Chapter 13 - Brothers in Chains
Link rose to his feet as he watched the life in Rowan's eyes slowly flutter away with his passing breath. Out of respect for his fallen, wayward brethren, Link gently closed the eyelids over the man's unseeing eyes, so as to terminate his body from the world once and for all and to let his soul rest in peace for all of eternity in the world beyond this one.
Killing was not something that he was fond of, but in times such as these, it is kill or get killed. Perhaps it was a gift or perhaps it was a curse, but the fact of the matter remains that Link's skill with a blade is second to no man. And all the hope of Hyrule in during these dark times lied in that skill, that power. In Link. Seared into the Master Sword now was the stain of another lost soul. The purest of all swords becomes tainted with the passing of each of Link's foes, yet it will forever more remain as the Sword of Evil's Bane, the Master Sword.
Link turned his back on his fallen enemy and instead tried to focus on the matter at hand. He swiftly crossed the field in front of his house to where the man in the black cloak still lay on the ground. At this point, Link got his first good look at the man's face and was not much surprised by what he saw.
The man had short, jet black hair that was sleek and unkempt, close to how Link envisioned him. He had an innocent-looking goatee that hardly covered his chin, black in color as well. His eyes were bright green and they stared up at the Hero with a look of pleading.
"Thank…" The man gasped with a mighty struggle. "You…"
The point at which he got stabbed on his right shoulder was noticeably damp with blood; even in his black cloak, Link could see the stain clearly. His face was growing paler by the moment as he continued to lose more and more blood.
"I didn't do it for you." Link said with a frown. "And now I think it is your turn to prove your loyalty once and for all. No more lies, no more assumptions. Give me your word now or I will leave you here to die."
"I…will explain everything." The man gasped. "Help me…into your house…there, I will tell you everything…everything that you want to know…and more."
Link truthfully believed that if he didn't act soon, his threat would become very real. The man's voice was frail and shaky, and his eyes fazed into and out of focus.
After a moment's hesitation, Link grudgingly held his hand down to the fallen man and offered him a hand up. "Keep some pressure of that wound." Link said softly as the man graciously accepted Link's hand and struggled to his feet. "Once we get inside, I'll do my best to stifle the blood flow. I'm afraid that's all I can do for you now. You'll have to hold on until we can get to the city where you can get proper healing."
"I will make it, Hero." The man gasped. Link allowed the man to sling an arm around his shoulder so that he could better stabilize himself as he made an effort to walk. "I am just weak…is all."
When the two had reached the ladder in front of Link's house, Link allowed the man to struggle up a few rungs himself, and then he bent down and grabbed one of the man's legs and propelled him up to the top of the plateau. He gasped mightily and it took great effort, but the man was able to pull himself up the last few feet of the ledge.
Link climbed up after him and helped the man to his front door. There, he knocked lightly on the door and said, "Colin? It's me, Link, open up."
As Link had been expecting, the door flung open almost immediately. Colin seemed nervous on the point of jittering, but his face lit up as soon as he saw Link's face. He didn't say anything but he stepped aside and allowed Link and the man pass into the house.
It did not take long for Link to find Midna. Colin had laid her down on the couch before he began his watch in front of the front door. Link picked her up softly and offered the spot on the sofa to the man to lie down. He then laid Midna down on a nearby chair gently.
"I cannot thank you enough…Hero." The man gasped as he graciously took the offer.
"Don't talk." Link frowned. "And keep pressure on that wound."
"Colin." Link said to the young man who, up until this point, had been standing off to the side and silently observing. "Get me a bowl of water, please."
Colin nodded slowly and hurried off into Link's kitchen. His many excursions into Link's house had laid in him an innate knowledge of everything that Link's house had to offer. He could recite every little crevice in the house in a split second, so a trip to find a clay bowl in the kitchen and fill it up with water from the Ordona Spring was no tall order for Colin.
As Colin rushed off in the direction of the kitchen, Link turned his attention back to the man on the sofa. His face was just about as pale as it was earlier, no worse yet no better. He kept a hand over top of his wound, which looked painful for him, but doing so would help somewhat stifle the blood loss for the time being.
Link had many bandages and cloth wrappings that he had for wounds such as these, but before he even attempted to find any, he looked the man in the eyes and asked the question he had been dying to ask for a while.
"Who are you?"
"You know who I am." was all Link got in return.
Link frowned. He had found a small roll of cloth in one of his drawers, and he began to unravel it. As he kneeled over the man and pulled back his cloak to expose the wound, Link replied, "Am I to assume that you will give me a straight answer once I heal you?"
The man laughed lightly. "You and I…understand each other well."
Only after Link had positioned the man's cloak out of the way did Link finally get a good observation of the damage which had been done. The knife had plunged deep into the man's shoulder and it continued to bleed profusely even now, but it could have been much worse. Had the knife punctured his body any closer to the center of his chest and the man may very well have died on sight. It would still be a long road to recovery, but at least there was the opportunity to recover.
The next moment was spent in silence as Link wrapped the cloth around the man's chest so that the wound was completely covered. It did not take long; after a couple minutes, Link put down the cloth he still had remaining and tested the wrappings by tugging on it gently. After he reassured himself that the cloth was snug, Link stepped back, returned the man's cloak back to its original position, and put the cloth he had left on the floor. He then stared at the man intently, his eyes asking the question that he had posed earlier.
Either the man recognized the question in Link's eyes or he knew that Link would ask it again soon, for he then said with a cough, "My name is Aaron…I believe you already know my name."
Realization washed over Link like cold water. He could almost feel the anger rise to his cheeks as he replied with obvious bitterness, "So you're the father to the new prince of Hyrule."
"Please Link," The man said quietly. "Let me explain…"
"So, that mage, your employer…He is Ganondorf, is he not?"
The man hesitated for a moment before replying, "Yes. But you don't understand what it's like! I was his slave, I couldn't get away!"
"No." Link said softly. "I do know what it's like. You've come to the wrong man if you're looking for pity. I think it is you who doesn't understand the risk I would have to take to trust you."
"Give me a chance!" The man said emotionally. "Let me prove my worth to you, let me tell my story, just give me a chance!"
At that moment, the front door opened once more as Colin returned with the bowl of water. Colin walked over carefully and offered the water to Link. "Thank you, Colin." Link said graciously. Link then turned toward the man and his demeanor instantly turned cold again. He offered the water to the man, but as he was doing so, he said, "It better be good."
The man smiled exuberantly and replied, "Oh, it is, thank you, Hero."
Link frowned sat down in the only remaining vacant chair, ready to listen. Instinctively perhaps, Colin sat down on the floor right next to Link's chair.
The life in Aaron's eyes had long since returned. His was losing blood now at a much less severe rate and his face was gaining more color with each passing second. He was able to talk freely by now, without the many gasps and coughs that he was experiencing before.
"I guess it all begins with one simple fact, Hero." Aaron said quietly. "One simple fact about me that may change everything but a fact that you should know. The fact that Nate and I…well, we're brothers."
Link gasped audibly. Of everything that Link had been expecting to hear, this proclamation was definitely not one of them. "You…" Link huffed, short of breath. "You're what?"
"He's my younger brother." The man replied calmly. "We grew up a very far way away from here, in a distant kingdom to the south. We were recruited, if you can call it that, by Ganondorf there recently."
"But…" Link stuttered, still at a loss for words. "Huh?"
"Relax Hero." Aaron said quietly. "Let me just say right now that neither I nor my brother are against you."
"Against me?" Link replied hotly. "Well let me just remind you that just a couple of days ago, your brother, if I am to believe that story, turned his back on me and ran off with Ganondorf. Nate most certainly is against me, don't even try to tell me otherwise. As for you, I don't know, but if you are anything like your 'brother' then it would be a pretty safe bet to say that you aren't on my side either."
"We were collected by Ganondorf." Aaron replied coolly. "We did not have much of a choice other than to do what he said. We knew nothing of this kingdom, absolutely nothing, so at first we were able to execute our orders without much moral distress. Remember, it was not until a few months ago that we even knew that this land existed."
"And yet, here we are." Link said with a frown. "I don't know whether to call you a liar or call you a fool. After all I have been through with Nate, after he all but ruined my life, how the hell can you expect me to open my arms to his blood relations?"
"How about I tell you the rest of the story?" Aaron said gently. "If you still don't believe me then, fine; I will leave you in peace, and I won't turn on you like you suspect I will."
"Go on, then." Link replied rather harshly.
"We were just normal people, Nate and I, up until about a few months ago." Aaron started. "Just normal brothers. I am older than him by three years, a fact that I never forgot to remind him. We lived in a small farmhouse far away from any city, much like what you have here. The only difference is that we were the only family that worked on the farm. Just us brothers and our father. I never really knew my mother, she died giving birth to Nate when I was three."
"But that was when Ganondorf entered the picture." Aaron said grimly. "When he showed up on our farm that day, father greeted him as a potential costumer. It's easy to look back now and say that was a bad move, but he was desperate. The farm was not doing well and we needed all the money we could get. Anyway, Ganondorf entered and promptly seized my father. He kidnapped him, and forced my brother and I to follow him. He led us to a hideout of his in some damp cave."
"What did he do to you?" Link asked quietly.
"Well, first, he had my father imprisoned somewhere." Aaron replied. "Little did I know then, but I would never see my father again. Ganondorf blackmailed us into becoming his apprentices. Our subservience is what kept our father alive, as he said. If we refused, he would have had my father killed. We did not have much choice. So, in the following months, Nate and I trained. Ganondorf had us practice in the arts of deception and manipulation."
He paused. "Had I known then what he was up to, I probably would have refused to comply, even with my father's life hanging in the balance. But all I knew was fear. After months of dawn-til-dusk labor, Ganondorf finally revealed portions of his plan. He never trusted us so he never gave us the entire picture, but he had assigned Nate to you, and he sent me to Zelda."
"Alright, well, I suppose that does explain a lot." Link replied grudgingly. "But what made you turn your back on him?"
"I discovered the truth about my father." Aaron replied simply. "He wasn't imprisoned any longer. He was dead. Ganondorf had him killed without the intention of Nate or me ever knowing."
"That's horrible." Link replied softly.
"I knew then that I had to get away." Aaron said. "With nothing hanging over my head any more, I had a chance. And my chance to escape came when Ganondorf decided to reveal his presence to you."
"How?" Link asked.
"I was to be stationed in Hyrule when Ganondorf made his dramatic return." Aaron replied. "He gave you that riddle knowing that you would decide to go to Ilia in Ordon instead of Zelda. And while you were going to Ordon, he ordered me to kill Princess' father, the King of Hyrule. He thought that would be most crippling to you and to the Kingdom."
"You were to kill…the King?" Link asked, dumbfounded. Ganondorf certainly knew what he was planning, Link felt crippled just thinking about it.
"I could never bring myself to do that." Aaron admitted softly. "No amount of blackmail could force me to kill him. But, anyway, that distraction allowed me enough time to get away from his clutches."
"But, then…" Link said slowly. "Nate, does he know? You know…about your father"
"No." Aaron said in reply. "Or, at least, I don't think so. And it is my guess that, if he did know, he would be willing to leave Ganondorf as well."
"But how can we tell him?" Link asked.
"Now, that's the question right there." Aaron replied with a sigh. "I'm guessing Ganondorf won't allow him to leave his side, not after what I've done."
Link stared at Aaron intently for a few moments. His story did explain a number of things but it still seemed quite far-fetched to believe. But there was something about him that seemed genuine, at least more genuine than Nate. It is easy to look back and point out the flaws, but it is much harder to look ahead and recognize the same flaws when they appear. And for Link, it was a difficult choice, but perhaps this man and his assistance were worth the risk.
With a soft sigh, Link rose to his feet and said slowly, "Can you walk? We have a long journey ahead of us."
Aaron rose into a sitting position of the sofa and tried moving his limbs. He was able to do so with ease, although he still seemed weak. "Yes, I'll be fine." He replied as he too got to his feet. "Does this mean we're good?"
"Yeah." Link replied after hesitating for a split-second. "Let's go."