"Is it scary?" Link asked hesitantly. He sounded almost like a small child. Zelda felt the urge to roll her eyes and resisted. Link's day had been rough so far and the last thing he needed was to feel ridiculed.
"Of course, it is!" Siré exclaimed. "It's a campfire story. Of course it will be scary. That's the whole fun in it!" Link appeared unenthusiastic about hearing the. Zelda was curious, and her curiosity, as always, got the better of her.
"I'm sorry, Siré but please save it for later." Link mumbled and looked down to his Sheikah Slate again. He gazed at intentionally, manipulating the buttons and withdrawing from the outside world. Siré looked disappointed. Zelda frowned and gently took the device from his hands. "Hey!" Link protested and tried to snatch it back from her. She held it out of his reach.
"Come on, Link. Just lend an ear. It may take your mind off things." Zelda motioned to his mother who was a shadow against the flames light, sleeping soundly with her body turned on the side facing the jungle. Zelda added. "It may be the only opportunity you have to hear it since the Queen doesn't like you hearing ghost stories. Especially stories that aren't "hers." Zelda put air quotes around the word "hers" as she raised her eyebrows at him. She suspected that the idea of displeasing his mother by listening to the story would be quite persuasive to him.
"Okay, fine." He acted reluctant but glanced at his mother. "Go on." He waved royally at Siré as though commanding a parade. She didn't seem to appreciate the commanding gesture, but she launched enthusiastically into her story.
"It was a bright and sunny afternoon when the Massacre of Eventide began." Siré paused to let that sink in. Zelda glanced at Link who already was turning pale.
"Massacre?" Link blurted out. "Here? Eventide?"
"Shhhhhhhhhhhh!" Zelda put a finger over her lips and leaned in towards him to emphasize her point. Link's face flushed.
"You shhhhhhhhhh yourself!" he shushed Zelda louder and leaned in towards her.
Zelda was about to follow in rapid escalation of the shushing, Siré quietly addressed them. "Guys?"
"Sorry." Zelda apologized. Link did not.
"Anyways…" Siré regained her composure. "A boy did it…a boy massacred all the guards on this island. Do you know who that boy was?"
Link and Zelda exchanged a glance. Zelda tried to rack her brain for an answer, but none came to mind. When she turned to Link again, he took a few moments longer and then responded. "Was he a prisoner? Eventide used to be a prison, yes?"
"Yes, to both." Siré assured. "Long ago a prisoner had been sent by the first Princess Zelda herself to Eventide for treason against the crown. She gave him a light sentence, well in comparison to death which was a common sentence she imposed. She sentenced him to prison for life." That clue did not help Zelda in trying to guess the prisoner's name. History wasn't Zelda's strong suit, but Link's eyes widened in recognition.
"Ganondorf." Link whispered and nodded. "Well, I guess evil starts young."
"It certainly does." Siré agreed. "Right on this very island, he killed them." She leaned forward and the two of them leaned in as well. Link could smell Mighty Porgy on Zelda's breath. "Three days after his arrival he so silently, so stealthy he slipped the poison into the guard's food. Each of them died a long and painful death." Siré added. "But it gets worse. He laced their dead bodies together as though they were logs to make a raft. He sailed across the same and clear waters we just did. The guards bodies started to rot and attract flies and birds who ate away at the bodies but somehow the raft stayed together. Ganondorf remained on the raft for days driven by pure rage. He burned with a single desire… to get revenge of Princess Zelda the 1st. What a savage." Siré whispered. "They say the voices you hear are the haunted soldiers from the Massacre." She added. "As I'm sure you know it leads to the whole mess described in 'The Legend of Zelda' which is a story for another day." Siré finished.
Zelda felt vomit rise up her throat, but she swallowed it. She couldn't imagine spending days on a raft made of dead bodies, couldn't imaging poisoning a group of people like the guards. It was a nasty thing to do. "Hylia, that's horrible." Link was disgusted.
"I suppose it wasn't a very pleasant tale. You'll be pleased to know that's the only bad ghost story I can think of. There are many other stories about Eventide I could tell you." Siré furrowed her brow as she counted on her fingers. "There's the Spring of Eternal Youth that is blessed by Hylia and that can bless the drinking eternal youth…for a price. There is the promise of treasure chests buried by the many pirates that visit Lurelin and its mystical Underworld. Also an ancient prison, a deceased ruler's tomb, and lots of theories about othermysterious happenings. You name it and there is a story about it involving Eventide!"
Zelda inhaled deeply trying to process the events of the Massacre. Even for a ghost story it was gruesome, but it was so outlandish it was hard to believe it was true. How would bodies float for days and sustain the weight of a person? Surely the bodies would be eaten by the fish in the sea. To know that supposedly happened on the very island where they would be sleeping was disturbing "But the Massacre is just a story right, Siré?" Even though Ganondorf was a villain, that Massacre was extreme.
Siré raised her eyebrows and poked at the campfire a bit with a stick. Feeding more kindle to the flame she responded with a hint of drama. "You never know." Zelda rolled her eyes at that. Siré chuckled softly at Zelda's reaction.
"Come on, Siré." Zelda mumbled trying to sound stern although her smile indicated she was not really annoyed. Zelda liked Siré. Her playful and excited attitude made Zelda forget that she was the Hero of Hyrule for a while, making her feel as if she was a person again. And she was fun to be around.
Link slouched with his arms crossed and watched this exchanged through displeased eyes. "Can I have the Sheikah Slate back, Zelda?" Link cut in. Zelda gave it back to him. He remained silently for the rest of the time, absorbed in the world of the Sheikah Slate, only occasionally glancing over at Siré and Zelda who fell into companionable conversation.
Zelda and Siré shared laughs about their early childhoods. Zelda's consisted mainly of the crazy little happenings in Castle Town when she was younger. She described the time the butcher's son ran off to kill a Hinox, and when her grandmother beat up a notorious thief in Castle Town.
Siré shared about her own young years. Most of Siré's stories had obviously been embellished. Some were so outlandish that they couldn't be true nonetheless Zelda enjoyed them, or at least enjoyed the exciting way they were related. One was about a mysterious tribe of people that sprouted out of the sea one day and did not leave until Siré's aunt gave them a bottle of Goron Spice. One involved a witch who had cursed the boots of her cousin's wife's brother making him dance until he fell off a cliff.
"That's quite an adventure, isn't it?" Zelda remarked after Siré finished a story about a magical rock that she found that could turn any object into a person and how her bucket tried to murder her when she used the rock on it. Gradually, Zelda felt Link's head softly resting on her shoulder. She turned to him and shook him gently. "Link?"
His eyes were closed, and he was breathing softly. Zelda blinked and felt an uncertain warmness wash over her. Zelda gently took the Sheikah Slate out of his limp hands and stowed in away in her bag for safe keepings. "Is he asleep?" Siré inquired quietly, speaking softly to avoid waking the Queen or potentially Link.
"Yes." Zelda replied but didn't turn away from him. Link looked so calm and at peace when he was sleeping. A soft smile touched her lips and she dared to pat him lightly on the shoulder.
"Have you ever gone to the Coliseum, Zelda?" Siré asked with curiously glinting in her eyes. Zelda blinked at that.
"Uh—no. The Coliseum has been closed for years, hasn't it?" Zelda replied. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, I didn't know it was closed." Siré paused. "I ask because I heard that they have some monster matches every once in a while. I guess that's old information. I mean I haven't left Lurelin ever so…I don't know a lot about the current events in Hyrule."
"Well…matches in the Coliseum is seen as cruelty now and its not done anymore." Zelda hesitated before asking. "You've never left Lurelin?"
"No. I haven't left Lurelin. I keep up with the news with what little things I overhear. Being dismissed as just a kid comes in handy when you're eavesdropping. No one concerns themselves with me." Siré stared into the flames of the fire before adjusting herself slightly. "It gets boring, you know? Being stuck here. Sometimes I make up stories for myself to cope. I'm good at that. Making up stories or adding to snipes I've heard." She looked up at Zelda and changed the subject abruptly as if snapping out of her thoughts. "It seems you've seen the world…at least most of it."
"I suppose I have. More than many common citizens of Hyrule." Zelda agreed.
Siré scooted closer to Zelda. "What's going on exactly?" she leaned in and whispered. "I mean you guys are doing something big here with Ganondorf and everything? Its so exciting, daring and adventurous! Must be amazing! Everything I've ever dreamed of. Being a hero, being the difference in this world and fighting against evil."
Siré motioned with her fists as if landing punches on an invisible opponent. Zelda laughed. She didn't laugh because it was funny but because of Siré's wonderful naivety. It was a blessing in this horrible world.
How little she knows about the real world…
"That's my dream. To be a hero, one day!" Siré gazed upon Zelda with a look of admiration.
Zelda poked Siré jokingly and bantered. "Well…today is the day. We're facing Ganondorf, one of the greatest villains of all time. I suppose we could use an extra heroic hand, couldn't we?"
Siré's eyes lit up. "I can be a hero too, with you?"
"Of course." Zelda assured her. She yawned loudly, the noise made Link mumble a bit in his sleep. "Though let's leave the heroics for the morning." Siré nodded. "We should set up night shifts, you know…in case a crisis should arise." Zelda motioned to the dark jungles beyond their same campsite. "I'll take the shift now and I'll wake you up in a while. How about that?"
"Sounds good." Siré agreed. Siré curled up a few feet away from Zelda. After a few minutes Zelda was sure she was asleep. Zelda watched Siré's chest rise and fall at a calm pace, and all was still in the campsite. The Queen slept stilly, and Link snored beside Zelda.
"Goodnight." She mumbled to all of them. When she was sure they were all asleep, she rolled up her sleeve and checked the progress of the Malice on her arm. Zelda grimaced. It was progressing slowly, but it was progressing, nonetheless. It consumed more and more of her every day. "Time. That's all I need." She was putting it off as long as possible. The decision, the cure. She had to decide whether pass on the disease to save herself or to let herself be consumed by it. For now she was biding enough time to seek another option, another way to rid the disease, a better way that didn't involve destruction of herself or another person.
Zelda's duty to her knightly responsibilities to Hyrule and to protecting Link precluded her from taking time to herself to seek these answers. She thought her task with Link might last only a week or two but they kept getting drawn into more and more time intensive quests. Zelda was beginning to lose hope of finding another way and found herself being drawn towards the temptation of passing the Malice to another. She glanced at the Queen. The Queen's peaceful unguarded sleeping figure. Zelda felt her skin crawl, rather the Malice crawled on her skin.
I could do it. Pass it on to her. Let it consume her. Lock her up in a cage for the rest of her life. She deserves it anyways. The pain.
Zelda felt anger boil up in her chest and her cheeks flush with rage at the thought of the Queen.
How could she do that to him? How could a mother ever say that to a child? That he should have never been born.
Zelda reached out her hand towards the Queen. However, something peculiar happened, the hand withdrew itself away from the Queen and fought against Zelda as if it had a mind of its own.
What?
"Don't." she heard a voice whisper sternly in her ear. It shattered any other noise and the voice itself was the only thing Zelda could hear "Don't do it."
"Why not?" Zelda spat at it.
"Because I am a blessing not a curse. She would never use me to my full potential." The voice paused. "You. You're special. You're unique. You need me."
"No, I don't" Zelda scoffed at it. "All you've done is cause problems for me and I had enough problems already with my responsibilities and duties."
"You don't realize, do you? I saved your life. I took action when that pesky thief threatened your prince. I deflected Divine Beast Rudania's deadly ray that would have blasted you and your pathetic party to smithereens. I guided you to Lurelin where I told you, you would find Ganondorf, and I was correct." The voice sighed deeply as if Zelda was being utterly ignorant. "I have done nothing but help you and in return you want to get rid of me."
The voice's words made Zelda pause and rethink. The voice was correct in what it said though Zelda sensed this was very selective truth. Zelda also knew that the was slowly taking control of her body and would grow beyond a single arm. Not being in control of her body disturbed her very much. "I want to get rid of you because you're controlling me and you will turn me into a killing machine, I want you to leave."
"I can't leave. I won't leave." The voice insisted. "I've waited too long to just leave. I must stay." Zelda was about to spat something nasty at it, but it added quickly. "All the actions I've taken through you were just and helpful. I've done no wrong. Please…do not pass me on. I haven't controlled your arm all the time, only when it was necessary."
"Why don't you want to be 'pass on'. What does it matter to you what body you inhabit?" Zelda pointed out.
"I don't want my knowledge to be wasted on her, the Queen."
"More likely you mean you want to use me, a skilled sword master, to be your weapon to execute massacres?" Zelda thought back to her brief but illuminating conversation with the old man in the Divine Beast.
"Don't listen to him. Don't listen to that old man. He's old and deranged. He's a selfish old man who's lost everything dear to him and wishes to bring down the success of others." The voice added sternly. "Don't trust him. He lies."
"And why should I believe you?" Zelda crossed her arms and stared around the jungle trying to see a shadow in the jungle, a hint of the speaker though she knew the speaker was in her mind.
"You should trust me because I have done nothing but helped you. He…that old man has done nothing but bring you trouble. He's tried to kill and sabotage you. And I…I have made you triumph."
"Triumph is still yet to be seen." Zelda replied skeptically. "It's not triumph until Ganondorf is dead."
"If you let me stay, I will see to it that we triumph."
"I. We will see to it that I triumph. Not you." Zelda insisted.
"Whatever fits your fancy, Hero." And the voice was gone. The nightlife sounds were back and so was the world. Zelda felt weariness tug at her eyes but resisted. She spent the rest of her shift contemplating her endless life of decisions.
Zelda checked the time and shook Siré awake. "Huh? What?" Siré rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and remembered. "Oh…yeah. Thanks, Zelda. My turn." Siré sat up and leaned against the log, the fire had long since gone out. Although the night was cold it was bearable.
Zelda smiled wearily as Siré bustled about getting ready for her turn at watch. Even though Zelda knew she wouldn't sleep well she would at least sleep enough to regain enough strength for tomorrow. What would come to tomorrow is what she dreaded although she knew it was necessary to face it: Ganondorf. He was trapped, he was as far as they knew alone, and he was outnumbered.
Nothing can go wrong. Zelda paused in her thought. Can it?
"Nighty night." Siré said to Zelda as Zelda lay down on the hard ground. Zelda adjusted herself trying to get herself comfortable, but it was useless. She didn't know how Siré could sleep soundly on the ground as if she were sleeping in a plush bed. Zelda wouldn't say she'd gone soft living in luxury with the prince, no, she had been out in the world enough to experience displeasure. However, she still found it uncomfortable.
She sighed deeply and tried to imagine herself falling asleep at home, in her childhood room. Her breath evened out and her shoulders slackened slightly. However, she held the handle of her sword firmly by her side. Zelda drifted off in an uneasy sleep. She dreamt of her malice hand choking herself. No, she did not sleep easy at all.
Zelda was the second to awaken apart from Siré who was already wide awake. Siré was sitting up ramrod straight, attentively watching the jungle and not daring to blink. "Morning." Siré cheerfully greeted a groggy Zelda.
"Good morning." Zelda replied, propping herself up on one arm and slowly unraveling herself from her curled position. "Eventful day?" Zelda joked. Siré smiled and passed her leftovers from the last night's meal: Bright Eyed Crab. Zelda ate as fast as she could and glanced expectingly at the two slumbering royals.
After a few minutes the Queen stirred. She looked very tired and weary. Her stern and determined attitude masked her age when she was awake but not now. Streaks of grey in hair shining in the sun, the creases of age showed on her face and her weary eyes. Zelda felt as if she was looking at an entirely different Queen. After the Queen had her fill of the leftovers which she accepted resentfully, the old Queen was back.
"Rise." She commanded Prince Link who was sound asleep and did not stir at her voice. The Queen waited but there was no response. "Arise." The Queen seethed. Her already thin patience waned as Prince Link continued to snore softly. "We have much to do and little time." She tried again but all she heard was a sleepy grumble from Prince Link. "Hmph…" she sighed to herself. "Outright disrespect." Zelda caught the Queen mumble under her breath and stomp away.
"Get up, Link," Zelda said loudly but not unkindly. She shook Prince Link's shoulder until his eyes fluttered open. He rubbed his eyes and blinked three times before turning to her.
"Oh—hi." He blinked again. "Its already morning?"
"Yes." Zelda paused and handed him his breakfast. "Eat fast. We need to go." Prince Link didn't resist her command and wolfed down his breakfast, eating with his fingers which earned him a disapproving glance from the Queen.
The Queen cleared her throat, attracting the attention of everyone circled around the ashes of last night's fire. Prince Link kept his eyes on his food but was listening. "We must kill Ganondorf swiftly today by any means as long as it is efficient. We do not have time to make his death painful and long. Although that option is favorable to me we can't afford that luxury." She motioned at the jungle around and pointed at herself. "I have staked out potential locations where he may be hiding." The Queen lifted her chin. "Zelda and Siré you destroyed his boat so…it will be easy to trap him, isolate him and kill him. He cannot leave and he is therefore trapped. Ganondorf—" the Queen was about to continue when Prince Link interrupted her.
"The boat." He mumbled through a mouthful of Palm fruit. The Queen's lips thinned when she turned to him, and her brows furrowed. Prince Link mumbled a few other words that were incomprehensible.
"Swallow." The Queen scolded Prince Link which he did not appreciate. Nonetheless he held his hand in front of his face, closed his eyes, and held off the group from making conversation. The group waited awkwardly. Then, he finally finished chewing and swallowed.
"The boat. Our boat. It's still here, isn't it? It would be an alternate way for him to get off this island." Prince Link paused to let that fact sink in with the group. Zelda gulped. Siré cringed. The Queen's face reddened. "Did anyone hide it? If not, he can take it, right?"
The Queen turned sharply to Siré and Zelda. "Did either of you hide it? In a cave or covered in brush?" The Queen knew the answer but was trying to deny the possibility of Ganondorf slipping away under their noses.
"Uh—no. You're majesty." Siré looked horrified and looked very frightened at the Queen's face. The Queen looked as if she were to boil over in rage any minute, teeth clenched, and fists balled up.
"My Queen. I'm so sorry. You didn't tell us to—" Zelda tried to finish but the Queen looked her directly in the eye and that made Zelda shut up.
The Queen was barely able to speak through clenched teeth. What they made out was. "Save it." Zelda frowned at that, thankfully the Queen didn't notice. She paused and stared into the distance, her lips pressed into a thin line. Then she got up and stormed out of the campsite in the direction of their boat. Siré, Zelda and Prince Link each exchanged glances, shuffling behind in the Queen's war path. Zelda heard the Queen's angry mutterings. "If only they listened." and "It's their fault he's escaped. I will have to rip the boat to pieces with my bare hands." and "I swear to Hylia."
The Queen stopped in her track and that made everyone behind her halt. "Its all your fault." The Queen turned sharply around, her eyes bloodshot and a purple vein in her forehead visibly popping out from under her skin. "Its all your faults! ALL OF YOU!" She clenched her fists. "I've waited so long for the moment to finally slay him and because of your mistakes…" She motioned at all of them. "…he's gone! YOU MESSED UP ON THE ONLY CHANCE THAT I COULD FINALLY KILL HIM AND END IT ALL!"
Zelda was about to say something, but Prince Link stepped in front. "And it is not also your fault that he's probably escaped? We followed your orders. You us to find and destroy his boat. You said nothing about our boat. Its not all our faults! It's yours too!" Prince Link remarked angrily. "Selfish woman. You think you're never at fault, are you?"
"I am not at fault! I am never at fault. I am never wrong—" The Queen began to yell but was drowned out by Prince Link's interruption.
"Oh yeah. 'I'm never at fault.'" Prince Link mocked. "Liar. You could have reminded us to hide the boat or done it yourself." Prince Link paused. "You've done many wrong deeds in your life. And don't you dare deny it! Poor father is rolling in his bloody grave because of you!" Prince Link pointed at her. "I bet you murdered him. You always hated him. It makes sense. That's why you didn't tell the kingdom or me that he was murdered. You liar."
"Link, no! That's not true! I did not kill your father. How could you think such a thing?" the Queen held a hand over her heart in shock and then her face screwed up in pure rage. "How dare you accuse your mother of murder. Murdering my husband—your father no less! You disgraceful child!" she added with a nasty tone. "And you wonder why I never liked you. Why I never wanted you. Because you're a liar. An embarrassment to the throne."
Oh, my Hylia. Ouch.
"Then who did? Who did kill my father? Come on, let's see what you got. Let's see you who you'll pin it on. You're the disgrace to the throne, not me, mother. Not me." He added. "I don't care if you don't like me either. I don't just not like you. I hate you. I hate you. I HATE YOU! Liar. MURDERER!" Prince Link took a step towards the Queen.
"The Yiga! The Yiga killed your father. Happy? You little brat." The Queen spat at him. "We were ambushed, Urbosa and I on that fateful night. Your father came to save us and they took him. They captured him and dragged him away. The Yiga are known to kill prisoners. They killed him in cold blood. He saved me and he died—" The Queen fumed. Although Zelda looked beyond the drama that has taking place before her. Her blood ran cold.
"Um…you're majesties?" interjected Zelda. Prince Link shouted something back at his mother and they continued their bickering. Pointing of fingers, flushed faces and spitting at one another. "YOU'RE MAJESTIES!" The majesties both turned to sharply to her.
"What?" the Queen asked coldly.
"Look." She pointed behind them. Siré, Prince Link and the Queen followed her gaze. They all blinked in unison, all unsure.
"What in Hylia's name?" Prince Link muttered. The group moved closer towards the waters.
Floating in the water was their boat, rather the remains of their boat. Bits of charred wood floated in the water, the sail marked with flames and ash covering the once transparent waters in a thin layer of grey. "Our boat…it's been…burnt?" Link said, stunned.
Zelda arched an eyebrow, slightly annoyed at the prince's royal presumption that the boat was his rather than viewing it as belonging to the girl who had helped them, It's definitely Siré's boat, what's left of it.
Siré knelt and took a soggy piece of wood out of the water mournfully. Zelda felt a guilt wash over her, Siré's boat was now gone. A boat which she generously allowed them to use only for it to go up in flames. "Why? Is this Ganondorf's doing?" Siré asked worriedly.
Prince Link scratched his neck in puzzlement. "Why would he burn the boat? He could have taken it. Could have left the island. Why?" Prince Link furrowed his brows.
"Because he wants us here," murmured the Queen.
"What?" Zelda turned to her.
The Queen looked up from the boat and her solemn gaze bore into each of their souls. "He wants us here. He wants us to be trapped. With him." She paused. "Isolated…with no way out." Zelda gulped as she looked upon the burnt remains of the boat and she realized the startling horror of it all.
"He thinks he can win." Zelda noted.
"Yes. Indeed, he does." The Queen said with a slight quiver in her voice.