Book 1: The Rescue of the Saviour
By JoeMoron2000 (Gabriel B.)
Chapter Ten: The Dregs of the Dungeons
"Alright, I'll come get you when the sky starts getting lighter. See you tomorrow, Mal!"
Liaku's kind smile turned into a beaming grin as he turned around, wheelbarrow in tow. As soon as he was completely out of view of Malon, he added a little skip to his step, which almost overturned the produce. Maybe I should be a bit more careful, at least until I get back, he thought to himself with a chuckle.
It was a long walk from the Lon Lon Ranch to his next stop, the Talking Horse Inn and Pub in Hyrule Castle Town; an hour and a half's walk, with wheelbarrow, but six years of conditioning got a fellow used to such empty stretches. Setting his mind to autopilot, he passed the time thinking up poems to say to Malon tomorrow. "Girls love that romantic creative stuff, right?" he asked of himself, half-hoping that someone would appear and answer his question...
And so he thought, trading words, counting syllables, and grasping for rhymes for ten minutes, after which he believe he'd written at least a halfway-decent limerick. "You radiate shimmering beauty," he practiced. "As such, 'tis my most humble duty, to say, 'from your pal: happy birthday, Mal!'" Liaku paused his recital, hoping that he could come up with a better last line, but nothing better came to mind. "I just hope this wasn't too fruity…"
Damn 'beauty', he thought angrily, only rhymes with 'duty', 'fruity', and 'amputee'… Liaku dropped his head and once again lost himself thinking of something else to say. Perhaps a song might be appropriate, he thought, only to realize that they were going to a concert, so he would only end up making himself look like the fool who can't sing that he was. He resumed his deep thoughts as he stared at the ground ahead of him.
Oh, hey, he though, as he watched the familiar path pass by, it hasn't rained here in a while. Skipping half a step, he wondered mindlessly if he could match up his footsteps with the footprints he left the previous week. He was surprised to discover that it was actually rather more difficult than he had expected, and quickly decided to stop. I could always show her my book, he thought, resuming his internal debate as to how to treat Malon on her birthday. I'll be damned if I finish it by tomorrow, though…
In times of boredom, Liaku was thankful that he had something as engaging as his murder mystery work-in-progress, Knight of the Dozen Mournings, onto which his mind could settle. It still lacked an ending – while Detective Liam and his partner Kara had identified the treacherous Hylian Knight directly responsible for the murders, he continued to elude them. But, as Liaku had been sure to mention early on in the work, there were signs of indented heel marks in the ground near four of the victim's houses – granted, they were outside the women's houses, but they all strangely indicated similar weight, when the women themselves were not. And now that Liam was beginning to run out of ideas as to how to find where the man was hiding, for he had long ago abandoned his home and job, Liam would soon be returning to the evidence, to see if he had overlooked something.
That something would be the heel-marks of high-heeled shoes in the ground in the pictobox pictures, curiously the same in each of the instances where it showed – and a second set of regular shoeprints around the houses where the victim was male. Thus, the realization that the murderer had an accomplice would strike Liam, and he and Kara would then begin the search for her – or possibly 'him', as Liaku had yet to decide on that particular point – because she would lead the duo straight to the killer.
This scenario wasn't without its flaws, Liaku realized, but he would work them out when he got down to writing it. In his mind, he played out the exchange between Liam and Kara, deciding on the finer points of the realization, and only noticed that he was almost at the market when a couple of voices ahead snapped him out of his trance.
What are people doing out here? Liaku wondered to himself, and tried not to disturb them. He'd been taking the same route for five of the six years, and had never seen nor heard anybody except for the silent Gerudos this far from a major settlement – the panic that Gannondorf would suddenly return and kill anyone in his path was still widespread, even three years later. Nevertheless, his curiosity got the better of him and he quieted himself, and his wheelbarrow, so that he could hear the conversation. There was some sort of commotion, but at first, he was too far away to make out what they were saying; he was, though, soon able to discern multiple voices, and then distinct words. Liaku could make out three separate voices, but it was certainly possible that there were more. And they were arguing, as if one of them was mad at the others for something.
"He knows already," said an out-of-breath, female voice. Liaku heard her trying to control her obviously hyperactive breathing.
"Are you sure that's what it was?" said a worried, strangely deep voice.
After a pause: "Y–yes," said the breathy, now cool, but also shaken, woman. "It's pretty hard to confuse something like that."
"I wouldn't know," said the second voice, after he seemed to regain some of his composure; at the very least, his voice was wavering less than it had been. Liaku crept forward and listened as another voice chimed in.
"It's water," said the third person, sounding impatient.
"Yes, well, if this is true," said the deep-voiced, presumably male, person, "then I have to go stop it. But why was it me?"
"I don't know," said the cool voice, having regained its stability.
Liaku amused the momentary thought that he had just overheard some sort of assassination plot, or that if he followed them, he would be led to a secret lair of some kind. Maybe, if he was really lucky, it was even a very important event in a large mystery. However, as he realized, unfortunate as reality was, it was rarely ever that elaborate; someone probably just pushed the guy into the nearby river, and he was overreacting. And so, resigning himself to his work once again, he picked up the handlebars of the wheelbarrow, and almost walked into the woman standing in front of him. Behind her were two others, each with a different bizarre colour and style of hair.
"Oh, I'm sorry, ma'am," he said, bowing his head and turning to avoid almost bumping into the trio again.
"I told you he was out of it," said the shortest of the three, wearing a green shirt and shorts.
"Excuse me sir," the woman in front said again, and Liaku recognized the cool voice from earlier, and he looked at her with an expression that he hoped didn't tell them that he'd just been eavesdropping on them. "I don't suppose you could tell us how to get to the..." She looked at the girl in green again before finishing, "'Lon Lon Ranch', could you?"
"Oh, umm," he stammered, before realizing what the question was. "Yeah – I mean yes, I would." He turned around, and realized again that that part of Hyrule Field was particularly dense with trees, so instead pointed the way he'd come, and said, "It's, uh, about an hour that way; maybe more with your stuff." Liaku paused to try to think of a more helpful description, and said, "If you follow my and my wheelbarrow's tracks for ten or so minutes, the trees should begin to thin out, and you'll be able to see it. The ranch is the big structure on top of the hill." He waved his hands in what he hoped was a helpful manner to give the impression of a building on a hill.
The woman in front bowed to him, and thanked him for his help. As they picked up their bags and followed the trail, Liaku noticed the red-haired woman, specifically how she had that attractive motherly look, and he secretly watched her out of the corner of his eye as she and her companions headed to the Lon Lon Ranch. It was curious how they were looking for that place in particular, and for the rest of his trek to Hyrule Castle Town, Liaku felt guilty that he was unable to think of anything, or indeed anyone else…
Knock, knock, knock…
The sound reverberated through the wooden door and the still air inside the building, but there was no answer. Liaku knocked again, and a disgruntled voice from inside called, "Hold yer horses!" The door creaked ajar, and Liaku heard a familiar 'bless the goddesses', and the door opened fully, revealing the wizened old face of the manager of the Talking Horse Inn and Pub. "'s about time ye got here," he said with a smile.
"Sorry, Giffrey," Liaku said, whose smile mirrored that of the old man. Giffrey beckoned the boy inside, and led him down the hall to the kitchen. "I encountered a little delay after leaving the Ranch. From what I could tell, there was an incident this morning; I think someone was shoved into the river, and he didn't take too well to it. Alright, here we are," he said, unloading the large crate onto the counter. "Here are your weekly fruits, grains, vegetables – there wasn't enough zucchini this week for everyone, but we picked some extra eggplants, so I've added those to your bin. Ah, yes, here we are," he added, "as usual; the Lon Lon Ranch sends its complements." He pulled out a dozen eggs, as well as two large containers of milk, which Giffrey swapped with the empty ones by the sink.
Liaku paused for a moment as an idea struck him. "Hey, Giff," he said slowly, "it's my... it's my girlfriend's birthday tomorrow." It felt awkward calling her such for the first time, but he passed it off as normal. "I was wondering if you could, perhaps prepare a special something for the two of us for tomorrow evening. I'm treating her to a day out, and we're going to be in town for the performance."
"What'd ye have in mind?" Giffrey asked curiously. The manager rubbed his hands together excitedly; special requests, as rare as they were, were always a pleasure.
"Something that sort of says 'Happy Birthday," Liaku said after a moment's thought.
Giffrey chuckled, and he asked, "Literally or figuratively?"
"Figuratively, of course," the boy said, pleased to have relieved some of the awkwardness of his request. "I don't want her to think I'm going overboard with the whole dating thing, but I want it to be memorable."
"Ye do remember that I'm a chef," Giffrey pointed out. "Anything I make ain't gonna be the most permanent thing around – unless, yer asking for something else, I'm afraid I'm not going to be much help."
Liaku shook his head at the man. "No, I understand; that's why I don't want anything extravagant. The day itself is supposed to be wonderful; I just want a little something at the end to make it… perfect. No, if you could make something simple, like a cupcake, that'd be fantastic."
Giffrey smiled at the thought, and, with a wink, said, "I do believe a cupcake is well within my ability to make."
"Alright," Liaku said, refocusing himself on his job. Making sure everything was in order, he said, "That comes out to the usual 108 rupees, then." The man counted out a large golden coin, and a handful of smaller ones, but Liaku refused the change, only taking the golden coin. "But, I think you should keep the rest; the extra eight is more than fair enough for doing this for me. Thank you, Giff, and I'll see you tomorrow," he said, beaming.
Giffrey winked at the boy, and bowed his head slightly. "Aye, that's more than generous, Liaku. I'll see you tomorrow, then."
Liaku picked up the handles of the wheelbarrow and saw himself out of the inn. Ahead of him stood his next stop, behind the small houses in the way: Hyrule Castle.
After walking for what felt to his legs like hours on the cobblestone roads, but was really more like ten minutes, Liaku arrived at the Castle's courtyard gate. The foremost soldier brandished his spear at the approaching man. "Halt!" shouted the security guard, and Liaku halted. This time, he shouted, "Only authorized personnel are allowed beyond this point; show me your security badge," and Liaku pulled out his wallet and handed over the card. With an angry expression on his face, the guard looked at the badge, with its greyscale pictobox picture of Liaku, and showed absolutely no signs of recognition of the boy.
"You know, one of these days, you're just going to recognize me without needing my security badge," Liaku said jokingly. The guard shot him a nasty look, and Liaku took that to mean that the attempt at small talk had failed.
The security guard frowned, and handed back the badge. "It would seem you have level one clearance," he said in a tone that clearly indicated that this frustrated him. "I trust you can navigate the dangerously curvy path by yourself; you seem to have survived the previous hundred times," he added sourly.
As Liaku walked through the gate, it occurred to him that the guard's sarcasm would have been much more amusing if he didn't overhear the second guard telling him that hurling the lance through an innocent boy would look bad when pay day arrived… It was strange, though; when he was much younger, before the Darkness and the war with Gannondorf, when he and his mother used to travel to Hyrule Castle, the guards had always been much friendlier. Now, everybody seemed tense, but it was strange how those residing in the Castle seemed to feel the effects most. Everywhere he went, people were cautious, but they always cheered up at the sight of a familiar, friendly face. Here, however, despite the tenfold increase in security since the last incident, nobody dared make even the slightest idle chat: it was either all business or silence. Liaku sighed as he realized that that's what terror can do to a kingdom.
The 'dangerously curvy path' of which he had been warned was, as usual, easily travelled, and within minutes, he arrived at the large double doors that bore the elegant Crest of Hyrule. This time, with his security badge already in hand, he presented it to the front guard, and decided to keep his mouth shut. After a moment, and, with his customary creepy smile, the guard opened the front door, and said to the men inside, "Please carry these crates to the kitchens. Our young friend here is making a routine delivery." In silent assent, three men each picked up a large crate and walked off, leaving Liaku with one more knight and the man with the disturbing grin.
The man unloaded the fourth crate. "Here you go," he said, first handing back the badge, and then pulling out a jingling pouch, the contents of which he handed to Liaku, who counted the coins.
Liaku bowed his head respectfully, muttered a quick "Thank you, sir," and almost forgot to pick up the empty crates from earlier that week. Then, he turned around, eager to get away from the Grin of Doom.
The guard, however, had other things on his mind. "Excuse me," he said to his fellow knight, and picked up the fourth crate that Liaku had unloaded. "You have the front gate," he said, and he and his unnerving smile followed the other three knights to the kitchens.
"Ah, there you are, Ixian," said the irritated voice of the equally irritated head chef. Ixian's smile dropped instantly, and he put down the crate on the island. "You know, the way you bare those teeth, someone would think you're getting ready to eat them."
"You three can go back to your posts," the guard named Ixian said, and the knights hurriedly shuffled out of the room. As soon as they left, he answered, "You know that 'friendly' isn't exactly my strong suit. But apparently I'm the only one the Queen, long let her rule, will trust to accept deliveries, so I do my best."
"Yes, well, I expect that you enjoy the perks of being her right-hand man too much to refuse her," the chef said. "Speaking of which—"
"I would think so, except I'm treated like dirt, and I'm apparently not allowed to know what she keeps in that dungeon of hers. What are the 'Dregs' she's been hiding? I mean," he said with a frown, recalling the previous trips to the dungeon doors with the next 'meal', "what kind of monster eats cuckoo and… salad? And what exactly is a dreg, anyway – other than the tea leaf, of course."
"I don't know," said the now shorter-tempered chef, upset that he was rudely interrupted. "As I was saying, the delivery was late enough as it was, so I expect you don't want to keep dawdling. Remember what happened the last time someone made her wait?"
"Erm, no, I don't," Ixian said, confused.
"Exactly."
Cautiously, the man knocked on the door to the throne room, and backed away. A quiet female's voice, saying "Come in, Ixian," was heard through the door, and he slowly pushed it open, careful to keep the tray balanced. On the far side of the room stood the Queen of Hyrule, with her shimmering golden hair and flowing, white robes, gazing out one of the windows into the courtyard below. "You're late," she said, with a hint of agitation.
"You have my sincerest apologies, Your Highness," Ixian said, kneeling before the empty throne. The queen did not turn around, but instead examined a fold of the dress she was wearing in mild interest, and the guard cleared his throat. "You also have your lunch here," he said, hoping to distract her from whatever punishment he had in mind.
The queen chuckled at the nervousness in Ixian's voice. "Your fear is, while certainly warranted, unnecessary," she said. Having dropped the fold of cloth, she now pressed her face directly up against the window, as if to get a better view of something, and Ixian stood up nervously. "Settle down, Advisor, this is one-way glass; nobody can see my face," she said, sensing his concern. "It was enchanted by my…" she paused, and Ixian could hear the hesitation in her voice. "It was enchanted by my predecessor," she finished awkwardly.
"Anyway," she said, continuing to gaze at the various things below. "As I said, your fear is unnecessary; it's precisely your concern for me that gave you your position on my council, and it would be unwise for me to forgo it on a single tardiness. However, this doesn't mean such actions will go unpunished in the future; if this becomes a habit, I am likely to… shall we say, overreact.
"Now, we must discuss more important matters. My pets, the Dregs, are getting hungry again. On the table to your left is an envelope that you must bring to the dungeons, along with a loaf of bread and some cuckoo meat. Then we may continue with such things as lunch."
Taking that as his cue to leave, Ixian picked up the tray and placed it on the table and picked up the envelope. Quietly, he left the queen by herself, still gazing at various things in the courtyard below and the city beyond. He looked at the envelope and frowned. It was sealed, obviously for purposes of his exclusion, and only had two letters on the front, "L Z." As usual, the Crest of Hyrule was missing, but that was normal nowadays.
Ixian paused outside the kitchen, wondering just what he was going to be feeding. But he knew that curiosity was not going to be rewarded; it never was when internal affairs were involved. And so he pushed through the door, and resigned to his perpetual omission. "Hi again," he said, looking at the chef, who greeted him with a grunt of frustration. "I need a… a loaf of bread and a few pieces of cuckoo meat. It's for the 'Dregs'," he added.
"She works me like a dog, you know," muttered the chef. "Dogs are supposed to play fetch, not chefs. Here's your damned bread and your blasted meat." He added a "Humph" for good measure as Ixian turned around holding the plate.
Suddenly, Ixian paused, as an idea occurred to him. It was a strange idea – bizarre, even – and it was certainly unlike his very nature even to consider doing something like that in this situation. But there it was in his mind, clear as day, and the thought denied all rational resistance. He turned around to the chef, and made a sort of choking noise to get the chef's attention. Ixian said, in a surprisingly polite tone, "Thank you," before leaving the room. The chef almost dropped the knife on his foot in surprise.
"We've been through this, Ix, you're not allowed down here. The Queen, long let her rule, has made it clear that she doesn't want you to see what's there. You can be very… opinionated at times. And I haven't forgotten last year's –"
Ixian groaned, and the dungeon guard stopped talking "So you keep reminding me, Arden." He handed over the envelope and the plate, and amused the thought that he could overpower the guard, but it was obvious that Arden's spear and heavy armour was much more than a match for his fists and skin, and made a mental note to learn some kind of fighting style. Instead, he merely said, "Enjoy," and walked away.
As soon as Ixian rounded the corner, Arden opened the dungeon door and descended the long flight of stairs, breaking through the envelope's seal as he walked. He propped his spear against a wall and read.
Arden,
My patience is beginning to grow thin from our lack of progress. However, even as I write this, I can feel their resolves to resist us are breaking.
I have sent Ixian with food for them, but once again, he is not permitted to enter the dungeon; I need him focused on keeping the public occupied during my search for the swordsman.
About my pets, I feel that the girl is almost ready to help. Give her some of the bread – make her think that she has more to gain by cooperating than by resisting, but do not promise anything; trust is exceedingly difficult to earn back once it has been lost. Continue giving them water; give her a little more than usual, but keep them thirsty, lest they regain enough strength and attempt to retaliate. As for the boy, let him watch. If physical pain cannot break him, then we shall crush his spirit.
That is all for now. And remember, Arden – I expect results.
-Q
"Yes, my Queen," Arden said, carefully refolding the letter and replacing it in the envelope. A faint rattling noise could be heard from a nearby room, and Arden smiled to himself. He filled a jug with water and picked up the plate of food. "Quiet down, you," he said, and pushed the door open with an elbow. Inside the small room was a dirt-covered figure bound to the wall, as well as a few dimly lit candles. The snarling noise and rattling of chains grew louder as the scraggly figure tried to attack the guard. "Nope, this food isn't for you today," he said, taunting the creature. Arden poured some water into a small bowl and slid it just outside of reach of his captive.
"What, no witty retort today?" he asked, sneering. "No threat about how you're going to get free and kill me in my sleep? You know that it is things like that that I live for, right? Humph," he added as his words were met with silence. Instead, a pair of fierce blue eyes glared at him, and Arden angrily shoved the bowl towards the figure with his foot, intentionally spilling some of the water. He walked to a door leading to a second, equally small room. "Maybe I'll have more luck with her –"
"Don't touch her."
Arden turned around. The creature had ignored the water, and instead was struggling to stand. "Was that a threat, boy?" he asked, and snuffed out one of the candles.
"Don't you dare touch her," the prisoner repeated, croaking through a dry throat. The guard pulled of his helmet and hurled it at him, careful not to drop the plate. The prisoner put up his arms in defence, but the metallic object still cut into them.
"Now, you listen here, Link," Arden said, emphasizing the last word, and grabbing the man by his hair. "You really have to work on your authority issues. I'm in charge here, not you. I make the demands here, not you. You'd do best to remember that." He threw the man against the wall and picked up the bowl. "If you don't want the water, I'm sure she could put it to good use," he said. He noticed the helmet lying on the floor at Link's feet, and kicked it outside towards the stairs. "And that's so you don't go getting any ideas."
With that, he turned around and pushed open the heavy door leading to the other room. On the opposite wall, facing the door was another person, a woman this time, with a woven cloth bag over her head. The only light in the room was from the candles by Link, and Arden's figure cast a dark shadow over her. From underneath the bag, Link could hear a faint sobbing, which became louder when Arden uncovered her head.
"Lunchtime, by order of the Queen, long let her rule." He placed the plate of cuckoo meat and bread in front of her, as well as the bowl, and she instinctually grabbed at it and started chewing, her crying subsiding. A grumbling from Link, however, alerted her that she was the only one eating.
"What – what about him?" she asked, looking at Arden with tear-stained eyes.
Arden smiled, and whispered just loudly enough for Link to hear him, "Link has been misbehaving a bit too much lately. He needs to learn that cooperation will get him rewarded with things like food, and maybe even a shower –"
"Don't listen to them, Zelda," Link shouted, and grasped at his dry throat, but pushed on. "Do you really want them to let –"
"Did I say you could talk?" Arden shouted, and quickly strode to Link's side, who cowed against the wall. "I have absolutely had it with your noble, courageous attitude, you snivelling excuse for a man," he said, and swiftly delivered an uppercut, metal glove and all, into Link's stomach, who keeled over in pain.
"Stop it!" Zelda shouted, and began crying in fear, but Arden didn't listen. "Please, stop!"
"I have played along for far too long with your jokes," he said, kneeing Link in the groin, "your threats," he said shoving Link to the ground, "and your resistance." He kicked the already bruised man in the ribs, and shot a nasty look at Zelda, who was in hysterics with terror. He looked back down at the boy, holding his throat and trying to speak. "You want water?" he shouted, and, grabbing the water jug, he smashed into Link's face. The boy collapsed, and lay unconscious and bleeding on the floor, shards of glass sticking out of his face. Only Arden's heavy breathing and Zelda's sobbing could be heard.
"As for you," the frenzied man said, pointing at Zelda, who recoiled in fear, "If you don't want this to happen to you, I suggest you start talking real fast." He shot a disgusted look at Link. "I'll be back in two hours." He slammed the door shut behind him and ascended the stairs.