I've been waiting to write the first part of this chapter for a while! Aah! Vaati!

Chapter 23: The Traitor

"You called for me, Lord Ganon," Vaati said, kneeling and bowing his head.

He and Ganon were in the entrance to Ganon's underground tower. Like everything else in the chamber, the room was made of heavy stone. A large, ugly chandelier-like fixture hung from the ceiling to cast light in the dark fort.

Ganon turned to face Vaati and gave one of his crooked smiled. "Yes, Vaati. I'm glad you came so promptly."

"Of course. But I do hope it won't take too much time. The Master Sword remains unguarded as long as I am here." He stood up, but this hardly made a difference since Ganon was so much taller than him.

"There's no need to worry about that," Ganon said very calmly. "You won't have to worry about guarding the Master Sword any longer."

A shock of alarm ran through Vaati, though he didn't let it show on his face. Ganon was replacing him as the guardian? That wasn't good. Link would go to the ruins expecting Vaati to hand the sword to him. Instead Link would be facing some unknown enemy.

"I trust I'm being promoted to a more interesting position," Vaati said, keeping his voice steady.

"Hmm. Actually, I had some questions for you."

"Ah?"

"I'm sure you heard about the break-out of several of my prisoners a couple of days ago."

"I didn't receive much news when I was in the ruins," Vaati lied, trying to remain calm. It was unnerving that Ganon would be asking him about the breakout since Vaati himself had helped bring it about. "Who escaped?"

"No one that can't be recaptured. They may even lead us to other pathetic lowlifes who think they can interfere with my plan. In fact, they've already revealed a traitor in our midst."

Alarm shot through Vaati again. But he continued to keep his face passive. There was still a chance that Ganon didn't know who the traitor was. If Vaati reacted, he would surely give himself away.

"Who, my lord?" He asked, fighting very hard to keep his nervousness from escaping in his voice.

Ganon smiled again, a terrifying expression that would have made anyone else run out the door. Vaati didn't run, but he started to become very worried. He ran through several magic spells in his mind, trying to decide what would be best for the situation.

"Tell me, Vaati. What do you know of Nabeen and Shadow Link?"

Vaati's insides froze. Ganon knew.

Vaati raised his hands to perform a spell, but Ganon was faster. Before Vaati knew what had happened, A vice-like hand closed around his throat and he was slammed back against the wall. His head cracked painfully against the stone.

Vaati's fingers pried at Ganon's hand, trying to loosen the grip that was slowly suffocating him. But Ganon was too strong. Vaati's breath came in rasping gasps, and his vision started to blur. But he could still see Ganon's face, smiling in a cruel way, like a rabid wolf about to break the neck of its victim.

"No traitor will escape his due punishment," Ganon said very softly. "When I'm through with you, you'll wish that someone had stepped on you when you were the size of a bug. Because your fate will be much, much worse."

Vaati fought for the next breath, unable even to cough. His hands, powerless to loosen the fist pinning him to the wall, fell limp to his sides. He didn't see the chandelier above them give a small lurch. His vision was fading fast.

Suddenly there was a mighty crash. Fragments of chain and glass flew in every direction. Vaati found himself dumped in a heap on the floor. Oxygen flooded his body, and he drank great mouthfuls of it. His sight and the feeling in his limbs returned.

The chandelier had fallen on Ganon. He could see the twisted wreckage lying over the dark robes of the man. But there was something else in the chandelier too. Small shapes were hopping off of the bent frame: tiny little creatures with feathery tails and small colorful hats.

Then the chandelier moved again. Ganon was standing up. The wreckage of the light fixture fell off of him and clattered to the floor. He brushed himself off as though nothing more than a speck of dust had hit him. When he looked up, Vaati had gone.

…

"You shouldn't strain yourself, Link," Navi said.

Link was doubled over, breathing hard. Sweat poured down his face and his recently recovered arm was trembling slightly. For the past couple days, he's been training endlessly to try to build up his strength again. The curse that Ganon had placed on him had weakened him.

"I have to get back in shape," Link panted. "We're going to strike in just a few days, and I can barely complete one of my practice forms without breaking into a sweat."

"You should listen to her," said Sheik, stepping into the practice field. "If you hurt yourself again, we'll have to delay our attack. And you can't be tired for when we go after the Master Sword."

"But Vaati's there," Navi said. "So we won't have to worry about fighting anyone."

"Possibly," Sheik said, "but we shouldn't let our defenses down. Vaati may not be the only person defending the Master Sword. Ganon will do anything to prevent us from reaching the sword. He probably didn't have it as heavily guarded when Navi went there with Shadow Link. But now that one of his original Link foes is free, he'll may have made the guard much stronger. Vaati may be able to help, but I doubt he can do everything for us. He is already risking a great deal by acting the double agent."

"Midna says that she'll come with me too," Link said.

"Nabeen wants to come. And I will be accompanying you as well," Sheik said.

"Me too!" Navi exclaimed.

Link smiled. "Thanks guys. I appreciate it."

"What about Nabeen though?" Navi asked. "Is it OK for her to come with us? I mean, we really don't know anything about her, and she has the Triforce of Power, same as Ganon. She may be as bad as him, and is just hiding it. Remember Ganon? When he first arrived in Hyrule, he was a trusted advisor of the king. And… and we trusted Shadow Link and he ran away with the Triforce of Courage. We still don't know why he did it…"

"Did anyone really trust him though?" Sheik asked.

Navi was silent.

"I trusted him enough to send him for help," Link said. "I… I did trust him."

"Probably more than the rest of us," Navi sighed.

"That may have been one of the reasons he ran away," Sheik offered.

"How's that?" Navi asked.

"It might make sense if my theory is correct," Link said slowly. "If he really did leave because he was afraid to turn back into a shadow."

"And if he didn't run to join Ganon," Navi muttered.

"If no one trusted him, he had no reason to believe that we'd let him stay around," Link continued. "He probably thought we'd turn him back into a shadow as soon as possible."

"Would you have?" Sheik asked. "Would you have taken the Triforce back and returned him to shadow form?"

"I… don't know," Link admitted. "I didn't really get a chance to think about it."

"Although you didn't deny the idea outright," Sheik pointed out.

"Are you saying we should trust Nabeen?" Navi asked.

"I'm saying you shouldn't be too quick to mistrust. Link, you should take a rest so you're not too tired when we leave tomorrow." Sheik turned and left the training field.

"See," Navi scolded, "you need to get your rest. Let's go get something to eat."

"All right, all right," Link said, sheathing his sword.

"I wonder if Malon will give us a bottle of Lonlon milk?"