Chapter Fourty - A Prince Cometh

The town guard rose quietly from sleep as the sun shone down on him from the small window. He stood up slowly, putting on the armor that all guards wore as their uniform. After taking a minute to fully wake, he left the house and walked to the drawbridge to relieve the night watchman.

To his great surprise, he instead found a man sitting on the ledge next to the risen drawbridge, staring off across Hyrule Field.

"Hey!" the guard shouted. "You! You can't be up there!"

The man looked down from the ledge. "Oh?"

"Yeah, oh! Now you get down here before I drag you before the Queen for disobeying commands!"

The man vaulted over to the drawbridge and slid down it, landing on his feet with ease. As he did so, the guard noticed that he was just a kid, not even over eighteen by the looks of him. He wore a strange green tunic, a sword strapped to his back. His messy blonde hair stuck out at all sorts of angles as his sapphire blue eyes scanned the guard.

"Now, who are you and what were you doing up there?" the guard demanded.

"Well, I was monitoring the caravan that's coming from the east. As for who I am, I'm Link."

"Yeah, right, and I'm Queen Zelda," the guard responded.

"No, see, Zelda has long, golden hair rather than short, brown hair. And she's probably a lot nimbler than you, not to mention the fact that she wears dresses and you, sir, do not. And she'd recognize me instantly whereas you haven't."

"Well, mister Link, we might just see if the Queen will recognize you like you say she will."

"Sounds like a good idea. Shall we go now?"

"Never saw someone so eager to face Her Majesty. Sure, then, off we go."

The guard, followed by Link, walked along the streets and up to the large castle. The guard opened the main doors and the throne room doors and pushed Link ahead into the room.

"Your Highness, I am sorry to bother you so early in the morning but I found this guy here claiming to be L-"

"Link!" Zelda shouted, rushing down toward Link and embracing him. "I was wondering where you ran off to!"

"Well, Zellie, when I woke up this morning, you looked so peaceful and all so I decided not to wake you. I went out to the drawbridge for a while to see what I could see."

"I was worried that you had ran off to go butcher Ganon before he got here!"

"Er, well, um, terribly sorry, ser Link, you know, never can be too careful, after all," the guard managed to say, stumbling over every word.

Link laughed. "Ah, it's alright. You were just doing your duty. Speaking of, you might want to get to it."

"Oh! Right you are! Pardon me, my Queen," he exclaimed before rushing out of the room.

Zelda laughed a bit before turning back to Link. "Listen, I have a few dozen stacks of paperwork I have to fill out, so mind staying here and making sure there's no other problems this morning?"

"No problem," Link responded. "I get to sit in the big chair, right?"

"Sure, go ahead," Zelda replied, walking over to one of the doors. "Just be nice!" she shouted back, closing the door behind her.

"Sure thing." Link walked over to the large throne, admiring the craftwork on it. The entire thing was of strong hardwood, carved into ornate designs, most of which were accentuated with gold inlay and dozens of precious gems. The actual sitting part was purple velvet, expensive to a fault.

Link flopped back into the chair. "Man, this is comfortable. Why doesn't Zelda sit here all the time?"

Suddenly, there were dozens of trumpet blasts from outside the double doors. The doors swung open, revealing a large procession that entered the hall. The men with the trumpets split into two groups and a short elderly man walked forward between them, carrying a large scroll. He stopped in front of the group and unfurled the scroll.

"His Majesty, Prince Guidor the Twelfth, son of King Narcer the Fifteenth, wishes to announce his presence at the court of Her Highness, Queen Zelda the, er..." At this point he looked up from his scroll at Link. "You wouldn't happen to know her full title, would you?"

Link laughed. "Zellie's full title? Well, if you're looking for a number, I know there's at least one other Zelda in her family, plus the seemingly countless others scattered across the world. However, for courtesy, just leave it at Queen Zelda, no number."

The man nodded and continued, "At the court of Her Highness, Queen Zelda." He bowed and stepped to the side.

The trumpets blared again, and this time a man just a few years older than Link stepped forward and stopped next to the man. He was a sight to behold, for sure. He had a golden crown with diamonds set into it on top of his jet-black hair. He had some strange purple and white combination suit on that was partially covered by a bright red jacket, all of which sparked from the countless gems sewn into it. He bowed gracefully and turned to look at the throne.

Link stood and clapped. "Good show, good show. Had I known Zelda had this planned I might have volunteered to do that paperwork for her so she wouldn't have missed the performance."

The man looked at Link strangely. "You mean that the Queen isn't here? And who are you?"

"Yeah, she's here, somewhere. Off doing some sort of paperwork. And as for me, I'm Link."

"Link? You're sitting on Hyrule's Throne and you've no titles at all?" Prince Guidor asked, confused.

"Well, I have my share of titles, of course. I'm just not as hyped on them as you seem to be. For the record, my titles include, but are not limited to, Hero of Time, Cursebreaker, Dreamweaver, and Savior of the Oracles of Seasons and Ages. Anything else?"

"Yeah, why are you here and not Queen Zelda?"

"You're really thickheaded, aren't you?" Link asked, sitting back down. "She's busy, so can I take a message?"

"Would you please inform her that Prince Guidor has arrived and wishes to ask for her hand in marriage?"

"Hold up! You what?"Link exclaimed, jumping back up.

"I wish to beseech Queen Zelda for her hand in marriage," Prince Guidor repeated.

"Like I'm gonna tell her that! Listen, guy, just go back to wherever you came from, alright? I have a nagging feeling that she'd tell you the same."

"And you have the authority to speak for the Queen?" Prince Guidor asked, obviously not liking Link.

"Well, more than anyone else does. I'm closer to Zellie than any of you ever will be."

"You will refer to Her Highness by her proper title!"

"You will refer to Her Highness as the amazing woman who had the decency not to have you forcibly removed from the castle!"

"Why you little-"

"Little what?"

"Insolent twerp! When Her Highness finds out how you've acted toward a neighboring prince, I'll have your head!"

"One, Zellie wouldn't kill me even if you demanded it. Two, she'd listen to me first anyway."

"Oh yeah? Then I shall take your head myself!" He drew his sword and pointed it at Link. "Now, either take me or my message to the Queen or I shall find her myself!"

Link drew his own blade. "I never back down from a challenge. Now, you won't get offended if I win, will you?"

Guidor chose not to respond, instead lunging at Link with his sword. Link sidestepped and whacked Guidor in the back of his head with the flat of the Master Sword. Guidor spun around and growled, swinging his sword back and forth at Link. Link, of course, blocked each blow with ease, taking a step back each time. Guidor of course took this as Link weakening from the blocks.

"Giving in already, are we?" Guidor asked as Link backed up against the wall. He prepared the next blow, but instead of the steel ringing out against steel, there was a harsh sound as the sword smashed into the stone wall.

Link, who had slipped around Guidor, whacked him again. "Oh, no, just deciding to be a little slippery. I need the practice, anyway."

Guidor turned and brought his sword up, attempting to disarm Link. Instead, Guidor found himself the one without the blade as Link reversed the technique, sending Guidor's sword clattering away. He brought his blade up to right under Guidor's chin.

"I win."

Guidor laughed. He backed up and caught his sword, which the old man had tossed to him. "I doubt that." He lunged again and Link blocked, their swords sliding along the other blade.

Of course, it was at this moment Zelda stormed into the room. "How dare you!"

Guidor instantly backed up, sheathed his blade, and bowed toward Zelda. "Your Highness! This foul miscreant of a servant refused to do what he was told and attempted to kill me!"

Instead of paying attention to Prince Guidor, she walked over to Link. Taking one look at Guidor, she laughed. "Held back, didn't you?"

"Why, yes, your Highness," Prince Guidor responded.

"I wasn't talking to you."

"Oh."

Link nodded. "Of course I did. Besides that, that old guy over there gave him his sword back the first time."

"I see. And this little skirmish came about because..?"

"He actually had the gall to come in here and tell me, of all people, me, to tell you that he wanted to propose to you! And then he actually expected me to deliver the message!"

"Him too?" Zelda asked, sighing.

"Him too? Exactly how many proposals have you received!"

"Well, there was the forty or so before my father died, and he's the sixty-third afterwards."

"And you neglected to tell me this because..?"

"Because you'd want to go behead them all if I did tell you."

"And for good reason!"

"Um, excuse me?" Guidor asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Um, about my proposal, I was wondering if you could give me an answer."

"Oh. Well, no. Sorry, but, see, Link here's as close to a boyfriend as a Queen's allowed to have, so I can't go around accepting proposals unless you really, really want your head on a pike."

"Hey, I've achieved boyfriend status!"

"Of course you have. Was there any doubt?"

"Well, with this war and all, I didn't figure you'd want to risk it, me being your most powerful fighter and all," Link answered.

Guidor looked at Zelda, confused. "Wait, a war? With who?"

"Ganondorf Dragmire, King of Thieves," she answered, turning back to Link. "Of course I'd risk it! I love you, Link, and no war's gonna stop that. Besides, you told me yourself that you'll be fine."

Link started walking away from Guidor. "And I plan to be fine."

"Uh, your Highness?" Guidor asked.

"Oh, uh, goodbye?" she answered.

"Er, okay. Goodbye." He turned and walked back out, followed by the trumpet-carrying people and the old man.

"Well then, what's the confusion?" Zelda asked Link.

"Well, I didn't expect you to think of me like that yet. Agreed, it makes sense, but I didn't think Queens could have boyfriends."

"Well, I'm not sure if Queens can or not, but since most Queens are married, you'd think not. However, I might as well."

"Okay then. Are all mornings like this?"

"Most of them. The fifty-ninth guy had elephants, though."

-----

"Good. The army's all but ready. There's no response from either Darunia or Ruto, so that's unfortunate, but with you with me, there should be no trouble yet."

"Hey, you think Darunia will bring the Subrosians?" Link asked, sitting down under one of the courtyard's enormous trees.

"I still have to see these Subrosians of yours," Zelda replied, following suit.

"I promise you, after this war is over, I'll take you to see them, okay?"

"You sure you can promise that, Link? I mean, we are facing innumerable odds here. I'd love it if you could, but I really don't want to get my hopes up and all."

"You know, Zellie, you're confusing. First you're not wanting me to fight so I don't risk getting killed, and now you're wanting me to make sure I can promise something just in case I get killed."

She looked away from Link. "I just don't want to get my hopes up, that's all. I have no doubts that you'll be okay, but just in case..." She seemed to give way at something because when she next looked at him, her eyes were brimming with tears. "I don't know what to do anymore..."

"What do you mean?"

"First my father dies, then my country is tossed into a war that could be the end of Hyrule. Now I have to gather up an army of people, some of which may not live to see next week, to go fight against immeasureable odds for their new Queen who so far's been more trouble than good. And here you are, about to lead this army into a battle where there's only a slim chance of victory. I don't know how much more of this I can take. Hyrule lies at the brink of destruction and it's all my fault. I've given the orders to send hundreds of men to their deaths. And for what? Just a few years of peace before Ganon pops back up and obliterates us again? Link, I don't know if I can handle all this. I'm to blame for all of it anyway."

"That's not true and you know it. Ganon caused your father's death and started this war. I've defeated Ganon so may times I'm starting to lose count. Everything will be fine; you have my word. And if I have any choice in it, Ganon won't ever see the light of day again, nor the dark of night."

"I know you say that, and I believe you, but then, it's still a war with thousands of Ganon's creature things. I know you have problems with swarms of them, whether you'd like to tell me or not. I'm just so worried, Link. What if something goes wrong? What then?"

"Then, worse come to worse, we pull back, regroup, and figure out how to force Ganon back into battle. Besides, Ganon could never defeat me in a million years and we all know how I am with Time, so I doubt Ganon would put up the effort to deal with me for a few millennia."

"You're sure? The last thing I need is for you to collapse in the middle of the battlefield."

"Zelda, I'm fine. Don't worry so much." He slid his arms around Zelda, pulling her close to him. "Nothing's gonna happen. You and me, we'll ride off and face this army. And we'll face it together, okay?"

"Okay."