IMPORTANT NOTICE! To all my readers, please note that the end is nigh. Or isn't. It's all up to you, really. At this point, I feel that the story's end is drawing near, (this part, not the end of the end [10 interwebz to the person who guesses that reference right!]), ending with chapter 31 or 32, which at this point is already written. So, my questionis, should I just continue writing under "Conquering The Past" and shooting for the biggest chapter count on fanfiction, or separating my tale into two, maybe three parts? Let me know in a review, OK? Thanks!
-Jack Knights
"Hold on," he said in a low voice. Jaz almost hadn't heard him, and bumped into Link when he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.
"What's the matter?" she asked, sounding slightly indignant. When she saw the look on Link's face, she instantly regretted her surly attitude.
"Give me a pair of Trex's glasses," he said, hand outstretched and waiting. She frowned a bit as she struggled to find the bifocals hidden within the recesses of her bag, but eventually she drew out a pair, handing them to Link. "There's a magnification lens on these, right?"
"Yeah, give here," she said as he tried a number of combination lenses, trying to figure it out. After a few moments, she had removed all but three panes of glass, and when she looked through it, she found her field of vision had augmented considerably. She handed them back to Link, who dropped to a knee and put the glasses to his eyes. Jaz stood behind him patiently, waiting for him to speak.
"We may have to find another route," he eventually said, standing. His face was grim.
"Why?"
"There's an army standing at the bottom of this valley," he said, offering her the glasses. She took them, out of curiosity, and scanned the area. Jaz found him to be correct. Just under a ridge, in the valley between the peak they were on and the next one over, an army made up of humans and Bulbins alike were patrolling the area. She did a quick count and gasping at the number of soldiers. At least three hundred men and monsters were blocking their path.
"I think we might be able to sneak around them at night," she muttered, continuing to scan the area.
"I thought so too, but look just beyond that crest," Link said, pointing out what he had seen. Just barely visible in the far off passage between the two mountains was a gate, huge and imposing, with guards constantly in motion around and on top of it.
"Well, this sucks," Jaz murmured. "What other path could we take?"
"I'm not sure that there may be another path," Link stated, looking over his map. A harsh wind suddenly tore around them and Jaz shivered as it blew her coat around. "From what I can tell, either we venture further into the mountains, going closer to Termina,"
"—not possible," Jaz interrupted him. "The mountains are high unstable. We could get caught in a rock slide, or fall to our deaths on the jagged peaks."
"Alright then," Link said testily. "That leaves with only one option."
"What?" she said, turning back to look at him. His face broke out in a grin, but it was filled with fear, not amusement.
"We go straight through their defenses and bring that gate down."
Literally thousands of books and absolutely nothing to read, Dagg realized as he put down a thick tome, bound in bright red leather. He sat in the Citadel's private library, where the air was stuffy and the sunlight dared not venture inside. All around him, crammed in floor-to-ceiling shelves and on wide tables, sat books of all sizes, binding and age. He'd been trying to find something to do during the brief respite that Ganondorf had allowed him, but he found nothing to his taste in the gargantuan athenaeum.
He'd never really been one to take pleasure in reading about wars, torture and the magnificence of a tyrannical king.
As he milled about in the archives below the Citadel, Dagg felt a growing sense of uneasiness fill his stomach. What does he want with me? What could I possibly do for him now? Similar thoughts ran through his head, and even if he had found something to read, he found he couldn't concentrate. It makes no sense, keeping me here. Maybe if I knew something of the Resistance, then continued torture would be in order, but he's done nothing even remotely close to that at this point.
Wrong, said a voice in his head. There was that girl whose family he threatened to destroy if she didn't bed with you. Surely that classifies as some form of torture.
Yes, it was, but it was too personal, he surmised. Dagg continued to wrack his brains for answers, but they continually eluded him. He threw a book clear across the room in disgust, partly with himself for not being able to see through Ganondorf's plans. It struck him then and he laughed madly as the thought crossed his mind.
I suppose keeping me in this heightened state would surely wear me down, he though, amused.
But then what? Once you are a broken man, what will he want with you then? said that same voice of reason. Dagg shivered at the thought of what Ganondorf might still have in store for him.
The sound of aged wood creaking open brought his thoughts to the present again. He looked around a bookcase, watching as the heavy wooden doors, fitted with iron and paneling, opened slowly. Dagg's eyebrows raised in surprise when he saw that the person opening the door was none other than Ganondorf himself. He battled with his rage, eventually suppressing it long enough to walk out from in between the shelves.
"Ah, I thought I'd find you here," the King said with a sneer, his arms open wide. "It's such a beautiful place, seeped in history and knowledge, don't you agree?"
"I found nothing to my taste," Dagg said defiantly. Ganodorf chuckled and lowered his arms, the heavy cape he wore coming to rest behind him as he stopped in front of the other man.
"Well, you can't say I didn't try to please you," he muttered, shaking his head. Dagg narrowed his eyes and lifted his chin at the King, knowing full well that he risked being thrown into the dungeons for such contempt. Either Ganondorf didn't notice or allowed it pass, because he gave no signs of being insulted by the show of rebellion.
"Come now, we have several matters to discuss, and you play an active role in a few things," Ganondorf said after a moment. "Let's leave this place, shall we?"
"Why am I needed?" Dagg questioned. His brow furrowed as he frowned, both weary and curious to find out what the King had in store for him.
"You shall understand soon enough," Ganondorf said evenly, turning his back on the younger man.
Dagg got the feeling that something extremely unpleasant awaited him aboveground.
They decided to wait until nightfall before making their move. Link spent the day studying the army's movements, mapping out everything from breaks to shift changes, from both the main camp and the gate. Jaz had been going through their things, discarding anything they wouldn't need or things that they could buy later on. Link had said that they'd need speed on their side, and that they didn't stand a chance if they were weighed down by their bags. As the sun was setting, Link explained the plan while they made their way toward the valley.
"We wait until it's completely dark, so that we have the best cover," he explained, letting himself slide down a boulder. "We've got the glasses, so we should be able to find our way easily enough."
"Plus, the cloud cover will most likely block out the moon," Jaz added as he helped her down a ledge. "OK, once we're in their midst, what do we do?"
"We have to cross to the other side of the valley. There's more trees and ridges we can hide along if anything goes wrong. After that, we make our way round to the gates."
"Alright, and then what? Do you plan on bringing the whole thing down on us?"
"Nope, we're going over it," Link said as he jumped down to the grassy field below. Jaz followed him as he hide behind a large wedge of rock, disbelief clear on her face. "What, don't think we can do it?"
"No, it's just that..." she began, unsure of how to proceed. "How the hell are we supposed to get over it? It's a huge construct, at least twenty feet tall and half as many wide. Not to mention the guards patrolling the area."
"That's the beauty of it; they're patrolling around the gate, not on it," he said with a grin. "I watched it all day and there was never a sentry on top of it. If we manage to scale the mountainside on the left of it, we can practically walk right over them, go back onto this mountain range and be on our way before they ever realize we were right under their noses, so to speak."
"I admit, it's a pretty good plan," she said, sitting with her back to the sun. "But what if they spot us before hand? What if we can't find our way up the mountain, much less get across the gate?"
"Look, I know it sounds risky, and it is, but it's the only plan we've got," he said, running his hand through his hair. "So, are you up to it?"
"Sure, why not?" Jaz shrugged. "What have we got to lose?"
Our lives? Link mused as he waited for the sun to disappear behind the mountains.
Sheik and Felicia had left the dugout shelter the minute the rain had stopped. The little man-made cave had grown stifling after his discovery of the sword in her bag, but Felicia remained adamant, never changing her story when he approached her about it. For the past few hours they had been sitting as far away from each other as possible in stony silence. Now out in the open again, Sheik felt more at ease, able to concentrate on something other than the mystery surrounding his companion.
Despite his best efforts to keep his mind on the road ahead of him, Sheik couldn't help but think that something was amiss. Why keep a broken sword in the first place? Even if you got it fixed, you'd be better off with a new sword.
Maybe she's getting it repaired for sentimental reasons, he wondered, but dismissed the idea almost immediately. If that's the case, then why bother lie about it? While he thought about it, something suddenly came to light.
Then why is she being chased by Bulbins? He voiced his question, and watched as Felicia bit her lip as she thought before answering. In the few days he'd known her, Sheik could tell that what she said next would be a lie by the way she chewed on her mouth.
"It's not actually my fault those monsters are after me," she began, weaving her tale carefully. "It was a series of events, acts of defiance that angered the King's personal court guard."
"What happened?" Sheik couldn't help but wonder.
"We already been suffering from unfair taxes and such, but when soldiers came into town, demanding that all men above the age of thirteen serve in the King's military, we'd had enough. The whole village was in an uproar. We'd already done our service, just the year past and it was outrageous of them to demand something so cruel. The soldiers were beaten back, and we thought we'd made it out OK. But we were wrong.
"That night, the monsters came. They set fire to the houses and killed the townspeople. I, along with several other women and children, managed to escape the attack, but they wouldn't give up the chase, even after killing everyone else," Felicia murmured, her voice filling with sorrow as her eyes did with tears.
"Now, Ruto's been destroyed, and Goddess knows if those poor children made it to safety, and still those brutes aren't happy!" she shouted, her sadness now tainted with anger. "They won't stop until every last one of us is dead!"
She fell to her knees, her hands covering her face as she wept. Sheik awkwardly dropped down next to her, draping an arm around her shoulders. He didn't doubt her anger towards the King, nor did he think that her story was fabricated—for the most part—but the sword in her bag was the one piece of the puzzle that didn't fit. It nagged at him, eating away at his sanity, and yet, he held his tongue. The woman was clearly distraught, and bringing something like that up again would no doubt break what little trust she had in him beyond repair.
"You know what we should do?" he said eventually once her sobs had turned to hiccups. She shook her head, but didn't look up at him. "We should join the Resistance."
"What?" Felicia said, almost falling over.
"We should find the Resistance's headquarters and demand to become a part of their ranks," he said, with more certainty.
"Are you serious? An act of open defiance like that..."
"Dead serious," Sheik said as he helped her stand. "For far too long that tyrant has ruled over our heads with an iron fist. We should become a part of the effort to destroy that regimen, bring about change and peace."
"How do you suggest we find them?" Felicia murmured, frightened but at the same time exhilarated that someone else openly shared the same ideals as she did.
"No-one really knows were they are, but I think I know someone who might be able to help us out," he said, grinning widely. "Since we're already heading to Saria, we might as well keep going that way. I know someone who might be able to point us in the right direction."
"Really?" she asked, astounded.
"Damn straight," he affirmed. "Let's get a move on then, shall we?"
"Right," she said with more enthusiasm. "To Saria!"
"To the Resistance!" he exclaimed, and off they went, renewed purpose lending a new spring to their step as they headed towards a more certain future.