Dearest Lord, King of Kings and Mightiest Emperor Ganondorf,
Your humble servant has undertaken the task so graciously apportioned to him, the interrogation and execution of your rebellious foes, and met with some success.
I have noted that the Resistance is well-hidden; such was the concern of my superiors, but I now have reason to believe that they are far weaker and more centralized than was previously considered, even in our most hopeful estimations.
Their local forces, however, are ingeniously deployed. They have formed 'houses', which are linked in succession to a central contact, the only one whom I believe has knowledge of their actual base. We have succeeded in destroying several houses; however their heads have been alerted prior to the arrival of your troops, and those who did not escape committed suicide.
The blame for this, I believe, lies chiefly on the shoulders of my superiors, whose names I am sure are known to you… thus is the purpose for my direct contact, sire. Burdensome as it may be, I believe I must speak with one competent enough to understand the need for… special measures against these rats.
I am sure you will have no difficulty finding me, and I patiently await your response. Until then I will continue as I have, happily spilling blood in the service of your grand new Empire.
My life is yours,
Humble Interrogator
"I want to see Link."
Malon was sitting cross-legged on a little stool, the edges of her blue-white skirt rippling over and nearly dragging against the dirt of her tiny cell.
The guard outside was hunched over a chair turned backwards, scanning the cheeky girl, his eyes moving a bit too far below her neckline.
"And I want my clothes back. I look ridiculous."
She did not look ridiculous, in fact, but rather beautiful, even covered in a month's wear from traveling in the frost and snow. The man outside her cell laughed openly. "Not so, little lady. Come on… you'd really prefer that, stinking, worn-out leather? That's a nice dress, you know. Plus, who knows what you've got in all those pockets? We've already found all your little knives."
She frowned. "All seven?"
"All fiv- wait, seven?"
The two were interrupted by the entrance of an armored man with the insignia of rank. He entered slowly, having to duck under the doorframe to enter. He grunted as he pushed through, wiping a bit of dirt out of his thinly-shaven brown hair. The guard immediately stood at attention.
"At ease. Release the girl, she's one of us."
"Sir."
The cell door swung open, and a nonplussed Malon stepped out.
"Miss, I'm Captain Enzo, and I ap-"
"Shut up. I've just been blindfolded, led into a cave, thrown in a cell, put in a dress, and ogled by an idiot in chainmail."
Enzo glanced down at the guard beside him, who made a noise like hrk, and stepped back, chain jingling.
The captain glared for a moment, then grimaced. "I apologize personally for your treatment, Miss. As for the secrecy, well, I believe you'll understand soon. Please, come with me."
She nodded, and walked forward towards Enzo, who turned and stepped through the door. On her way out she pretended to stumble and elbowed the guard in the stomach. He sunk into his chair with a groan.
"Oh, dear," She said unconvincingly, "I am just so clumsy in a dress."
She smirked until she made it out the door, and realized she wasn't just in the cliffs of the mountain, but the core.
The inside of the mountain blossomed, opening into a vast chamber in its center, a dozen stories tall, and the yawning void was supported by titanic columns, rough stone descending from the ceiling, wrapped with stairways and rock bridges extending out in spindles. They met with clifflike balconies around the edges of the core, where she stood now, all carved from the very same stone. The structure was almost impossible to believe, like a colonized egg, and creatures of all races could be seen traveling the ways, from a little market around the center column to what seemed like a pub built into the far wall. The mountain was a living, breathing city, a community, with lights from houses along the upper walls of the rock.
Malon gaped, anger melting into pure surprise.
"This… this is unreal! Where is this? What is this?"
The captain smiled wryly. "This, my dear, is Kokiri Village."
"Kokiri? How long has it been here?"
Malon followed the captain in a lull, astonished by the underground city. He led her down a stone ramp on to one of the long bridges towards the center column, and together they passed residents from every corner of Hyrule, of every color and race, species all- some humanoid, some not.
"Kokiri has existed for five years, give or take. The purges after Zant came into power left so many homeless, and the Resistance had just begun to organize. We were disordered, splintered across Hyrule, and when the Royal Army was finally cleansed of resistance…"
Enzo's eyes lost focus as he spoke, caught on something off in the distance, some dredged up memory that had hooked into his mind a long time ago. Malon sped up and put an arm on his shoulder.
"What? What happened then?"
He exhaled. "It was a massacre. The perfect storm; before, the entire country had been in chaos, partisans outnumbered the royalists, the army still had generals who refused to support Zant… we were winning. Then something happened, I don't know what. Someone straightened Zant out… or he found the right advisors. Whatever changed, it got the Royal Army's act together, smothered the internal strife, and before we knew it we weren't fighting brute squads, but legions. You don't remember any of this?"
Malon sighed. "I lived too far out in the country to grasp it, really. All I knew was that Zant won."
The captain nodded remorsefully, towering mass of the central column slowly approaching.
"That's for damn sure. After the first few real battles the Resistance was almost destroyed completely. I was there, leading one of the groups of exiles from Castletown… we went from crusaders to outlaws in a matter of days. I don't know how they did it. Still don't. Everything changed…"
They reached the tall set of double-doors leading to the central column, and two guards saluted the captain before opening them.
"At that point," he continued, as they proceeded into the lit corridor that encircled the inner column, "there really was no Resistance, to be honest. We were all on the run. And that's when the p… when he came along."
Malon was puzzled. "When who came along?"
"You're about to meet him. Come on."
She hurried after him. The corridor ramped upwards as it curved, leading the two higher and higher in the central column. Malon remembered something.
"Wait, I asked you about the village."
Captain Enzo chuckled. "You did, didn't you? In time. Here we are."
The corridor turned sharply, widened and finally opened entirely, revealing a sanctuary in the stone, a little grotto fashioned into a humble home. There was a makeshift stove in one corner, and a tub for bathing, and an uncommonly beautiful Hylian divider between the open air and what looked like a bed.
The desk in the farthest corner of the room was attended to by a man hard at work, scribbling something intricate on a sheet of parchment.
"Excuse me, sir."
The man continued writing as if completely disinterested. "Good evening, Enzo. Is this the girl?"
"It is, and she's quite interested in our little home here."
The seated man put the finishing touches on what Malon could now tell was some sort of design, and then stood and turned to face them.
He was young, much younger than she had expected, with a mess of blond hair cut so it only hung around the edges of his cheeks. His face was mostly obscured by a wrap of bandages, which descended down his neck and into his clothing.
His eyes softened at the sight of Malon, and beneath his bandages she could see the telltale motion of a smile.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Malon. Your father spoke the world of you."
He extended a hand, partially covered in bandages, with two fingers sticking delicately out.
"I am Sheik."
"Is he… Is he asleep?"
The two guards were precariously hunched over the pit they were supposed to be guarding, watching in sick wonder as their captive tossed and turned. They had expected him to go willingly, half-dead as he was when they found him, but as soon as they tried to apprehend the girl he swept their legs out from under them- and they were the lucky ones. Their lieutenant was still in the infirmary, swollen-faced and severely unconscious from the beating he'd received. It was only after the girl had screamed at him to stop that he let the lieutenant go, and begrudgingly walked alongside the convoy of soldiers to his cell in a pit.
No one had bothered tying him up, and as soon as he reached his prison he collapsed again. A healer had been summoned, who decided from a distance that he needed only rest, and so they tossed him a blanket.
He promptly wrapped himself up and fell asleep.
Some time later an entire patrol hurried in, ordering that the prisoner be released.
Their leader called out to the sleeping warrior, telling him that he was to be freed as long as he hurt no one, and that his 'woman' (in their words) was safe and waiting for him.
This woke him up, and he waited to be helped out of the pit, able to walk on his own but clearly fatigued. The men escorted him from a healthy distance, their leader ordering them to bring him to Sheik, but staying behind as they left the prison.
The two guards looked at each other. "Uhm, sir?"
His eyes were fixated on the door, even as it swung closed and the prisoner disappeared from view.
"Shut up. I hear he hates Lieutenants."
Elsewhere in the village, through shouts of drunken celebration, a hooded man sidled up to another, both perched on the wall of a pub.
"Rupee for your thoughts?"
The other man chewed his lip thoughtfully, smudgy brown hair obscuring his eyes.
"I donno nuthin."
His companion sighed.
"Blue rupee for your thoughts?"
The man snatched it from his palm eagerly, and grinned wide.
"He's the Hero of Time."
Dark here. Ah, two chapters in one day. That's not bad, huh?
I'm having an easier time than I had hoped moving the plot along. I think that might be something to consider, that by introducing too many side stories, one can stagnate the main plot. I think in the future I'll try to make chapters in this style, with brief interludes for subplots, but with the major focus on the main story.
We will see! And so more characters join the mix. Enzo, I fear, is the name of some other character in the expansive Zelda series. It's a coincidence this time, he's an entirely original (I hope!) creation. Sheik, on the other hand, is exactly who you think he is (unless you think he's someone he's not.)
And now our mysterious Interrogator has a name! Well, kind of. Yes, Malon elbowed the guard through his chainmail. Talk about a BAMF. I'm liking her more and more every chapter. I hope you do too.
I also hope my writing is starting to adapt to the story again. Cheers!