Chapter 19

The veiled Hylian came into the room again, and Zelda lifted her head.

She was so very tired. She dropped her head again. It was too painful to hold it up.

The nozzle of the water skin was placed to her lips, and she drank. Zelda swilled the cool water around her mouth, tasting blood. She spat, the red liquid splashing off the stoned floor, and then took another sip, swallowing this time. The water soothed her rough throat, offering Zelda a little bit of comfort.

"Who are you?" She asked weakly. The Hylian glanced to the door, and then back to Zelda.

"It will all be over, soon." She soothed, quietly. Zelda felt herself begin to panic.

"What does that mean?" she demanded, "Are they going to kill me?"

The Hylian looked shocked, moving as if to speak again when they were cut off by the door flying open. It slammed into the wall, ringing out down the corridor.

"Zelda!" Link cried, moving quickly towards her and dropping to his knees before his wife. He looked at her face, her wrists, her dirty clothes. His heart cried out, looking at the bruises on her face and the blood on her tunic, a mix of red and dark brown.

"Link," Zelda sighed happily. Goddess, she'd missed him! All she wanted right now was for him to hold her, let her be safe in his arms and forget this whole thing ever happened.

"Zelda, oh, my love," He stroked her hair, "We need to get you out of here."

Suddenly, he realized the presence of the Hylian in the room. He stood sharply, and shoved the person up against the wall, slamming their head into it.

"You're going to pay for what you've done to her," Link spoke, enraged.

"Link, stop!" Zelda cried, and Link looked at her. "They're good!"

Link flashed his eyes back to the Hylian, and ripped off the scarf concealing her.

"Faale?"

Faale blinked.

"I'm sorry!" She cried, "I know I lied to you! I knew Zelda was here all along. I knew who she was, as soon as she came in. I wanted to tell you, but I was scared, scared if you tried something and failed you'd both get hurt, or worse!"

"So, you let her stay here, to be hurt alone?" Link let go of her, and stepped back.

"I'm sorry."

"Link, don't be mad," Zelda pleaded "She's been taking care of me, bringing me water and cleaning my injuries."

Link took one more look at Faale, and sighed. He turned back to Zelda, kneeling down. He pulled at the cuffs at Zelda's wrist, but they did not give and just caused Zelda to while in pain as they rubbed against her raw skin.

"We need to get these cuffs off," Link looked around, "Faale, do you know where the keys might be?"

"The jailor will have them," she said. Footsteps sounded outside.

"Someone's coming!" Zelda moaned, "Please, don't let him get me!"

Link looked at Faale, and she understood immediately. She hung back behind the door, and Link stood to the other side, ready to ambush. He hadn't had a chance to take his sword off yet, and so was ready for an attack.

The person walked in, and Link to a second to make sure it was the right person.

"What are you doing, Bitch?" He shouted furiously at Zelda, "How did you open the-"

The jailor froze, and turned to look at Link. Before he could react, Link plunged the sword into the man's gut.

The jailor's eyes went wide, and he pawed at the sword sticking from his body. He made no noise, gasping silently until blood began to run from his mouth. Link, enraged with the man, dug the sword in deeper, causing the man to convulse. Link pulled the sword out, and the jailor fell to the floor.

Zelda looked on, stunned and horrified, bile rising in her throat. But also… glad. The man that had hurt her was dead.

Faale rushed in, grabbing at the jailor's belt. She pulled the keys off of it, and unlocked the cuffs around Zelda's wrists.

"You need to go." She said, pulling Zelda to her feet. She was unsteady, and Link took her arm.

"Will you be okay?" He asked Faale, and she nodded.

"I need to go and get Abrel," She turned to leave, but paused. "I'll let the other men out of their cells," She looked back to Link. "It was wonderful to meet you, Link. I hope everything turns out okay for you."

Link swallowed, understanding that Faale thought this was the last time they would see each other.

"Thank you for your help," he dipped his head, and Faale smiled once more before slipping out of the door.

After meeting back up with Harley and the others, Link began to lead them out. They moved as fast as they could with Zelda being injured, trying to be as silent as they could.

Until they came across Dariil, with the warriors mobilized.

"Link," He sighed, "I had hoped that you wouldn't do this."

"You were in on this too?" Link growled. He had known that some of them may betray him, but the men he had served alongside for the past few months? That he had trusted his life to? That stung.

"I knew the girl was there, yes."

"Let us past, Dariil. There's no need for this end in bloodshed."

A sad look settled on Dariil's face.

"You know I can't do that, Link." He said "You, of course, are free to leave. But the girl stays behind."

Link paled. What?

"That's never going to happen!" He snapped, "Why would you even need her?"

"Getting her was the whole point." Dariil spoke slowly, "That's why we captured you, because we knew that eventually, you would lead us to her. Of course, we needed the three items, but what makes you think that we actually needed you to help us find them?"

Link was shocked. He opened his mouth, but finding no words he shut it again.

"We were glad for your help, of course," Dariil continued "But at the end, we didn't even need to wait for you to take us to her, as the girl came to us herself."

"What do you mean?" Zelda was white as a sheet, "What do you want with me?"

"As Link may have told you, we need three items to take our people back above ground."

Zelda looked over to Link, shocked.

"Or maybe he hasn't." Dariil shrugged. "But the three items aren't the only things we need. The Elders call for a sacrifice."

Link hissed in anger, and raised his sword. "Over my dead body."

"If that's what it comes to," Dariil shrugged. He raised his own sword. Link tried one last time.

"Please. Just let us pass."

Dariil didn't answer. He let out a cry, and ran forwards, sword raised.

The battle didn't last long. Link shoved aside his previous feelings, and yelled to one of the men to get Zelda back. He parried Dariil, and they began to fight.

Dariil was older, and more skilled, but much slower than Link. Link was able to block every single one of Dariil's swings, moving quickly to dodge or parry. However, the skill of the older man meant he was able to do pretty much the same thing. Eventually, Dariil began to tire. And that's when Link managed to get a hit in.

He swung, aiming for Dariil's sword arm. Putting his entire strength into it, the sword cut through the skin, muscle, and bone and though the other side. Dariil let out a scream, and his hand and sword fell to the ground with a clatter. The man clutched at his bleeding hand, staring at it, a look of pure horror on his face. Eventually, he managed to pull his eyes away, and the furious slits landed back on Link.

"You'll pay for this," He growled, before turning and leaving. "Men, squash these nuisances!"

Link raised his sword again, and they began to fight.

Luckily, the fight had not taken long. There were a few fatalities, from both side, but Link and the Skyloftians were overall successful. They continued on their way to escape.

When of course, they ran into Finn again.

"I saw the bodies," Finn started carefully "Was that your doing?"

"I'm sorry, Finn," Link told the other man, "They wanted to sacrifice Zelda. We gave them the chance to let us go with no bloodshed, and they refused. We had to do what we could."

"Oh," Finn looked down, "It's just… I knew them all. I knew that dying was a very real possibility when I joined the army, but at the same time…"

"Come with us." Link spoke. Finn looked up at him.

"I don't want to leave Joole," He sighed. Finn paused for a few moments, and then sighed again. "But with everyone dead, and me the only survivor, they'll think I had something to do with it. Staying is most likely a death sentence. And they'd implicate Joole, too." He laughed, but it held no humour. "I guess you are still my commanding officer though, huh?"

Link said nothing.

"I'll come."

As they walked out into the sun, Link heard a voice behind them.

"Wait!"

Link turned, and he was shocked to see Faale running after them with Abrel in her arms. To add to his surprise, Harley stepped forward and Faale ran into his arms.

"Okay," Link spoke, confusion colouring his words, "Have I missed something?"

"It's a long story," Harley laughed.

"I thought you were going to stay?" Link asked.

"I was," Faale nodded "But then I heard what they were planning to do with Zelda. I couldn't… I couldn't stay with people who were willing to kill an innocent just to get what they want. It's not right."

"Well, we're glad to have you with us." Zelda smiled feebly at the girl, and she grinned back.

"I'm glad to get out into the light," She turned her head up to the sky. "It's been a while since I stepped outside."

"Come on, then." Link looked over his men, plus the three new comers. He took Zelda's hand, giving it a squeeze. "Let's go home."

Finally, they were home. It had been emotional; Gaepora took one look at Zelda and summoned a healer, demanding to know what had happened. Link had told him everything.

"This is a personal attack," Gaepora fumed, "Anything else, and I'm afraid we will have to go to war."

Luckily, nothing happened. They fully expected the Hylians to come after them, to attack the settlement. Everyone in every house had self-defence classes taught, and weapons left by beds to protect themselves. But no one came, there was no attack.

Karane had her baby. This time, she was surrounded by people, the healer leading. Zelda and Horii stood to one side, and Groose to the other, Karane's hand in his. After a long six hours, she had a little baby girl. They named her Geruda, Gerry for short.

Zelda got back into a normal routine, taking care of Aria and Eric. She helped out Karane of course, and they still got together to have dinner or sleep over. Link found it harder; he'd been put on leave forcibly by Gaepora, on orders that he was to look after Zelda until she was better. Zelda hadn't been too badly hurt during her ordeal, but the mental scars remained. Zelda needed someone to calm her at night when the nightmares got too much, and she was grateful for his arms to hold her whilst she cried.

The twins turned four, and Lee just before that. They threw a massive party for the children, who acted more like triplets than twins and a single child. They ate cake, sang songs, and played party games; Aria won musical chairs every single time, whereas Eric was best at sleeping lions. Lee liked pass-the-parcel, but that was probably because he won the big prize, and he clutched his carved horse with pride.

Faale and Abrel found it hard at first to settle in. The warriors were suspicious of them, in case they turned out to be spies. The women gossiped, turning their backs to her when she walked anywhere with Abrel in her arms. Harley had shouted at people many times for making the girl sad, but as soon as he wasn't around it continued to happen. It was well known now in the settlement that Abrel was Harley's daughter, and though Gaepora had been confused at first, once it was explained to him he understood completely, and didn't chastise the man too much for sneaking off and putting himself in danger.

Eventually, Faale became more accepted. As the risk of attack went down, the warriors became less and less suspicious, and once the tension there was gone then women quickly followed suit, and began to wave and stop to chat to her on the streets.

Finn suffered a similar fate the Faale; as a warrior of the Hylians himself, and not knowing the language of the sky, he had been imprisoned for a short time. Link had challenged Gaepora about this decision, but in the end, he had understood it was for the safety of everyone. Gaepora wasn't a monster, though; he made sure the man had food, water, a warm bed, a teacher so he could learn the language and of course medical attention for the cut on his side that was still healing. It healed up nicely, and in a few shorts months the only indicator it was there was a thin pink line. Finn had eventually been let out, again when the threat of attack had been forgotten about. He had moved into Harley's house, as they decided the two Hylians together would keep them from missing their culture and returning home. Faale enjoyed living with Harley, but she refused to share a bed with him, so far; after being on her own for so long she wasn't quite ready to trust him completely yet.

The remaining warriors, including Harley, began back out on scouting missions soon enough. Link had shared maps and knowledge with the men that the Hylians had given him, and they went back to finding more areas to set up settlements for their growing people.

Everything now normal, all was calm.

No one saw it coming.

Thank you everyone for reading! Next chapter is the last one... are you all ready?

Please leave a review!

Meiko x