Sila laid in her bed, staring at the ceiling. Despite the fire in the grate and the warming pot the maids had passed through her sheets, she was frigid. She was under three comforters and a fur blanket, and she curled around her rounded belly protectively, to keep their child warm. She was waiting; Ganondorf had been out on a hunt all day, and she hoped to use the cold as an excuse to get inside his bedchambers and maybe get the key on his neck.
At long, long last, when the weak sunlight in her room grew dim, she heard the announcer faintly calling out that His Majesty had returned from the hunt, and there would be a feast on the deer and pheasants he had brought down. Sila sat up, snapping awake instantly. He would want to change before the feast, his hunting clothes would be soaked from snow and blood. After a while, she heard his boots thumping past her room, towards his own. She held her breath, counting down until the boots faded, and after a pause there was the muffled sound of a heavy door shutting. She waited even longer yet, and finally she forced herself from the warm sheets, placing them back to keep warm, and wrapped herself in her heavy robes and boots.
She left her rooms, and she thought she could hear the hunting dogs still baying outside as they were being kenneled. She stopped at the door to his rooms, closed and imposing. Sila touched the door lightly with her fingertips, stroking the texture of the wood, then she knocked sharply.
No response.
She knocked again, a little harder. "My Lord?" she called out.
Still, nothing.
He was in the last locked passage, he had to be. She looked at the lock, reaching one finger inside the keyhole and trying to feel around, but it was too small. Sila glanced around, then removed a pin from her hair. She opened it up, and carefully started fishing around in the lock. Lock-picking had never been one of her specialties, and all she ended up doing was wasting time, until she realized that thumping sound was boots, not her heart, and she immediately pulled the pin back and raised her hand as if to knock again, when the door opened and it was her dear husband standing there in surprise.
"My lady?" he said, somewhat bewildered to see her there. As she spoke, she looked him over; his hair was slightly askew, and his clothes were hastily thrown on and half-done. There was a faint stink in the air, of decaying blood and rotting meat, and other sour, sharp smells, including the smell of a few herbs she recognized, and they startled her.
"I apologize for disturbing you," she said quickly, sweetly. "But my rooms are absolutely frigid, and perhaps I could keep warm if…" She ran one hand over her belly to accentuate the baby curve there. Ganondorf looked it over, then back to her face. He nodded, and almost seemed to smile in a relaxed way; in fact, he seemed more at ease than she recalled ever seeing him. He stepped back.
"Come in, please."
There was a maid at the fire grate, and she paused in her work to curtsy to Sila. Sila immediately went to the bed and climbed in, feeling foolish. It was far colder than her own rooms, because no one had warmed the bed in hours. She looked to the maid, saying "make sure to dampen the fire in my chambers," and the maid nodded.
Ganondorf was thumbing through books at his table, and looking over a ledger. The stink was starting to fade, replaced with the cleansing smell of burning wood. Sila looked around the room curiously, as it was the first time she'd been in, and she also wanted to see if she could identify the secret passages.
"How does your work go?" she asked idly. Behind that tapestry was one, possibly…
"It goes. We've hauled almost 2300 tons of sand from the desert. It's being manufactured into bottles and glass panes. Your country will get a cut from the profits, naturally."
Sila smiled at him and ducked her head. "It is good of you to think of my country so favorably."
"The copper from the mines is fashioning pipes; I have a man who believes he can devise a system to deliver water directly to where it is needed without the use of buckets or excessive manpower."
"How fascinating," she replied, snuggling under the covers and turning towards him, one arm on her hip. "How was the hunt?"
"Quite good. Felled two deer, and eight pheasants." All the while he was busily writing, and whether it was balancing accounts or an erotic story, his face revealed nothing.
"My lord? I feel I would be much warmer if you were here…" she said, letting her voice trail off with implications.
"One moment, love," he replied automatically.
Sila raised her eyebrows, but Ganondorf did not see the small gesture. He'd never said that word to her before, not even when she told him of her pregnancy, not even on their wedding night. And for a moment, she thought again of telling Link to surrender their plans, because maybe they could survive this union, and maybe Ganondorf was not that miserable of a leader after all.
She looked at him, and she saw a chain running down under his shirt, which had come partly open to show a key, glinting, its end somewhat grimy with blood.
/
Link was irritated. Sila's latest letter informed him that no, she still had not made any progress in getting access to the secret chambers he'd told her of, but she at least was able to enter his rooms when he was in a fair mood. Perhaps, also, Sila would be too noticeable. The queen, skulking around her husband's chambers, trying to find secret passages for reasons she could not reveal? He thought over this problem for a while, and though he had instantly come up with a solution, he was reluctant to act on it, because he knew how his soldiers would react in almost all situations. His solution did not involve one of his soldiers.
/
Zelda answered the knock as quickly as she could, still drying her hands on a towel from working on the dishes. When she opened it to see Veru standing there and shivering, her eyes widened, and she looked past her to the magnificent coach that was waiting, surrounded by some of the villagers' children staring in curiosity.
Veru handed her a letter, and Zelda looked it over, then up at her. "When does he want me to visit?"
"Most immediately, my lady," Veru replied.
"Whatever for?"
"He has an opportunity he thinks you would do well in."
Zelda frowned, peeking out at the sun. "Will I be back before dusk?"
"Hopefully," Veru answered.
"Let me get my coat."
Zelda slung the thin wool over her shoulders, and put on her boots. Being so far south of the castle, they did not get as bad of a winter season, but it was still cold enough to frost everything overnight and leave them seeing their breath if Alej didn't stoke the fire. She wrote a quick note that she would be back, weighting it on the kitchen table with a heavy stone in case he got home before her, and followed Veru into the carriage.
They weren't on the ride long when she felt tired and headachey. It happened often in her pregnancy, and Linna assured her it was quite normal. She rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes, hoping she would be able to nap it away.
When she woke up, she immediately removed her jacket, feeling far too hot. But it had been the stopping of the carriage that had woken her up most.
"Do you remember your dream?" Veru asked her quietly.
Zelda looked at her in surprise. "My dream?"
"You were talking in your sleep. But… I couldn't understand much of it. It was like another language."
Zelda tried to think back, but there was nothing but blackness, and she shook her head. Veru shrugged it off, and led her into the fortress.
Zelda was surprised to see the structure; it looked nothing like what she had pictured his castle would be. It was all flat roofs and square angles, no phallic towers or open-air bedrooms. She followed Veru into the Great Hall and was asked to stay there, and Link was requested.
He smiled as he walked up to her, stopping when he noticed the roundness of her stomach. "You're pregnant?" he exclaimed. "Why did you take the carriage ride? Did you want to lose the child?" He looked for Veru and snapped at her. "Did you not notice? You should have left and took me to her, instead!"
Veru barely flinched. "I assumed she simply got fat. These Hylian women wear so many layers."
Zelda narrowed her eyes in a frown, and Link rolled his eyes. "Next time, ask, damn it." He turned to his guest. "My apologies. Did you do well on the ride? How are you feeling?"
She walked with him through the building, noticing the women everywhere, and all of them carrying either a spear or a curved sword. "The ride was fine. I slept through most of it. I've been tired, but otherwise, the same."
He'd led them to a long table, meant for the evening meals, and he invited her to sit next to him, gesturing for some snacks and cool drinks to be brought over.
"How is Alejandro? Does he like the gift I got him?"
"Yes. He's actually hunting right now, and he takes it with him."
"I hope you have not had to use your gift, yet."
"No." She thanked the woman that brought over a plate and two glasses, pouring them both weak, cold wine. The plate had some thin slices of cured pork, along with fresh fruit. She went for the fruit first; sweets were her top craving.
"Do you know what you are having?" he asked, wrapping a piece of melon with some of the pork.
"No. I refuse to do the ring test. I want a surprise. Though… I hope it's a boy." She put one hand protectively to her stomach, as she always did.
"Maybe you could name him after me, eh?" he said with a little laugh.
She shrugged and smiled at him. "Maybe. So. What is it you wanted me out here for?"
"Two friends cannot chat openly about their lives?" he countered, tilting his head.
Zelda's smile was hard around the edges. "Sure they can. But how are we friends? You're a sleazy sort-of king of a barren land and I'm a country woman, expecting her first child. We barely have anything in common."
Link raised one eyebrow, his expression also going stern. "You would do well to watch your words, my lady."
"What do you want? Why did you drag me out here?" Zelda was irritated now, but at least they'd dropped their pretense of any niceties.
Link drummed his fingers on the table, and looked back into her face. "If any of what I am about to tell you leaves this room, even said to your husband, I will have both your throats slit, and your baby torn from your womb and thrown into the Hylian river. Alright?"
Zelda stood abruptly, shoving her chair back and knocking it down. "Don't you dare threaten me." She glanced out of the corner of her eyes, seeing some of the women stopping in their tasks, and slowly approaching the two of them.
"Zelda, sit down," Link commanded.
"No. Go hang yourself. I will not be pulled into your little games because you're mad I never laid with you."
"You think that's what this is about? Why do you think I sought you instead of just using one of my own soldiers?"
"How the hell am I supposed to know? I barely know you, and I don't wish to." She stepped back. "I'm leaving."
"Zelda." He stood up. "Do you trust your king?"
She frowned. "He barely rules me. I don't give a care what he does."
"You might, if he were to make himself immortal."
"What? Don't be ridiculous. No one is immortal." She folded her arms, glaring at him.
"And I am telling you, he might be one day. Please. Sit back down."
Zelda hesitated, but she bent to pick up her chair. On her way, she winced, and Link stopped her with one hand to her arm.
"I'll do it." He lifted the chair and tucked her back in at the table, sitting in his own. After a pause, he started to talk.
"There is a reason I selected Sila specifically to marry Ganondorf. She is my most trusted soldier, I have known her the longest of all of them. I did not marry her to him to get rid of her. I chose her so that she could watch him."
He reached into one pocket and pulled out one of Sila's letters, showing it to Zelda.
"She writes to me in a specific code. In this letter, where she mentions drafts in her room, it means she has been able to find specific hidden passages. She talks briefly about her maids in the next line, so that tells me one leads to the maids' quarters. I received another letter from another spy of mine, telling me he knows the king has such passages in his rooms, but one is always locked, and he wears the key around his neck."
He went back into his pocket, taking out another piece of paper.
"This is another letter from Sila. She describes that she visited her dear husband after one of his boar hunts in the South Woods, and smelled some very specific herbs and other foul scents in his room. The herbs are long believed to be involved with longevity, possibly immortality."
Zelda put one hand on Link's wrist. "Is… is the hunting trip a line? A code?"
"What? No. I presume that's what he would have told her."
Zelda frowned. "There's… there are no boars in the South Woods. They live to the west, on the land bordering Termina."
Link went still. "Are you quite sure?"
"Yes, my father hunts from time to time. When he wants pork, he goes west. When he wants rabbits, he goes south."
Link nodded slowly. "So your king is also lying to her."
"Could he be seeing another woman?" Zelda offered. Despite herself, she was intrigued with this mystery.
"Highly doubtful. From Sila and my spy's reports, he has never invited anyone into his rooms, not even his wife, until she went and forced herself in. She was surprised when she was pregnant by him, he touches her so rarely."
There was a new, bitter tone to Link's voice, and Zelda nodded to herself. "You love her."
"Of course. Of course I do. She…" He cleared his throat and laughed a little. He hadn't realized how hard this was to talk about, probably because he had never bothered to do so. "I had to command her to abort our child before the marriage."
"Oh Goddesses." Zelda felt a cramping of sympathy in her belly, and she put her hand to it. Link looked at her and his brow knitted in worry.
"I apologize; I've made you uncomfortable. Please; it was important to our country. I will not ask you to do such a thing, if you decide to follow through."
"How can I help you like this? What purpose can I serve?"
"Let me finish getting through this." He cleared his throat and downed the rest of his wine in one gulp. "There are rumors that he has a wicked temper, that he almost murdered a girl when he was younger, because she had offended him with some slight. Why do you think he had to wait until I practically thrust a wife into his face? No woman in Hyrule would marry him because of his violence."
"So he has a temper and may dabble in alchemy. Why do you need me, again?"
"I want you to spy on him as a maid in the castle. I do not trust that man, and I know he is up to something. And his lie about boar-hunting. I want to know what he is really doing out there."
"Won't it look odd if a maid is following him to the South Woods?"
"It won't look odd if you are not seen. You were raised in this climate. You must know how to move soundlessly in the trees, and there are so many maids at the castle, I've no doubts you could slip out unseen." Link took her hands with his. "My lady, if you do this for me, I will see to it that your child receives the best education, and that you and Alejandro will never want for anything in your lives."
"I'm… it's dangerous. It's too dangerous. And I'm pregnant. I can't do it." She pulled her hands from his grasp. "I'm sorry."
Link looked crestfallen by her denial. "Zelda, I am begging you."
"I am not the woman you want. I have too much to lose." She stood up. "I'm sorry. Please, take me home."
/
She arrived at her house an hour before dusk, and Alejandro was not yet back. She threw the note on the coals in the stove, and spent her time making something for dinner, working half-heartedly at kneading dough for a pie crust. All the while, she pondered what Link had told her.
"None of my business," she muttered to herself. "I have my own life to worry about, and how do I know he isn't just paranoid? Reading into things?"
She got the oven fire going, and put the crust in to prebake, while she prepared a lamb and potato filling, dicing up carrots and onions. For no reason at all, she thought of Sila, having to drink a bitter tea to rid herself of one man's child for another's, and she burst into tears as Alejandro came home.
"Zelda?" he called, noticing her sobbing over a pie. "Zel, what's wrong?" He rushed to her and wrapped his arms around her, and she sniffled and cried into his chest for a few minutes.
"N-nothing, nothing. Just hormones and onions," she said finally, unable to summon up the courage to tell him the real reason she was sobbing. He kissed her forehead and smiled at her sympathetically.
"Well then, I'm glad I stopped at Old Marji's. She's been making maple brittle candies again." He presented her with a little wax package, and Zelda opened it quickly, fishing out one of the squiggly shapes and snapping off a piece. It was sweet and sharp, and it soothed her nerves. She kissed Alejandro in thanks, and knew she would not have accepted Link's offer for anything in the world.
/
They were in the middle of winter, now. Sila frowned with Link's latest letter; it said that he could not break their newest mare, and he was unsure if it would ever be suitable for riding. So Zelda was still refusing them. She folded the letter and chucked it in the fire, which was blazing almost all the time now. Ganondorf had become more permissive with allowing her in his rooms; in fact, he never refused her, but sometimes when she knocked it would be a long time before he would open the door and permit her. And it was always locked.
She had to cajole him to pay attention to her, and she could tell when he was growing angrier. Last night he had actually snapped at her, "you're already pregnant, what is the point?" The next day(today, in fact) he had gone hunting, which Link had advised her to watch for. But as always, his door was locked, and she had no hope of finding the key for it.
/
Ganondorf took one or two guards with him, and a few of the dogs. His stretches between hunting were shorter in the winter; trapped inside with the snow and now with a whining slut of a wife left him far pricklier than the summer time. He had the guards and dogs chase off after smaller game, squirrels or birds, while he went himself after a bigger target. He hoped to find a bear, but this deep in the winter, it would be a hard find for anything larger than the squirrels.
His anger ran hot under his skin, and he flung off his cloak, leaving it on his horse. He was hungry for blood and violence, for the squealing of a defenseless creature in his hands, the bone twisting and grinding in his grip. He plunged through the foliage, deeper into the silent woods, his breath steaming. There- ahead- movement.
He lowered his head and tracked the figure stealthily. It was a brown blur; he estimated a deer. Maybe even an elk? Ganondorf treaded carefully, stepping slowly so the sticks sank under his weight, rather than snap. The creature edged around nervously, and he heard the distinctive snorting sound of a horse. Someone else was out here.
Ganondorf stroked the hilt of his sword. Hopefully, he would not be seen by the fellow. He just needed something, he needed his release, and then he would go back to the castle and perhaps take a hot bath. Perhaps he would have a calm enough state of mind to touch his demanding wife without wanting to close his fists around her neck—no, no. She had his child now, she was important. Damn it all.
Ganondorf reached the horse, saw there was another one some distance away, also stepping nervously and snorting in the cold. They edged away from his touch. They could smell the rage on him. He grunted at the horses in irritation and walked past them, deeper still into the woods. It was so silent. Even the wind hardly dared breathe. Looking into the thin snow on the ground, he found deer's tracks, and he followed them, still walking slowly, his hand tight around the handle of his sword. Ahead, he saw another flash of brown. The deer, sure enough. He followed it, focusing on it. He would get this creature, he would leap upon it and snap its neck open. He would cut the throat and lap up the blood and scream at the moon, knowing he was king of all creatures, king of all men, and soon he would be for all time
blood singing in his veins ringing in his ears
the deer stood still it could tell he was coming
the cold was sharp in his lungs
everything was bright and infinitely clear every branch every stone
could almost taste the coppery flavor of the deer's blood
a snapping branch to his left
"My Lord?"
Ganondorf withdrew his sword and plunged it into the old man's belly, his eyes wide and bloodshot. He grabbed him by the shoulders and growled through his teeth as he drove the blade in all the way up to the hilt. The old man's mouth fell open in alarm, his eyes wide. Ganondorf grabbed him by the jaw and pulled his sword free, flinging the man to the ground where he lay, bleeding out into the snow.
"FATHER!"
Ganondorf wheeled and saw the other man, one with dark hair and a horrified expression. He grabbed him by that hair and started whacking him in the neck with the sword, quickly hacking his head off through the screams that turned to horrified gurgling. He let the blood from the head's stump run down over his face and into his mouth, feeling alive, feeling vibrant and good. He had not realized he had spent in his trousers. He flung the head aside into the snow and grabbed the still-standing body, dropping his sword and grabbing a small dagger instead, stabbing over and over again, even after blood no longer oozed from the wounds.
His hounds picked up the scent of blood, and soon they were baying and running towards him. Ganondorf kicked around some blood and snow, grabbing up the head again and shaking it around to spatter the remaining stuff in a nonsensical shape. Then, he half-buried the head and neck, so it would appear as if the two were still mostly connected. He thrashed a path in the thin snow leading off into the deeper part of the woods. "A boar," he panted to himself. "It was a boar, huge, unlike any I'd ever seen."
His guards and the dogs came running up, stopping and staring in horror at the scene. One of them had to walk away and vomit copiously behind a tree. Ganondorf wiped at the blood on his face.
"A boar—huge. Massive. It was attacking these gentlemen. I tried to save them, but it was too late. Gored the old man. I barely struck it before it ran away, hopefully off to die."
The guard that wasn't vomiting said nothing; the younger man's severed neck was quite visible.
"We should find out who they are. Find their families for burial rites, let them know what happened. Have some flyers made, with their information, and go around to the nearby villages."
He picked up his sword, wiped the blood off on his sleeve, and sheathed it. At last, he could think clearly. His mind was calm, and his heart was beating steadily. Perhaps he would pick up Sila some trinkets at the market, some new earrings or a necklace. Maybe something for the baby.
They returned to the castle some hours later, the bodies loaded up in the cart where the deer or other game would have gone, and the horses were hooked up to the back to follow along. If a family was not found, the horses would probably be sold at auction. They covered the dead men with some long pieces of fabric meant for that purpose, and they took a back route in, so that the busy people of the market would not gawk over the bodies.
They were packed in a small cellar-like room at the back of the castle, filled with snow to preserve their appearance. An artist came in and drew the men's likeness for the announcements. The whole process took less than a day.
/
Sila had heard the thumping of Ganondorf's boots, and she performed her usual countdown, then went to knock at his door. To her surprise, he opened it almost immediately. To her shock, he was sprayed in blood.
"My lord!" she cried out. "What happened?"
"An accident with a wild boar in the South Woods," he said quickly, his eyes glazed over. "Killed two men. I tried to save them."
"Oh Goddesses. I will have them draw up a bath for you. You look exhausted, what an ordeal." Sila immediately went to ring for maids, and while they waited she went to her husband, lightly touching his face and hair. "Did you know them?"
"No, no. Some country folk, I assume." His tone was light, bland, as if discussing the weather. "Just amazing, the size of the beast."
"You are lucky you were not killed as well, my dear," Sila answered. But she was studying him closely. Was she looking for it too hard, or did he truly look oddly… relieved? Happy, almost?
The maids appeared, and she ordered them into the master bathroom to immediately begin lighting a fire under the tub, and filling it with snow.
"I will bathe you myself," she whispered to him. "If you will let me."
He turned to her and his gaze focused. "Yes. Of course."
He pulled her into his lap, kissing her hungrily and going over it in his mind. The blood had been black and red on the snow, and the sun had made it glitter, like rubies on glass. The young man's last breaths, his swan song like the bubbling of a fountain. His blood had been rich and salty, like a good wine. He pulled Sila into his lap and lifted her skirts to settle them over his legs, and reached up them with one hand. She gasped in surprise, glancing to the half-open bathroom door, maids constantly walking in and out with buckets of fresh snow and dry wood.
"Let them watch," he rumbled, leaning up and biting her neck as he thrust into her.
/
Though formal information did not reach Zelda for four days, she had a horrible feeling when Alejandro and her father did not appear the first night they went out to hunt. She had waited a long time, until the candle had burned down to nothing and she was asleep at the kitchen table. She tried to lie to herself that they had simply gone to bed at her father's house. Then that they had camped in the woods, having found a good spot. Then that… that…?
And finally, someone knocked on the door. Relief flooded her aching bones, and anger made her eyes bright. Alejandro had better have a great excuse for being gone so long. What if her father went ill? What if one of the horses was injured? She flung open the door and stared, uncomprehending at the guard.
"Pardon the intrusion. We've been asking around the village and the people say you may know these men?"
She took the flyer. Maybe arrested for gambling debts, maybe something harmless. Her eyes locked at the words on top of the page, not the large ones declaring DO YOU KNOW THESE MEN? but the smaller ones underneath, Found Slain by a Wild Boar in the South Woods
"There are no boars," she whispered. "There are no boars. There are no boars." Zelda started screaming. "THERE ARE NO BOARS!"
Some of the neighbors had followed the guard to the house, to see her reaction. When the screams began, Linna and Milla burst through the crowd.
"Get back, damn it!" Linna ordered the guard. "She will miscarry!" She hauled Zelda up from where she collapsed on the ground, clutching her hair and still screaming.
Milla helped her to haul Zelda to her bedroom, forcing her to lay out flat on the bed and trying to put pillows under her hips, to help keep the baby moored inside.
"NO BOARS! NO BOARS! THERE AREN'T!"
"Zelda! Zelda, stop!" Milla urged. Zelda thrashed with her legs, her eyes rolled upwards as she flung her arms about, screaming still until finally her voice cracked and she could no longer do so. Milla helped Linna pin her in place until Zelda's thrashing subsided and she fell into weak sobs.
"Remove everything sharp," Linna hissed to Milla.
Milla checked over the room, putting scissors and butcher knives and some of Alej's hunting knives into a wooden crate. She completely overlooked the ornamental chest on Zelda's dresser, dismissing it as a jewelry box.
"I take it she knew them?" the guard asked, stepping inside the house and catching sight of Milla, who was gathering up the sharp items in the kitchen.
Milla glowered at him, her eyes full of hate. "Her husband of only a few months and her father? Yes, it's safe to say she knew them. Where are they?"
"At the castle. The king discovered them. He tried to save their lives. We need her to confirm the bodies so we can issue last rites."
"She's in no condition to go anywhere. We're a small village, myself and some of the others can go and give confirmation. Yoro has been a friend for years. Alej's parents are still alive, for Farore's sake."
"His parents will work. Bring at least three people to identify the other man."
"Milla!" It was Linna. "I will need some supplies from my house, I need you to watch Zelda."
Milla snorted at the guard. "You select three people to go. Everyone here knows that man. I have to attend to his daughter and grandchild right now, before they're all lost."
/
Zelda had slept through the funeral. Not of her own choice; Linna had been keeping her carefully doped up with several concoctions meant to calm the blood, so that she could successfully administer ones to hold the baby. Some of the better off villagers sent for a doctor to assist Linna, but they argued bitterly over their methods and he was sent off in disgust.
Finally, when Linna felt sure that she could be brought to the world of the conscious, she reduced the doses until Zelda only needed a little, just to take the edge off her pain. She was dreadfully thin, her stomach distending in a ghastly way against her pale skin. Linna constantly forced her to take fatty broth and tea with lemon to keep her from wasting away.
A few days after she came to, the king decided to visit.
Zelda sat up in bed and stared at him, dark circles under her eyes. Her hair was greasy and limp, and the room smelled of sweat and melted fat from the candles.
"My lady. My sincerest apologies that I could do nothing for them." Ganondorf said quietly, standing near the bed. Sila stood a little ways behind him, staring at Zelda. Why her? Why, of all people, her family?
Zelda said nothing in response, only stared at him.
"Is there anything I can do for you now? Anything you desire?"
For one second, she thought of asking him how his immortality potion was working; and did he have anything for raising the dead? She bit her tongue until she tasted blood, and shook her head no.
Sila approached her, sitting on the edge of the bed and taking Zelda's hand into hers, staring her in the eyes. "I mourn with you," she said softly. "I am so sorry."
Knowing her back was to Ganondorf, and he could not see her, she carefully started to mouth the very words she'd heard from Link, who'd heard them from Zelda.
No… boars… in…
Zelda's face contorted in rage, and her breathing turned hard. She could not accept their deaths, she could not
"Get out. GET OUT! Get out of my damn house, go back to your castle with your living, breathing husband, you slut!"
Sila gasped, and Ganondorf clenched his fists, though he'd privately referred to Sila as such a thousand times. Zelda flung Sila's hands away from her and covered her ears, curling up and rocking back and forth. Sila quickly stood and moved towards Ganondorf, who put a protective hand on her shoulder. Linna quickly prepared her sleeping tea, and forced a little at a time into Zelda's mouth.
"I will have an account set up for your child. When he is of age, he will receive the best education Hyrule has."
Zelda started laughing crazily as they left, tea dribbling down her chin, staining the blankets.
/
Sila watched her husband with new apprehension. He was lying. And it was so easy! Always with that bland look on his face, everything he said with that calm, detached demeanor. Had he murdered those men? Why? Why would he murder two innocent men for no reason? Had he known they were there? Or did they see him doing something else, and he couldn't risk it getting out?
Oh Din, he murdered them that day. Then he came home and made love to her, so roughly that she'd come undone twice by his hand, sitting in his lap by the fire. It was the most active he'd ever been towards her, and at the time she'd brushed it off as his closeness with death startling him into it. Did he kill men every time after a hunt? Impossible; never had there been this sort of upheaval afterwards. Oh Din, had he stolen the necklace he gave her from those people? She wore it whenever they touched now, and it seemed to spark that energy in him, though not as potently as the first time.
Sila whimpered and scrabbled for the chamberpot under the seat, vomiting.
"I thought your morning sickness was over," Ganondorf said in surprise. Gently, he reached over and rubbed her back, and her skin shuddered as he touched her. Oh sure, she and Link had made love plenty of times after a fight, but those they'd killed were going to kill them. They weren't two innocent people hunting for food, stabbed beyond reason and beheaded.
"Carriage rides," she squeaked out, clutching the rim tightly in her hands.
/
Link had read Sila's letter, delivered a few days after their visit to Zelda.
Then he had immediately left the fortress, climbing on his horse and galloping to the little village, without hardly another word. The letter had been written hastily in tiny cramped letters, though there was plenty of space on the paper. It had said, succinctly, that Zelda's husband and father were killed by 'a large boar' (underlined just like that) in the South Woods, around a week ago.
He swore the whole way to her place, wishing someone, anyone, had cared to alert him sooner. His horse almost collapsed when they reached Zelda's house, and he jumped off, throwing open the door.
"Zelda!" he shouted.
"What in the hell?" Linna growled, standing and turning to face down whoever wanted to interrupt her patient's sleep. She goggled at Link. "And what exactly are you doing here, sir?"
"Shut your mouth or I'll cut your lips off," he snapped harshly at her.
"You shut up, you slutrunner! One of your whores has already been here with the King of Hyrule, I don't see why you felt the need to stroll in—
"He's been here? Are you serious?" Link cried in astonishment. He gritted his teeth and stormed towards the back bedroom. "That devious, sick, horrid chunk of turd from his mother's cunt," he snarled. "Coming here to gloat like the maniacal murdering bastard he is."
He stormed into the room and looked at Zelda. She was half-asleep, her eyes barely open. Her lips were moving quickly, as if she was whispering very rapidly.
"How is she?" he demanded of Linna, who had been horrified at his language on top of his haggard and sudden appearance, and followed him to make sure he didn't harm Zelda. "How is her child?"
"I've managed to save the baby, not that it's any business of yours." For a second, she wondered if it was, but there had been a joke around the time of the conception that Zelda and Alej would never see light of day again, they'd kept so shut up in married bliss.
Link sat down in the chair Linna had been in, and he took up Zelda's left hand, kissing the back of it. "My red lady," he whispered to her sadly.
Zelda stirred slightly when he kissed her left hand, and her eyelids fluttered, her murmuring louder. "… cniht fram holt, ure carsíþ… ure bill… bealdor bill…"
"What is she saying?" he asked Linna, turning over his shoulder to look at her.
"What?" Linna approached, listening carefully. "I… I don't know, actually. Sounds like jibberish."
Link shook his head. "It sounds… familiar? I can't place it. Can you wake her up? I want to talk to her."
"You'll have to wait until the herbs wear off, but she's less than cooperative when awake, I think you'll find."
Link nodded. "Some tea then, please."
Linna folded her arms. "Oh, am I a maid now?"
He gritted his teeth and turned to stare at her. "Tea, now."
Linna looked at Zelda closely, then she went to brew some water, making sure the door was wide open. Link stroked Zelda's cheek gently, then touched the curve of her belly. At least she had that much.
He drank the tea Linna offered, and thanked her. But he stayed seated by Zelda's side, holding her hand tight.