Chapter 15: Remnants of a Child King

There was something different about Sudai Castle. A warm breeze blew through the halls, bringing in scents of mud, grass, and people. While that was a strong difference from Hyrule Castle, it took Link a walk through several of the halls to realize what was really different. The spaces could be just as grand, but it wasn't as luxurious. Rugs were fewer in number and there weren't protected treasures around for decoration. In this arched hall that was open to second floor balconies overhead, thee were only two tapestries, simple lamps, and a single large painting on the walls.

It was a barren feeling, like this place had once seen greatness that was now gone. It was only emphasized by how there were few people in the area he had wandered into. While the lunch had been good, he'd gotten uncomfortable again and left when others didn't notice. He really should work on that. But, not when the topic of discussion was about how to work against Ganon. That was too much right now.

In front of the lone painting, Link wondered how long it would stay up here. It was of the king and queen who had died years ago, Gale's parents. Gale too, as a very young prince in his mother's lap, hanging onto his father's hand for support. The king looked happy and proud; a black piano was just behind him and his poise had an elegant grace to it. On the other hand, the queen had a sheathed sword sitting on the floor by her feet. She was gentle with her child on her lap, but looked like she could defend her family at a moment's notice. Young Gale had a bright smile for his parents.

It was disappointing that a family like this was ruined to set up the current situation. They weren't the only family like that, though. While the storytellers he'd heard didn't focus on such matters, the families in a lot of these legends must have suffered through a lot of unnecessary hardship. Had his parents had any clue that this could happen or did it catch them by surprise too?

And what of Gale himself? A victim, a true villain of the situation… he knew so much that he could ruin Link without violence if he wanted. But Link knew things about Gale that no one else would want to accept out of Ganon. That is, if those weren't lies too. Not trusting him would be safer but would hurt him deeply if it was truth. Trusting him could make them both happy, unless it was all lies and Link ended up ruining all of Hyrule as the shadow said. But he wasn't sure if he could trust that shadow either.

As he rubbed his head trying to figure out some way to know, an old woman spoke up behind him. "My, aren't you the hero from Hyrule everyone's been talking about? What would you be doing here all by yourself?"

He looked over and saw that she carried a broom and wore a long gray dress. There was a cart near one of the doors now with rags, a mop, a bucket, and other cleaning supplies. Seeing that, he had a hunch that she might know something useful. "Sorry, I hope I'm not in the way. I'm just trying to figure something out."

"It ain't no trouble, I've worked around all kinds of folks," she said. "Mostly trying to keep out of their hair."

"Have you worked here a long time?" Link asked. "There's something that's bothered me, about your last king. I always thought something was off about the story they kept telling about the previous war between Hyrule and Sudai, then I heard that the people here loved him greatly for doing the best he could under bad circumstances. It doesn't fit with who he is now."

The maid listened, seemingly curious about what he had to say. "You think so? Well yes, I have worked here since I was about your age, maybe younger. And he was a caring person, although I do think he might've been the unluckiest boy there was. Actually, I don't really like calling him by the name he has now, it doesn't feel right. His old name just keeps slipping through like so many other things."

"It was Gale."

She brightened at that. "Oh yes, that sounds right." Smiling, she set the broom against the wall for the moment. "Hmm, funny you should be the one to know that. Though lots of funny things have been happening. Like how Gale said he was going to invade Hyrule to free us, but then we end up getting a new king from Hyrule, and he's so close to Princess Zelda that I only saw them together over lunch and I'm sure it won't be long until they get hitched. And you all are going to be trying to be taking back Hyrule, so in the end, things aren't going to change much. Though that is just how things are for folks who aren't much important in the grand scheme of the world."

"It's unfortunate that things don't change all that much overall," he said. Images came through his mind, of other ordinary people doing what they could to get by in the world.

"But you know, Gale sent me and the other castle staff a note a while ago," the maid said. "He said to take care of Joachim when he came. At the time, we didn't know what it meant. Then the guy shows up with the Falcon Ring and was able to gain the approval of the great falcon."

"Then he knew they'd taken the ring from him," Link said. And wanted the transferal of power to go smoothly when the fact that Joachim was a Hylian would make people suspicious. He was doing a lot of terrible things, but something in him cared enough to fix a problem before it started.

The maid nodded. "Right! Actually, we haven't mentioned it to Joachim yet, even though he's been good to us so far. I probably shouldn't mention it to you, but then, I've met a lot of folks in my years and I trust my instincts on you. You don't seem like someone who could deceive another easily."

He relaxed some on hearing that. "Thanks. It's just, I, I've spoken with Gale and if there is still good in him, I'd rather give him a chance at redemption if possible. But if not, I could end up in a lot of trouble. That's why I'm trying to figure him out, to find some chance for him to prove himself."

"If you could bring Gale's old self back, a lot of people here would be mighty grateful," she said. "It's been a slow change over a few years, though it really turned dark when he started planning out the Hyrule invasion. Some folks have been saying it's just the past year, but they only saw the strong face he put on out in public. He used to be an optimistic boy dreaming of a better future. But around about his sixteenth birthday, he started showing occasional fits of violent anger and more common bouts of depression."

"Did he hurt anybody back then?"

"Not on purpose and he'd apologize once he calmed down. I believed him in that he didn't want to hurt anybody. In fact, he started telling us to avoid him, saying that he didn't want to be disrupted but meaning that he didn't want us to be hurt if he lashed out again. About the only person who would visit him regularly in off-hours the past few years was Velken. But he's not much of a people person, whereas Gale is, and would be if he wasn't restraining himself."

"Did he have any other friends?" They could be useful to talk to as well.

Unfortunately, she shook her head. "Not really. Such a shame, and why I call him so unlucky. See, he tried having friends as a boy and sometimes even left the castle doing so. But the Hylian king kept a tight grip on him with the guard that supposedly was to keep order over here. That king would give ours tasks and restrictions that kept him away from any potential friends aside from those of us who worked under him. And even here, a few servants who weren't discreet enough got fired for being too friendly with royalty, so it was claimed. If you really want to give him a chance at being good again, just being his friend might be enough to start."

"It's rough, but I'm trying," Link said. "Actually, about this painting, did one of his parents play the piano? A song that's familiar to him could help."

"Could be," she agreed, looking at the painting too. "And yup, his father was actually pretty good at playing. He didn't practice as much as he could cause of the responsibilities of a ruler. Even so, he tried to play whenever he had a chance, at this piano in their family room. He had a favorite song he liked to play, it was," she scratched her neck, thinking. "What was it now? It went with that book young Gale liked, the one about the dream island."

That was familiar to Link, partly because of a tale of a dream island that was popular with the orphanage kids. "Koholint? Then you mean the Ballad of the Wind Fish?"

"Yes, that's the one. Wouldn't know how to play it myself, but I remember the tune."

"I should know it," he said, taking out his pan flute. After a moment's thought, the melody came from his dream memory. There were a lot of things the song made him think of, include a cheerful dreamer of a red-haired girl.

"That's the one," she said, smiling fondly. "That tune takes me back. You play very well."

"I hope it can help," he said, thinking through the notes again to keep it in mind. "Do you mind if I had a look around that room?"

"You I don't mind," she said. "Actually, don't be saying this to the others, but me and a few others were talking about shuffling some things like this painting away for safe-keeping now that Zelda's here. People say she's wise and all, but she seems too easily worked up about Ganon. We just want to keep a few things precious to Gale and his parents safe, in honor of their memories. So if you see some little thing you can keep safe too, go ahead and slip it away from their notice."

"Sure, thank you." Maybe there would be something that could be a good reminder to Gale in there.

"I hope you can help him out," the maid said, then told him where to find the room.

Link left her to her quiet task of taking the family portrait down. In the old family room, things were different. It was better furnished than the rest of the castle that he'd seen; everything in here must have had some meaning to remain in place. Along with the piano, there was a china hutch with an assortment of figurines and jewelry on display. A comfortable looking couch and some chairs were around a large fireplace while bookshelves made a mini-library in one corner. An unfamiliar board game was set up mid-play on a table. A note in a childish looking script asked for the game to be left alone.

There was a lot in here that painted an even lonelier picture. Leaving Gale alone could really crush him; Link felt bad for considering it. But what here could help out? There were some music books in the piano bench, but he didn't know how to read music. The pieces in the china hutch would be small enough to sneak out even without his depth bag, but he didn't know the meaning of them. Even here, he couldn't recall anything in particular that Gale had mentioned in the letters.

While scanning over the bookshelves, he noticed something: there were no children's books. For a family room, that seemed strange. Gale might have moved any out as he grew up. Maybe some more personal things would be in his old bedroom. Though, did he dare go in there? It made Link nervous and curious at the same time. But as nothing much stood out to him here, he decided to go looking. It would probably be near here.

There was a small sign on the wall indicating that the room of the previous king and queen were through a door from the family room. Back in the hall outside, he found another sign indicating where Gale's room was (although it had the name Ganon crammed onto it awkwardly). It was right across from the family room. Seeing no one else in the hall, Link checked the door. It turned out to be locked. But, he did have that magic key.

Inside, the room was unsettling and stark. He'd caught a glimpse of a nice bed in the other bedroom, but the one in here was simple and plain, much like his own back at the orphanage. Gale's bed had a cracked post, and a desk nearby bore a black scorch like an errant fireball had hit it. Since it had been locked, this room had some dust settling in. The bookshelf was in decent shape, with a collection of hefty tomes and political treatises.

And one small pastel yellow binding stuck out among the serious muted covers. Link pulled that out to find a familiar storybook. He remembered reading it himself, as well as hearing some of the older kids read to the younger set. Unconnected to traditional legends, it told the story of an unnamed child who had an adventure in the dreams of the Wind Fish, on the mythic island of Koholint. It made him smile because several other kids liked making up stories to go with it because none of them were satisfied with the ending. The child said they had to go back to the real world even though the dream world was more fun. While he'd never been able to speak up about it, he agreed with the others about wanting the child to stay.

To his surprise, he found that the disliked ending had been crossed out in this particular book. It was accompanied by a few small pieces of paper. The top one had a simple enough ending that Link was all too familiar with:

'I don't want to leave this place, Wren.'

'But what about your family? Won't they miss you?'

'I don't have a family any more. Nobody would miss me there.'

'But if you stay here, you got to turn into a seagull when the Wind Fish wakes up. Everybody does.'

'It's okay, that sounds fun too.' And he lived happily ever after with his best friend Wren on the wonderful island of Koholint.

That was much like a preferred ending of the kids he'd known. But why cross out 'the end' there? He'd kept this ending; maybe it continued on the others. Link carefully flipped it over to see the rest. While the handwriting was similar, it looked more refined.

While things seemed well, their adventures got more dangerous. The nightmares grew to be more than shadows and ruined the peaceful days on the island. They searched around for a solution to the problem. Wren noticed that her friend was changing, more withdrawn. But she thought it was part of the growing up that people who weren't dreams did.

One stormy day while they took shelter in an old house, he finally told her what he'd been hiding. "I ran away from the world because the blood of a demon flows in my heart. I thought I escaped it here, but the nightmares must be drawn to my power. I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen."

"I believe you," Wren said. "But what do we do now? Everybody's scared."

"There's nothing to be done," he said. "I've been tainted by Demise and eventually I won't be me anymore. There was never an escape for me. The only thing to do is to kill me before things get even worse."

She got upset and started crying. "Is that true? I love you; I don't want you to die."

"The fact that you still love me is a blessing," he said. "But yes, there's no other way. If you and everyone else here can be happy again on your peaceful home, it's fine with me."

Wren didn't like it, but wanting everyone else to be happy, she agreed and helped him to die. Before long, the nightmares scattered, weakened without him there to empower them. Wren never forgot about him. And then one evening, she didn't turn back into a dream and remained a seagull ever after, crying out a sad tone in his memory. The End.

That was an even worse ending than the original of leaving Koholint behind forever. But there was a part to it that gave Link chills. The blood of a demon, tainted by Demise… was that what was going on now? That went way back, to one of the oldest version of the legend (if not the oldest). While Gale being a descendant of Ganon had some uncertainty, it was certain that both were descendants of Demise spiritually. Just like he was a spiritual descendant of the hero of that legend, if the dreams he had were any proof. It could make sense of why Gale had outbursts of anger like the maid talked about.

While it didn't make what he should do any clearer, Link decided to keep hold of the book. It was no journal like the one he'd handed over to Zelda. The writing was still personal enough that he didn't want others to find it. Should he try to convince Gale that his second ending was no better than the original? There should be some other way.

There might not be much else in the bedroom, but Link went ahead and locked the door again when he left.

Link had slipped out quietly again. This time, Zelda was concerned about it. She needed to talk with him before he left, to stop him before he got more hurt. Looking back on this morning, she could see better what he'd been trying to say and to not say. He was certainly going to be in a mess of conflicted feelings with all that was going on. But he had to remain against Ganon or things would get worse.

She located him outside of the castle walls, speaking with a Gerudo woman who was watching over the horses kept for the castle guard. Unlike other times she'd seen him, Link was having no trouble talking with her. "The stallions of this breed are more aggressive, so it's impressive you've got him this well trained."

"He's still picky about who gets to ride him," the Gerudo woman said, starting to brush the mane of a large black horse. "Got a lot of pride, so you have to show confidence to even get this close to him. You must be quite a horseman yourself to get him to come to you."

"I took care of him one evening," he said. While he'd said that this kind of horse was aggressive, he got him to consent to being pet. Link didn't even seem to notice her approaching as he was more interested in the horse.

The woman noticed her, though. "Oh, hey there princess. Keep careful, you don't want to get close to some of these horses."

"What are you doing out here?" Link asked, staying near the black horse.

"I'll be mindful of them," Zelda said to the horse's caretaker. "Link, I wanted to talk with you again, if you don't mind."

"All right," he said. He patted the horse one last time, then walked over to leave the caretaker tending to the horse.

Not wanting them to be overheard, Zelda walked over towards a pine tree further out of the way. One of the castle knights was in sight, but she'd asked him to keep some distance so they had some privacy. "Will you be staying around here? They have good swordsmen here who could help you get back in shape."

"No, I want to get back to Taven today," he said.

"Do you have the means to do so?" While his new horse was well beyond others, she didn't think even that spirit could cross the distance by the end of today.

"I know a magic song to go anywhere I remember," Link said. He was tense again, keeping his eyes on the ground.

"Well don't push yourself too hard even with that," she said, watching him. She didn't want him to already be defensive when bringing this up. "Have you been out here helping her with the horses?"

He shrugged; it was clear that he didn't want to be here. Perhaps he had an idea of what she really wanted to talk about. "Maybe, just curious, mostly."

"You could stick around to do that until you're up to traveling again," she suggested. He shook his head. Well, this was going nowhere with opening him up. "Link… to be blunt, we've found out something troubling. The man you think of as Gale is actually Ganon."

He stopped where he was, not as out of the way as she had wanted. "What about it?" he said cautiously.

"He must be fooling you for some selfish purpose," she said. "I'm really worried about you in this as nothing good can come of that."

While Link tried to look at her, he couldn't do so for long. "But if there's a chance..." he bit his lip.

Was he really letting himself be fooled? He was supposed to be the one being called to be a hero, not a fool! Still, she had to keep cool in dealing with him; they should be working together to save Hyrule. "He's destroyed so many people with his plans, even his own people here. He unleashed those dragons and let all his monsters overwhelm everyone. What chance would a person like that have of being good? There's no excuse for it."

Link had his eyes closed now, still resistant. Was he listening?

She might need to call him out on foolishness. "You know about him, don't you? He's already betrayed you in what you've trusted him with, yet he's still fooling you into doing what he wants. He doesn't care about you one bit, I'm sure; you're going to end up much worse off if you keep listening to him. There's no saving a person like that. Why would you love him? He's a violent man and an evil king. You, you'll put yourself in danger just trying to talk with him like a normal person. And you're supposed to be a hero, you're supposed to hate him."

Even confronted with all that, he was silent.

Zelda trembled; she wasn't used to being so angry, especially at someone who should be an ally, a friend, or someone more. "Someone like that isn't going to be able to love someone else, only themselves."

"What do you know about that?!" Link snapped, finally looking at her with fury. "You clearly don't like your role in all this, but what about us? He's fated to die hated by everyone and you're fated to stay a princess admired by everyone. And I'm going to go through hell and still not get what I want if things go as they should. Don't force me into your views of what I should be doing if you don't like what you were forced into. If there's a chance that things can be different," he looked deeply pained and his voice got choked up, "I want things to be different."

This wasn't right; she actually felt scared of him. "You shouldn't be irrational," she said, her thoughts too frozen up to come up with anything else on the spot.

There was a tiny click and the phantom horse appeared there. "Neither should you," Link said, putting a foot in the stirrup. Moments later, he was gone.

The knight who'd been keeping an eye on them came over. "My lady?" he said in concern.

What was going on? This was all wrong, wrong enough to make her feel sick. "I-I need to speak with Joachim," she said, not sure what to do now. But something had to be done; they'd lost their hero.

The sea… Link pulled back on Balrog's reins and stopped him from continuing off the cliff. He'd reached the eastern boundary of this continent. While he wasn't sure where exactly he was, he didn't care where as long as he was away. He hate arguing with people; it always made him feel bad. Now that his anger had burned off in the ride, this one was making him feel worse. The whole thing was his fault and now Zelda wouldn't trust him. It would have been better if he'd just left as soon as he got out of lunch.

Zelda wouldn't give Gale a chance. Although, Link now had another thing to make this all more confusing. Gale had the respect of that black stallion, but he wasn't the one to train or care for it. Which made one of Link's original ideas about trusting him faulty even though he understood better why things had come to this. What feelings should he trust on this?

Whichever he chose, he wasn't getting any help from Zelda now. She could make life a lot harder for him too, as she had the authority and power to declare him a traitor. And the whole land would be hearing of that. But even with that obstacle, it was still his responsibility to take out the dragons and… do something about Gale and Ganon, possibly Demise too. He had Light Arrows and knew where the Master Sword was, so he was in a better position to do all that.

But did he want to? Looking out at the sea below him, he knew that there were other lands out there. Did he really have to be the hero? Sure, he'd gotten the medals that supposedly tested a person's qualifications as a hero. But did they really? They'd only given him flashbacks to previous heroes. He'd messed up badly too, getting captured for over a month and trusting the villain. Remembering some of that was a nightmare.

At the same time, remembering other parts filled him with a longing to go along with Gale and not care about anyone else. Link could take him out to see other lands. Let everyone else sort things out here; let them handle their own responsibility instead of relying on legends to absolve and save them. If he got him entirely away from the Triforce and the demon who coveted it, maybe he could turn Gale's luck around and help him be a better person.

What about the children, though? If he took off, he'd be leaving the kids at the orphanage behind. He'd told them that he'd make things better for them; they had believed that he could be a hero before anyone else. Link didn't know what to do about Gale, or Zelda for that matter. But he was certain he'd feel guilty for abandoning the kids. For them, he could take on the responsibility of a hero. He would take out the dragons at least, and figure out what to do about his other problems along the way.

He could write Zelda and try to better explain his position. Getting such a letter to her could be a problem, but he'd figure out something. For now, he glanced around at the land around him. He'd come out here blindly, but if there was a town… there, to the south, he spotted the piers of a small port town. Link wanted to get to Taven first to get the Master Sword. But knowing the location and name of another town in Sudai would give him somewhere to warp to other than the castle. He would have to return here to deal with the Rotting Dragon at some point.

She couldn't have spread word of him this quickly, so Link got Balrog to town to figure out which place this was. He had really handled that badly; his face got warm in shame. At the time, he had a hard time thinking about what he was saying. Her words stung so much, reminding him of the torment, sympathy, and passion all trying to overtake his heart. And to hear for certain that she saw no redeeming qualities to Gale, it made Link briefly hate her. Sure, she had her reasons for thinking so; she might even be right, was right on some points. But accepting that she was fully right meant fully accepting Gale's betrayal. Accepting that his sorrowful talk back at the tower was still an act meant to manipulate him without love or care… he shuddered trying to grasp that. No, no there had to be some truth to that. Gale used to be a good person and some of that had to remain even if he was being influenced by Demise.

A scent like bad eggs snapped him out of his thoughts. Link glanced around the street, feeling that something was wrong. As it was early afternoon, he could understand people being busy with work. But there still should have been some people around, doing work outside or going around doing errands. There were a number of small boats in the docks too; unless they just didn't fish in the middle of the day, there shouldn't be that many. He couldn't even hear any seagulls, dogs, or other animals that should have been around.

"Where is everyone?" he murmured, dismounting his horse as this could take a more careful search. The doors to nearby houses were shut, painted with a protective symbol in blood. When he glanced through the windows, he saw no one. There was a small open-air market by the docks, empty even of goods. And that sulfuric smell remained strong. Sulfur… was it the Sulfur Dragon?

He finally heard a voice when he was looking over a signpost at a crossroads. According to the sign, it was from the direction of a temple. That made him feel wary as a lot of old temples became dungeons full of monsters. As he approached it, though, it didn't seem like one of those temples. It was well kept and still active for worship, as an aquatic goddess had small offerings left at her statue outside. The building was large enough to serve as a community gathering place. From the multiple worried voices he was hearing now, that was what was going on to leave everywhere else empty.

The front doors had been left open, so Link walked right in. His entrance got immediate attention as people in the back heard his footsteps and a group up front saw him. Since he had his sword at his side and his quiver and his shield on his back, they might find him intimidating. None of them looked well, with pale faces and sluggish motions. "Excuse me, but are you being bothered by a dragon?" he asked.

"Yes, how did you know that?" one of the men up front asked.

"I've been looking to recapture them," Link said. "It's the Sulfur Dragon, right?"

"That does fit what we've seen," he said. Around the room, many looked hopeful. A few skeptical, but only a few. "It's stolen the life out of this town and has threatened to end all of us unless we sacrifice someone to it. We were trying to decide what to do here."

"Where is it?" This was something easier to figure out, likely easier to do as well.

There was a slight hesitation. But in their weakened state, they didn't have another option to avoid a sacrifice. "We were told to call it back to the town square northeast of here by ringing the temple bells. But what would you want out of us for taking care of it, stranger?"

"Nothing, just call it here," he said. Once a pair went over to the bell tower, he left to head towards the town square. It was simple enough to find once he walked past the temple, an open area that should give him some space for this battle. Link got out his bow and reminded himself of what Zelda had told him. He was looking for some seal marking that would be a weak point… and the light enchantment was his best shot at doing this…

After ten tolls, a massive dark yellow dragon swept down from the skies, looking to land in the square. Amber-toned smoke spilled out of its curling horns and broad wings, increasing the burning stench that filled the town. Its mouth was curled into a snarl; it flexed its muscular legs, ready to clobber him. And right on its belly, there was a chalky marking that stood out for being white and geometrical: seven circles clustered into a tight ring.

The only thing that would be more obvious as a target would be an out-of-place eye. The dragon was even keeping its position in the air, trying to threaten him. Keeping focused, Link fired an arrow at the center of the white marking. What followed was a sizzling explosion and a startled roar of pain as the dragon shattered into magical fragments. They surrounded Link with sulfur yellow light, made him cough from the heavy odor. Below his feet, the seven ringed seal appeared with a red glow.

On his right hand, his glove grew warm. It changed from a brown leather glove into black, with a silver decoration like the seal. Was that the Septdraco itself? Reflections of a strange blue light came off it, causing him to look around. This was not the same plaza in a port town; this was an entirely different realm.

"How did I get here?" he wondered, his quiet voice breaking the uncanny silence here.