Chapter 3

Zelda stepped out of the shadowy black carriage, gravel crunching under her boots, and tightened her shawl around her shoulders, feeling the bite of the cold morning air. Summer's breath hadn't touched this day yet, and fog drifted lazily around her legs. She was glad that she'd changed from her dress into a tunic far more suitable for daily business.

Glancing behind, she waited until both her handmaiden, Uyllna, and her close friend, the Zora, Ruto, disembarked. The carriage rumbled away, back to the small tavern owned by Zelda's father and given to her as a gift; a small home away from home, a safe place in which to spend a few secretive days in Castleton. Eyes still gummy from being woken far earlier than she was used to, Zelda's fingers curled around the nape of her shawl as she stood at the shadowy entrance of Thieves Alley. Almost unconsciously, she let her other hand drop to the sword dangling at her waist.

She felt Ruto beside her. "What's the word, dear friend?" said Zelda.

Stifling a yawn, the Zora blinked. "The King's on his way. It should take him about three days on horseback."

Zelda felt a knot of discomfort in the pit of her stomach. "And my step-mother?"

Ruto gave a short snort. "Malon's not coming, don't worry."

Letting out a breath, Zelda closed her eyes in relief. "So it's just my father we have to win over."

Ruto, however, wasn't listening. Her eyes traced the buildings in front of them; dilapidated, ramshackle places, their wooden walls stained, their doors and windows cracked. "Lovely scenery," she quipped. "We're still in the Gub, right?"

"The Hub," Zelda murmured. "We have work to do." She gestured to her two companions. "Let's go, and keep your faces hidden."

Nodding, Ruto pulled her hood around her head, then followed Zelda and her handmaiden into the Alley. Curling tendrils of grey fog parted as they made their way through, the hanging street lamps, stained thick with an accumulation of oil, not able to penetrate the gloom. "Is this really necessary?" the Zora asked, her voice betraying her underlying sense of doubt. "I heard he did rescue a little girl, after all."

Zelda made a disgusted face. "Don't be fooled by Link's little deceptions, my friend," she said, her voice soft. "He did it to enhance his reputation, nothing less, nothing more." Catching the Zora's disbelieving expression, the Princess added, "You're with me, aren't you, Ruto? You know why I have to do this, right?"

"Remind me."

Taking in a deep breath, Zelda sorted her thoughts into words. "Link is a power-mad, immoral tyrant. Insanity runs through his veins now, not courage." She saw her handmaiden glance at her, but ignored it. "Let me tell you what I know, just from the scraps I pick up from the nobility living in the Castle."

Her gaze drifted up to Death Mountain, puffing quietly in the distance. Sadness prodded her as the memories returned. "He wanted to expel the Gorons, did you know that?" the Princess continued. "Every last one of them." Seeing Ruto's shocked expression gave Zelda a little thrill of satisfaction. "Poor Darunia. If my father hadn't intervened, the Gorons would be homeless and Death Mountain would be nothing more than dust."

The temperature seemed to drop, chilling them to their hearts, as though Hyrule itself was appalled at the Shadow Lord's actions. A soft breeze blew, sending jagged bits of wood cartwheeling across the path, then into the shadows, to be consumed by the darkness.

Zelda took up her tale once more. "The proud Gorons stripped of their homeland," she continued. "All because of one sick man's whim." The Princess could hardly keep the repugnance out of her voice, repugnance that withered to bitterness as she spoke again. "Somehow Link managed to deceive my father into believing that he had nothing to do with it." Her fingers curled into a fist. "He got away without even a reprimand."

Three sets of boots echoed as they walked on, stepping over the grime and human filth that smeared the ground. Zelda's eyes fell upon the people lying in the streets, huddled in tattered blankets, their faces covered with dirt. She saw a child, his eyes bright, his face sad, and her heart twisted violently with pain. "These poor people," she breathed. "He can't even rid his city of the shady wretches that do nothing but feed on the weak." She looked at Ruto. "I promise you, once I'm Governor this city will be a much safer place to live." Shaking her head, she went on, "I've been such a fool. I'd hoped that the old Link, the one that had saved us before, would have had the strength not to become warped with power." Sadness flooded her voice. "I was wrong. He's still too young for this responsibility."

They turned down a sidestreet, the lamps here dull and flickering. Ruto kept her gaze on the ground in front of her. "To be fair," the Zora said slowly, as though carefully choosing her words, "there's other parts of the city that are prospering really well."

Zelda's sudden stare was like arrow to the heart. "I hope you're not feeling any sympathy for our former friend," she said, straining to keep her voice level. "I know you wished you'd wed him in the past. I wonder if that's still the case now."

Ruto laughed. "Oh, please," she said. "I'm long past that." A wicked twinkle entered her eyes. "And anyway, you're one to talk. I only tried to get engaged to him. You went a lot further."

Zelda's lip twitched as she felt the heat rise in her cheeks. "Quiet!" she whispered, casting a furtive glance at her handmaiden. She turned back to her friend, saw her laughing softly, and tried hard not to laugh herself. Again, without even realising it, Zelda's hand dropped to her belt, her fingers this time finding a small ring, its golden surface smooth. "I was just a child, Ruto."

"And he didn't even know!" her friend said, grinning.

It was infectious, and Zelda found herself smiling too, glad to be in the company of someone with which she could be so frank with. "He did know. It was the memory charm that took it away from him."

The Zora's smiled was mischievous now. "Your father approved."

"And the memory charm affected him as well."

There was silence for a moment, then Ruto spoke again. "You never did annul it, you know. It's still legally binding. He accepted, you accepted, your guardian accepted. All that was left was to wait for the appointed time – and that's long past now. No wonder you never found anyone else, and I hear that you reject any offer that comes your way straight out of hand."

Zelda felt her heart twist once more, a conflict of emotions churning within. Confusion and hesitation won out. "Never mind that. I saw what Ganondorf did to my land." The air took on a chill edge again, the wind blowing softly. "I'm not going to let that happen ever again."

"And yet," Ruto pressed, "you still haven't had it annulled."

A faint smile touched the Princess' lips. "Once I'm Governor, it'll be the first thing I do, don't you worry."

"I was there, too, you know," Ruto said, her voice wistful.

"Sorry?" Zelda said, frowning at the sudden change of subject.

"When Ganondorf did what he did," the Zora explained. "Yes, yes, I know... I know it's just a memory. I know that when you sent Link back in time, the whole Timestream reset so that Ganondorf wouldn't take over, and would be sealed in the Sacred Realm from the start. But we kept our memories. We remembered everything."

"I know that," Zelda said gently, wishing for all the world that she could wipe those very same memories away. "But that's exactly why I have to do this."

The muscles in Ruto's face stiffened as determination strengthened her back. "Yes," she said, a slight trickle of disappointment in her voice. "You're right."

It grew darker now, the dwellings here bloated and misshapen, their coverings nothing more than large, thick leaves, still a deep green, but hanging so far over the edge of the buildings that they blocked out most of the light. Eyes, cold and unfriendly, peered out both from the shadows and from the piles of dirt-strewn blankets, lying at either side of the path.

An old man, horrendously thin as though he were nothing more than bones wrapped in stretched skin, gazed up at them, his eyes pleading. The corners of Zelda's mouth tugged down with sadness. The poor man probably was too proud to ask them for food.

Crouching beside him, her tunic stretching from the motion, the Princess reached into her belt, trying to find the hardened bread that she had stored in one of the pockets. She flicked open one flap, saw that she'd found the wrong pouch, and hissed, cursing inwardly. The man shifted to one side, his hands dropping out of sight for a heartbeat. A tight smile came to her as her fingers found the crumbling piece of bread, and handed it over to the famished man. "There you go," she whispered. "It'll be alright. I promise."

The man, his scraggly grey hair bristling from the breeze, said nothing, and gave only a short nod in response.

Standing, Zelda felt the sudden sting of hot tears. "It's horrible," she whispered. "It has to be stopped." And yet, once more, her hand found the ring at her waist, and a sudden breath of hope and longing, buried deep after many long years, touched her heart.

Ruto noticed. "But you still want to kill him, hmm?"

Zelda flinched, a guilty flush washing over her. She shook it away instantly, irritated that she'd almost succumbed to such pathetic sentimentality. She knew what she was doing. "Not kill, no," the Princess explained. "You know how my father is. He's impressed by strength, both physical and mental. He'll listen to me more if he finds Link in a less than...healthy...state. I just want to," she swallowed, as though not wanting to let the words form on her lips, "I just want to hurt Link." She shivered, not entirely believing that it was her who was making these pronouncements. "He won't die, though. Don't worry, I'm doing what's right. What's right for everyone."

Ruto sighed. "Enter: me," she said, jabbing a thumb at herself. "And your quest for a bounty hunter. To be honest, it was hard to find one that was willing to go near the Shadow Lord. Count yourself lucky that the one's I spoke to had too much illegal baggage for them to even dare report me. However," Ruto flinched slightly, "I did find one." She turned to the Princess. "You just have to understand that the only person who'd be willing to do what you asked would be someone who was a little…ah…unique, so to say."

They stopped in front of small building; a weatherbeaten wooden door facing them, the locking bar splintered, the top and bottom revealing gaping holes as though something had eaten them away. Ruto pushed at the door, and it swung open easily.

Darkness met them. Zelda squinted, her eyes trying vainly to find something familiar to latch on to. "Where is…?" Her words died in her throat as twin needles of yellow light suddenly appeared.

"Ah, you've arrived," a voice said, surprisingly jolly. An odd scratchy noise accompanied the voice. "I'll come out and meet you, though no doubt this is some elaborate trap by which I will meet a gruesome end - not without, I might add, me giving you all fatal wounds at the same time."

Zelda blinked. The figure had delivered the words with such cheerfulness that it had taken a moment to register exactly what he'd said.

The trio stepped back as a heavily armoured Stalfos, the metal plates covering his body clinking with each step, shuffled slowly into view. He glanced up at the shining sun. "Lovely weather, don't you think?" he said, his skeletal teeth grinning. "Though I'm certain it'll turn for the worse any minute now, bringing death and pestilence in its wake." His smile, expressed with genuine joy, grew a little wider.

Hastily, Ruto glanced from the Stalfos to the Princess, then moved quickly to speak. "We're here for the job I mentioned to you back in The Old Crow's tavern. The Pr-" she stopped, licking her lips. "My friend here –she's the one whose put out the contract and will be providing you with your reward – just wanted to meet you first."

The Stalfos held out a bony hand. "Charmed, I'm sure," he said happily. "I hope you have a very long life filled with all manner of heartbreak and torment."

Pushing down the panic and the gnawing sense that something here was decidedly odd, Zelda shook the bounty hunter's hand. "Right." She cleared her throat, noticing Ruto from the corner of her eye as the Zora made elaborate hand signals, surreptitiously keeping out of sight of the Stalfos. Zelda composed herself quickly, an easy smile spreading across her face. "Right…so, down to business. All I'm wanting from you is to hurt the Shadow Lord, not kill him. Understand that - I repeat, injure only. Break a few bones, perhaps even let him lose a limb, but don't kill him." She bit on her lip - she'd almost said 'please don't kill him,' and hated herself for her weakness.

"Your wish is my command," the Stalfos replied. "As a practitioner of the ancient martial art of Pessimystiko, I can assure you that I'll get the job done, though I'll probably be horribly maimed in the process." The bounty hunter smiled again.

Zelda felt something sink into the depths of her heart. "Pessimystiko?" she asked, her voice weak.

Before the bounty hunter could reply, Ruto stepped in, a forced grin on her face. "Don't worry about that," she said. "He's really good. Trust me."

Closing her eyes, Zelda felt her head begin to throb. She had no choice, she mused. This was the only again. Idly, an image of her ring flashed in her mind, making her heart catch. She smothered the thought instantly. "Doesn't the sun affect you?" she asked, facing the Stalfos once more. "Aren't you supposed to...disappear into the ground?"

"No," the skeletal figure replied. "My unique little gift; a little curse put on me by an overzealous wizard. Hence my yellow eyes -not the usual red that my brethren have. Helped me choose this line of work it did, and it hasn't let me down yet."

"And how many times have you been successful, bounty hunter?"

"At the last count," the Stalfos said, without missing a beat, "I have assassinated two thousand and forty seven people." A pause. "Give or take one or two." He smiled again. "Though, of course, you're not looking to kill anyone, so this should be easier, despite the clear fact that I may have the remains of my guts torn into tiny shreds as I attempt to fulfil the said contract."

The handmaiden, thoroughly uninterested and looking away, suddenly stood up straight, her eyes wide. Her voice cracked the air like a whip. "Milady!"

The Princess, the Zora and the bounty hunter all turned to trace the direction of Uyllna's trembling finger. Icy dread pierced Zelda's heart as she saw the Royal Guards in the distance, their hard eyes searching the streets. "Link's men," she spat. Though they wore the colours of her family's crest, she wasn't going to take any chance. Besides, there'd be too many awkward questions to answer. "We have to leave. Bounty hunter, do you accept my contract?"

"Of course," the Stalfos said.

"Then – Ruto, Uyllna – let's go," she said, before the bounty hunter could say anything else. She reached for her sword – and her fingers grasped thin air. A slab of sheer panic slammed into her heart, almost making her stumble with disorientation. "My weapon…" She looked at the others, saw the same result. "We've been robbed!"

"Yes," the Stalfos said, as though he didn't have a care in the world. "That tends to happen. Naturally, I was expecting it myself. Now, of course, you'll have to escape bare-handed, probably with the result that one of your friends will die tragically in a heroic attempt to save your own life."

Blood pumping in her veins, Zelda's eyes darted left and right, desperately searching for an exit. "Bounty hunter," she seethed, her teeth clenched tight. "Do you know a way out of here? If so, I'll triple your reward."

"As a matter of fact, I do," the Stalfos said, reaching back to make sure his sword was in place. "We'll escape, trust me."

"Good," Zelda said, a smidgen of relief tingling her. "Then, let's-"

"Though I'm certain," the bounty hunter continued, his voice sincere and sweet like honey, "we'll most likely be painfully ripped limb from limb in the attempt. I hope you're not too attached to your arms. It's always the arms that go first."

Ever so slowly, the Princess turned to face the Stalfos, her eyes burning. "You're not well, are you?"

"No time for discussion," he replied, pulling his blade free with a whisper of steel. He pushed the trio along, his ivory coloured hands prodding. "My friends, let us flee!"