Walking toward the castle they saw guards and knights rush to and fro through crowds of shocked civilians, presumably on errands to prepare defences or obtain damage assessments. Navi had never seen anything like it, even in the future that was, as by the time they awoke Castle Town had already been decimated by Ganondorf.
Link, for his part, took it all in with the practiced eye of someone with experience in such situations. From what he could see the reaction was both practiced and clumsy. Obviously Zelda had worked to prepare the kingdom for such events, but theoretical drilling couldn't match practical experience.
"I'm assuming Zelda is with the King?" Navi asked Impa as the Sheikah led the way.
"I don't know." Impa said as they approached the castle entrance. "She ordered me to wait for you before heading in with him and the rest of the Sages. We'll both find out soon, however."
Walking into the castle they saw that it was just as hectic inside as the town had been. Everybody was rushing about, trying to get things done even as they coped with the fact that they'd just been attacked and that the King was incapacitated.
When they reached the throne room they found Zelda sitting on her throne, surrounded by the kingdom's generals and advisers, her strong voice giving orders while the rest of the Sages each talked to an underling of their own, no doubt giving instructions regarding their own people.
"...and I want the shelters we prepared for the civilian populace checked in case of sabotage to their supplies or infrastructure." The princess ordered one of the advisors, a scribe nearby writing everything down at a furious pace. Then she spotted Link and Impa, the latter having moved into a corner of the room to keep an eye on everything. "Ah, Sir Link." She said with a small, strained smile, her words drawing everyone else's attention to the new arrivals, the various knights and politicians murmuring to each other about the dragon and what he'd done. "You have the kingdom's thanks for dealing with the dragon before it could reach us. The surprise attack by the infiltrators was bad enough. If that had been compounded with the dragon's rampage it would have been disastrous." She bowed her head in a show of gratitude, those surrounding her following suit.
Link brought a fist to his chest and bowed back. "It was my pleasure, your highness." He said simply.
Navi floated over to Zelda, her face anxious. "How's the king, Zelda?"
For a brief moment Zelda's face crumpled, deep anguish expressed in her eyes, but it was gone so quickly most thought they'd imagined it, her expression resolute and focused. "He is being tended to by the best healers and mages we have available. He was attacked with a cursed object. The injury was not immediately fatal, so there is hope that they will be able to dispel the magic before serious damage has been done." Then she turned her attention back to Link, obviously trying to focus on the immediate issue. "Sir Link, is there anything you can tell us about the dragon? Obviously it's tied to the attack."
"It was a Rathalos Drake." Link said, crossing his arms as his brow furrowed in thought. "It can't have migrated naturally. It's from the land of Paracemia, which is known by the inhabitants as The Land of Beasts. It was also enhanced to be tougher than a normal specimen. That means it was brought here to be part of this attack."
After some murmuring among those gathered one of the generals stepped forward. "Do you know of any group from this Paracemia that would attack us?"
Link closed his eyes, thinking about it. "Paracemia doesn't have a central leadership." He explained slowly, obviously focused on his thoughts. "The land is divided between many clans of different races, each inhabiting a different area, much like the gorons live on Death Mountain and the zoras keep to their own domain." Link tapped his foot. "The only clan that would do this was the Tigreta, but they were recently devastated and forced out of their home when they tried to take over the other tribes' lands in a bloody war that almost wiped out the Lupunte and Simiika tribes."
An advisor in more modest dress than others there looked at Link with shrewd eyes. "You said they were devastated in this recent war. Could they have travelled here in search of a new place to settle and lick their wounds?"
Link slowly shook his head. "It's too far to travel when they have other options closer to the lands they previously held. And saying they were devastated is an understatement. They would not have the strength to perform this attack. Besides, I did not see any members of their tribe among the fallen on the way here."
"You're sure?" Zelda asked her friend seriously.
"Tigreta are… distinctive…" Link said slowly. "They are hard to miss. The only way I can see them directly involved is if the attackers you fought were mercenaries they'd hired, but they still wouldn't have the resources to pay them."
"So what?" One of the men who'd sneered at Link back during the dinner he'd attended asked surprisingly seriously. "A dragon from another land just happened to be near when this group attacked us?"
Link cocked his head. "The Tigreta are superb beast masters. They could tame almost any animal in Paracemia. It is possible they tamed and then sold the drake to this group in order to make some money to recover…"
Zelda sat back on her throne, steepling her fingers as she observed Link seriously. "How sure are you of this?"
Link shook his head. "Not at all. It's only a best guess."
Zelda sighed and closed her eyes in thought. "Well, it is the best we have, so we will proceed under the assumption that you're correct and that whoever these attackers are they might have more Paracemian beasts at their disposal." She opened her eyes to look seriously at Link. "Sir Link, may I ask you to assist my scribes in making a list of the Paracemian beasts you know of, along with their strengths and weaknesses? I need my people to be prepared in case they encounter any more of them."
Link nodded. "Yes, Your Highness." He said seriously.
Navi, who had settled back on Link's shoulder, murmured softly into his ear as Zelda turned her attention back to the rest of her people. "Been a while since I heard you talk that much voluntarily." Despite her words, her voice lacked any of the usual teasing tone it would have had.
Link shrugged lightly. "It's not the time for reticence." He explained simply, the fairy nodding in agreement.
Nabooru had apparently finished speaking to her subordinate because she approached Zelda, the usual playful look absent from her face. "Princess, to honor the alliance we'd planned to make during this trip, I'm having the women I brought with me prepare to supplement your forces. They'll help with keeping watch in the town for any trouble, and are prepared to fight if there are any more attacks."
Zelda nodded to Nabooru, a grateful smile on her face. "That is much appreciated, Nabooru, thank you. I have no doubt that your women, so skilled at stealth and infiltration, will be a great help when it comes to keeping order in the town."
"I've sent a message to Father telling him what happened and to send any of our people that can be spared." Ruto said, approaching as well as she sipped some water. "We will use the waterways to scout around for anything out of the ordinary that might cause trouble. After all, the enemy will need to drink eventually."
"And my people will help reinforce your forces here." Darunia said as he approached as well. "We may not have special skills in information gathering, but we make up for that in fighting power. If a fight starts, we'll be ready to pound the enemy flat." The goron chieftain slammed a fist into his palm, a smirk on his face."
"Thank you, all of you." Zelda said with a grateful nod. "It's good to see that something positive came out of this entire situation."
Suddenly a robed man rushed into the room, gasping for breath. "Your Highness!" He cried. When everybody turned to stare at him, some of them displeased with the interruption, he continued. "Please hurry! Your father, he's…"
Zelda paled, feeling her heart clench, before she jumped to her feet and bolted away. Link and the sages glanced at each other briefly before quickly following, determined to be by their friend's side and do what they could to help.
"The attack failed." A woman said from one of the seats around the round table that the masterminds behind the infiltration and attack on Hyrule attended. Her sultry voice turned mocking. "The dragon didn't even make it to the fairgrounds it had been directed to. So much for the great hammer that would break the Hylians' back."
A low, bestial growl that expressed great fury answered her taunts. "Those soft Hylians should have not been able to defeat the Rathalos. Not before it accomplished its mission. I was told they'd never seen one, so would not know its weakness. And even then, we had enhanced it to be more powerful than a normal specimen. Clearly we were given faulty information."
"You weren't." The cultured voice of a man said in clipped tones, sounding displeased by his associate's words. "My spies are the best in all the lands. The people of Hyrule know precious little of places beyond their own territory. For them to somehow know exactly how to take down a Rathalos without having even heard of one is absurd. It must have been blind luck on their part that allowed them to save their necks."
"Actually, I have an answer for that." Another male said, his elderly voice sounding exceedingly grim. "One of the people I instructed to preserve their cover during the attack so they could report back told me something of interest. The Rathalos was taken down by a single man. A man that wore green and could make weapons appear as though from thin air. He charged the Rathalos and took it down with the expert skill of one who knew what they were doing." He stopped talking at that, letting the implication settle in the now stunned silent room.
"He's here." A young, female voice hissed. "Link is here!" She almost screeched in rage.
"How certain are you of this?" The childish, staticky voice asked seriously.
"I am confirming it now, as our illustrious spymaster was not able to before the attack." The elderly man said caustically, drawing a glower of irritation from said man. "It appears he was competing in the tournament, so we should know once we check the roster."
"Thischangesthings." The hyper voice joined in, once again speaking so quickly it took a moment to parse out what had been said. "Linkwillknowexactlywhathe'sfacingnotmatterwhatwesend. Heneedstodiefirstifwewanttosucceed."
"No!" The young, female voice responded, her anger undiminished. "I want that man to suffer. I want him to see his land, his people, ruined. And I want him to know it was all his fault."
"Agreed." The cultured voice of the spymaster said coldly. "The wood splinter of an usurper must be punished for his transgressions."
"Yes." The bestial voice said in agreement. "And I have the perfect distraction that will draw him away from Hyrule castle."
"Oh?" The sultry voice inquired. "And what is this idea, pray tell?"
The animalistic voice chuckled malevolently. "He is said to be an inhabitant of a nearby forest, isn't he?" They didn't say anything further. They didn't need to.
"...I'll make the arrangements." The static voice said with malicious glee.
When Link arrived in the King's chambers he found Zelda kneeling by her father's bed, holding his hand tightly. Her face was anguished, with tears falling down her cheeks.
It was easy to see what had left her in such a state. Nohansen lay on the bed, clad in only some sleeping pants and a robe that was left open, most likely for the healers to care for him. This made it obvious that he was slowly turning transparent, his body seeming to become like foggy glass. Link frowned at the king's laboured breathing, his chest fading bit by bit.
"What's happening to him?" Impa sharply asked one of the mages attending to the man as Link and the sages entered, all of them respectfully silent.
The man turned to look at the silver haired woman, face serious and more than a little tired. "We treated the initial wound before turning our attention to the magic that had been cast on him. Initially we thought the curse His Highness was afflicted with was a wasting curse that sapped his lifeforce. However, no matter what we did we weren't able to remove it. Then we saw it start to do this to him, so we performed further study to find that it is a sort of banishment curse we've never encountered before. From what we can tell it is slowly drawing him into a realm between this one and the spirit realm. Unfortunately, without more time to study this curse, retrieving him from this state of being would be exceedingly difficult."
His words drew a small sob from Zelda, who Ruto quickly went over to comfort, placing a hand on the other woman's shoulder.
The Hylian princess tried to stay strong, tried to keep the tears in, but seeing her dear father once again suffering brought back the memories of Ganondorf's attack. The agony she'd felt when she'd seen him cut down when she was only about to turn eleven, the seven years of guilt in knowing that she'd helped the evil bastard's plans with her well intentioned naivete. The weight piled onto her shoulders, and no matter how strong she was, she had a breaking point.
She could accept him dying of old age, even of illness, but seeing him once again brought low by treachery and violence broke her heart. She brought her forehead to his hand, feeling how unnaturally cold it was becoming, and whimpered out a brokenhearted plea. "Please, Papa, don't leave me alone again…"
Nobody there said anything at the desperate request. There was nothing that could be said. Everyone simply stood respectfully, silently allowing the princess to grieve. Impa moved to the side of the girl she'd cared for since she was a babe, silently offering her support.
Zelda didn't seem to notice, focused completely on her father, mind scrambling for something, anything to help him. She was accomplished in magic herself, but she wasn't so arrogant as to think that she knew more than the healers and mages several times her age who had been working on the problem. She felt helpless, something she hated. Silently she let out a plea to the goddesses for help, promising anything in exchange for her father's survival.
That was when the music started, the sound startling Zelda out of her despair. She turned along with the rest of the room to find Link with the Ocarina of Time at his lips, playing a tune she didn't recognize.
It was a haunting melody, soothing yet unnerving at the same time. It invited the listener to let go of the world, to just listen and be. Zelda felt her heart lighten a bit as the song continued, the weight on her shoulders that had rested there for what was to her a decade and half feeling not as heavy as it had been a moment ago. She was still sad, still terrified, for her father, for her kingdom, yet for just that moment she could set that aside.
There was a gasp from the healer standing at the other side of the king's bed. "Your Highness…" She whispered in shock, trying to get her attention without interrupting the sudden music.
Zelda turned back to her father, not realizing what had caught the healer's attention for a moment before her heart gave a jolt as she saw it. The king's body, almost completely faded away, was becoming solid again. Color returned first to his extremities, the change moving along his arms and legs to his torso. After a moment she realized that it was more like the foggy translucence was all moving to a single location. As she watched it gathered to his head, concentrating over his face, till it seemed to have become a solid mask made of foggy, opaque glass in the shape of the man's looks.
Once that happened Link brought his song to a close, his eyes shut as he let the last remnants of the music fade, the room descending into silence. Then the young hero moved towards the bed without anybody even thinking of stopping him and reached down for the mask on the King's face, picking up to reveal the healthy visage of a perfectly fine Nohansen Daltus Hyrule.
There was a moment of disbelief after Link stepped away, the mask disappearing to wherever he kept his gear, before all the healers and mages leapt towards the king, checking his status and casting diagnostic spells. "He-he's recovered! Completely recovered!"
Link silently exited the room while everyone was focused on the king, Navi still sitting on her partner's shoulder as he began to walk down the castle's halls, intent on making his way back to his inn to check on Malon and Talon before getting some rest.
"How did you do that?" Navi asked, surprised and impressed with her partner for the millionth time since she'd met him all those years ago.
"The Song of Healing is limited, but powerful." He explained simply as he continued walking.
He was almost at the exit when he heard Zelda's voice call his name. He turned to find her rushing after him, her fellow sages following behind at a respectful distance. The princess stopped a few feet from him, her cheeks still damp from tears and eyes a bit red.
She opened her mouth briefly, apparently at a loss for what to say, before she spoke. "How can I ever repay you, Link?" She said softly. Link blinked, but before he could respond she'd continued. "Everything you've done for me. Everything you've done for the kingdom, for all of Hyrule, how can I repay all of that?" She bowed her head to him, voice earnest. "Whatever I can give is yours, Link. A title, land, a hoard of rupees. My body. Anything. Just name it."
Link smiled gently as he saw his old friend tremble, obviously feeling overwhelmed by the rollercoaster of emotion that was the day's events, her defences down. He stepped closer to her, observing her as she looked back at him with a firm gaze.
"A smile." He said with a gentle one of his own.
Zelda blinked, not sure she heard right. "What?"
"Give me a smile, Zelda." Link said, still smiling.
Zelda stared at him for a moment, surprised by the simple request, before her lips slowly quirked up, stretching into a beautiful smile full of relieved joy. Then she launched herself at him, Navi quickly flying off as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close. She could feel him stiffen in surprise before his arms reached up to wrap around her form, holding her as she began to cry tears of joy and relief, a large smile on her beautiful face.
I AM HERE!
Finally got this done. As I've stated before in other places, this entire lockdown thing has made writing a pain for me. You'd think working from home would make things simpler, but I actually find it easier to write between calls at work. There aren't as many distractions, and I'm not sitting on a piece of crap chair that murders my back after a half hour on it.
In any case, how many of you thought I was going to kill of ol' Nohansen? That wasn't in the cards simply cause I find it too cliche and predictable. Seriously, considering how many people mentioned the possibility even before the last chapter came out I'm pretty sure I made the right call.
And for those who are going to argue that the Song of Healing can't cure a curse like that, it absolutely can. There are a couple of examples in Majora's Mask, but to me the most blatant one is how it heals Pamela's father (he never got a name that I could find) in order to get the Gibdo Mask. That indicates to me that it has the power to affect powerful curses like those. It's where I got the idea for this little solution to the predicament (and the predicament itself) from.
Also, in case anybody thinks Zelda offering herself to Link is OOC... sorta the point. She's emotional and deeply relieved and grateful to him. There's also the fact that some of the guilt she carries on her shoulders concerns him and what she inadvertantly did to his life. The fact that he's done nothing but continue to help her and his other friends just adds to things. I'll try to make that clearer going forward.
In any case, can't think of anything else that needs to be said besides my usual ad that if you want to have a say in what I write then you can do so by donating to my Pat A Ron. Every dollar donated counts as a vote in my monthly update poll, which tells me one of the things to update in the next month. And despite all the issues I've been having writing, I've made a promise that at the very least the winner of the poll would be updated by the end of the month unless something extreme happens, like a serious illness or injury to me or a family member. So if you want to donate that's at Pat A Ron dotcom /athanmortis.
As always, thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and please review! Till next time!