Chapter 8—A Duel

The King of Hyrule gazed around the now empty stadium that held only himself, Zelda, Impa and Link. He held his head high and gave a nod to Impa. She moved forward toward Link and stopped in front of him.

"You won't win, Impa,"

"No, I won't," she said as she shook his hand, then backed up. Link drew the Master Sword from its case on his back. Impa, who had been carrying an unsheathed sword since the morning pointed the tip at Link in invitation. Link moved toward her in three steps. He lunged, knowing that moving first put him at a slight disadvantage, but having become too impatience to care.

Their blades collided. Impa swung lower, at Link's ankles. He jumped, landed and took a swing at her head. She ducked. Impa slashed from the upper right. Link dodged. He removed a fist from his sword to swing at her back and made contact. Impa stumbled forward, pressing her blade against Link's as it came at her from the front.

Zelda watched them duel, knowing it was a battle to the death. Knowing that neither would kill the other, though, it sure looked like they would kill each other. She gazed up at her father. He was smiling. Zelda began to fill with rage. She was the princess, and yet someone had to die for her to live as she wanted. It wasn't like where she learned about her people would hurt anything... would it?

Impa took a full swing at Link. He fell to his knees and rolled forward, swinging his blade backwards as he went. Impa jumped over the blade and countered Link again as he stood back up. They fell into an unbreakable exchange of hits. The metal collided relentlessly. The blades were nearly unseen. Impa knew if she stopped, she'd be hit. She knew it. They kept moving. The sounds filled the air, vibrating it, holding the battle in a split, still second that was too fast and too long.

Zelda stood up abruptly at the play of hits. Her mouth agape, she took mindless steps forward.

Link could see Zelda. Somehow, she was all he saw. He knew he was battling Impa, but his mind wasn't there. He'd been removed from the battle, he didn't feel it...

Zelda and Link lay in the grass wrapped in each other's arms. The wind blew the tall grass and the flowers in the field around them. Link caught one of the daisies and picked it, handing it to Zelda. She took it with a smile then laid her head back on his shoulder. Their eyes met and Link realized a second too late that the space between them had been shrinking. Their kiss. . . Their kiss

On the low swing, Link rolled forward, feeling his blade hit something hard, feeling and smelling blood as it spilled. His senses still revolved around Zelda. He felt no tension from the battle. No pity for having hit Impa with his blade.

He felt... pain?

Link looked down at his side, finding that he was the one covered in blood. He was the one who'd been hit. He looked up at Zelda; saw the horror on her face. Impa towered over him, her blade still in hand.

"Finish him, Impa," the king called.

"Stop this!" Zelda found her voice, her eyes still fixed on Link's gasping gash as she took the steps down from the platform by two. She collapsed next to Link. The feel of his blood soaking through her gown was sickening. He looked up at her and swallowed, blood running from the corner of his mouth. He smiled.

"...love you... Zelda... I...love you..."

"Link..."

Zelda felt many hands pull her back from Link, pull him from her arms. She saw through her tears that Impa was being held back too.

"No!!" Impa was yelling. "Leave him! Leave him!" the guards were picking Link up, carrying him roughly to somewhere... somewhere away from her...

"Let me go," Zelda mumbled against the guard who was pulling her from the scene.

"No, Zelda."

Jay. It was Jay who was pulling her back. Why would he separate her from Link? He knew... he knew so well... so why?

"Let me go!"

"No, Zelda... no..." he pulled her away and she couldn't see Link anymore. It was then that her legs gave way and she collapsed. She cried.

-----

Link could not believe the medicine man had left him there, alone. King-what's-his-face had grandly underestimated him. While his wound hurt, it was nothing like what he'd let on. He felt so bad to have deceived Zelda... but he would have die there if he hadn't. How would that accomplish anything? He sat up, trying to ignore the pain. Finding his feet, he went discreetly to the window.

While the battle had not gone as planned, The Plan was still workable.

Jay, as he'd promised, stood guard alone near the gate. Link whistled, the signal, and Jay turned. He grinned, looked around, then came to the window.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. You know where Zelda is?"

"Yeah, she's in the guard tower. No one's come looking for her yet. Can you travel with that wound?"

"Yeah, don't worry about me," Link climbed out the window. They headed back across the court yard without being seen and entered the guard tower.

"Link!" Zelda flung her arms around him as he entered.

"Hey, Zelda," he mumbled against her hair. She pulled back and looked him over, then leaned in and kissed him. He melted against her; that kiss was just what he needed to lose the rest of his strength...

"We're ready, Link," Jay said as he entered. He stopped in the doorway and smiled, watching them kiss.