A.N: Thanks to my friends Christine, Justine, Jenny, Marie (for their support) and especially Rosie for the time she spent correcting this story for me and the suggestions she's made.
Chapter 7: Running out of time
The sun was still high up in the air, when the group entered Lake Hylia. Half of Hyrule's citizens were there, bathing in the cool water and sunbathing on the grassy banks of the lake. Several children were running round, playing and shrieking in delight whilst young men chatted up and fought over young women. Several people looked up at the group as they entered on horseback, and nodded to the Princess, Link and Leon, and then turned to look at the unfamiliar humans. They examined them for a moment then lost interest and turned back to what they were doing before, although a few of the younger children or arrogant teenagers walked up to them.
Link whispered something to Maxi in Japanese and he chuckled, passing the message back to the rest of the group. Link looked down at the few young children clustered around Epona's legs and he dismounted, kneeling down to talk to them and answering their questions about the strange men that were with him. Knowing that the children would tell their parents about them, and the news would be passed around, he knew he wouldn't have to explain.
After a few minutes talking to the kids, they ran off and Link re-mounted Epona. The group stayed there for a further few minutes to let the new-comers take in the sight of Lake Hylia, and then moved off, saying they would come back when it wasn't as crowded.
They turned around and left while Leon called his birds back to him, and followed them out, taking up the rear.
"Nice place, I have to admit." Yunsung said when they were back on Hyrule field. Zelda smiled slightly as she checked her horse to jump a fence. Link nodded and Leon merely stroked his horses head.
"Link," Zelda called, slowing down to ride beside Link "We have to be back at the castle by 5 o'clock. Ganondorf is coming with his allies, and the king wants everyone who's involved with stopping them to be there."
"Whoa, wait a second." Maxi cried "You want me and Astaroth to be in the same room, without killing each other on sight? It's not going to work. I'll tell you that now ,that it is NOT going to work. There's no WAY thats gonna work."
"Why not?"
"Because 1). Maxi is the only person to have ever defeated Astaroth and lived to talk about it, 2). Astaroth killed Maxi's crew and 3) Well, that's it really. Either way they hate each other and will rip each other to shreds." Siegfried answered
"You have to be there, Maxi. Everyone else will be there, and nothing will happen."
Maxi looked down and started muttering Japanese profanities under his breath, while Link laughed at him and the comments he was making to himself.
They trotted up the hills on their horses, heading back for the castle before Ganondorf got there, much to Link's dismay, who wanted to travel around his own country again.
It was about 4:30pm when they got back to the castle. As soon as the horses were back in the stables, they all went their separate ways, deciding to meet outside Link's room at ten to five and walk down to see the king and chat with him briefly. Zelda quickly excused herself from their company to bathe and change back into her 'official' princess dress. Link went to shower and change and meet up with Liam, who had finished with the guards by now. Leon went to put his birds away and check his guns and rest before they had to meet. Siegfried decided to shower and make sure his Zweihander was sharpened, although Maxi had said he needn't, because even if it wasn't sharp you could still kill someone with it by smacking them over the head. Maxi later got a slap upside the head for this, after he had went to work out and then shower. Yunsung decided to find Raphael, since no-one had seen him since dinner. Everyone could guess however that he was with Amy.
The teenager wandered through the corridors of Hyrule castle, trying to find the infirmary. Walking down a well lit passage he found very solid looking double doors at the end of it, with the faint smell of disinfectant coming from it. He smirked and pulled the door open slightly, to see a man in blue, sitting on the furthest bed in the room and holding a young girl up.
"So this is where you've been all day, Raphael." Yunsung said, striding over to him. He looked down to the girl in Raphael's arms; she was huddled against him and shaking. She was still very pale but a slight pink hint had come back into her skin and she was able to sit up and move around.
"Yes, but tell me, have you been exploring the magical wonder of Hyrule?" he bit out, a little more than sarcastically.
"Why are you so annoyed about being here? Amy is on the mend, I presume, so what's the problem?"
"I don't want to be here. I don't trust these people...they've been pleasant enough but...perhaps it's just me, but I don't trust people easily anymore. Probably the result of being betrayed by my own family. Paranoid, I know, but that is the way I am,"
Zelda lay back on her bed, breathing deeply, and wrapped up in her warm bath robe. She was dreading Ganondorf coming round again. The thing was, she couldn't understand why he was coming back. Oh, right. To stop a major war, that we will lose...but why does he care about that...
Link sat on the edge of the bath tub, smoothing his wet hair back from his face, having just come out of the shower. He grabbed a nearby towel and quickly dried himself with it, wrapping it around his waist and walking back into his bedroom. He pulled some clothes out of a drawer, cursing whoever had put them there and then sat on his bed to pull his clothes on.
Liam paced his room, absently swinging his sword by his side with each step. He was on edge about seeing Ganon back in the castle again. In fact, he realized, there was a definite tension in the air and it was growing by the minute again, actually, no one had relaxed since the 'evil king' had announced his attack. The fact that an entire army was looking to him to lead them into battle in about a week didn't make him feel any better. Zelda and Link were on edge too, and had taken showers and baths to 'cool off', as they put it. A good idea as it happened, he thought as he dropped his sword onto his bed and walked into the bathroom.
Leon stood by the window, holding a towel from his bathroom. One of his birds, Kalas, didn't want to go back in to the cage. "Well I don't want to be reminded of Claire, but I am. And I'll be damned if I'm letting him stay out while Ganon's around."
He lunged for the bird rather abruptly; landing with a hard thud on the floor and looking up to see Kalas, sitting a foot away from him, a sort of smirk seeming to play on his face.
Siegfried, stood in the bathroom, thinking about his situation as he walked into the bedroom, clad in only a towel. He opened a window and took in a deep breath and then lowered his head and smiled. It was strange; two days ago he had been in a deep depression, almost on the verge of committing suicide but now he was enjoying himself. Maybe it was being around people who treated him as an equal, and didn't shun him because of his past...Link seemed to understand and care about Siegfried's problems, but perhaps he was just using him to help his country. Either way, he felt better than he had for a while.
A loud bump from Leon's room caused him to start, but he just shook himself and went about dressing.
"Perhaps, I should visit her..." he thought
Maxi lay on the floor, on his front, his hands directly under his shoulders; he slid them out a bit, and then pushed his body up off the floor. His push ups were interrupted by a loud thud from a little way down the hall. Ignoring it he went back to his exercises, he wished he could do his usual training with his nunchaku, but he needed a bigger and open space, so he had to content himself for now. After a further ten minutes of assorted exercises he got up and walked into the bathroom. He had to let loose some energy some how, the exercises hadn't taken much out of him, he needed to run or something because the thought of not being allowed to smack Astaroth's ugly face as soon as he saw him annoyed him. Turning on the shower he slipped underneath its spray. "I knew I should have listened to Kilik when he tried to teach me to meditate"
Link walked out of his room and stood outside the door, breathing in deeply, trying to dispel the tension that was growing in his body. He had spent a couple of minutes sitting on his bed, trying to meditate, but like Maxi, he was far too impatient for that to work, he had to do physical exercise to make it go. But it was too late now. He stood there for a moment with his eyes closed, the sound of a door opening and closing a few metres down the hall brought him back. Maxi had just come out of his room, dressed in his usual white, a nunchaku hanging around his neck, his hair slightly damp from the shower he had just taken. He walked over to Link, stopping by his side to wait with him for the others.
"Something wrong?" Link asked, tilting his head back to lean it against his bedroom door
"No, not really, I'm just not looking forward to seeing Astaroth again, knowing that I'm not allowed to beat the crap out of him yet. I need to get rid of some of this energy. I really want to do my normal training with my nunchaku...but there's not enough space indoors." Maxi answered with a sigh.
"I know what you mean, I'm not thrilled about seeing Ganondorf back here, but I have to. I'm going to do my usual training later and I was going to ask you to join me so I could see your skills."
"Sounds like a plan. I wonder what's taking so long with everyone else?"
Link shrugged and looked up the hall at the sound of Zelda's door opening. She walked out in her normal dress, looking at the two men standing by Link's door.
"Hey!" she called in greeting
"Hi Zelda."
Two minutes later, everyone was assembled, including Raphael, Sheik, Liam and Impa. They walked through the castles halls in apprehension, noticing the deafening silence and almost physical tension. Link, Zelda, Sheik, Impa and Liam walked in the front, Leon just behind them, swinging his gun nervously. The rest of the group had their heads down. They passed through a set of double doors, into a conference room, and looked up at the king who was sitting in an ornately decorated chair at the head of a large rectangular table. He looked up as the group of warriors walked in and nodded to them, sizing up the two Asians, whom he hadn't met before.
Zelda took her seat on the right of her father, the king. A few military officials were in the room too, sitting at the head of the table. Link moved into his place, between the king and Zelda, of course he had to stand. Liam was opposite him, between the king and the military officials. Leon stood in the corner behind Link, Impa in the corner behind Liam. Sheik stood by the large window, looking out to the gardens and watching a couple of guards glancing nervously at the news that Ganon was approaching the castle. Yunsung, Siegfried, Maxi and Raphael stood nervously near the door, unsure of what to do. The king smiled at them gently, and then called each one forward to talk to them in turn, asking questions and then telling them where they should stand. They ended up forming a semi-circle around the chair the king sat in, between Link and Leon's, Impa and Liam's positions.
A shaky knock at the wooden door sounded a few moments later.
"Enter!" the king called. A young and very nervous and pallid servant shuffled into the room, looking absolutely petrified, but clearly trying to mask it in front of the warriors and royalty.
"Sire, Ganondorf has arrived." he stated nervously
"Send him in, please Aaron." the King replied.
The servant nodded and bowed, then left. Seconds later, Ganondorf came in, flanked by Astaroth, Necrid, Cervantes and Charade and several Gerudo women.
Link quickly glanced back to where Maxi was standing, and he could see the strain and effort it was taking him already, to not pounce on Astaroth. He motioned with his hand to keep control of himself.
"King Harkinian, it's a pleasure to see you again." Ganon smirked, mock bowing to the king.
"Ganondorf, I will not tolerate that attitude in this court, you will keep a civil tongue while you are here." The king commanded, already annoyed
Ganondorf said nothing, just smirked again and took a seat, at the opposite end of the table so he was directly facing him, his allies and soldiers took the same formation as Link and his now-comrades.
"So, I see you have the warriors to defeat my allies, here...you don't stand a chance with that rabble, especially if 'fairy- boy' is leading them."
Link's eyes narrowed as he heard Ganondorf's words, as did everyone else's on the Hylians side.
"Ganondorf, that is unimportant at this point in time. Let's get down to what we're here for...negotiations."
"I have told you Harkinian, my offer is the only negotiation that I will make. Hand over the princess and fairy boy and we will call off the war. It's a fair proposition as I see it, two people for the rest of Hyrule."
"Forget it Ganondorf. My daughter and Link are too important for me to hand over to you to do goddesses only knows what to them."
"Then we shall go to war!" Ganondorf roared.
"There are better deals we can make, I'm sure."
"I'm afraid not, those two are the only things I want."
"Any particular reason?"
"So I can torture and kill Link in whatever way I see fit. And as for your daughter, well, what man wouldn't want such a beautiful young woman in their possession?"
"Ganondorf, I am warning you now, if you make any more comments like that I will be forced to..."
"You'll be forced to...what? Cower behind those excuses for warriors that are standing behind you?" Ganondorf cut in "I will make any comments I like about your slut of a daughter, as long as I have the army that will win."
"GANONDORF! NO MATTER HOW POWERFUL AND RIGHT YOU THINK YOU ARE, YOU WILL NOT CALL MY DAUGHTER A SLUT" The king roared
Link was growling now, his hatred for Ganondorf growing by the second. Liam was scowling at Ganon, along with Impa and Sheik. Zelda held her chin high, ignoring the comment about herself. Maxi, Yunsung, Siegfried and Raphael stared; amazed that someone would say that to the faces of the Royal family.
"It seems I've struck a nerve with you there, sire." Ganondorf sneered mockingly.
"Get out...NOW!" the king commanded, his voice deadly calm now.
"And if I don't?" He challenged
"Out"
Ganondorf looked at the king and made no move to leave. King Harkinian looked at Link and nodded to him. Link drew his sword immediately, and turned to Liam and Leon who also drew their weapons and approached Ganondorf, who scowled then got up and left. As he reached the door he cried
"This will be war, Hylians, and you'll fall to my power!"
The door slammed shut behind the Gerudo king and his followers. Link looked to the king, who nodded, and followed them out of the room, listening to what they had to say to each other.
Back in the conference room, the military officials had left, leaving everyone behind.
"It's as I feared, we have no choice but to fight...fight a war we are almost certain to loose," the king sighed heavily
"Unless Ganondorf is defeated before the war starts." Zelda said.
"Uhh, I don't mean to pry or be out of bounds etc, but...do these conferences always go like that?" Maxi asked quietly.
"Yes, Ganondorf is getting more and more cocky, because he knows he's got the upper hand. And he's right, we will fall to his power, since we've had the peace after Ganon was banished we've been lulled into a sense of security. Unfortunately, we don't have the strength to fight back, but you already know that, don't you?"
Maxi didn't answer, taking it as a rhetorical question, instead he looked down at Zelda who seemed shaken up over the ordeal.
Link burst in a few seconds later.
"Ganon's going to attack in two days!" he gasped out, panting desperately.
"But the soldiers won't be ready for another week at least. They're not trained properly, the Gerudos will tear them to pieces!" Liam yelped
"Well, that's what Ganon has just said to Astaroth and the others. He's going to get his troops ready tomorrow and start marching for the castle tomorrow night!" Link replied back, not in exactly the calmest of voices. He leant forwards, resting his hands on his knees.
The king immediately took charge again,
"Sheik, run and get all the military officials and tacticians here, NOW! Impa, get down to the armoury and check they've got enough armour and weapons for the men, we've got:
250 foot soldiers
200 cavalry
100 archers
150 spearmen
and 100 knights. Leon, run down to the stables and get the stable master to check all the horses are in top condition. Liam send out messengers around Kakariko and the market town to make sure all the soldiers are up here by 9am tomorrow morning." He barked the commands and the appointed people scurried off to carry out the commands as soon as they were issued.
The king stood up and looked at Link, who was still panting, and the others.
"You're free to do what you like for now, but I would like you to go down to the infirmary and be checked out by the doctor, don't take it as an insult, you look perfectly healthy but Hyrule's fate depends on you all. You ride to the Gerudo valley at 11:30pm tomorrow, when the Gerudos start moving off, hopefully you can tackle Ganon and his allies before they get too far towards Hyrule castle." He walked out as soon as he had finished speaking, to go to the more private meeting room. Zelda stood up, looked at Link and smiled slightly then left the room.
Link looked down again, still panting while the other warriors looked at each other. They looked down to Link, who was still shuddering, but no longer with harsh ragged breaths from running, instead it was panic.
He looked up at the other warriors, who were wondering about his panic.
"We're running out of time"
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A.N: As always, reviews are greatly appreciated and I will try to reply to any e-mails sent if requested. I do try to incorperate any suggestions into the story if I think it'll fit in, do they will not be ignored. As a final note after the next chapter (8) is loaded up, things may slow down for a while as I'm not done with writing chapter 9, although I will be working as hard as possible, to get it finished and updated. Notes of the estimated date will be left in my profile, after chapter 8 is loaded up
