Chapter 14 - Journey into Ambiguity

Back on the road once more, Link had quite a bit to think about. His head got dizzy any time that he tried to think about everything at once, it was so bad. The line between the right decision and the wrong decision had long since been skewed into obscurity. With everything that has happened and is happening now, there was seemingly no way out; every path seemed to lead down into the abyss and there was no way to escape it. He knew that the void was rapidly enlarging and would soon envelope him if he did not act soon, but every possible action seemed to just take him further into the void.

Accepting Aaron as an acquaintance may have its consequences, but the risk was very much necessary in Link's mind. He may turn traitor as Nate had, but Link had decided immediately to not be so close to Aaron as he had with Nate; not become so attached. Perhaps he could milk out some information from Aaron himself, become the counter-spy, if indeed Aaron was a spy. And, if for nothing else, at least with Aaron at his side, Link actually felt like something was being accomplished.

Link, Aaron, Colin, and Epona with Midna strapped to her back ended up leaving Ordon immediately after Link had declared his trust to the desperate man. They readied themselves for a few grueling days of rapid travel, with the destination set for Hyrule Castle. Link urged them to travel quickly over a very significant portion of the day, for he wanted to cover the distance in two days. A momentous task considering that Link usually took around three days to make that trip solo, but time was at a premium now.

The trip would be hard, but it would be anything but boring. Link's house was still within range of sight when Link continued to shoot more questions at his new acquaintance.

"Well, you offered me useable information in exchange for your life." Link said matter-of-factly as the small group began to walk into Faron Woods. "I fulfilled my end of the bargain. Now, what secrets can you tell me of Ganondorf?"

"I can tell you much." Aaron replied softly. "I can tell you the tasks that he urged Nate and me to perform. I can tell you about his current location, although I highly doubt that information will be current anymore. I can tell you about his various plans and what he's accomplished since I met him. I can tell you what he's out to accomplish."

"Well, it would be best to start from the beginning." Link said quietly. "What was it that Ganondorf had you do?"

"Nate and I were each given a job by Ganondorf when he first snagged us. He did not give us much information when we first started, just what he wanted done. Nate's job was simple, and I'm sure you already know as much about it as I do."

"Make friends with me and then spit in my face." Link muttered quietly.

"Yes." Aaron replied softly. "That was the last day I saw him, the day he left to complete that mission. Any contact with either me or Ganondorf could ruin his cover so Nate was forced into the dark. That being said, Ganondorf always had men keeping an eye on him, making sure he didn't bail out on his duties."

"He had men spying on us while we were traveling together?" Link asked, slightly perplexed. "How did he manage that without me knowing?"

"Ganondorf can get the best spies in the kingdom." Aaron replied with a soft smile. "He could have spies on us right now and we wouldn't know."

That piece of information put Link slightly on edge. The resources that Ganondorf had at his disposal were vast and effective; they would have to find some way around them if they had any chance of bringing him down this time.

"Yeah, well, enough of that." Link said definitively. "You were sent to keep watch at the heart of the Hyrule Castle?"

"No." Aaron said with a soft sigh. "I was sent to create controversy. I was sent to father an unwed son of Hyrule."

"Are you saying that Ganondorf wanted you to do that?" Link asked, slightly surprised. "I thought that was your idea."

"No, those were Ganondorf's orders." Aaron replied. "He hoped that a pregnant Princess would cause people to question their loyalty to the throne. Which it would have, had you not intervened."

"When I took the blame." Link said.

"Yeah, Ganondorf was not at all pleased when he heard you had done that." Aaron replied. "Instead of breaking apart into small pieces, the citizens of Hyrule united together in their…well, I don't want to say hatred, but…"

"Hatred is a good word." Link said with a light smirk. "They united under their hatred of me."

Aaron frowned, but continued all the same. "Heroes come and go, but a Princess is and always will be a symbol of the kingdom. The people of Hyrule would gladly discard the name of a Hero to preserve the name of their leader."

"Even if it isn't true." Link said with a sigh.

"Especially if it isn't true." Aaron retorted with a smirk.

"Well, after you completed that task," Link said after a moment or two. "What did Ganondorf want you to do next?"

"At first, nothing." Aaron replied. "He had me do absolutely nothing for the next couple of days after I had returned to him from the castle. By this point, I was aware of my father's death, and I was determined to make an escape somehow. I couldn't at the time though, because Ganondorf, or one of his spies rather, always had his eye on me. The moment I made any move to escape, I'd be captured and probably killed. It wasn't until the day he returned that I made my escape, but even then, the spies managed to track me down."

"So, that man that I killed, was he…?

"Yes." Aaron nodded. "I could run but I could not hide. I knew that I did have much time to track you down. As soon as Nate returned to Ganondorf, the spy was on my case and was able to catch up to me by the time I found you."

Link took a moment to think in silence as the group passed the Faron Spring. Everything was starting to come together in his head, clearing out a number of foggy areas in his image of everything going on. Knowing is half the battle, as they say. Still, however enlightening all of this is, there are still many questions left unanswered.

Link continued to lead the group in near silence through the woods at a swift pace. His determination seemed to grow with each passing second, but his confidence was certainly wavering. In his last adventure against Ganondorf, he did not have to do much of the planning and the thinking. He was bossed around by Midna; he did not have to worry about anything other than the tasks she gave him. But only now that he had been thrust into Midna's role as well could he fully appreciate exactly how much she had done during their last adventure.

"Link?"

Link, who had been momentarily lost in thought, snapped his head to the voice and found Colin looking up at him expectantly.

"Will I see my mom and dad again?"

That question struck at Link's very soul, and he almost stopped in his tracks completely upon hearing those words uttered. Link did not stop, however, and kept walking as usual act as though he were unfazed by the question. Keeping Colin's morale high was important to Link, even if his own had reached an all-time low.

Among the hardest things to do in this world is to look a friend in the eyes and tell a lie. Link yearned to tell Colin that everything would be just fine, but even he knew that statement would be a lie. But it was the lie that Colin wanted to hear.

"Yes." Link replied with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. "I will rescue them and the others and we will all return to Ordon. Everything will return to the way it used to."

If Colin felt any better hearing that reply, he certainly didn't show it. He simply continued to walk and stare at his feet without giving any sort of reply.

Link sighed softly and continued to walk as well. After a relatively uneventful day of travel, the group had managed to make it to South Hyrule Field before the sun had set, a very impressive feat considering that Link usually couldn't get that far on foot when it was just him and Midna in his shadows.

While Aaron set up camp, Link searched the land and foraged for wood and any food that he could find. Firewood was abundant in this area so there were no problems there, but finding food would prove to be much more difficult. There was no animal life in sight beyond the bugs that persisted to annoy, and it would be a waste of time this late in the evening to try to catch some fish in the lake. In the end, Link resorted himself to grabbing many handfuls of the fruits in the area, mostly small berries and some apples, and passing them off as dinner. He could feel a couple disappointed eyes on his back as he encouraged the rest of the group to eat up, but they really had no other option at this point. They could eat to their stomach's content once they reached the city.

While Colin sat and slowly ate his meager dinner around the campfire, Link went over to help Aaron finish setting up the tent. He had nearly finished already by the time Link arrived, but with Link's help, they finished putting up the last couple posts quickly.

Link dusted his hands off together with a sense of finality after the last post had been raised and said to no one in particular, "That'll do."

"You know that there is no way that all of us can fit in this tent, right?" Aaron said quietly.

Link looked up at him with eyes full of thought. Yes, Link too had figured this much out, and had formulated a hasty plan. "I figured that I would let you and Colin take the tent. Midna, too, if there is still room, but you two first."

"Well, what about you?" Aaron frowned.

"I can stay outside and take watch or something." Before Aaron could get a chance to retort, Link added, "Relax, it's nothing I can't handle. I've pulled all-nighters before."

Aaron's frown grew larger. "Ganondorf has no idea where we are and nothing else is endangering us at the moment. Why do you need to keep watch?"

"I don't need to." Link replied immediately. "But that's the only productive thing I can think to do while you two sleep. I won't be able to sleep very well on the ground outside the tent, so trying to do that all night will probably make me more tired in the morning than I would be if I stay awake all night."

"You'll need to sleep at some point." Aaron said. "You won't be able to find Ganondorf in one go."

"It's only one night." Link said as he began to turn his back. "I'll be able to get plenty of sleep once we get to the city."

With that, Link walked away and took a spot at the campfire next to Colin and grabbed an apple. His stomach desperately growled for food and vehemently rejected his feeble offering of a single apple, but it would have to make due. Colin had made quite a big dent into the food Link had foraged, and Link had to make sure that Aaron got a share of it as well.

Colin was characteristically quiet as he stared into the depths on the flame before him; he was sitting on the ground with his arms wrapped around his knees under his chin. A few minutes after Link had sat down next to him, Colin said hoarsely, "Link, I want to go to bed."

"Sure thing." Link replied in between bites of the apple. "The tent is yours. Pick whichever side you want but be sure you leave some room. Aaron will be sleeping in there as well."

Colin nodded quietly as he got up and walked over to the tent. He opened a flap to the tent and walked inside, and not another noise was heard from him for the rest of the night.

Link took another bite from the apple as he turned back to face the flame. Aaron had made his way over to the campfire by now, and he sat down next to Link and grabbed an apple of his own to munch on.

"Well, seeing as we have a bit more free time now," Aaron started after a minute or so. "I am willing to answer any more questions you have, if you like."

Link purposefully took a final bite out of the apple and threw the inedible core into the flame. Well, of course, he still had plenty of questions that he wanted to ask. But there was one question, one single bit of knowledge which he yearned to learn more than anything else. "No, there is nothing more I have to ask about Ganondorf at the moment. But I must ask you this. Were you telling the truth about Midna, back in Ordon? Can you really save her?"

"Yes." Aaron replied sincerely. "Well, actually, no. I personally cannot save her, but I do know the curse that has befallen her and I know that there are cures out there for this curse. It'll be tricky though, she won't heal overnight. It will take a very powerful spell to free her from this state. We will need to recruit the services of a very capable mage."

Link chanced a glance at Midna. She lay dormant at the foot of the tent, giving no incantation of life apart from her shallow breathing. "What has he done to her?" Link said as he turned back to face Aaron.

"It is an ancient, powerful curse that Ganondorf laid on her. It goes by the name Eternal Slumber; and well, you can see the effects. She exists is some state of limbo. Her soul is trapped in another realm while her lifeless body stays behind. If left uncured, she will sleep for eternity. Never given the grace to live, never given the mercy to die."

"Is it painful?" Link asked after a moment of thought.

"I don't know, I have never received the curse." Aaron replied. "And I doubt that you will find any living survivor of the curse in this kingdom; or any nearby kingdoms either, for that matter. This is an ancient curse, a dead curse. Its use has fallen out of practice of aspiring mages. It may be possible that Ganondorf is the only one who can cast it in current times."

"You said that we need the help of a powerful mage." Link said slowly. "Would Princess Zelda be able to help us?"

"If she can't, then there is no one in this kingdom that can help us." Aaron replied. "Don't worry though. I am confident that she can help. Thankfully, producing the counter-curse is not quite as difficult as producing the curse itself."

"Why is that?" Link said with a frown. It did not seem as if an ancient, unknown curse should be able to have a readily-made remedy.

"Mages created all-encompassing remedial spells long ago to prevent the effects of a great deal of spells and curses with a single spell, and the original remedial spell helped to counter the Eternal Slumber curse, which was a popular choice among dark mages at the time. These remedial spells have been passed down from mage to mage and survived the test of time. Minor modifications have been made every once in a while, but those modifications served only to expand the curative powers of the spell and prevent against a new curse."

"So this spell is all we need to wake Midna?"

"Yes." Aaron nodded.

"Then why do we need such a powerful mage?" Link asked. "Surely even the novice mage knows this remedial spell?"

"I am afraid that it isn't quite so easy." Aaron said with a frown. "There is a direct link between the power of the mage and the power of the spell that he or she can cast. Ganondorf is a very powerful mage so he can cast a very powerful curse. Our only chance is to enlist the help of an equally powerful mage to break his curse. And it would not surprise me if Ganondorf added his own little twist to the Eternal Slumber curse as well."

"What does that mean?" Link frowned. "Does that mean that there is a chance that this cure won't work?"

"No." Aaron replied immediately. "Regardless of any modifications Ganondorf made, this curse is still an Eternal Slumber curse at heart, so the counter will work, I can guarantee you that. But…this is Ganondorf we are talking about. He went through the trouble of laying the curse; he will not let us break it so easily."

"What did you have in mind?" Link asked, perhaps a bit fearfully.

"I don't know, it could be any number of things." Aaron replied. "He could make it excruciatingly painful for Midna when she wakes up. He could plant a curse to possess and manipulate her to attack us when she wakes up. And, well…we have to consider the possibility that she will die when the curse is broken."

"What?" Link hissed. "You told me you could save her!"

"I'm sorry, Link." Aaron replied. "Truly, I am. I wish I could guarantee her return, but…but I just can't."

Link sighed and ran his hand lightly through his hair. "Care to tell me now of any other fudged details that you've given me?" He said after a moment.

"No, that's it." Aaron said sheepishly. "That was the only one." After a moment of awkward silence, he continued, "I'm sorry, Link. It's just, you asked me if I could save her, back in Ordon, and you asked me so fervently. I feared that if I told you that there is a possibility that she will die, then you would have left me to die."

Link sighed. "Yeah, I probably would have." He nodded with a slight grin.

"Look, the possibility is not great." Aaron said. "That is not Ganondorf's game, and I doubt he could even pull that one off if he wanted to. It would take a tremendous amount of power to pull off such a powerful combination of curses."

"Yeah, well, Ganondorf is a tremendously powerful man." Link replied with a frown.

Aaron frowned. "I'm sorry, Link, I should never have mentioned-"

"It's alright." Link interrupted. "I thank you for mentioning it. This is a very necessary piece of knowledge that you have given me, even if it is hard to take at the moment."

The two sat in silence for a couple minutes. The fire was starting to dim now and darkness had begun to completely envelope them. "Why don't you go get some sleep?" Link asked after another minute or two. "You'll be no use for me tomorrow if you are dead tired."

Aaron eyed Link suspiciously for a moment before getting to his feet. "Are you sure you'll be alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Link replied with a frown. "Get in that tent already."