A note from the Hime no Argh herself–

Well, I'm glad the last Q&A session cleared things up, seemed a lot of readers were confused about some things. I'm aware that there are minor inconsistencies and continuity errors in this fic, as is inevitable in any serial, I think... Someday I'm going to go back and rewrite this story entirely so that it has nothing to do with Zelda (but preserving the original plot and characters) and hopefully get it published. So if you ever read a book that sounds a lot like The Destined, you'll know why...unless someone rips me off.

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Chapter 31

The Awakening

Link scrutinized his opponent surreptitiously as they both limbered for the coming fight, trying to ignore the mutters from watching townspeople at the edges of the square. They thought he didn't have a chance, and after seeing the massive hunk of metal Valan called a sword, Link was inclined to agree with them. Most of his audience didn't know it, but this fight was worth far more than a stupid dispute, and he was about to lose it.

He felt a touch on his shoulder–Zelda. She had come to wish him good luck. Reaching up, she pulled the green cap off his head and tugged his golden hair free of its short ponytail. "What're you doing?" he asked her.

She shrugged, a mischievous smile touching her lips. "Valan's made an impression, why shouldn't you?" she asked, mussing his hair with her fingers. "There, now you look a bit more wild."

Link bit back a laugh, wondering how she could joke at a time like this but appreciating it all the same. "Shall I rip my shirt off and roar like a lion?" he inquired, and Zelda snorted with laughter.

"If you think it'll help," she said, grinning up at him.

Link realized suddenly that she wasn't nervous. She had measured him against Valan and believed with inspiring certainty that he would win.

Link smiled at her. "Thank you."

She leaned up on her toes and kissed him swiftly on the mouth, then drew away and went to the center of the square. The whispers and mutters of the townspeople began to dissipate as they sensed that the fight was about to start.

"The fight between Link and Valan will now commence," Zelda said in a voice that was not raised yet carried easily over the watching crowd. She stood dead center in the town square, back straight and chin lifted, staring slowly about the townspeople at the edges of the square. Someone must have given her lessons in how to act like royalty, Link thought as he watched her. "The terms are as follows. They shall fight until one incapacitates the other by separation from sword, injury, or death." Link thought he saw her give a compulsive shudder, but her voice was quite calm. "Should Valan win, I and my companions shall abandon our cause and leave him in peace. Should Link win, Valan will swear his allegiance to me and join the resistance against Ganondorf."

Chatter broke out in the crowd, like the buzzing of angry bees. People were craning over one another's shoulders to get a better look, pointing at Zelda, Link, and their companions, and turning to their neighbors to openly exclaim, "Did she say Ganondorf?...Did you hear what she called him?...Link, she called him!"

Valan scowled at Link as Zelda retreated from the square. "All part of your plan, this?" he demanded gruffly.

Link smiled broadly. "Actually, yes."

"Well, I'm afraid your plan is doomed to fail," Valan growled, extending his enormous broadsword full-length. "Just like you."

"We'll see." Link crossed swords with Valan's.

Instantly Valan moved his sword back and swung it about in a wide horizontal arc, but Link, dodging easily under it, realized something amazing–as strong as Valan may be, his massive sword was dead weight.

And he, Link, was faster.

Taking a breath that felt like the first, shuddering gasp of a newborn child, Link attacked. He darted beneath the broadsword's second strike and thrust the Master Sword toward Valan's hard belly, but the man skipped away with a speed that belied his size and age and brought the broadsword to bear against Link's follow-up strike. The screech of metal on metal echoed through the square and the opponents broke apart.

For the next few moments they circled, each man searching for an opening in the other's defense. Link took quick stock of the situation once more. Valan's sword was formidable, but slowed the old general down. On the other hand, it was so large that it easily covered Valan with very little movement. A weapon like his was both sword and shield, and Link's only hope was finding a way around it.

Right, Link thought grimly, and feinted. The broadsword followed his movements–as he'd hoped–and he changed direction lightning-fast, striking toward Valan's unprotected left side. But Valan pivoted out of the way at the last second–Link stumbled, off-balance, and Valan's foot struck his ribs like a hammer.

The breath exploded from his body; a loud snap accompanied by an excruciating bolt of pain told him a rib had cracked.

"FOUL!" the audience screamed, as though a single, furious entity. But they were wrong, Link thought dazedly, gasping at the pain in his ribs as he staggered out of range of that accursed sword. No one had thought to limit the fighting to swords, which put Link at yet another disadvantage. Goddesses above, the man was stronger than a bull.

Valan's laughter roared in his ears. "Hah! You'll have to get up earlier than that to touch me, boy!"

Link shook his head to clear it and tried to ignore the stabbing pains in his ribs. Focus, he told himself furiously. You've got to win this.

He didn't want to kill Valan, and injuring him would be pointless as well. He had to find a way to get that sword out of Valan's hands.

He leapt forward just as Valan swung the sword over his head and down in a sweeping arc, and realized too late that he couldn't dodge this attack–he skidded to a stop before Valan and brought the Master Sword up over his head just as Valan's broadsword descended–the two swords struck with a thunderous clang and locked together.

Dammit, Link thought, sweating, as he desperately strained to hold Valan's sword at bay with his. It was the same move Impa had used the first time he fought her, only now he was facing an opponent about five times stronger. His arms shook with the effort of holding up Valan's sword, but the general was pressing down with all of his strength.

"Give up, boy," Valan whispered, his dark face shining with sweat. "Give up now and I'll let you live."

"That's not an option," Link said grimly as the weapons inched closer to the top of his head. He wondered, feeling oddly calm and detached, what would happen when he was no longer able to hold back Valan's sword. Would that massive broadsword simply cleave him in two?

He was aware of absolute silence from the watching crowd. No sound was heard but the protesting creaks from both of their blades. Link felt his own sword bite into his scalp just above the hairline; blood trickled down his forehead.

I have got to win this, Link thought grimly as his arms shook even harder and blood ran into his unblinking eyes. I must win!

And suddenly he heard a voice inside of his own mind–an unbearably clear, pure voice, singing in unearthly harmony. He had heard this divinely beautiful music before. It was the song of the goddesses.

To Link's amazement strength and energy surged suddenly through his body–instinctively he thrust the Master Sword upward in a burst of strength and Valan staggered back, caught off-balance. Link stared at the sword in his hands, whose blade was glowing so brightly it threw the entire clearing into relief, even in the middle of day.

Valan charged him with an almighty roar, whipping his broadsword around as if to slice straight through Link's middle–but possessed with this newfound energy and driven by instinct, he stepped forward and struck. His blade met Valan's with a thundering clang like the strike of a gong and the broadsword was cleaved neatly in two, the severed half crashing to the cobblestones.

For a moment it seemed as though time froze. Valan stared, dumbfounded, at his broken sword, the severed edge blackened and smoking. Then the handle slipped from his hands, and the defeated blade fell.

With the sword's fall the tension in the town square was broken; the townspeople exploded into wild screaming and applauding. They were cheering for him, Link thought dazedly, blinking blood from his eyes. Two great thuds nearly knocked him over as Zelda and Cleo slammed into him, hugging him so tightly that he almost fainted from the pain in his injured ribs. Luckily both women let go right away. "Sorry!" Zelda cried, clasping her hands to her mouth. Link realized that her face was as white as a sheet, and that Cleo was crying.

"We thought you were going to die!" sobbed the red-haired thief.

"I'm all right," Link told them, bewildered, and the two women slid their arms beneath his shoulders to help him back toward the edge of the square, where Impa, Rauru, Ronin, and Blue (in the form of a madly twittering sparrow) waited.

The crowd pressed on them eagerly, many hands slapping Link's back in congratulations. "Back off there!" Rauru and Impa were ordering, pushing against the wave of townspeople. Zelda grinned up at Link, her face now flushed with excitement.

"You're a hero, Link! And they don't even know you!"

"Oh good," Link gasped as he slid from Zelda and Cleo's hold to the cobblestones. "I'm all right, just my ribs..."

"You there!" Impa snapped at a blond-haired young boy, who jumped. "Get the town healer!"

Somehow in all the confusion, Link noticed that Valan was waiting, standing apart from them yet watching them with a level gaze. "Go," he murmured toward Zelda, pushing her in Valan's direction.

The crowd fell silent once more as Zelda approached Valan, wearing the regal stance she had adopted before the match, but her voice was earnest as she spoke.

"We do at least have a chance of winning, General Valan," she said quietly, gazing up at his weary, worn face. "Isn't it time to let the ghosts pass on?"

Valan looked at her as though he'd never seen anything like her in his life. His voice, when he spoke, was quiet and full of emotion. "You are truly your mother's daughter, Majesty."

The general sank to one knee. "I, Valan," he began, "do solemnly swear my allegiance to Her Majesty Zelda, Queen of the Hylians, and vow to serve her and her descendants in every way that I can, until the end of my days."

Zelda's voice shook a tiny bit, but was otherwise quite calm as she replied, "And I, Zelda, do accept Valan's allegiance, and vow to serve him and his descendants, until the end of my days."

"Good," Link rasped as Zelda and Valan approached. "You have a general."

"All thanks to you, Link," Zelda said, beaming.

Link nodded. "There's just one more thing." He held up his hand, his ribs screaming in protest at the movement, and showed Zelda the back of it. Zelda's eyes widened in shock as she stared at the perfectly etched mark of the goddesses on the back of his hand. "If I'm not mistaken, I think the Triforce of Courage has awakened."

And with that he promptly fainted.

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To be continued.