Taming the Tiger Chapter 10
Ganondorf sat in a darkened corner of the room and watched the other tavern patrons drink and eat. An old man with arms as thick as tree trunks grabbed at a young serving girl and pulled her into his lap. She laughed in delight before playfully swatting at him and moving onto the next table. His golden eyes flitted from one person to the next without much interest. They took no notice of him though he had been there for several hours watching them. A simple spell distorted his appearance enough that he appeared as nothing more than a large and grizzled old man. They saw brown hair instead of red and green eyes instead of gold. They thought his skin was tanned from a life in the sun not because of his heritage though he doubted this far out they had ever even heard of the Gerudo.
He gripped his tankard in one hand and took a drink of the cheap beer they served. He grimaced as the bitter aftertaste stayed on his tongue. It tasted like horse piss to him. The stuff tasted exactly like every other kind of beer he'd had in every other inn he'd been in, but it never made it any better. The beer was always bad, the soup always thin, and the bread always stale. For three months, he had been traveling wherever his fancy might take him. At first, he had utilized his piece of the Triforce to aid him, but soon grew weary of the constant drain. Besides, he had to admit that he missed actually traveling. He was a child of nomads and a part of him would always love wandering down long paths and not knowing where they might lead.
His aimless journeys had taken him to shorelines where the ocean lapped in shades of blue and green and grey. He had entered into the hearts of deep, ancient forests where trees towered overhead like pillars in a cathedral and their leaves crowned them like kings. He had wound his way up mountains where the air grew thin and the body weak, and he could see the whole world as he was sure the Goddesses saw it, tiny and insignificant. His eyes sank down to yellow-brown beer as he lost himself in reminiscing about his recent sites and stories. He had seen many things and drank them all in as if he were a child again. He had reveled in his freedom. It was odd to think that he could not remember exactly how he had wound up where he currently was. His mouth quirked into a smile at the thought that he could be so careless.
The plucking of harp strings drew him out of his reverie. His eyes flew to the fireplace where a minstrel sat playing some mindless tune. It was a small lap harp, worn, old, and crudely made, but the sound coming from it was sweet. He narrowed his eyes in discomfort at the things that sound stirred up inside of him. He slapped the money down on the table, unsure of what the right amount was, and left out of the back door.
The wind hit him hard and cut through the thin material of his ragged clothing. He peered down at his tunic and saw that holes had formed in it. No matter. He could steal another one with little trouble. Still, the wind bothered him for reasons beyond his senses. He stared out from the hill the small inn was positioned on and saw beams of gold and red sweep across the world as the sun sank. It was beautiful but incredibly ordinary. There were a thousand views just like this one all over the wide world. He realized then that he was tired of these kinds of views. He wanted something more exotic and familiar. He knew where he wanted to see the sunset.
The horse gave an irritated snort when he pulled the reigns hard and abruptly as they crested the top of the sand dune. He squinted against the light of the setting sun and stared down into the valley below. He had been riding straight for over a week with little rest and little food. He could have come there by more magical ways, but you gave the Desert the respect she deserved. Coming any other way but by horse seemed wrong to him. He still firmly believed that there was nothing like riding a horse in a head long gallop across the Gerudo Desert.
He could make out a few of red and gold tents pitched in a cluster for the night. Campfires were starting to be lit as night crept in. He would have to abandon his mount for more stealthy means. They would rain arrows down on him the moment they saw him if he weren't careful. He dismounted and turned the animal loose. It would not go far from this spot, and if it did, the women would spot it and take it in. There was nothing that they loved so much as a finely bred horse.
He waited out of sight on the outskirts of the campgrounds for several hours to let night bleed into true black. He watched and waited as the sentries swapped places. He noted who slept in which tent. When he thought that the guards were at their sleepiest, he used what little skill involving shadows he had and wrapped them around him. He crept from pool to pool of shadows until he came to the tent he sought. With one quick look over his shoulder, he pulled back the flap and slipped inside.
Nabooru had her back to him when he entered on silent feet. She was holding a scroll out in front of her and reading it by the light of several candles. He squinted and tried to make out the words her eyes were running over all the while holding his breath so she wouldn't notice he was there.
With a sigh, the Gerudo woman rolled the scroll back up and threw it in with a stack of others. "You can stop hiding now, you big oaf," she said in a tired voice as she turned to him and gave him her signature smile.
He let the shadows unwind from around him and scowled at her much like he had as a child. "How did you know I was here, and how did you know who it was?"
Her smile widened, and it deepened the wrinkles around her eyes and mouth. It seemed being leader of the Gerudo had aged her. "Let's just say, I have my ways. You never could hide anything from me; least of all, yourself."
"It seems you haven't changed since I left," he said stiffly as he tried to maintain his composure around her. It was difficult as it had always been. From the time they were children, Ganondorf had always felt like Nabooru could see right to the core of him. It had been part of the reason why they were drawn to each other, and most of the reason why they despised each other.
She tilted her head to the side. "I am not sure I can say the same for you," she replied with heavy-lidded golden eyes that made her look like a bird.
Ganondorf fidgeted unconsciously underneath her perceptive gaze. "I have been through many things, Nabooru."
"So I have heard," she said offhandedly as she turned her back to him and started making a cup of hot tea. The temperature had dropped drastically. "So why have you come here?" she asked as she pushed the cup into his waiting hands. She picked up a silk shawl and wrapped it around her bronze shoulders as she waited on his answer.
"To see my people, and to see how things have been. I heard you made peace with the Hylians," he rumbled, letting her hear his unvoiced displeasure at the decision in his tone.
She raised an eyebrow and smiled arrogantly. "You have seen them now. We have survived no thanks to you and your efforts. I know you are not happy with my choice."
"I only sought to better our circumstances," he said sharply, "and saying I am unhappy about it is an understatement. I always knew you loved the Hylians, Nabooru, but to just surrender to them is extreme even for you."
Her arched brows drew together in a deep scowl as her eyes widened at his words, and he once again saw the young and rash teenager she had once been. She let out a disgusted grunt and tossed the rest of her tea onto the sand. "Say what you like, but you and I both know that in the end you kept that war going for your own selfish purposes. I did what was right for our people. I did what was necessary to ensure our survival. The Queen offered us generous terms."
"What you ensured was their humiliation," he hissed.
Nabooru took a step forward and glared up into his face. "They were already humiliated after your defeat and capture," she said through clenched teeth. "You led them to that. They followed you, and all they got was blood and death for it. There was no glory. There were no riches, and if anything you made things worse for us."
"Better that I at least took the chance to try and gain what should be ours instead of sitting around and waiting for someone to give it to us." He focused his eyes on her as if he just stared at her hard enough she might see the sense of his words.
She scoffed in frustration and stepped away from him. "I am not waiting on anyone to give us anything. I simply want to earn it the right way though I don't expect you to understand that. Besides, the Hylians have nothing to give us." Her eyes went to the precariously stacked mound of scrolls.
"What do you mean?" he questioned, his voice suddenly growing calm and still.
She gave him a look of disbelief. "You haven't heard?"
"Heard what?"
"The Hylians are at war," she said incredulously. "Where have you been?"
"Around," he answered vaguely, "who are they at war with?"
She gave a short bark of laughter. "By Din, you really don't know. They are at war with Holodrum. Filepus left the castle in a huff and a cry of foul play after the Queen broke off their engagement. It was all anyone has been talking about across the whole country for the past few months."
His face fell for a moment as Nabooru looked away. He quickly tried to recover his composure before her eyes returned to his face, but he could tell from her look of confusion that she had seen it. So it seemed that his plan had not worked out so well after all. Zelda was going to war, and this time he did not think she would be able to win.
"You will not aid your newest ally and friend?" he said in as bitter a tone as he could manage.
Nabooru sighed through her pointed nose and shrugged helplessly. "Ganondorf, I can barely manage to hold our people together. I can lend no aid to the Hylian queen."
"So I assume that things do not look well for the Hylians?" he asked carefully.
"At this rate, no. To be honest, they did not have much chance to start with, but what little chance they did have is diminishing rapidly."
"Why?" he asked too quickly.
She gave him a half hearted smile. "Their men are tired. Their supplies are dwindling. The people say that the Queen craves war. They say that she is a war mongerer."
"The masses are always fools," he said dismissively. "Zelda never wanted this war more than anyone else."
His childhood companion's face grew gentle as he looked up at her startled. "And how would you know what the queen of Hyrule wants, Ganondorf?"
"It's common sense," he said uneasily. "No monarch truly enjoys war, much less wants to have one that they know they can't win. She's smarter than that."
"Is that the lie you're going to tell me, eh? I heard you were her prisoner. I heard you died, but I didn't believe it." She shook her head slowly. "You're far too stubborn to die. I am wondering how you got back your Triforce of Power."
"How did you know about that?" He clenched his left hand into a fist.
"There is no other way you could have survived that wound I heard the Hero dealt you, and there is no other way you could have laid low for this long without someone spotting you. I'm just wondering how you are going to explain how you got it back."
Ganondorf said nothing but met her gaze unflinchingly. Let her think what she wanted.
"Hmm, you don't have to tell me. It's plainly written on your face. There is only one person who would have been capable of returning it to you, and now I'm just left to wonder why. Did you have those wicked old women brainwash her?"
He bit his tongue against a retort, but his scowl deepened. He would not discuss his relationship with Zelda with her.
Nabooru took a moment to study him, smirking to herself all the while at his discomfiture. "I'll take that as a no. Well, if she gave it back to you without blackmail, bribery, brainwashing, or anything else from your bag of underhanded tricks it must have been something extremely powerful." She narrowed her eyes at his continued silence. "You can admit it to me. I'm not going to make fun of you and run all over camp screaming it at the top of my lungs though the idea is tempting."
"Why haven't you announced my presence to the others?" he finally asked, both out of curiosity and hope that it might change the subject.
"Because that would accomplish nothing except you would be dead. It would not bring back all those that we lost, and besides. . ." she paused and dropped her eyes to the sand before looking back up at him with a rueful smile, "we were not always like this. We were not always rivals and enemies. Now back to the topic we were discussing. How did you manage to convince the queen of Hyrule to return your piece to you?"
He swallowed to buy himself a moment to think. He knew that look in her eyes. She wasn't going to stop pestering him until he gave her an answer that pleased her. "My natural charm and agreeableness," he said smoothly.
"I'm sure charm was involved, but there is more to it than that."
"The queen and I did come to an understanding. She saw in the end that it was not right to deprive me of what was rightfully mine." The words sounded flat and insincere even to his own ears. The slight tic of Nabooru's eyebrow showed him that she did not buy it for a second.
"An understanding?" she said skeptically. "Is that what they are calling it now-a-days? Fine, don't admit it to me. You don't have to it. I can tell that you love her. You're just too much of a stubborn ass to say so in front of me." She crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head at his bullheadedness.
"And how could you possibly know what I feel for her?" he asked. What she said was true of course, but he had never liked it when people presumed to know what he felt or thought.
His oldest friend and enemy gave him a strange look full of what appeared to be regret, sadness, and disbelief all mixed into one. "Because," she said softly, "there was a time when I would have given almost anything to have you look like that when you thought of me as you do when you think of her."
"Nabooru," he said uncertainly, tension and uneasiness mounting in the small, confined space.
"Bah," she exclaimed as she flapped her hand at him. "I'm getting soft and stupid in my old age. Don't worry, Ganondorf, I'm not harboring any hidden feelings for you. After all, I said there was a time. It has long since passed."
"Hmph, for once, we feel the same."
She unfolded her arms and spread them out. "Well? What are you waiting for?"
He gave her a puzzled look. "What are you expecting me to do?"
"You are still as big a fool as ever," she said as she walked towards him and started pushing him out of the tent. "Go to her. She needs you. Just because I can't forgive you doesn't mean she won't. Now quit wasting your time, and more importantly mine, and go."
He saw her flash one quick smile over his shoulder before he stumbled out of the tent and landed on his knees in the sand. He gave a brief look around to make sure no one saw him and got to his feet. The night sky was black and full of stars, but if his calculations were right dawn would be coming in about three hours. The patrol guards were circling around the area of the camp tirelessly. He would wait until they finished the next circuit and then slip out.
He waited ten more minutes before the guards had made a complete circuit around him. He gathered the shadows around him once more and glided across the borders. He went several yards before he dropped the shadows like an old cloak and spotted his horse. He took the reins in one hand and stared at them hard. He stayed close to the camp for a few more minutes as he mulled over his plans. He cursed under his breath, let go of the reins, and slapped the horse on its rump to send it running back towards the Gerudo . He would need to reach her quicker than a horse could carry him, and he would need a disguise. A very good one.
Zelda surveyed the grim scene in front of her with her hand covering her brow against the light of the harsh sun. She shifted nervously in the saddle, feeling her sore muscles groan in protest. Her army was slowly losing ground again as Filepus's army overpowered them. There was a sea of men sprawling out in front of her, and too few of them belonged to her. Too many of them belonged to Filepus. The battle was drawing to an end as the sun began to set. The ground was too treacherous to fight at night.
She gripped the reins in a tight fist and bit the inside of her cheek in frustration. Another day ending in another bitter loss of territory. The queen became lost in her thoughts for a few long heartbeats until a small voice interrupted them.
Her head jerked in the direction of the sound. A squire, a boy of no more than twelve or thirteen, stood several feet in front of her horse. He had his head down with eyes boring into the ground and his worn boots kicking at the dirt.
"Yes?" she asked impatiently, trying her best to hold her temper in check.
"K-king Filepus wishes to meet with you, Your Majesty," he mumbled as he continued to stare at his feet.
"What?" she said harshly, urging her horse closer to the messenger.
"The king of Holodrum seeks an audience with you."
"Why?"
"I-I was told he wished to discuss the war, milady," he whispered, his voice giving up and dying on him.
She narrowed her eyes in suspicion at the sudden offer. "When would he care to meet?"
"Now."
She blew out a breath. She had expected and dreaded that answer. The queen tried to think of what the possible risks might be of meeting with him. There was of course the possibility of assassination, but she had her armor to protect her well enough for that and knights. If nothing else he might wish to call a temporary truce to give both their men respite from the fighting. She mulled the idea over a minute longer before nodding to herself. "Alright. Tell his messenger that I agree to meet with him as soon as he pleases, but it must be in my tent. Is that understood?"
The boy nodded shyly and then dashed towards the front lines. She watched him, trying to spy who the Holodrummer delivering the message might be. When she lost sight of him, she shook her head and started towards her temporary quarters.
The royal blue canvas tent was situated closer to the front lines than what her Council had liked, but Zelda had insisted. The men needed to see her, to know that she was willing to risk her own life and not just theirs. She was not completely comfortable being so near to the fighting, but she knew that every bit of morale helped. It was easy for the soldiers to lose heart in the given circumstances. They needed all the strength they could get.
She dismounted and ordered a foot soldier to remove her horse of its tack and wipe her down for the night. Zelda did not have the strength or the patience to tend to it herself tonight. Her thoughts were churning with the upcoming meeting with Filepus. She felt sick as she went inside and took a seat at her small writing table. For a moment, she considered removing some of her armor but thought better of it. Let him see her in her breastplate and vambraces with the blood and dust of the battlefield smeared onto her skin and into her hair. Perhaps it would instill a little fear and respect into him though she doubted it. Besides, the time for impressing him with her beauty was long since past.
Her hands stilled as she recalled that time that seemed like centuries ago. It was just a jumble of memories now. A flash of golden eyes and bright, red hair as it caught the light. She bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut.
"I don't have time for this," she murmured to herself. "I don't have time for you." There was no point in thinking on those things. She had a war to fight.
As she waited for her enemy, she decided to prepare herself a drink. She slammed a wooden cup on the table and liberally filled it with the most potent wine she possessed. The sour taste made her smack her lips in displeasure, but it made up for it when she felt the heat loosen her muscles.
She was half-way through the cup when the flap of tent opened and in stepped Filepus. He took a look around her modest accommodations before striding towards her small table and staring her down with his hands clasped behind his back.
She took another sip of her wine and didn't bother to stand in his presence. They studied each other as she drew out her drink. He looked much the same as he had the day he had departed if a little worse for wear. His eyes were still sharp and shrewd, but his hair was not so meticulously groomed and seemed to have a touch of gray to it. There were also more fine lines around his mouth as he gave her a smirking grin. His armor was light-weight and so highly polished that it reflected the candlelight in the room and hurt her eyes to look upon it. It was apparent he had remained a safe and reasonable distance away from the fighting.
"You look well," she offered stiffly, finally setting her cup down to look at him fully.
"Thank you," he replied, not returning the compliment.
"Would you care to sit?" She gestured towards the other flimsy stool across from her where her booted feet had previously been propped.
He nodded in gratitude and sat down in it easily. "Thank you," he said again, waving away her unvoiced offer of wine. "I trust you are in good health?"
She resisted the urge to laugh at his pleasantries. "I am as well as can be expected given the current situation in which I find myself. What brings you to my side of the field?"
"Cutting right to the chase, are we?"
She lifted an eyebrow at him. "Yes, time is of the essence at this point, and we both know you didn't come here to inquire about my health."
He smiled condescendingly at her as if her quaint ways amused him to no end."I suppose you are right. I have come to speak with you on the matter of the war."
"Obviously."
"I wish to offer terms ."
"Go on."
He drummed his fingers on the tabletop, feigning to think over his words carefully. Zelda had no doubt he'd rehearsed them numerous times before he even made the offer of this meeting. Filepus never did anything without thoroughly thinking things through. That is what made him so dangerous aside from the huge army he commanded.
At last, he settled his hands on the top of the table and laid them flat in supplication. "We both know how this war is going, Zelda. We both know what the eventual outcome will be."
"You do really? Because last I checked you were not a prophet nor had you one employed under you," she snarled, already disliking the tone he was setting. Her hopes for a temporary truce evaporated.
"One does not need to have the talent of reading the future to know how this will go. You are hopelessly outnumbered. Your men are overtaxed and undersupplied. You only postpone the inevitable. I will defeat you," he said softly and reasonably.
His calm only made her angrier, and she wanted to pour another cup of wine if only to have the satisfaction of throwing it in his face. She swallowed her anger and indignation and tried to make her features as serene as his. "You underestimate the mettle of my men and me, milord, and that is a very dangerous mistake. If you have come here simply to tell me what my odds are I'm afraid you wasted your time."
"You are right. I should not mince words so. I seek to end this thing as quickly as possible."
"So what are these terms you are offering?"
"I will stop the attacks if Hyrule surrenders wholly and acknowledges me as its rightful and true conqueror."
Her face pinched up in anger as she started to speak.
"And," he continued, watching her face as he spoke, "you rescind your refusal of my marriage proposal."
"What does my marrying you have to do with surrendering?" she choked, forcing the words out of her closing throat and over her thick tongue.
That wicked gleam returned to his eyes as they turned into slits in his face. "You do not think I know you had some hand in my downfall that night so you could worm your way out of our betrothal? I don't know how you did it, but I know you did. You humiliated me, and that is not something I suffer. Not at all. Those are my terms. Accept them or do not. It is up to you, my dear."
Her features went cold at his threat as his words sank in. He still sought to control and possess her out of wounded pride. That was the nature of this beast in front of her. He walked and spoke like a man, but when it came to his desires, they ruled him like an animal's or a child's. "I am afraid that I find those terms unacceptable and unreasonable. I am sorry you have wasted your time, milord."
He sighed in disappointed resignation as if her answer was expected but unwelcome. "I see. I feared you might say that. You leave me no choice then but to continue this terribly predictable war and crush you. I am sorry it has come to this."
He stood slowly to leave, and Zelda did the same.
"No, you're not," she said with conviction, letting distaste color the tone of her voice. "You have relished every moment of this. Now please go, the squire will lead you back to your men."
He gave her one last parting smile, full of venom and the surety that her defeat was imminent. "Sleep well, Your Majesty. It is likely one of the last few nights you are to get."
With those last foreboding words, he exited her tent with a swish of cloth and left the air where he had been standing feeling icy in his wake. The queen stood there, trying to keep the trembling in her hands from traveling up into the rest of her body. The truth of his words frightened her more than she wanted to admit. He would crush her, and there was nothing she could do about it if she didn't accept his terms.
She considered them honestly for a brief moment before rejecting them again. No, better that Hyrule be burned to the ground, and she killed then bow to the likes of him.
The next three days passed much the same as the previous months had with further defeats and retreats of the Hylian army against their more numerous adversary. Zelda was sitting outside of her tent when Link found her. When he approached her, it was evident that the battle was wearing him down. His clothes were tattered and torn and his armor dented and battered from the many men he'd fought in her name. His sword was still gripped in his left hand, and he did not bother to sheathe it when he stopped in front of her.
Gone was the timid and almost shy boy, she'd come to expect, and in his place was a man more potent and dangerous than any she'd ever seen. It was clear, that war and battle were his element and his natural habitat. He was confident and at ease though clearly tired from his trials. His eyes were sharp and the dark blue of threatening thunder clouds. He was leaner than she recalled from their first meetings that seemed centuries in the past. There was something feral and wild to him.
He nodded to her respectfully, but he did not fall to one knee before her as he might once have. "Your Majesty," he greeted.
"Link," she answered, eying this incarnation of him in front of her.
He shook his head slowly and sadly before spitting to his left and trying to find the right words to address her with. He had always had a problem finding the right things to say when it came to her. He could give many a stirring speech to the common soldier without fail, but all his wits seemed to flee when he was before someone of a higher station. He was a warrior. That was what he had been born and shaped to be. Politics sat on him like an ill-fitted suit, a dead man's clothes that he had thrown on at the last minute to fulfill a role that he had no idea how to play. "Things are going badly for us," he said at last.
She gave him a smile full of bitter mirth. "Tell me something I do not know, General."
"Being the Bearer of Wisdom, I'm not sure that that is possible. At least, not from the likes of me."
"Would you like to come in and sit?" She pulled back the tent flap and gestured inside.
He nodded in agreement and followed her in. When they were safely inside, she took a seat in a small, foldable chair. He remained standing as if any thought of taking respite while his men were dying outside caused him great discomfort.
He sighed and ran a hand through his tousled blond hair that had not been washed in several days. Her own must look even worse though it did not especially bother the queen at the moment.
"They press us constantly. They have even begun raiding at night," he said in exasperation. "I do not how much longer we can hold out. I do not know what else can be done. I have exhausted any ideas of strategy I might have. The men are ready to throw down their arms in weariness. They are ready to be done with this."
"And you?" she asked dangerously, already knowing the answer before it came from between his thin lips.
He gritted his teeth in anger and aggravation, the animal peaking through for only a breath. "My sword never rests. I cannot tell you how many men I have cut down, and more come in their place. For every one I slay, three more spring up. I would fight on if I knew it would do some good, but the men . . .I think are at their end."
She nodded in understanding, the full weight of his words resting heavily on her plated shoulders like millstones. "Yes, I sense that too."
"Then what are we to do, Your Grace? What would you have me do? Ask me anything, and I will try to the best of my ability to see it done." His words were full of desperation and hope that she might pull them out of the fire as she once had. She was their queen and their voice of reason and prophecy. She was their greatest protector against all enemies.
Zelda sighed in resignation. "I wish I knew, but my own powers and resources are starting to wane and fail. Spells I have tried to push them back no longer work as they once did. They either have learned to circumvent them or wait until they go out. Din's Fire and Nayru's Love are now only temporary annoyances to them. I have tried to scry and dream of some way out, but no path has shown itself."
He growled in rage and swung his sword in a mock swipe, not caring at the impropriety of the action. All semblance of courtesy was gone from him, only leaving the wild thing that truly was underneath. Zelda saw then what his piece had bestowed upon him. In many ways it was greater and lesser than what her piece gave her. He would have charged at them all single-handedly against all odds if he knew that his death would have been a greater gift to them than his life. She was suddenly ashamed of herself as she recalled her selfish decision to turn aside Filepus's terms. Had their positions been reversed, Link would not have hesitated to lay down his arms and give himself over to the whims of his enemy if it meant saving his kingdom and people from destruction, but she found that she could not be truly sorry for or regret her decision. Her sense of self-preservation and dignity were too great for that. She was a queen and a woman before she was a martyr.
"It is like we are some poor animal fleeing from a great cat who is so close that we can feel the heat of its breath down the nape of our necks." The rage died in his eyes to be replaced by an infinite sorrow.
She pitied him because he felt not for himself but for Hyrule. She smiled bittersweetly at the image and the memory his words conjured.
"So what do we do, milady?"
She stared at him. "We wait and pray to be delivered from the tiger's jaws."
Ganondorf stood on a hillside, surveying the battle from afar. It seemed that things had only gotten worse since Nabooru had last received news from the queen. The two warring armies were encamped in a shallow valley between Castle Town and the mountain range of Death Mountain. It was here that the Hylians were making their last stand after having been pushed all the way from the Zora River those few months ago. Long gone was the resplendent army he had faced. There were no proud banners waving in the air or brazen trumpets blowing in defiance. The men below him were not the disciplined and hailed knights he had encountered. They had been replaced by tired farmers and peasants who were fighting because there was no one left to defend them. Their true army had been torn apart, a shadow of its former glory.
The sight below him was even direr than he had originally suspected. It was clear that this was where the Hylians were making their last stand, and the only reason why they continued to fighting was because the same fate would befall them even if they didn't. The situation caused a twinge of sympathy in his stomach that he quickly stamped out. It served the pampered cattle right. Let them live and fight with no hope of things ever getting better. Let them drink deeply of their comeuppance. The boy was down there too, that swaggering, green imp. Ganondorf was sorely tempted to let the whole country fall if only for the satisfaction of watching the Hero die in futility. He struggled to keep his anger in line and not spin on his heel and leave them to their fate.
There were only two reasons he had come back. The first was that he would allow no man, least of all Filepus, know the joy and triumph of conquering Hyrule if it was not himself. The second one was much more distressing to him. There should have been no second reason at all, but there was as much as he loathed to admit it. The latter justification was infuriating, and it galled him to think he had returned for anything other than his own ends. Zelda more than any of them deserved what she got. She deserved to be defeated and humiliated as he had been by her. He should take joy in seeing her crown torn from her brow and her fall to her knees in submission, but he could not despite the fact that he had tried to will himself to many, many times these past few months. He actually grew sick at the thought of what Filepus would do to her when he defeated her army at last. The Gerudo highly doubted that he would imprison her in a suite of rooms and visit with her to trade quips as she had done with him. The best Ganondorf could hope for in those circumstances was that either she or the Hero would end her life and spare her from the Holodrummer's devices. That was why he had come back.
He moved through down the sloping hill and slowly into the ranks of men. The fighting had stopped along the outer edges though it still raged in the center. The men were so tired they did little more than look at up his passing. He chose to travel on foot for a good ways to save his strength in case he needed it later, and he was sure he would. He had expended more than he would have liked to get there as fast as he had.
He stepped lightly around dead men and dying horses, skirting around the piles of bodies and refuse. The wind whipped his robes around him and caused his eyes to water. It reminded much of the desert, harsh and unforgiving. He struggled to breathe through the scarf wrapped around his face. He looked around him and only saw desolation. The green grass beneath his feet that he had once so coveted was dry and withered. The trees that he had once dreamed of lounging under as the master Hyrule had been cut down for kindling and barricades.
He ignored the calls of dying men who cried out to him and begged him for water or mercy and kept walking towards the churning center of the battlefield where he had a feeling Zelda would be. He traveled some distance before the number of men around him grew thicker and more numerous. They bumped into him and spun away in confusion and in expectation to see another knight coming at them. He must have seemed like a phantom to them coming to retrieve the dead and carry them down into the underworld in his dark robes and half-veiled face. He scanned the crowd looking for her but couldn't see her from his current position.
He focused in on any traces of magic he could detect. It took several minutes of filtering through the mundane thoughts and spirits of the thousands of men around him before he picked up on something that might have been her. Ganondorf headed towards it, turning and spinning on his heels to avoid a spear or a sword. Things were so tightly packed that often the only time an opening was found was when a man fell down dead. He could smell their sweat and blood clinging to them, their fear permeating the air. It appalled and excited him. He should be out here amongst the slaughter laying them all low with sword and spells.
He continued walking in the general direction where he felt a faint pull. The fighting started to thin as the lines of men grew more ragged and dispersed. He could even make out a few colorful tents of the commanders some ways off. His eyes narrowed as a shock ran through him. He was close. He stopped walking to take stock of his surroundings. If she was here she would be noticeable almost immediately. Growling in frustration, he looked around him to spot a flash of golden hair or a burst of magic. All he found were more soldiers hacking away futilely at each other. Then he spotted something. Oh yes, there was golden hair and magic, but it did not belong to the one he originally sought. The boy was several feet in front of him slashing at numerous foes that Ganondorf could not see. The sword was a silver ribbon that cut the air into slices and sent the screams of men up into the atmosphere. He smiled to himself, a quick flash of a wickedness that no one else could.
The boy was impressive. He would give him that. The Hylian held several opponents at bay, never allowing a single strike to hit his armor, but as soon as one fell more came. He was slowly being forced to retreat under sheer numbers. He was backing right into Ganondorf.
The Gerudo stood and waited for the trap to spring itself. It was perfect. He had not even planned it, and the boy was not even aware of his presence. He seemed oblivious to the other piece right next to him in his current predicament. So the former Dark Lord waited, using some of his magic to put up a shield that would discourage any fool soldier to try and take a swing at him. The last thing he needed was for some blundering knight to spoil his element of surprise. He had come back for Zelda, but this merely sweetened the deal.
One large hand dipped down into his waist band where a long dagger was tucked away and hidden from sight. He unsheathed it and slid it up his sleeve. Just a little closer and the trap would enclose around the idiot's neck.
Link moved back a step and stumbled in exhaustion, his hand reaching out behind him to stop his fall. Ganondorf saw the opportunity and seized it. His hand flew out and grabbed the Hylian by his neck, hauling him back up to his feet and drawing him near. The hero yelped in surprise and started to struggle, legs kicking out and attempting to turn him around and face his attacker. It was no use though. Ganondorf moved his hand around the front of Link's neck and squeezed so tightly it almost cut off the air to that pretty, little golden head.
"You didn't think I'd forgotten about you, boy?" he hissed into a pointed ear.
He watched in satisfaction as Link started to fight again tried to speak, only half strangled sounds escaping from his parted lips. The larger man spared a look around to make sure the spell was still holding and was satisfied to see that no one around him seemed inclined to interfere.
He let the dagger slide into his palm and pressed the point to Link's exposed, white throat. The young man tensed and strove to leap away, but Ganondorf's grip held fast. "No, no, you're not getting away just yet. I have a debt to you that needs to be repaid. Soon you'll know what it's like to stabbed and left to bleed out on the ground like a gutted animal.
He let his smile spread from ear to ear as he felt Link try to swallow in desperation and his hot breaths quicken in fear. He put more pressure behind the tip of the knife and watched as a bright, red bead of blood appeared. He steadied his hand and drew in a deep breath. He would make this slow and deliberate. There would be no clean, quick slices for this one. He wanted to watch those blue eyes widen with panic before slowly growing dim as the life leaked from the body.
He adjusted the angle of his hand in preparation to dig the blade deeper into that tender flesh when a dreadful twanging split the air moments before he felt something go flying past his head. He cursed and looked up to see someone with a bow drawn and another arrow notched and aimed directly at him.
He snarled and wondered briefly how it was possible someone had gotten past his defensive spell to work up the will to attempt such a thing.
"Drop the dagger or I'll put an arrow through you, and this time I won't miss!" a dreadfully familiar voice said as she loped closer to get a better shot.
Then he knew exactly how and why his attacker had seen past his spell.
"Stay out of this!" he growled, gripping the hilt tighter.
The sound of his voice made her pause and the bow lowered for a half second before she raised it again and fixed the arrow tip right on him. "You know I can't do that," she answered.
"You wouldn't dare," he spat.
"Is that something you really want to test?"
He saw the set of her shoulders and the trembling in her hands, but it was the determination in her eyes that let him know that she was not bluffing.
"Why?" The point of the dagger dipped for a moment as he gathered his thoughts.
"Because I need him to help me win this battle," she replied.
Ganondorf laughed. "Truly? I think there is little chance of that even with the boy." No, he thought bitterly, you need him because then who would you have to manipulate?
"Let him go," she ordered.
A tense moment passed as he considered his options. He could kill Link and try his chances with her. He knew she had enchanted the bow and arrows for increased accuracy and speed. Still, she was at very close range, and he wasn't sure he could deflect them with his own magic. He hadn't returned to Hyrule just to die by her hand. He hated her for this. He deserved his revenge and justice for what had been done to him. Blood for blood. That was the payment of the Desert. He had every right to take the boy's life. Yet there was some grudging part of him that admired her for her actions, wrong though they might be. Here she was, a queen without any sort of combat training out in the middle of a battlefield with nothing but her own wits and magic to protect her.
She raised her eyebrows in impatience, signaling for him to make his decision.
He let out an enraged growl and roughly shoved Link forward as far away from him as he could. The hero let out a cry of surprise and relief and staggered forward. Ganondorf danced back a few steps as the Hylian turned to face him with one hand around his neck and the other gripping his sword. His eyes were dark with murderous fury as he took one step forward.
"Don't even think about it," the queen snarled behind both of them as she trained her arrow on Link.
Link shot her a confused glance. "He tried to kill me," he explained calmly.
"And you killed him, now let's be done with this whole mess. I have better things to do than watch over you two like a mother hen," Zelda said in a tired voice as she hesitantly let the taut bowstring grow slack.
Ganondorf glared at her and put as much distance as he could between himself and the two of them. With a glance, Zelda sent Link away though he did it unwillingly with a baleful backwards glance at the Gerudo as he waded back out into the battle.
The queen approached him slowly like a trainer with skittish colt.
"Let's go somewhere where we can speak privately," she murmured, not quite meeting his eyes, all of her earlier bravado gone.
"Where?"
"My tent." She turned and pointed off in the distance to one of the colored tents he had noticed earlier. Zelda started walking swiftly towards it and left him to follow behind her.
The ground around her encampment was muddy and torn with the churning of soldiers' boots and horses' hooves. He could not see her mount though surely she must have had one at some point in all this mess. The material of it had once been the finest anyone could find but was now full of holes and stained beyond redemption. Still, there was no mistaking the royal air about it that said no commoner dwelled within.
She lifted the flap and nodded inside. He ducked and entered, taking note of the barren surroundings. There was a cot in the corner and a scarred trunk with a map rolled out on top weighed down by four heavy candlesticks. There was also a small folding table with two chairs. It was all a far cry from the luxury he remembered from his stay at her castle. It seemed even Hyrule's queen was feeling the pinch of war on her purse strings.
She set her bow in the corner and spun on her heel to stare up at him. Her violet eyes were keen and intent on his face as if she were seeing him for the first time, like she was memorizing every last detail of it. "You've come back."
"Yes, I have."
"It certainly took you long enough," she said in an accusing tone, flexing her hands inside her leather gloves.
"Better late than never as they say."
She narrowed her eyes at him as if she was considering disagreeing with him on that point but thought better of it. "So where have you been?"
"Around," he answered evasively, not truly sure how to answer the question. "My travels are of no consequence at the moment."
"And why did you come back?" she asked in a low and dangerous voice.
"Because it is obvious to me that you need my help," he looked up at the ceiling and gestured to the sparse surroundings and the sounds of battle going on around them.
One side of her mouth turned up into a bitter smirk. "Well, thank you. I am so grateful you would go out of your way to aid my country in her hour of need." She turned her back to him and stared down at the map in front of her.
He reached out a hand to touch her shoulder and make her face him but stopped half way there. His fingers clenched into a fist and dropped to his side. "Zelda. . . "
"You said you came back to help? Prove it." She flicked two fingers forward to signal him to come stand at her side.
He walked up behind her and looked over her shoulder to study a close-up of the eastern mountain range. Her shoulders stiffened visibly at his proximity and the tiny hairs on the back of her neck rose. He could feel Power calling out to Wisdom as it filled the air with a strange buzzing pressure. He clasped his hands behind his back to keep from placing them at her hips.
"What would you have me do?" he whispered into her ear as he lowered his head to speak with her, blowing his breath against her cheek and neck.
She leaned forward with her hands splayed flat against the surface of the trunk to try and put as much distance between them as possible. "We are concentrated in this little area here," she said as she indicated a small pocket at the base of the mountains. "We cannot hope to win this with numbers or even strategy anymore. I have tried my best to out maneuver and out think him, but he cut me off at every turn. My army is not what it was when it faced you as I'm sure you have seen. Our last chance at victory is to sever the head of the beast. We have to kill Filepus. It is the only way to stop this."
"And how can we accomplish that with an entire army backing him?"
She licked her lips in preparation. "I have been thinking of this for some time now, and I believe that if we joined together we would be stronger."
"And how are we going to join together?"
Zelda held up her hands with a dagger in her right and her left empty. "As I told you before, the two strongest types of magic are life and death, sex and blood. The first one is not an option so blood must suffice." Then she drew the tip of the dagger across her open palm, never flinching or wincing at the pain. Her was face was cold and immobile as the blood welled up.
He eyed her wound for a few moments. He did not like the idea. He was not sure what would happen if they joined like that. It was too volatile and unpredictable. What if she tried to take his piece from him again?
She waited patiently with solemn eyes as he debated whether to do as she asked or not. If he did this there was no telling what sort of consequences might follow it. If he did not there was no other hope for Hyrule's salvation in sight. He sighed and took the knife from her. He dragged it across his hand in one fluid movement, only registering the pain until after he had handed the knife back to her.
She returned it to the sheath at the small of her back and offered him her injured hand. Taking a deep breath, he took her hand and braced himself. The effect of it was immediate and devastating. The air in his lungs whooshed out in a single gasp that left him shaking and weak. His legs trembled and his knees turned to water. He could feel the ground beneath his feet tilting and quaking as if the earth had been torn loose from its axis. Power and Wisdom vied for supremacy inside of his all too small body. The fibers of his being stretched and groaned from the mixture churning within him. He could feel the magic of it seeping from his skin and flooding the air around him. He breathed it in and it scalded his throat with golden heat. Madness was a thin horizon before him that was looming closer and closer.
A thousand possibilities and lifetimes bloomed and died in front of his eyes. Colors that had no name or meaning flashed through his brain and left burning trails in their wake. Dimly, he heard Zelda cry out in pain at his side as it took hold of her. He tried to command his fingers to unweave themselves from hers, but they refused to obey. They were fused together with a substance stronger than steel.
His knees buckled and hit the dirt, pain went shooting up through his thighs to his stomach and then his heart that was sputtering and wheeling inside his chest. He prayed that it would give out and let sweet darkness take him, but some greater force willed it to keep pumping blood that had turned to lava through his veins. He struggled to a take a breath, like breaking the surface of the ocean only to be sucked down into the currents again. He sank and sank through the earth and space and time until he hit the void at the bottom where all things were born and died in ceaseless cycles.
He saw a great demon lord before him with eyes glittering and burning like coals in his face and flame-like hair swirling around his blackened and cracked skin. It stopped and observed him with a lethal curiosity. One huge hand reached out and came towards him with grasping fingers that engulfed him and swallowed him whole.
He saw a flash of blue and white as some winged being hovered at its side with something like pity in her eyes before it took and turned him to ash. He yelled and it transformed it into a scream and then a shriek so piercing that he wasn't sure it was coming from him.
Then suddenly the pain stopped, and he was left cold and naked in its absence. He was a mote spinning in the consuming darkness around him. He panicked and his lungs constricted painfully. He fought with his hands clawing at his throat to rip open a way for the air to spill inside and bathe and heal his burns.
Blood spilled hot and red over his fingers but nothing soothed him. He turned and twisted himself into fruitless knots trying to find a way to escape, to somehow move himself from this place.
A memory came floating up from the depths of his fevered mind, overpowering and stunning in its lucidity.
He was a man now. A true man. Not some half-child wandering clumsily through the world with flailing limbs and a cracking voice. He was king in name and truth, and he sat his throne with all the dignity and force he could command. Supplicants came and kneeled before him, keeping their eyes lowered and their voices only above a whisper. He said nothing to them as they offered him jewels and silks and promises as soft and rotten as their sycophantic hearts. They were all weak. They were all cowards and liars. They were all thieves of the lowest sort who had taken nothing out of strength but out of deceit. They sickened him, and if they were insects, he would crush them all under the heel of his boot.
He dismissed their gifts with a declining of his head and a wave of his hand. It was trash, rubbish, worthless at best. What did a desert warlord need of pretty baubles and words laced with poison? What good did a bolt of silk do him? Would it make the rains come? Would it put food in the bellies of his sisters? Would it keep the winds from blowing into their fortress and tents? Would it make the Lady of the Sands grant them mercy? No, silk and jewels were all fine things for Hylian men to dress their women in, but it did the Gerudo no good.
He hid his contempt through a thin veil of courtesy. He recalled not their names or stations and paid no mind to their wishes for his continued good health and long reign. None of it made any difference to him. They were only spoiled cattle coming to low at him. Later after they had all retreated to their quarters, he took the time to pick through the things they had given him. Only one stood out. It was not a precious stone or metal. It was not a priceless vase or bit of cloth. He ran his fingers idly over the hide in front of him and wondered who had killed the beast to claim this prize. The black and orange of its stripes both delighted and disgusted him to think that it might have died at the end of a Hylian spear.
He stopped his inspection when the light tread of boots on the stone floor entered into his chambers. "I am not in the mood for company," he said curtly without turning around. "If it is one of the Hylian envoys tell him his request can wait until morning. I am tired of their kneeling and groveling."
"I can assure you I am no Hylian envoy," a familiar voice said.
He turned and saw Nabooru leaning against the door frame with her arms folded across her chest and an indulgent smile on her face.
"What is it you need?"
She laughed at the tone of his voice and walked in without invitation, golden eyes roving over his new collection of gold and rubies and emeralds. "Since when do I have to have a need to see an old friend, eh?"
"Nabooru, I am king now and that-"
"That's a beautiful pelt," she observed, cutting him off mid-sentence.
"Yes, it is," he said wistfully, his hand finding it again without thinking. His eyes lost their intense focus and went hazy.
"What are you thinking of?" The young woman tilted her head to the side to study his thoughtful expression.
"Do you remember when I went into the Oasis?" he asked, his voice dreamy.
"Oh yes, how could I forget? We all called you the Prince of Tigers for months afterwards. Some of the women still call you that behind your back."
His face contorted into a frown as a thought crossed his mind. "I think back on it sometimes, and I wonder why it did not kill me. It would have been so easy for it to crush my throat in its jaws."
"Because you did not fight it," she said simply as if the answer were plain as day for him to see.
"What?" he asked sharply, being thrown from his daydreams by her answer.
"The tiger did not kill you because you did not fight it," she repeated more slowly. "It knew it could kill you, and when you did not run or charge it, it knew that you were aware of that as well. You would be surprised at how much trouble in life can be avoided by simply not fighting the current and letting it take you where it will."
He came back from that still-point in time to the spinning blackness around him. His hands were sticky from the drying blood and the air refused to give him sustenance. His heart quickened again as the thought of not breathing. He tucked his knees to his chest in frustration until he realized that he was not dead or dying despite the lack of oxygen in his lungs. He went still and let his muscles go slack. His fingers uncurled themselves and his joints loosened. Relief surged through him as he let his will go and decided to let this tide take him where it pleased.
His eyes flew open, and the light of the sun was so bright that he squinted and raised his hand against it. His head was pounding like a Goron wardrum, but his mind felt clearer than it had in a long time. His mouth was dry as he sucked in a huge breath that filled his lungs to bursting, and he let it out in one long laugh.
She clasped his hand with hers and let their blood mingle. Electricity shot up her arm from their laced fingers and sizzled through her bloodstream. It hit every nerve ending in her body and set her alight. The center of her chest suddenly constricted and grew tight as if a fist were squeezing her heart. A strangled, dry sob escaped her throat as she tried to draw a gasping breath. Wisdom resonated wildly within her. All of its strength and energy pouring through her and out of her. At once, her brain was flooded with a thousand possibilities and scenarios. She lived a thousand lifetimes in the blink of an eye. The images were sharp and jagged like shattered glass that scraped the surface of her soft mind and left it bleeding. It was both terrible and magnificent.
Dimly, she registered a painful groan from Ganondorf at her side. His hand was gripping hers so tightly it had gone numb, and she hadn't even realized it. His piece responded to her presence and attention and hummed within her conscience, stirring the storm inside of her to new heights. She saw more now than just the past and future of what might be, she saw what she could be with Power. She saw the temptation of what ultimate mastery could bring her. She could end wars with a thought. She could lay waste to castles and cities with a nod of her head. If she took both Power and Wisdom, Courage would stand no chance. It would fall before her as it should. Courage was weak and useless. It was a commodity possessed by the common soldier. It was something so low even dumb beasts held something akin to it. She also knew in that instant if she acted on these thoughts and desires, she would lose herself. She would go mad as so many in the royal family had done before her. She would lose all friends and allies. She would see only enemies and rivals, and the only face she would love would the one in the mirror.
"Ride it," she heard a voice command next to her.
She turned her head, slowly, painfully, to look up at the towering figure beside her. She squinted against the light he was throwing off. Pulses of red and gold radiated from him. His eyes danced like flames in his face.
"What?" she asked in confusion. Who was this strange apparition before her?
"Ride the Power or it will consume you," he said in a strained voice and pinned her with those eyes like torches. "Sink into it, but do not become it. Listen to your piece. It will guide you."
She turned back to face the field before where men wavered like shadows cast by a dying campfire. They were feeble things beneath their steel shells. Only flesh and blood that could be torn asunder, and bone that could be broken and crushed.
She took a deep breath and did as he said. She dove into it, and the visions took her. She could feel Wisdom shining out from her, breathing through every pore of her skin. She felt everything. The land. The stones. The grass. The wild beasts. The people of this country. She became it all. She was all of her golden, exalted ancestors in that one glimmering moment, and their knowledge was hers. She could even feel the currents of the Zora River miles away. She gave a high, giddy laugh as if she was drunk on the finest wine she had ever tasted.
"Zelda," the strange phantom murmured at her side, and she felt a callused palm graze hers. She knew the stories of all the scars she had seen those months ago. She knew every lick of the whippings and beatings he had endured, knew the agony of the Master Sword as it sliced through him time and again from the past and from the future.
"Ganondorf," she answered, knowing him once again as the man at side. The man who had returned to her and for her.
Her right hand reached out and the energy flew from her fingertips and coalesced into a bright, grand shape that took on the likeness of an odd and long-legged bird. It's sharp, hooked beak opened and a cry came out from its golden throat and rang in her ears like a bell tolling. It looked over its shoulder at her and fixed her with a quizzical stare.
Command me, it thought to her. Her eyes slid to the left in a thoughtful pause as time stood still for half a heartbeat. Another strange beast had formed by the bird side. It was larger than the other specter and darker. It seemed to eat the light around it as hungry, tendrils of black smoke curled from its roughly boar-shaped body. It lifted its huge head to reveal two sharp, black tusks sprouting from its jaw. Black ash blew from its nostrils as it let out a great huff of air in irritation. Impatience and irritation boiled in the air around them. Get on with it, the other spirit seemed to say.
She nodded and somehow knew that the Gerudo did the same beside her. Fight with us, she thought at them. Save Hyrule. The phoenix-like bird flapped its enormous wings and took flight, stirring the air around them into great gales. The boar stamped its smoking hoof and took off at a run, trampling everything in its path.
She watched in a dream-like state as the two tore out across the battlefield. Lightning struck the earth, gargantuan silver and gold forks that split the heavens as the sky darkened into night with heavy clouds looming on the horizon. Screams ripped through the world and died just as quickly as they had erupted to be replaced by more. The smells of burning flesh and blood assaulted her nose. She gagged and bile rose in her throat, but she barely noticed it. All she could feel was a frightening emotion of vengeful justice as men fell beneath her wings and stared in awe and terror as she hovered above them. They were intruders. They were interlopers and foreigners who did not belong here. Their blood was a stain upon the land. Their gods held no sway here no matter how they called out to them with their dying breaths. Their words were nothing.
She caught a mental glimpse of the dark beast crushing soldiers and horses and war machines under foot as it plowed through whatever stood in its way. The land burned beneath its cloven hooves and the rock sizzled and cracked from its weight and heat. Its tusks gored and impaled without thought, blood running slick down the exposed bone. She could feel the former Dark Lord in its thoughts, reading it as she read the bird's.
The Hylian soldiers looked on with sickened awe and glazed eyes as their jaws hung slack. Their shields hung loose on their arms and their swords were clutched in limp fingers as dark shadows were cast over them. For reasons they did not know, they were spared. The great bird took no interest in them and passed them by. The boar was less prejudiced and killed some unfortunate souls who stumbled in its path. Zelda even spied the Hero staring up into the sky in surprise and disbelief as he watched the spirit swoop over his head. He stood in a ring of dead bodies with the Master Sword dripping blood. His eyes were fierce and as dark a blue as thunder clouds. His own piece whispered softly and incessantly to theirs. It longed to join them, was jealous of their union. She could see the fury of his gaze even from afar. He was a simple man who did not appreciate such sorcery and gaudy displays of power. He did not understand it, and beneath all that, he felt cheated. His birth right and glory were stolen from him.
The tides changed as the Holodrummers gained their senses and started to flee in droves, heading for hills and valleys. Their generals did not bother to bark orders as they set their spurs to their horses sides and went into retreat themselves.
The spirits pursued them viciously. The bird circled high and swooped down, trailing a storm in its wake. The boar charged ahead and left streaks of fire across the earth where it passed. Magic spit and popped in the air around them as the two vengeful ghosts went after the fleeing army. She could feel their energy tugging and draining her own. Not even the blinding power of the Triforce could mask the fatigue that was starting to seep into her bones. They felt brittle as if they might splinter with the lightest touch. She could feel Ganondorf start to tire at her side.
She had to end this soon or else it would cost them both their lives. The magic would consume them like fire soaking up oil, and they would nothing but a black stain upon the earth when it was done. She drew in a deep breath through her nose and sent her consciousness racing outwards towards her avatar. The bird shifted its head slightly at her presence and allowed her to enter its mind. She saw through its eyes the wide swath of destruction they had cut. The land and trees were burning, smoke filling the air that would sting human eyes. She could clearly see that the enemy's army was fleeing, those who were not dying that was. Still, she knew that was not enough. Filepus would pursue them to the ends of the world until he had spent every life he could to claim her kingdom. As long as he breathed, there would be war.
The bird halted its attack for a few moments to glide across the battlefield in search of Filepus. Zelda used its keen eyes to try and spy out the king of Holodrum. As she had suspected, he had set himself far away from the front lines and yet close enough to monitor the action at hand.
"We need to find Filepus," she said to the man at her side.
"What should we do about them?" He jerked his chin towards the two spirits they had unleashed who were still wreaking havoc.
Zelda withdrew her consciousness from the bird's mind and returned to her body. She closed her eyes against the burning golden light and found the source of her power. "We send them away."
She called out the bird who cocked its head to the side in quizzical displeasure. It did not like being told what to do by something as small and trivial as her. She could feel the irritation building up inside of it. She pressed her will onto it until it submitted beneath the weight of both pieces. It bowed its head and flapped its wings in protest as its light faded and vanished altogether. The only signs it had ever existed were a smell of burning ozone and the evidence of the destruction it had brought.
The great boar went even less quietly. It gave long, frustrated cries as Ganondorf imposed his power upon it and forced it back into the realm it had come from. With a final stamp of its hooves, it vanished into a cloud of black smoke.
With the specters gone, she refocused her attention on finding Filepus. She remembered where his camp was located and honed in on it. She gave Ganondorf's hand a gentle squeeze as she shifted the air and particles around them to place them just outside of his tent. Then they went flying off into the wind like arrows fired from a bow.
They both rocked on the balls of their feet as the earth slammed into them. She was not used to teleporting such distances and not with another person to tow along with her. Her head was reeling and spinning from the ride. She pressed the heel of her hand to her temple to try and make everything stand still again. When the world slowed and came to a stop, she slowly let go of Ganondorf's hand.
The area was in complete disarray as soldiers ran trying to gather their saddles and supplies before fleeing. Most of them couldn't seem to decide whether to stay with their liege or run for their own lives. Several of them were standing there in shock at what had just happened. They did not even pay her any mind as she walked past them and entered into Filepus's tent.
He had his back to her but turned to face his visitor. His blue eyes wandered up and down her frame as if he had been expecting her all along. "What a pleasure for you to stop by," he said.
"The pleasure is all mine now," she responded with a tight smile, taking one menacing step towards him.
"How did you do it?" He picked a piece of lint off of his tunic, not bothering to acknowledge the threatening air around her.
"With the help of him." She nodded behind her as another figure entered the tent.
Filepus raised his eyes to the red robed man who stood beside Zelda. He raised both eyebrows at the idea that such a seemingly unintimidating being could turn the tide of battle. "Really? That old man beside you? He is your new pet charlatan magician?" His hand rested lightly on the pommel of the sword at his hip.
"I would be careful of how you speak to us," she cautioned.
"I will speak how I like to a woman and an old man." He rolled his eyes at her and shook his sword free of its holdings. "Let's get this over with quickly, Zelda. I have other matters to attend to. Who would you prefer for me to kill first? You or that old man standing beside you?"
"Neither," she said casually. She paused in thought and cast a knowing look back at the Gerudo. "And that is no old man beside me, or not just any old man."
The spell of his disguise dissolved around him as he soon as he let it go. The robes evaporated and were replaced by his normal clothes and the sickly gray shade of his skin turned to a dark bronze. He could feel his bones stretching out and groaning in relief at their freedom. His eyes flashed from black to gold.
For the first time, Filepus looked surprised and afraid. His sword hand gripped the hilt and drew it in one smooth stroke. He leveled a look at Zelda and then at Ganondorf. "What wicked sorcery is this? I saw him die. I watched at your little knight butchered him and left him to bleed out on the ground. I saw him draw his last breath as his heart stopped." His eyes were wide as his mind worked out a way for this to be possible.
"I did indeed die," Ganondorf rumbled, half laughing. "But this woman brought this old man back from the dead." He drew closer to them.
"I returned his life to him," Zelda said quietly, "and now I am ending yours."
Filepus looked from Ganondorf to Zelda and back again, his eyes growing so large that they showed the whites. He uttered a guttural sound as he swung his sword in a perfect deadly, arc straight for her exposed neck. Moving faster than Ganondorf had ever seen her move before, she ducked under the blade and pulled the knife from the small of her back out and planted it in Filepus's throat right as he was about to call for the guards.
"Gu-gu," he stuttered as the sword fell from his numb fingers and clattered to the ground. His legs went out from beneath him and his fingers grasped at the knife embedded in him. He sprawled out on his back with knees bent and his hand still curled around the small dagger.
Zelda stood over him wordlessly as he died and watched the light fade from his eyes just as Ganondorf's had on the day Link had killed him. When the last of his twitching subsided, she turned back to the Gerudo with eyes hollow from exhaustion and the impact of what she had just done.
"It's over," she said numbly and took a mechanical step forward like a child's wind-up toy.
"Yes, it is," he commented, eyes never leaving her form.
"I can't believe it," she said in a giddy voice that sounded like she was about to break out into tears and laughter at the same time.
"I can't quite either."
She took another stiff step and staggered. He caught her before she fell. Her arms shook as she clutched onto his for dear life. The color drained from her face and left it gray and haggard. All of her strength was gone.
"I'm glad you came back," she said sincerely as she let him take the full weight of her. He felt her heart beating like a hummingbird's wings on the inside of his skull as her body tried to cling to the last of its strength. The combination of the two pieces had sucked dry her reserves. She was not used to the full force of Power as he was. Wisdom was a quieter and more subtle beast by far.
"I am too," he whispered to her as he bent down and brushed his lips lightly against hers.
"I suppose that is the closest we will ever come to apologizing to each other?" she said in a weak and laughing voice.
"Consider it a miracle we even managed that small truce." His arms circled her and supported her weight against his chest.
She smiled up at him feebly before her eyes rolled back into her head, and she passed out.
He held her against him and felt her breath brushing his collarbone. She felt as small and fragile as a porcelain doll in his arms. He could have crushed her to dust in that moment. Already he was feeling the tenuous connection of the pieces starting to fade. Their power was dissipating inside of him. She was defenseless against him. He could take hers as she had taken his. Some dark, covetous part of him demanded that he do it. A vision of the demon he'd seen earlier came wavering before his eyes. It wanted Wisdom and Power and more. It wanted her life essence, her spirit inside of him. It wanted to consume her wholly. He swallowed and brushed the golden hair matted to her head with sweat. Its siren song was so sweet and tempting. How many times had he raged against her? How many times had he dreamed of revenge for what she had done to him?
Yet there was another part of him that was far quieter than the demon that said let this matter lie. Let it rest for now. It silently pleaded that he take this time and steal what joy from it that he could. It was frail and human, but its coaxing was so compelling. He blinked and watched the demon slowly fade away to lie hidden in his heart once more. Another time, the terrible being said as it went dormant.
He lifted her into his arms and cradled her against his chest. The disguise he had worn earlier wrapped itself around him, and his body shrunk to accommodate its dimensions.
"Come," he said to her silent form, "let's go back to your men and let them know that the war has just been won." His eyes closed, and he teleported them back to Zelda's tent.
He laid her out on her cot and took a seat on a nearby stool and waited for the Hero to show up.
It's done. This chapter is finally done. I can't even believe it. I must have rewritten this thing a dozen times. It was just such a labor to write it. I'm sorry it took me so long. There is now only an epilogue left. I hope this lived up to your expectations. I feel like this chapter was pretty weak and incoherent, but at this point, it's hard for me to judge its quality.
Please let me know what you thought.
P.S. Forgive me for any spelling/grammatical mistakes. Hopefully, the epilogue will be up soon since it won't be nearly as long and I already know what I'm going to write. Thanks again so much for all of your support and patience.