basin- that slow, that unstoppable. "And now you have told us everything?"
Five heads inclined ever so slightly.
None of them had seen the attackers. None of them had seen anything. Link's mouth turned down before he could control it. "This is useless," he whispered.
Five faces flinched.
"They know more than the rest of us," Impa said, her tone a gentle rebuke.
"The kidnappers know more than the rest of us," Link corrected harshly.
"And Sheranin," one of the five murmured.
"Sheranin," the other four agreed in perfect unison.
"Who's that?" Link demanded, not wanting to waste time with the constant ritual and secrecy of the Sheikah.
"The one who died," Impa said, her voice no longer gentle. Link's stomach dropped about level with his boots. His eyes flicked to the back of the tiny chapel where a still figure lay covered in a gray silk shroud.
"Sorry."
Six heads nodded, accepting the apology. "Don't trivialize their role," Impa said after a moment. "It's not much, but they can tell us something. Someone died for her, Link."
Link bit his lower lip, nodded.
"Good Mother-"
The Sheikah honorific took the two officers by surprise. They looked at the five.
The one kneeling in the middle looked back. He was pale, with black hair and gray-green eyes. There was gold embroidery on his tunic hem and sleeves. He was the captain.
"Dier?" Impa prompted.
He swallowed, adam's apple bobbing nervously. "Good Mother- Please, don't try to justify us. We, who were supposed to be the High Mother's last defense, failed first and last to protect her. We have no excuses. We beg for the grace of death."
Impa raised an eyebrow. "All of you?"
Nods echoed down the row. Link stifled an exclamation. The Sheikah were a people drawn to and employed by death- to demand it's embrace was asking the final mercy, salvation from a life that had become too difficult to bear.
Impa thought for a long moment. "...No," she finally said. "I would not have more of my people's blood spilled today. And I forbid the taking of your own lives."
Dier's head shot back up. Liquid crystal glinted in his eyes. "Good Mother, please-!"
"No!" Impa barked. For a moment, her face was lined with grief and fear. "No," she repeated softly. "There has been enough death, and there will be more to come, I think, before this is done."
All five remaining guardians slowly bowed their heads.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The morning sun peeked timidly through each arrowslit, poked into Link's eyes with every other step. He and Impa strode down the hall side by side- they must have made an imposing image, he realized. Servants were scurrying out of their way, looking guilty and nervous.
"...interviewing all the new staff," Impa was saying. Link blinked, coming back to the conversation. Really, it was more of a monologue. "We have guards searching the city, but I doubt they'll find anything. This kind of attack can't have been a spur of the moment thing- it was too well planned."
Link took an extra long look out of one arrowslit. He kept expecting to see something, anything productive- a squadron of soldiers coming back with news of the Queen. The Queen herself, riding from a miraculous escape.
Or, more practically, a single messenger, a white banner, a ransom demand.
"Link." Slender brown fingers snapped right under his nose, making him jump. Impa raised a white eyebrow sardonically. "Get your ass in gear."
"Sorry," he muttered, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "I'm not focusing."
Tossing him a 'No- Really?' look, Impa walked on. "We're tracking down every merchant and noble who left the capital this morning."
Link turned towards her. "Nobles left the castle this morning? Why wasn't I informed?"
"Because, technically, they were an In-Residence security issue until they left the residence." Impa smiled sweetly.
"That's low."
"And I told you three or four times. You were so worried about Her Majesty it just went out of your head."
"Oh." Link nearly blushed. "Care to refresh my memory?"
"Now that you've asked..." The smile dropped off her face, and Impa began to count off her fingers. "The Zoran, Gerudo, Kokiri, and Greenleaf parties all left shortly before dawn. Patrols caught the Gerudo representative- she traveled alone, with one horse. The Zoran party submitted willingly to a search. All we need to do is find the Kokiri and Greeleaf parties."
Memories flew. Link frowned. "The Greenleaf party is unaccounted for."
Impa met his eyes. "I think we're thinking along the same lines."
Link nodded slowly, decisively. "Feel like searching through some rooms?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
For proprieties' sake, they searched both the Kokiri and Greenleaf parties' rooms. There were three Kokiri and twenty-six Greenleaf rooms. Partially to save time and partially to make them feel needed, Impa and Link enlisted the help of the five living Sheikah guardians. Link took the Kokiri rooms alone, leaving the other six to search the Greenleaf suites.
Shit, he thought disgustedly, surveying all the child-sized furniture he'd have to go through. It was the first openly hostile thought he'd allowed himself all day, and, given that he was about to waste gods-knew-how-long searching the rooms of people he knew in his gut had nothing to do with the current crisis, he thought he was entitled.
"Shit," he said aloud, and enjoyed it.
There was nothing in any of the bureaus. There was nothing in any of the wardrobes. There was nothing in any of the child-sized privies. The mattresses hadn't been resewn recently. The furniture was all intact, except for one chair with a loose leg. He felt honor-bound to take it apart, and found it was, in fact, a chair with a loose leg.
"Damn it!"
The chair broke satisfactorily against the wall.
Someone rapped timidly at the door. A blond head wrapped partially in Sheikah ceremonial bandaging appeared. "Sir?"
Link did his level best to ignore the chair remnants. "Yes?"
A slender hand beckoned him out. "We've found something."
Link paced the hall behind the Sheikah, nearly running the shorter man over with his haste. All the way down the hall Link barked off questions- What had they found? Was it definitely evidence, or just a clue? The Sheikah refused to reply, saying the Good Mother wanted to explain herself. They strode into the last set of Greenleaf rooms, making the other Sheikah leap for their weapons until Impa barked a restraint command. The smallest of the five was more than halfway out the window, her ankles held firmly by Impa herself.
Link took a moment to assess the situation. "Did you drop it out the window?"
Impa looked up. "Not even close. Ready, Rowenie?"
There was a muffled affirmative from the Sheikah out the window, and Impa released her ankles. Link bit back an outcry- they were five stories up. He rushed to the window, pressing against the sill and staring down-
At the Sheikah woman as she caught herself neatly on an ornamental rim of stone, edged along on her fingertips to a gutter nearby, and, with complete disregard for the height or her own safety, monkeyed her way up it- all the way to the Queen's bedchamber in a high tower.
Link stared, dumbstruck.
"Wow," he finally managed.
"Yeah, that's pretty much what we said," Impa said calmly.
Link turned to his cohort. "I'd say this was pretty convenient if I needed to visit Her Majesty's bedchamber in the middle of the night."
She nodded. "I'd say."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Link sat, staring out over the dark, foggy landscape as night planted firm roots in the sky. The view from the battlements was amazing- he could see all of Hyrule Field- if a bit too open to the elements. The night wind was cold, still showing spring frost, and froze the tips of his ears, but he ignored it. He was getting anxious. It had been over six hours, and there was no word from the platoon of soldiers they'd sent out to collect the Duke of Greenleaf and his associates.
Free of possibility now, Link's mind began to ramble. If the Greenleaf party had done it (and every fiber of his being screamed they had), why? Did they want a ransom? Of what? Political power? Money?
What had they done to the Queen?
Was she still-?
He shook his head, trying to free himself of those thoughts. He wasn't thinking clearly- he hadn't been all day. This crisis was throwing some facts into harsh relief, facts he'd spent every other waking day ignoring or denying. Whenever Her Majesty- the Queen- his childhood friend- Zelda, intruded too deeply on his thoughts, he became distinctly uncomfortable. Wistful. Hopeful. Depressed. Giddy. That odd cocktail of conflicting feelings that filled his entire body and left no room for anything else.
"Sir-"
Biting off a curse, Link turned. "Yes?"
The pikeman in the doorway saluted sharply. "We think we've found someone."