Chapter 8: The Test

\-==/\==-/

A crisp breeze pinched at Link's cheeks as he led Choice towards the stables. He shivered, his hand tightening involuntarily around his horse's bridle. Back again.

He couldn't find it in himself to smile at Choice's attempts to cheer him up - a hearty nudge to his shoulder, a teasing attempt to eat his hair, swishing her tail across his face as he unbuckled his satchel, packed with travelling gear, from her saddle.

He felt cold inside, cold and sick. Why did something like this have to happen? Why?

The last thing he wanted was to hand this traveller over to Captain Janin and the General, as a possible Yiga assassin and a valuable source for information that would more likely than not be involuntarily forced from him. Link grimaced, waving for a stable hand to come for Choice and take her inside. A young girl hurried up and held her reins as Link unfastened the chain attached to the traveller's manacles from the saddle. See you later, he thought, giving his horse a farewell pat on the shoulder before turning away.

"This way," he muttered, starting up the winding cobbled roadway to the castle and giving the traveller's chain a gentle tug. I'll go to Captain Janin first - I know where to find him, at least. I've no clue where the General would be at this time of day.

The sky was just beginning to burn with an inkling of sunset. The castle grounds were far from empty, of course; the sounds of light, contented conversation between people turning in for the evening mingled with the clatter of practice swords on the training field. Link's jaws tightened and his pulse quickened as the shadows of past battles threatened to engulf him. Sweet Farore - have those nightmare training battles really affected me this much?

He swallowed thickly, remembering the General's words on his mental state. All at once he realized he didn't want to find out if those assumptions were true. Forcing a hard, stern mask back over his features, he squared his shoulders and continued towards the Royal Guard Chambers, his grip secure on the end of the chain guiding the traveller. Only once they had passed the training field and entered the shadows cast by the castle walls did his breathing ease.

Suddenly he felt a sharp tug and glanced back to catch a glimpse of fiery determination glinting in the traveller's eyes before the chain between the manacles locked around his throat and the traveller's weight barreled into his back, knocking him forward and pinning him to the ground. Gagging, Link thrust his elbow backwards into the traveller's ribs and the man lurched forward, slamming his knee down between Link's shoulder blades. Link bucked upwards, unbalancing the traveller, and flipped onto his back even as the chain tightened around his windpipe. Teeth grit in determination he flung his fist out, striking the man's throat and sending him crumpling to his back, inadvertently yanking Link on top of him with the chain still locked around his neck.

His lungs burned for want of air and a wave of panic threatened to overwhelm him. Eyes narrowed, he fought to keep his head clear. While his injured hand grabbed desperately at the chains pinched around his throat he clubbed the traveller across the temple with his other hand, clenched into a firm fist; with the full strength of his arm and upper body thrown into the blow, the man fell still, eyes rolling back into his lolling head. His hands went limp, and Link quickly unwound the manacle chain from his neck, sucking in deep, rasping breaths of cool evening air.

"Link!"

He looked up, massaging his throat, as Captain Janin jogged hurriedly towards him. "Sir," he croaked, wincing slightly. "This man - I believe he's a Yiga assassin; he… he…"

"It's alright," Janin assured him quickly. "You - you didn't kill him, did you?"

"No, sir," Link coughed. "Thought he… m-might be able to explain a f-few things… things that don't… don't add up…"

"He's one of our own," Janin said, sounding winded as he bent down and heaved the unconscious man over his shoulder. "We sent him to… Din curse it, I did worry that this would be going too far!"

"Sir, what - what do you mean?" Link asked, pushing himself to his feet and wobbling slightly. "Too… far?"

The Captain scowled. "It was a test, Link. One that, should this be any indication, I believe you've passed with flying colors. This man had a notebook; do you know where it is?"

Link nodded, slipping one hand into the satchel at his side containing his travelling gear and pulling out his captive's journal, which was now rather rumpled. "He used some sort of alternate script I'm not familiar with - I couldn't read it."

Janin nodded, beginning to head towards the Royal Guard Chambers. "It's an ancient form of Hylian script, dating back to the Twilight Era. We knew you wouldn't know that one."

Link frowned. "What exactly is going on?" he asked, trying and failing to prevent a note of frustration from entering his voice. "He told me it was a test, too, but…"

"You didn't believe him," the Captain finished with a grim smile. "Exactly as I had hoped. This whole thing was planned from the start.

"You'll remember that I sent word to King Dorephan about your request, asking for some sort of compromise. His answer was that if you could defeat the lynel causing trouble for his people, he would be satisfied with having you teach only the older warriors, and only for a few weeks out of the year.

"Then you went and saved the Princess from the rogue guardian. The Princess herself is keen on travelling, seeing the kingdom, meeting her people… she has recently been sent across the kingdom in search of Champions to pilot the four Divine Beasts excavated last year, and for her protection she went with a troop of our most experienced guardsmen."

Janin paused. "Although you are certainly our most skilled man, you heard the General's doubts about you - your age and maturity, the state of your mind… all those. He's not the only one to harbor those doubts, and the King is among those that agree with him. That is why we never posted you on any of those outings."

Link nodded slowly. He had always assumed it was because of his age, stature, or the fact that he didn't work well with the others. Or, rather, that others didn't work well with him.

Clearing his throat, the Captain continued. "Anyway, having so many good warriors out there weakens us back here, and truly we do not know how long we have until the Calamity returns. We must be prepared for a war unlike any we've ever seen before, meaning we must have as many of our best men here as is possible. However, the Princess still has her studies, which often take her out of the castle. The King is also considering sending her on a pilgrimage to the sacred springs before her next birthday. She needs protection.

"It had occurred to King Rhoam that, strategically, it would make sense for the Hero and the Princess to travel together. However, once again there's the issue of the doubts harbored about you. You're… a bit of a wild card. So he began instead examining the other knights of the Royal Guard, hoping to assign one of them as her sole protector.

"When you saved the Princess from the guardian, the King reconsidered. It was a brave act, and an intelligent one. He, the General, and I counselled together about how we could be sure of your suitability for this task, and when I mentioned Dorephan's request, the General had an idea.

"We could send you to Zora's Domain under the guise of continuing your lessons to the Zoran youths. Forbidding anyone from telling you about the lynel served a double purpose: creating an atmosphere of tension and testing your perception of it, and giving us time to build a trap for the Zora Princess and her brother.

"If everything went according to plan, you would grow suspicious of the man we put in place to observe you, you would defeat the lynel and save the Zoran royalty, and you would identify this man as a threat."

Janin scowled, lips twisting as if he had taken a bite of a particularly sour lemon. "This last attack was my idea. Our man here is one of our best reconnaissance operatives, highly trained to use the most impossible of circumstances to his advantage in combat. Using manacles as a weapon is mere child's play to him.

"I knew that upon passing the training field, you would be more distracted," the Captain admitted with a rueful grin. "What with the methods you and I have worked with to hone your skills. And you would be walking right past the area if you passed the test up to that point. So he was instructed to attack you there and render you unconscious if he could."

"I could've killed him," Link protested angrily. "I thought he was a Yiga - I might have killed an innocent man!"

"Hardly innocent, with the tasks we've assigned to him," Janin rolled his eyes. "But yes, that was my concern as well, knowing your skills as I do. Why didn't you kill him?"

"If he was a Yiga, and the entire disaster at Zora's Domain was an assassination attempt, we… could have interrogated him," Link answered, his voice soft. A chill snaked down his spine.

Don't you try to pretend innocent. It doesn't take much for interrogation to cross the line to torture.

I would have turned a man over to be tortured.

It didn't matter that he could have been a member of a cult dedicated to destroying the world through Calamity Ganon. He was still a human being, and Link felt sick at the thought of what he could have suffered because of him.

Beware the monster within…

Janin nodded slowly, approval gleaming in his gaze. "Good," he said, but a note of surprise tinged his voice. "Good. I'm… proud of that, Link. You have the true heart of a soldier."

Link's mouth went dry, and he fixed his gaze forward, unable to so much as glance at the Captain again. But… but that is not a good thing. No one, no matter how cruel, deserves to be… to be tortured.

Am I a monster, then?

\-==/\==-/

The Royal Guard Chambers were unnaturally silent when Link walked down the sturdy stone staircase much later that night, after meeting with the King a second time.

Instead of jeers or disgruntled looks, the other knights were staring at him with uncertainty. With fear. Word, apparently, travelled fast.

It wasn't until Link had undressed and crawled into bed that they began to move again. As if a spell had been released, they continued about their business, albeit with no small amount of hesitance, and with whispers instead of casual conversation.

Link closed his eyes, curling into a protective little ball as he did every night, his heart throbbing much too fast and much too loud in his ears for sleep. As he attempted to force himself to find rest, words drifting across the barracks found their way into his mind, into his dreams.

"Is he even human?"

"Well, he sure don't seem like it…"

"Unnatural…"

"Explains how some kid could have those skills…"

"...hatched out of some Sheikah lab or something…"

"Not even human…"

Not human… not human…

In his dreams that night, the red-eyed shadow of himself smiled sadly and shook his head as he died. "You didn't listen… you didn't listen. Look now, into the water. Look down…"

He obeyed, turning his gaze downward to a puddle at his feet, and what he saw… what he saw was the worst, most horrible thing he could have -

And he awakened with a jerk and a startled cry, drowning in his own sweat, shivering violently in the darkness. He couldn't remember his reflection.

But it had been the most terrifying thing he had ever laid eyes upon.

\-==/\==-/

"That's… that's it?"

Link resisted the temptation to shy away from the General's stern, piercing glare. "Yes, Sir."

"That's all you have?"

Link nodded slowly. "Everything else is technically… it technically belongs to the Royal Guard, not to me." Even Choice…

As he stood just outside of the General's office the following evening, he carried nothing more than his bedroll, the Master Sword, his sturdy wooden hunting bow and its quiver of arrows, and a small pouch fastened to his belt holding a few supplies - fire-making tools, seasonings, a tiny book of recipes, and a spare roll of bandages. His wallet was also buckled to his belt, along with a small hunting knife that had been found in the ruins of the wagon his parents had died in. In a satchel slung over his shoulder was his only other change of clothes and his nightshirt.

Anything else he ever needed for his assignments was provided by the Royal Guard and returned as soon as he had accomplished all that he had been asked to do.

The General frowned, looking him up and down. "Well," he said after a moment's pause, "I suppose that's for the best. You'll be doing quite a bit of travelling with the Princess from now on, and… well, truly, your room isn't that big anyway."

Link's ears perked up. "Room?"

"This way," the General said, turning and striding confidently down the hallway. Link tried to imitate him, squaring his shoulders and lifting his chin. This is the man who doubts me the most - I have to prove that I'm not what he thinks!

Now that it was becoming a reality, and he was going to be assigned as the Princess' appointed knight, his stomach squirmed with butterflies of excitement. He had long admired her from afar - her serenity in the face of doubts and criticism, her endurance in striving to unlock her powers even after so many years of failure, her intelligence and that sweet, excited way that she smiled when she was studying the ancient relics -

Link quickly stopped that train of thought, his cheeks warming in embarrassment. I need to be mature - not driven by… er, whatever that is.

Yes, the Princess was beautiful as well as smart and brave. But I need to try not to notice that. Otherwise I won't get to spend time with her anymore.

Will we become friends? Goddesses, that would be incredible! Is she… is she like me at all? Does she feel so crushed by the burden we bear? Maybe we could talk together about it… find strength in each other…

His heart felt light with hope for the first time in what felt like his entire life long. At last his time spent in those barracks, ostracized by all, hated, was coming to an end.

And perhaps something much better was beginning - friendship, maybe even… happiness…

"Here we are," the General sighed, opening a simple wooden door just down the hall from the Princess' quarters. Inside was a window, a bed, a small wardrobe, and a basin of water resting on a short table before a mirror. "Go ahead and leave your things here; you're meeting with the King now, to be apprised of your new duties."

Link nodded, quickly setting his bedroll and bag of clothes down before following the General back out into the corridor. Well, this'll certainly be nice - I've never had my own room.

"Sir," he called out, clearing his throat awkwardly as they walked. "When… when will I start?"

The General didn't pause to glance back at him. "Right after this meeting. The Princess knows of your appointment; after your conference with the King, Captain Janin, and myself, you will report to her chambers and stand guard just outside. When she leaves, you will follow."

Link nodded eagerly, biting back a small smile. This is like nothing I've ever done before - what will it be like?

\-==/\==-/

He returned to his room with stiff shoulders and broken hopes, and more than a little bit of fear.

On the days that the Princess is at the castle, you are permitted five hours to yourself, in addition to four hours for sleep.

Get another member of the Royal Guard, or perhaps two, to cover for you when you take time off or time to sleep.

You must not speak unless absolutely necessary, as you do not yet possess sufficient wisdom or maturity to be of assistance to her conversationally.

You must take every precaution to keep her safe, no matter her protests.

You must not encourage her scholarly pursuits.

You are to be a shadow - silent, unnoticeable. You are not to draw attention to yourself. The invisible warrior is the strongest.

You must always maintain a calm, professional demeanor. Look to the General as an example.

The list went on and on. But far worse than any of those was the threat uttered at the end of the meeting.

We expect only the best from you, Sir Link of Thyphlo. As the Princess' protector you will enter the public eye far more often. As such, you must show them a hero worth looking up to. You are the wielder of the Master Sword and are expected to act as such.

You must also consider the many shortcomings held against you. Your position hangs by a thread. We expect you to prove us wrong in every way, and should you fall short…

Should you falter, should you become complacent…

Should you fail to meet our expectations, you are at risk of losing your knighthood, getting discharged from military service, and receiving any other additional punishment deemed necessary.

Link inhaled shakily, slipping his undershirt over his head.

He could lose everything he had ever known. He could lose Choice, his truest friend. He could lose his home, his way of life, his honor… everything.

He stared at the pale, anxious face in the mirror and hardened his features, taking in deep breaths until the person looking back at him was cold, emotionless. A lie, a mask, hiding the turmoil within.

Goddesses, preserve me, please...


Updated 7/8