Chapter 24
Zelda's escort almost felt like a royal procession. She moved in her own bubble, none of her guards coming closer than a few feet away. As they passed through the torch-lit corridors of the fortress, it seemed like every Gerudo they encountered suddenly found a need to be elsewhere. At every corner they turned, Zelda caught the last traces of them melting off into the shadows.
They stopped before a door with jagged runes above it. They had been carved into the stone, then painted over with a fiery red. The escort backed away, forming a half-circle around her and the door. Nabooru moved to her side, breaking her artificial isolation.
"I could not hope to teach you the proper etiquette, so I shall simply counsel you to be respectful and bold," Nabooru said. "Remember he is a king, and as legitimate as your own."
The Triforce of Wisdom tingled as she entered, resonating with Ganondorf's Power. His presence was like a thick shadow that enveloped her as soon as she set foot in the chamber.
"Welcome, Princess of Hyrule," rumbled Ganondorf. His voice grated like rocks grinding against each other.
Zelda looked up at him. He sat on the edge of a crude throne of chiselled rock. Mailed arms rested on his thighs as he peered down.
"Ganondorf. Is your lust for power so great you cannot see reason? Read the histories; this can only end one way."
He chuckled low and long. The noise expanded from his lungs, filling the room and then echoing back until it created a menacing cacophony.
"I have no need to read, girl, for I have lived them. The past millennia have awakened in my mind. I have seen the King of Hyrule kneeling before me, 'ere his death. I reigned over the seven years of Hyrule's dark night, carving out a future for my people. And I have seen each one of my mistakes, and meditated on them long during my imprisonment in the Dark Realm.
"You have found the Bearer of Courage before me, and Nabooru failed to sabotage your efforts. No matter. He shall not best me, for there shall be no battle. As for you, princess…"
He stood. Zelda continued meeting his stare. Running would be useless, so there was no sense in it. She reached out through her bond with Link, trying to touch the Triforce of Courage. It flared so strongly she winced back from it. It was like a relentless barrage of sparks and fury, and in its light, Ganondorf's shadow lessened.
He looked past her as if he were looking through the very walls. "The boy cannot even handle his divine birthright," he said. "Perhaps he shall take care of himself."
Then, to Zelda: "The only thing I need from you lies on the back of your hand."
Faster than she thought possible, he grabbed her arm and forced her up on her toes. The Triforce of Wisdom spewed light, and it burned her like a cascade of molten needles.
A void rushed in as its essence separated from hers. Gone too was the touch of Courage supporting her. Months of captivity caught up with her in a single moment, and she fell limp in Ganondorf's grip.
He let her drop the rest of the way to the floor. She recovered only enough to keep her head from striking the ground.
"Your third of the relic always sat ill with me," he muttered, massaging a gloved hand.
"Incomplete without Courage," Zelda stammered, pushing herself to a knee. Even breathing felt harder without the Triforce, but she forced herself on. "The Triforce seeks completion. You'll have to confront Link."
He looked at her. Some raw force seized her by the waist. She yelped as her feet left the ground. She twisted and struggled, but they kept rising until they hung above her head, and her body slanted down toward Ganondorf.
Slowly, her arms constricted to her side, and her head was made to stare ahead.
"I find your childish taunts insulting," he said. "Without Wisdom, you are but a Princess divorced from her people."
"Your prisoners are of Hyrule," she said. "I shall be Princess to them, and Hyrule will hold to the end."
He propelled her at the wall. She bounced off and hit the ground, too winded to break her fall.
"You seek to defy me, but it shall be as you say," Ganondorf said. "You will be Princess to the captive daughters of Hyrule, a beacon of hope as they are trained as Gerudo warriors and handmaidens. You will care for them, and nurse them, and love them as they merge with our people. You will love them even as they learn to hate you as the enemy who has caused their suffering."
He left. Zelda rose, but slowly. Never had she felt so alone. Nabooru had been at her side her entire life, and then after her betrayal, she had the mystical connection with Link. Now when she reached out to him, there was only the radiance of his Triforce piece, which she could not even draw on.
She paid little attention as a pair of Gerudo entered and led her through the fortress. Every tool she had was either destroyed or out of her control. In the war against Ganondorf, she had become wholly irrelevant.
All that remained for her was to be princess for the captive Hylians, as Ganondorf had said. It did not matter that it was his will; she could not help but fulfill the role she had been born into. For untold generations had the Princesses Zelda guided the children of Hyrule through darkness, and so too would she.
A/N: If y'all hadn't noticed, I'm basically uploading in scenes now. I reckon actual chapter breaks can be re-arranged in an editing pass afterward.
