Chapter Twenty

Truth Hurts

Epona's hooves galloped across the field faster than ever. Her rider stared straight forward at his destination with such focus that he didn't even notice the Big Poe that had appeared to his right and begun lobbing gobs of flame at him with wicked cackles. All that mattered to Link was getting to Zora's River. He had to know if everyone was alright. If he didn't find them, at least he might find some clue as to where they had gone. At the thought of seeing Zelda again, he pushed Epona even harder.

The water sprayed refreshingly into Link's face as the horse splashed across the river. He drove his steed up the gradual slope, jumping creeks and galloping across bridges. Finally arriving at the base of the waterfall, he looked up at the spot where he had dueled the Stalfos General. Had anyone survived? Link dismounted and walked up the mass of arches in front of the falls. Coming to the place where a stone plaque bearing the Triforce lay, he pulled out his blue ocarina and brought it to his lips. The soothing tones of Zelda's Lullaby could barely be heard over the crashing of the falls. Nevertheless, something heard because as always, the waterfall began to part, revealing a tunnel into the Zora haven.

As he stepped into the watery cave, a green missile suddenly slammed into his stomach, nearly knocking him over.

"You're alive!" A familiar girl's voice said from somewhere around his navel. Link finally managed to detach Saria from his middle and held her up to eye-level. She was wearing the brightest grin he had ever seen.

"Of course I'm alive." Link replied with an identical grin. "You didn't think a fall off the waterfall would kill me did you?" Saria didn't reply, instead she hugged him around the neck so tightly that he suddenly had a rather limited amount of air. "Agh! That might though!" He added in a choked voice.

"Oh! Sorry!" Saria let go and dropped nimbly to the ground. "Come on! Everyone's excited to see you!" She grabbed his hand and dragged him up the ramp to the throne room. There, the Zoras and other sages greeted him with relieved smiles. Ruto immediately started telling the servants to bring food to feed her 'fiancée'. Link quickly dodged out of the way of Ruto's affectionate hug and looked around for Zelda.

"Nabooru! Rauru! When did you two get here?" Link exclaimed when he saw the Gerudo sage standing next to a man wearing large orange robes and a bushy white mustache.

"King Zora summoned us, seeing that the other sages were already here, he saw the domain to be a good meeting place." Rauru answered in a deep voice. "Glad to see you are well Link.

"Thanks. Where's Zelda?" Link asked, unable to spot her in the grinning crowd. All of the grins disappeared in a flash; most of them took troubled expressions with the exception of Ruto, who was humming to herself, noticeably happy about Zelda being out of the way between her and Link. "She's not…dead?" Link asked the solemn group, his heart sinking fast.

"No…" Impa spoke in a wavering voice, the most emotional voice he had ever heard the Shiekah use. "At least not when we last saw her. She was captured by a Stalfos…" Link's heart hit the bottom…hard. His worst fear had been confirmed.

"I'll help you get her back brother." Darunia spoke up with determination.

"Me too." Saria said fiercely. Link looked into each of the sages faces as they all voiced their support. Ruto was the hardest one to convince but after five glares from the other sages, she gave in.

"I'll uh… help too…" Ruto said in a dejected voice. "But Link… When we rescue her, can't you just tell Zelda the truth and say that you love me? I mean all this quarreling because you deceived Zelda in making her think that you love her!" The Zora princess laughed but was suddenly silenced by the terrible glare that Link was giving her.

"No Ruto. Clearly, it's you I deceived." Link shot at her with a fierce look. "I made you think I loved you because I took the Sapphire from you when my intent was to give it to Zelda so we could reach the Triforce before Ganon."

"B-but…" Ruto stammered. "Y-you saved me from Jabu-Jabu's belly…"

"I rescued you, the same way I would have rescued your father or the King of Hyrule. Do I have a romantic relationship with them? Of course not! It's the same with you!" Link turned away from Ruto, and began walking down the ramp, the other five sages in tow, each of them giving the Zora princess a sorry but satisfied look.

Ruto watched as the obsession of her life turned his back on her and for the first time, she realized that he was right. Tears splashed out of her eyes (even the ones on the back of her head), as she turned to her father who was looking at her with one large fisheye.

"He's right you know…" The Zora king spoke softly after a few moments. "Too long have you pined after him. It could never be. Let him go and move on."

"You're right father… It could never be… I see that now." She splashed her face with the water flooding the room, clearing the tears. "I still have a promise to fulfill though. I must help him find his real love." She said gloomily. "I'll see you when I return, father." She stood up and dejectedly walked down the ramp, following the others.

Stalakor glared at the Obsidian Ball, trying to figure out how to use it. He realized that he'd probably get into a lot of trouble if the King caught him trying to use it but how else was he supposed to find the escaped prisoners? Or Link for that matter. Besides, everyday he spent more time torturing the princess; he'd have another hour at least.

He placed his fingertips onto the smooth surface; a slight pinging noise erupted as the dry bones tapped the obsidian. Hmm… He tried concentrating but nothing appeared in the inky depths of the sphere. The skeleton rapped it hard with a bony knuckle, sending a resonating ping through the room. What was it that the king did to activate this stupid object? Stalakor fumed as one experimentation failed after another.

"General?" Stalakor jumped slightly at the voice and spun around to face the Lizalfos that had just entered the dark room.

"What do you want?" He snapped at the lizard. It didn't seem put off by the general's tone when it replied.

"I'm guarding the artifffactsss sssir. King'sss ordersss." The Lizalfos stood at attention like all the other creatures that were now considered inferior to the Stalfos, namely everything. Stalakor suddenly noticed the long scar that ran down the lizard's neck.

"Sslivik? You were the informant for the coup weren't you?" The general asked him, recognizing the lizard.

"Yesss sssir." He replied happily.

"Ah. At ease." The lizard stopped saluting but remained standing straight. "You wouldn't happen to know how to use this would you?" Stalakor asked rhetorically, pointing at the sphere.

"Yesss sssir." Stalakor froze. He hadn't actually thought Sslivik would know. "I fffound it sssir. And it showed me my home cave. I sssuppossse it ssshowsss what you desssire… Though only ifff itsss real…" Sslivik mumbled off, trying to make sense of his own words. Stalakor contemplated the words for a moment and looked at the sphere, wanting to see the escaped girl. Like magic, a liquid image bubbled into view and he saw her crouching behind a crate. He couldn't see where she was but then a second figure came into view, it was the sheikah boy!

"So… They're together…" Stalakor mused as he watched the cautious couple waiting for their next move. The stalfos's non-existent stomach lurched at the next image.

"What are you doing?" A voice behind him roared. Stalakor swiveled around and saw the Stal-King walk through the doors. Sslivik was down on the floor in a full kneel as the skeleton king approached. "You'd better have a good reason touching that!"

"What I've just discovered justifies my actions." Stalakor growled. "Ganondorf has escaped."

Sorry about the short chapter, this is the shortest one I believe... More coming soon, hope you're enjoying the story! ;-)