NA Updates: Still working on part 7, but it's still a end-of-week deadline for me. You should get it by then.
Anyway. You think all is well, and then this chapter comes up. Heh.
Yet again…
Warning: Sexual themes. THIS IS NOT A JOKE. Much.
Hylian Kings
By CM
Sixth Chapter: Conflict
Mikau yawned, walking out of his room. He came face to face with Darmani. The large man blocked his way, and Mikau paused, unsure.
"Uh, Darmani?"
"You were damned right," he said. "But I was too."
Mikau blinked, still half-asleep. "Huh?"
Darmani stepped out of the way, motioning for him to check outside to the place Link had supposedly installed to sleep at while Zelda occupied his bedroom.
Sleep left Mikau's eyes as they widened. His jaw fell, and he turned to Darmani, who was smiling.
"I'll be damned," he breathed. Then, smugly, "Told you it was love."
"But she's no scum. I told you so. C'mon, we'll walk out back. Wouldn't want to bother the little lovers, would we?"
Mikau grinned, glancing a last time at the two sleeping young people cuddled together under Link's covers.
"I'll be damned," he repeated, smiling, shaking his head and walking to the other door, into the fresh, clear morning.
A shiver ran up Link's arm, and he wanted to bring it back under the covers, where it was warmer. He realized he couldn't move it freely. Something was weighing it down. He peered one eye open, and saw Zelda's head resting on it, blonde hair soft to his skin.
Her chest rose and fell peacefully, and his breath caught. Memories from the night before came back to him.
He kissed her, taking her up again and carrying her to the small rocky cliff where she sat, clear moonlit water falling beside them…
She stirred, brow furrowed, before relaxing again, turning over to cuddle closer to him. He could move his arm to embrace her now.
She let out a hot breath into his neck as he took her earlobe between his teeth.
A tiny smile pulled at her lips as she took in the scent of his skin. Link let her put her head in the crook of his neck.
She moaned his name as he moved…
Her slim, bare shoulder was at the mercy of the morning chill. He covered it with his warm hand.
Her breath was ragged as they lay side-by-side, chests heaving. She rolled over to gaze into his darkened eyes.
"That… was…" She gasped. "… Perfect."
Her lips moved, a inaudible whisper brushing his collarbone. He stilled, listening intently.
"Did I hurt you?"
"No," she smiled, "you were wonderful."
He smiled, closing his eyes and regulating his breathing. He felt her prop herself up next to him and plant a soft kiss onto his lips. His hand blindly came up to hold her down to him. He deepened the kiss. He could feel her smile against him.
"Link…"
He peered down at her as she said his name. Her eyes slowly opened, a very light blue. Immediately, they warmed at the sight of him. Her voice was a mumble as she greeted him.
"Hello…"
"Good morning, Zelda," he responded smoothly.
He carried her to his temporary bedding as crickets chirped around them. Her tongue lapped at the tender skin in his neck, making it a very difficult challenge to not just drop her right then and there and make love to her all over again. A giggle rumbled in her throat as he desperately threw their clothes to the side and pressed his lips to hers.
"How are you?" She mumbled, a soft smile on her lips as she rubbed her eyes. He shrugged a bit.
"I think I've awoken to more unpleasant things," he teased, kissing her temple. She scowled, pushing his bare side.
"That's not very nice."
He pressed her to him with one arm, the other winding around her waist. He pulled her over him, so she lay on her stomach, right on top of him. Her hair fell all around her face, like a dark golden aura. Her lips looked delicious from under there. Link tasted them softly.
"You know," he said against her lips, "I didn't think my name could be said the way you said it last night." He was teasing her again.
She heated up, her face a bright red. She sat up the best she could, glaring playfully down at him.
"You didn't hear yourself. If I hadn't been there to remind you of your name, you'd probably have forgotten it."
"I know," he mumbled with a light chuckle, trailing a few kisses over her arm, which was just within reach. She shivered. "I'm grateful," he pulled away from her skin to look up into her eyes. She was still sprawled over him. His gaze was serious, honest.
She smiled softly, planting a kiss on the tip of his nose. "I am too, Link."
He didn't respond to it, but his eyes were warm. She brought her forehead to his, and they stayed silent a long moment. Then, daring finally to bring the subject up, she asked, "Why didn't you come back?"
"Why would I?" He evasively answered, immediately trying to distract her by turning her over and covering her himself. "I'm here. You're here. That's all that matters."
She must have heard his voice tremble a bit, or perhaps perceived the tenseness in his shoulders, because she pulled his face away from her collarbone, and, holding him firmly out of reach of any part of her person, she seriously looked up at him. "What matters to me, Link, is that my people are out there dying, and I'm here, you're right, with you, and we made love all night while children died outside."
Link didn't answer, trying to keep his face carefully put together.
"Did you think of them last night?" He finally asked, soft, not letting his worry show. She averted her eyes.
"Well, no." She breathed, and he thought he heard guilt laced in her tone. "But now that I think about it… Yet that's not the point, Link. I won't deny it. You were wonderful last night. But until my people are safe from him again, I won't be able to love the afterglow."
He frowned. "Safe from whom?"
She looked at him curiously. "Ganondorf, of course. Whom did you think?"
He gawked at her, rolling off of her and tumbling beside her, looking up at the blue sky. "How is that—?"
"Possible? Link, were you there seven years ago? I suppose you were. What did you think happened?"
Link shook his head in disbelief. She propped herself up to gaze into his incredulous face. He looked at her, eyes a sea of confusion. "But he saved my life seven years ago."
He had to remember not to mention Darunia's death. Zelda frowned.
"Link, Ganondorf is a tyrant. I don't know what his motives were, but you cannot possibly believe that he is kind hearted." She took a breath. "I saw him kill my father in cold blood before my very eyes. He slaughtered every other court member but myself." Tears poured over her cheeks. "I had to close my eyes to keep from seeing the blood and broken corpses. He let me to tremble in a corner of the great hall. And Darunia came in. I didn't even look. I heard him die, Link. Where were you when Ganondorf told that Gerudo to kill Darunia?"
Link said nothing, eyes looking into emptiness. His heart ached painfully, to his shock. He thought he'd put it behind him…
'Go, no one will want a boy so incapable! Run before you get killed! I'll avenge him!'
"He…"
"Link," Zelda breathed, trying to control her tears. "He locked me up for a whole night in a dreary cell, then had me moved to my chambers. And I came out for real for the first time in seven years a few nights ago. To find you."
'Go, no one will want a boy so incapable!'
"No, Zelda, he saved me!" He cried as he sat up. Zelda stared at him, bewildered.
"What?" She breathed. "Link, you must be wrong. He wanted to wait until I was old enough, then marry me. He wants to become the legitimate king of Hyrule! And you say he spared you? You must be out of your mind!"
Link shot her a cold look. "Ganondorf avenged Darunia."
She stared at him wide-eyed, incredulous. "You are out of your mind! Link, the one who killed Darunia is Nabooru of the Gerudo! She is his right hand! And believe me, she lives still."
"He said he'd avenge Darunia when he told me to go!"
"You were there!"
Link's previously talkative mood went into mute remorse. Zelda sharply examined him.
"You were there," she repeated. He grabbed his trousers beside him and slipped them on, under the covers, hurriedly, angrily. She flung herself over him, trying to keep him from moving, trying to pin him accusingly.
He pushed her off without kindness.
Falling backwards, she gazed at him, hurt. Finally, Link slipped out from under the covers, and she brought them up to her chin with one hand, running her other one through her hair in panicky annoyance.
"You were there, and you didn't even try to find me! You ran from everything you supposedly held dear! You are a coward!"
'No one will want a boy so incapable!'
He was already standing, and he bent over to grab his shirt, throwing her a furious glare.
"I am not! Just because I had enough sense to run before he got to me doesn't mean I'm a coward! At least I'm not a fool, like you ! I didn't stick around all that time to see my land wither away!"
"Coward!" She spat, tears running freely over her cheeks. "You're a coward!"
"Quiet, you idiot!" He snapped back.
Both fell silent. Then, with a huff and an angrily muttered 'Fine,' Zelda turned over, covered her head with the covers and said nothing else.
Link saw her shudder. He heard a faint sob. She was crying. He felt ill, dizzy, and his heart felt as though it had been shredded with a dull knife. He wanted nothing more but run back to her, tell her how much he loved her, how much he was sorry, how much he wanted to help her, how much he wanted to redeem himself, to prove her he wasn't scum.
But he couldn't.
Because he had put the past behind him, where it deserved to be.
He turned on his heel and ran as far as he could.
Ganondorf was furious. He stabbed his knife over and over again into the creaking surface of the table, at the mercy of Nabooru's sceptical eye. Her eyebrow was merely raised, incensing him even more.
"Damn to the depths of the Dark Realm the day I let that little imbecile of a princess live!"
Nabooru said nothing, leaning back unemotionally. She could see Koume and Kotake, the twin old hags, cowering into a corner silently.
Ganondorf stood suddenly, grabbing the edge of the table and turning it over in ire, sending a platter of dried fruits flying. Koume and Kotake tried to get a hand on a few, but Ganondorf stepped on their fickle paws. As for Nabooru, she simply flicked a dried raisin off her lap, crossing her long shapely legs and staring at Ganondorf without a hint of interest as he paced to and fro.
He finally whirled to look at her. "You are certain she left, woman?"
"If she isn't in her quarters," Nabooru blandly droned, "then she left."
He snarled, returning to his furious pacing. A big tanned hand fisted into the air as he stopped in front of the old hags. He wasn't staring at them. He was staring through them.
"How did she manage to escape?" He sharply turned his head towards Nabooru again. "And where does she think she can escape to?"
Nabooru shrugged. "Since we haven't found her as of yet, then I'm assuming she found a proper hiding place."
"What part of Hyrule could she turn to for safe guarding?" Ganondorf wondered, teeth gritting together. Nabooru had the nerve to laugh.
"Hyrule is vast. She could be anywhere."
"Perhaps," Kotake, the horrid little hag dressed in a navy blue attire, contrasting with her sister Koume's blood red rags, "I can send out some of my little spies to find this princess, and then you can get her back."
Nabooru raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Ganondorf's angry face changed to an anticipating smirk.
"Yes, Koume—" He started, but Kotake interrupted him.
"She's Koume," she said, indicating her red-adorned sister. "I'm Kotake."
Ganondorf looked annoyed at the interruption. "Whatever. Kotake. I'll ask you to do so immediately. You might get some food if you do that." He turned back to Nabooru, who schooled her expression once again into mute boredom, "To keep the little half-wit bound next time," he announced, "I'll have her shackled by matrimony. You'll bother getting her some sort of dress. I wouldn't want to ruin the fool's marriage to the King."
"I doubt any sort of dress would make a woman happy to wed you, Ganon," Nabooru dared comment. Ganondorf shot her a nasty glare, but she smirked at him and stood. "I'll get to it. With the lack of resources you've put the country into, it may be a while before some sort of dress can be found unsoiled."
Nabooru strided outside unhurriedly, leaving Kotake and Koume to devise their spying plan. Ganondorf remained with them.
However, instead of actually leaving the castle, Nabooru stayed just outside the hall windows, in the garden. She sat against the wall, closing her eyes. She waited.
After a long hum of conversation from within, she heard one of the hags come towards the window. Not moving, she waited until the pane swung open. Three sickly white bees flew out, buzzing away. The pane closed again. Nabooru looked at the hags' spies and smirked.
Throwing one of her sharp knives, she hit one albino insect smack in the side, pinning it to a nearby door. Its pale juices didn't even trickle much.
The other two alarmed, she waited for one to attack her. With a simple wave, she knocked it sideways, sending it flying into the shallow gully, where it got caught in the mud.
The last one was smarter. It tried flying out of her reach, but with an annoyed roll of her eyes, Nabooru took off one of her boots and slammed it on the creature. There wasn't a sound emitted as life fled the carcass.
Without so much as a second glance, she slipped her boot back on, grabbed her knife from the door, wiped it clean, then walked out of the courtyard, intent on finding a white dress for Ganondorf's supposed bride-to-be.
If anything, Princess Zelda owed her one.
Reviews!
Love,
CM