Chapter 12: Further Snags

Dear Link:

I'm having some difficulty accepting that someone was crazy enough to steal the Master Sword, but apparently people can indeed be that crazy. I have heard of that thief; his full name is Hizza Rat, something the fool chose himself. As he was a showoff and charlatan, he would be the one daring enough to attempt that theft. He was infamous for stealing from the wealthy and mailing one piece back to the owner to brag about his exploits. He got captured by the Hylian knights and sentenced to life in prison, but committed suicide rather than serve out any sentence.

However, I am not aware of where he might have taken the Master Sword. We can't access the castle records, but I believe copies of such records are kept in some other towns. I'll ask around to see about getting a hold of them. But that could take some time. It might be quicker to rescue Zelda and get her to look into the matter. With the Triforce of Wisdom she has, it would be a simple matter to her.

But you are right in that going into Hyrule Castle would be reckless. I can offer more immediate help in that matter. Not long ago, I managed to make contact with the sleeper agent Velken who was left in the castle to keep an eye on Ganon and help out efforts like yours to get into the castle unnoticed. I can get a note to him to help clear a path for you, as well as send notice to other acquaintances who will be capable of creating a diversion to get Ganon's attention. Anyone can be provoked into acting without thinking with the right actions and I am sure I know the right ones to get Ganon to move. Obviously, we'll have to take great caution in this or people will end up dying. You'll have to move swiftly without any diversions to reach Zelda and get out with her without being caught.

I can even get this moving as soon as tomorrow morning if you're ready to go. Keep word of this low. The Seeker you saw the other day was mine, but Ganon is sure to have similar monsters who can alert him to any threats that are being planned out. The more people that know that you're going to make this rescue attempt, the more chances we have of getting caught doing this.

And be careful in doing this; I'd hate to see you hurt again.

From Gale, with love.

The sun wasn't even up, but Link was awake and reading back over this letter. While he had considered contacting Leonidas or Gregio on this matter, he had waited to hear back from Gale first. Which was good, since he was right in that keeping this quiet was best. He'd be going into Hyrule Castle today; he was just waiting on a signal to go ahead from Gale.

He had learned more about the thief Rat from people in the tavern last night. There were lots of tall tales and rumors about him even though he'd died around fifteen years ago. The one that was most well-known around Onduran was a time when Rat had spent about a month in the town pretending he was a potion seller trying to earn the funds to set up his own shop. Since he had been selling concoctions to help out the plants, he had done a lot of business around here. None of his potions were any good. By the time people realized it, he had somehow stolen a piece of underwear from every house in town and strung them all up in front of the inn one night. The townspeople laughed about it now, but they did say that everyone was furious at Rat for his audacity.

But as for where he would have taken the sword? He'd stayed here at the inn while in Onduran, but there was nowhere here that a sword like that could have been hidden from guests and staff. It still was looking like Zelda was the one most able to locate it.

The glow of the approaching sun was visible from his inn window when he got a note back from Gale. As promised, he'd gotten a distraction set up and Velken should be aware that he was coming. There was a side entrance into the castle town that would be unlocked now. From there, he could reach a path that castle servants used to get in and out if they were living in the town rather than the castle. It shouldn't be as heavily guarded as the main gates into the castle, although he had to be careful about a bridge that crossed over the moat. As long as he kept heading north inside the castle, he would to find the gatehouse into the prison tower.

And this all had to be done quickly, before Ganon was aware of the intrusion. Link had already made sure his gear was prepared, so he was ready to leave now that he had the note. He left the building in order to use the Song of Soaring to appear outside of the Castle Town. He could imagine the area of the suggested entrance; could he arrive there?

Yes he could; he found himself on the western side of the walled town by a short drawbridge. Link soon spotted some keese perching underneath the roof of the gatehouse, so he got rid of those quickly with his arrows. There didn't appear to be any monsters patrolling the drawbridge as he sprinted across. Although the door into town was shut, he was able to open it up and get inside. So far so good.

The town was eerie as he entered this way. There were no stray dogs or cats roaming the streets, no one doing early work to prepare for the day. Some of the doors were broken in, revealing abandoned homes and businesses. Was there anyone remaining in town? There were rumors that a group had stayed behind to fight back. Unfortunately, Link didn't have the time to search them out. He saw stalfos and other armored monsters patrolling the streets, especially the main plaza. The servant's path was in an alleyway, though, kept out of sight by design.

It was on that servants path that Link finally recognized a monster from the Gerudo Desert totem, the one that was a string of orbs and little more. The icy blue snake of magical orbs slithered around and made a bizarre twanging sound. Although he was there, it showed no reaction to his presence. Link was able to walk right by it without getting attacked. Could it send a message about him, though? When he attacked it, it fired shards of ice that didn't hurt that much. It was dispatched quickly and Link moved on his way.

When he came to the moat bridge, he stopped to observe the area. There were some angular monster crows perched in trees nearby, easily distinguished from real crows by being origami-like in form. Another magical orb snake, this one yellow and crackling, was pacing around the bridge. Nothing too challenging here. Link got out the trirang and took out the crows with it. It wasn't enough to take out the orb snake, but he could take care of that with his sword.

Link walked briskly across the cleared bridge, keeping alert in case something popped out of the moat. He spotted some movements in the water, but nothing got close enough to notice him. Ahead of him, the path continued to be narrow, blocked in by a grassy slope down into the moat. This would be a dangerous spot if more monsters were around. He hurried ahead to get to the door and get inside, where there might be better places to hide.

He didn't get there as a white wolfos emerged from the ground to stand in his way to the door. This wasn't a good place to fight close-quarters, but didn't they tend to circle around? The wolfos would end up in the moat doing that. Readying himself to use quick draw on it, Link kept approaching it with the knowledge that it'd try to run off to the side.

"Hiiiiiyoooo!" The shout was not enough time to warn him of a monster dropping down from somewhere overhead to strike at him from behind. His vision flickered as the armor under his hat wasn't enough to stop all of the force from that strike to his head.

Next thing he knew, he was on the ground and someone was walking on the narrow path beside him. "That was close," a man said, putting his hand over Link's face.

Then he wasn't aware of anything.

Zelda wasn't sure what she could do any more. Impa was gone, leaving her without her closest confidant and companion. While she'd tried to get out of the tower on her own, there was only one path down. If she ran into a monster that was more than a keese, her escape was over. And the keese often alerted others to the movements, so even they were inescapable. The visions the Triforce was giving her were getting darker; it was more visions of monsters spreading through every province that Hyrule claimed, warnings of the rebirth of evil dragons that would make things worse. Why didn't it give her the visions to stop all this in the first place?

For some reason, she could not get a letter sent to Link. But the blockade only covered him, so she could keep in contact with others. She saw that the leaders of Laverre and Taven were considering similar options, so she wrote them both to suggest working together. The snowy lands past the northern mountains were not a part of Hyrule, but they too were being attacked by Ganon's monsters. Wanting to have better relations with them in a potential future, Zelda wrote them to explain what was going on. She even contacted people that could act as sages, those with the power to seal away Ganon with her. They could start preparing themselves for that.

While she was getting a letter together to Leonidas to help him with the Zoras, a knock came to the tower door. That would either be Ganon or Velken; she got an image of the latter in mind. "Yes, you can come in," she called.

Velken opened the door and came in, shutting it behind him. "I've got your lunch," he said, going to set the tray on the table "But also some bad news. Link was captured just outside of the castle. He's across the hall from you now in the more secure cell."

"He's still alive, right?" she asked, wondering how it had come to this. Sometimes the Master Sword could fade in power; perhaps that had gotten in the way. "How is he?"

"He got a concussion in spite of having a head guard," Velken said. "I've done what I could, but I could use some extra healing magic to make sure he recovers well. I am allowed to bring you over for that if you can help."

Finally, there was something that her princess upbringing could be helpful in. Healing magic was something that fit the image for her parents. "Yes, that's fine, I can handle that."

While her cell was a house arrest with plenty of creature comforts, the other cell at the top of the tower was stark with bare necessities. A metal-framed bed was attached to the wall, giving him a place to lay down with just a small pillow under his head. His gear had already been taken from him, though they did take the time to bandage up his head. On a wall nearby, there were manacles on the wall, possibly for interrogation purposes.

"He didn't have the Master Sword with him," Velken said.

"He didn't? Then what was he doing coming here?"

He shrugged. "He did have a masterwork shield and an unusual trirang, among other good equipment. But just a mundane albeit excellent sword. Here, I have experiences with this kind of injury." He talked her through how to set the healing magic in to deal with it.

As she did, she got disjointed images from what Link had been doing. He walked along an almost unbearably hot hallway in a mine. He swam in an underwater tunnel with a one-armed Zora. After dispatching some monsters, he went back and spent a couple minutes reassuring his horse. That image came with a jarring pain, a loss he couldn't replace. He listened to a tale in a tavern, about a strange thief who'd taken underwear from a whole town. He set the medals into the walkway in front of the Master Sword's shrine and stepped away as the walkway fell into the ground.

And there was the place where the Master Sword was supposed to be, where it was not. "The Master Sword was stolen from the shrine," Zelda said.

"Really?" Velken asked in disbelief.

She nodded. "What kind of crazy fool would do that? It was divinely crafted; it's not going to work for just anyone who tries to pick it up. Maybe he came here to ask about it. Still, that's too reckless."

"Right, but we're not done yet," he said.

Zelda went back to finishing her part in healing Link up. He remained asleep, but she could feel his body settling back into a normal condition. Although, a head injury would have lingering effects even after magical healing. He shouldn't move far or do much for at least a month to make sure he was recovering.

Then she got another image from him, but one that felt different. He was following a man only a couple years older than himself up some narrow stairs in an inn. While Zelda couldn't get a good visual on the man, she got a strong sense of Link's feelings around him. He was someone he trusted and admired. This was his first love, powerful in being that. Perhaps too much so, a potential to cloud up his thoughts. At the same time, Link wanted to improve himself and this love was a strong motivation to do so.

She smiled some at that. "I think I got it. That's sweet, he's in love with a man named Gale. Seems like he tried to help Link get here, but whatever preparations they made went wrong." While it was tempting to write a letter to that man, she couldn't send one with so little information.

"Is that a relief that he won't be a rival to your Joachim?" Velken asked. Was he poking fun at her?

"A little," she admitted, standing back up. "Is there going to be a way to get us out of here when he's recovered enough to be fighting?"

"It'll be a lot easier with him," he said. "And easier for him to get out with us. We'll wait until he recovers."

"All right, I'll try to figure out what happened to the Master Sword in the meantime," Zelda said, following him back to her cell.

As she ate her lunch, she considered the trouble that could be. The Triforce had allowed her to locate the three medals, but gave no warning whatsoever that the Master Sword wouldn't even be there. Was it going to let her find the sword? Or any other problems that might come up? There was the chance that searching out the sword would help her figure out how to direct her visions better. She wanted to fill in the blank spots of her knowledge so that she could actually consider it all and make suggestions that wouldn't be undermined by unseen factors. That was what a wise leader should be doing, right? Sometimes she wanted to slap the Triforce in the face (or something like that) to get it to stop being so mysterious and selectively unhelpful.

Once she was done eating, she went to the writing desk so she could open up the window and think. She had to see what happened to the Master Sword. Thinking over how it felt to have the visions, Zelda closed her eyes and prayed. "Please, cooperate with me. This legend can't continue if Link can't find the Master Sword."

She got the mental equivalent of slipping and trying to find her footing. She saw a vision of a library where a man at the corner of her vision was also searching for that information. That… that was Link's beloved, Gale. So that person was trying to help too. But, she had an important role too. She wanted to be helpful. She wanted to see Hyrule to a time of peace and prosperity for many, not just a few.

The vision skipped back to when Link had stepped up into the shrine's interior and found the Master Sword missing. He had checked all around for clues, but the only pertinent ones were at the center of the room. When the sword should be, there was a deep hole cut into the stone floor. Dust from that theft was still spread across the floor. And in that dust, there was a shoe print that was smaller than Link's. That person was probably shorter and lighter than average; Link was tall and well toned.

While he hadn't noticed the shoe print and what it implied, he couldn't miss the message left behind from H. Rat. Hizza Rat was a notorious thief that had died when she was a young girl, but tales of his exploits were told fairly often. According to the message, his motive behind the theft was to prove his mastery. It was an honest, if vain, proclamation. But where had he taken the sword?

Zelda wanted to push backwards in time, to the theft of the sword. After a couple false starts that returned to Link at the shrine, she finally got to see Rat in the shrine. Hizza was indeed a small and slight figure; his brown hair and mustache were purposely messy and thick. He worked alone, using the holes in the walkways as molds to form fake metals to open up the shrine. He even managed to match the magical parts of the lock, which was impressive even if it was very wrong. Using the more visible potion scam and silly underwear prank for a cover, he took several long nights to remove the embedded sword.

Upon getting the sword into his fake merchant wagon, Hizza had a problem in that the mechanism to open up the walkway wasn't meant to be used so often. He managed to get the walkway back up to close the shrine, but the way he did it meant that it wasn't going to close again now that Link had used the real medals. Hizza left Onduran in the middle of the night and rode straight for a hideout. From his feelings, Zelda could tell it was a place where he stashed his most valued prizes. It was in a forest full of magic that he knew how to navigate and few others did: Trickster's Grotto.

She pushed time forward from the hideout to make sure. Other stashes of Hizza's thefts had been recovered, but not this one. The Master Sword and many other treasures were still in a hidden part of the grotto in the Taven province. Which was where Link was from. He knew how to navigate Trickster's Grotto but had not come across Hizza's treasure horde. He might have had the Master Sword from the start if he had.

That was resolved and they could retrieve the sword. However, it was going to have to wait. Link would not be in shape to be escaping for some time. Zelda decided to keep that information to herself, just in case someone else got silly ideas and tried to move the sword again. But she did write a letter to Joachim, to let him know that while something had gotten messed up, it should turn out well in time.

As she sent it off, she couldn't help but wish that she could get letters back even if only his letters did. Hearing directly from Joachim might make this time more bearable.

Gale… Gale… the name bothered Velken. It was a feeling that he should know someone by that name, but didn't. He shouldn't let it bother him, but his mind wouldn't let this go. He ended up thinking about it as he checked on Link over the days. Unfortunately, Ganon had ordered Link to be medicated so strongly that he was never alert enough to talk with.

While Velken was there one evening, he noticed an envelope, a pencil, and a half-written letter. Link was making an attempt to write Gale, but he couldn't stay awake long enough to finish. There was also a fully written letter there on the bench against the back wall. Not wanting to pry too much into a private exchange, Velken nudged the half-written letter aside to confirm that the other was written by Gale, at a time when Link had been imprisoned here.

That made no sense. Ganon was blocking letters others tried to send Zelda even if he let her send out those she'd written. How could Gale get a letter to Link in the same tower as her? Velken took a closer look at the enchantment on the envelope and realized that it was familiar to him. It had been cast by Ganon.

Curious, Velken slipped out of the tower once his duties to the prisoners were taken care of. Ganon was still in the library, now making preparations to conduct a magical ritual. He was busy with that and Velken was trained for shadowy endeavors. It was easy enough for him to be silently in the library checking some references while Ganon was distracted in his magic. Especially since Velken was interested in the public records; he could keep an eye on Ganon through the gaps in the shelves while being unnoticed and unheeded.

He searched a number of articles, reports, and data, looking for references to Ganon as the king of Sudai. There were plenty to be found. Now that he knew what to look for, Velken found an interesting pattern. In records older than a year ago, the name 'Ganon' didn't fit into the writings. A line with his name would be out of alignment; a handwritten paper would have the name uncharacteristically squashed into a shorter space. Records within the past fifteen months didn't have that problem. While 'Ganon' did not fit well, Velken could imagine 'Gale' fitting just fine.

That was it. Gale was the name he'd been given at birth. But to make a change of name so pervasive that it forced the new name into every written record of the person? That was magic beyond human scope as far as he understood. It clearly wasn't perfect considering how forced the name looked in these texts once he was aware of it. What could possibly do that?

And what did this mean for Link, in love with Gale who was Ganon? The idea bothered Velken greatly. He understood manipulation to be necessary in some cases. A great many of the tasks assigned to him were completed with manipulation to get what he wanted without others realizing it. But manipulating someone in love with no love in return crossed a line that made Velken sick. Ganon wasn't trusting him anymore either, only using him because he was still around. Once the hero and princess could get away, it might be time for him to leave as well.

Still, Velken knew better than to jump to conclusions. This wasn't fully explained. Fortunately, he was able to see when the magic envelope fluttered into the library to return to Ganon. Link must have managed to complete the letter, or at least think he had. Velken checked on the magic of the envelope as Ganon caught it, just in case. As it was the same as before, that was it. Ganon immediately put his work on hold to read the letter.

Velken got himself in a better position to observe. Ganon read through it with an impassive face, thinking. Once he had, he went right to composing a response. He didn't send it off immediately. Instead, he checked it over, frowned over something, scrapped the letter and rewrote it. That one he sent off. Was it worth it to try seeing what the scrapped letter said?

No, wait, he had a better option. The truth potion that had been used on Albertos was potent enough that they hadn't used all of it to make the former king speak the truth, especially with it being used in conjecture with alcohol. Ganon would not drink something alcoholic as he was too careful. But he might miss a drink with the truth potion in it until too late. Velken went to retrieve the potion's vial, then walked silently into the study room Ganon was using. Either of them would notice someone warping in close by. With careful timing, he got a few drops into the coffee Ganon had on hand.

Velken waited for fifteen minutes, then walked into the study. "My liege?"

Ganon immediately glared at him. "Of course it'd be you. I hope you're not trying to make me paranoid because that would be very dangerous to you."

In that, Velken could tell that the truth potion had taken effect and that Ganon was indeed concerned about him. But the hold was weak and this was not going to last long. "That wasn't my intent," he replied.

Ganon checked over the work he'd done, then headed out of the room. "I take it you want some truth out of me? Fine, I'll give it to you. What do you want to know?"

They were both aware of the truth potion; they were both aware that being aware meant some level of control was given back to the afflicted. Velken kept attentive to the usual signs to distinguish emotions and attempts to shift the truth about. "Your name used to be Gale, correct?"

"That's the most likely case," Ganon replied, turning to face him. He was not afraid to do so knowing that Velken had taught him about observation.

Nodding, Velken said, "You know, the usual baseline test. You're writing to Link under the name of Gale."

There was a flinch in his eyes. He felt shame at that being brought up? "That's correct."

"You know he's in love with you?"

"I got him to fall in love with me, yes." He was trying to shift back to being impassive.

"What for?"

Ganon didn't say anything for a few moments. He knew he couldn't hold back but he was trying. Was there something he was trying not to admit to himself going on here? "It's been a part of my plans for a long time. I know how the Hylian legends go. I've studied them. And with some records here, I've discovered how much work went into Albertos and Abigail's manipulations to get one going now. They had no shame, not even considering the chance that doing so would led to the end of them." And he stopped again.

"That doesn't answer my question," Velken prodded.

"Don't do that!" Ganon snapped, a powerful fury born from internal pain lashing out. He closed his eyes and forced himself to calm down as he explained, "Do you realize how much I have to restrict myself to make sure you keep living? I know what you're up to. I know you're here trying to spy on me for the others and do what you can to assist the two in the tower. If I let the destructive elements become fully aware of that, you will become nothing but a memory and a bloodstain. And if you go like that, I'll lose more control to them and things will get even worse."

That wasn't something Velken had thought of. But even as he started to feel some sympathy, he also felt drawn to drop it again. "The destructive elements?" he asked, hoping that explaining more would help calm Ganon back down.

"I have become the embodiment of evil," Ganon said. "That's the role decided for me. I am bound by its form. I..." his breath quickened and he asked, "Would you say my name again?"

"Ga..." Velken stopped himself, then changed what he was saying to, "Gale?"

That worked to calm him down finally. "You're affected by the forces too, you know. You're not an evil man, I know that. Because of that, it feels like something keeps trying to push you away. That would be better overall. Sooner or later, you'll end up dead trying to keep up with what you're doing. I did everything I could to drive you all away before I crossed that line, make sure you were taken care of no matter what the end results are. I know my role and I made all my plans based around it."

"So you decided to seduce Link?" Velken asked.

"Right, it makes things fall into place easier," Ganon said. "It has not gone entirely to plan, but so far it's been successful. That's it, he's someone else I'm using. It's what's expected of me. I can't get too attached to him or things will get more complicated." He bit his tongue, struggling against the truth potion again. "Before long, whatever of me was Gale will be gone entirely. I knew that and still went ahead with things. It will be worth it; it has been worth it."

The truth potion was fading fast. Seeing there wasn't much time, he made a decision just with a gut feeling. "But how do you feel about Link? Do you love him back?"

"What are you trying to do?" he asked.

"Find out something that could affect what I decide in the future," Velken told him plainly.

"I have to keep detached or things will get messy," Ganon said, surprisingly giving in to the truth potion. "I have to be capable of cutting him loose and letting his love turn to hate if that suits the situation. That has been in the plans all along as well." He stopped suddenly, then shook his head. "It seems you're out of time. Don't try this again or I might decide you're not worth keeping around for any reason."

"Very well, I apologize," Velken said, bowing to him.

"Now get back to your assignment and don't bother me," he said, waving him off and returning to his work.

What he got from that gave him more to consider in all this. The destructive elements… it sounded like Gale had managed to summon and fuse with the old Gerudo king Ganondorf, later known as the beast king Ganon. Perhaps Gale was a descendent, perhaps his natural Gerudo heritage was enough. That might account for the name-changing and complete change of personality. Gale was trying to manipulate everyone, even his ancestral spirit, in order to reach some goal. Claiming the Triforce was possibly it. Except that if Gale had studied the legends, he'd know that it would split apart again if claimed by someone with an evil heart. And he'd accepted becoming evil.

Perhaps the boy king had really been pushed too far by Albertos, making him willing to go this far for revenge or some other idea. He was even willing to seduce the hero, the person whose role would lean towards a good person with strong ideals. Gale and perhaps even Ganon could see the need to keep detached and rational. And he looked to be succeeding, willing to erase any form of individuality and goodness for what he wanted.

Velken was loyal to Gale. The old Gale, the one who had been a leader willing to sacrifice himself if it meant a better life for those who followed him. And that thought made Velken realize that that was exactly what was going on here. That was why Ganon made sure to warn him while he was under a truth potion's effects. He was doing what he could to make sure Velken survived this and could possibly have a better future when everything about this was said and done. However, it might be the last good thing he ever did.

There was Link to think about here. Velken didn't know much about him, but the letter indicated that one of his first thoughts on waking up in a prison cell had to be a desire to write to Gale and at least say that he was alive. Depending on how his feelings were, he might be completely blind to what was really going on. That kind of abuse was an unforgivable thing in Velken's mind. Gale had wronged Link from the very start and the chance to redeem the king was growing smaller the more time went on.

There was also Zelda to think about. Ganon wanted to kill her and that was a threat Velken could more easily work against. Link would need someone else to alert him to the truth. Velken could try, but he was naturally disinterested in romance and wouldn't know how to help. Who could help? Not Zelda, her feelings about Ganon would cause problems if she tried. But there had to be someone else that Link knew and trusted enough to listen to even on tough matters.

For now, he was best off taking care of those two and making sure they escaped alive.