Chapter 19

"Remind me again why I have to do this?" Aaron muttered under his breath as he stared at the mass of dirty dishes that lied in front of him.

"I told you, this is the only way I can afford to keep you in the castle without arousing the guards." Zelda replied coldly. "Or would you rather stay in a cell down in the dungeon?"

Aaron sighed deeply. He knew that some precautions were necessary, but it almost seemed to him the she was taking some sadistic pleasure in this. He supposed that he should be grateful, though. She was still talking to him, at least; and after what he put her through, he probably did deserve much worse than that.

So Aaron conceded and he took a step closer to the table and began collect the trash that had accumulated. He and Zelda were standing in a deserted dining room, where a massive breakfast buffet had just taken place. The royal delegates who had attended the meal had long since left the room, but the evidence of their presence still existed all around them. Dirty plates and cutlery, leftover food, used napkins and assorted trash covered almost every inch of the table, and now it was his job to clean it all up. Zelda had requested that he take up his old post as a servant to the throne, so this would be just the first of many menial labor jobs that he would have to do.

"As soon as you finish this, go down to the servant's quarters." Zelda said indifferently. "You remember where that is, right? I'm sure that somebody down there can find something else for you to do."

With that, Zelda turned around and exited room, leaving Aaron alone to his thoughts. He had no help on this chore, a fact that he could not help but feel slightly bitter about. There could have been ten servants here all cleaning up the table and it still would have taken quite a bit of time, but Zelda had placed just him here. There were literally hundreds of servants at Hyrule's disposal, and yet, he was forced to complete the job alone.

He had a large rolling cart, and he began loading as many plates and cutlery as he could onto it. He also had a trash can where he would toss the trash and dump the leftover food. Even before he had started loading the cart, it was obvious it would not be able to hold all of the dishes and cutlery on one trip. Indeed, after about ten minutes of loading and cleaning, the cart had been loaded to above capacity and the table wasn't even halfway cleared yet. With a slight sigh, Aaron began to wheel the cart out of the room. He took a turn down the nearby hallway where he knew the kitchen to be located, having been there often the last time he was a servant of Hyrule. The cart was overflowing with dirty dishes, so he took extra care to stabilize the cart. The hallway was relatively level, but even so, the slightest bump could have sent dozens of plates to the ground.

A little farther down the hall, he found himself at the doors to the kitchen. Once he wedged the cart inside, the real challenge began. The kitchen was huge and it was completely filled with servants and chefs, busy accomplishing their respective duties. Aaron had no idea what most of them were doing, but the end result meant that moving the cart around with bumping into anyone or anything would be very difficult.

After about ten solid minutes of careful rolling, Aaron finally made it to the area of the kitchen where he was trying to get to. The washing of the plates took place in one of the corners of the kitchens. Here, there were five servants, and each of them was washing plates with an old rag. They had a large tub of soapy water that they would occasionally dip their rags into, and when they were done cleaning a plate, they put it on a nearby counter. There were a couple drains in the floor beneath their feet where any dripping water would eventually go into.

There were already a couple of carts full of dirty plates lined up for these cleaners, so Aaron pushed his in right behind the others. A couple of empty carts were also stationed nearby, so Aaron next grabbed one of them and began to wheel it out the way he came. And once he made it back to the dining room, he started over again from square one.

Two more trips and about one hour later, Aaron had finally finished clearing the table. And not a moment too soon either. A couple other servants had begun filing into the room wheeling carts full of clean plates, evidently getting ready to set the table for lunch.

Aaron knew he probably should have starting helping them, but he did not. Nor did he head on down to the servant's quarters to get a new assignment. A servant's role was indeed pivotal in the well-being of a kingdom, but his mind was focused on something far more important.

He began to walk through the halls of the castle, heading towards the exit. He passed many guards along the way, but since he was wearing the standard servant uniform, he was not apprehended by any of them. A guard opened the main door to the castle grounds at his request, and with that, Aaron was in the Hyrule castle courtyard.

He had no idea where the castle's stables would be, but he knew that they had to be around here somewhere. He had given his word to Link that he would attempt to rescue Epona, and that word was something he was determined keep. However, he still did not know where they were keeping Epona. Zelda would probably know, but something told him that if he tried to even get close to her at this point, she would dismiss him and send him back to the servant's quarters. So, this was a task he would have to complete on his own.

A stable seemed like an obvious place to hold a captive horse. Dungeons aren't meant for horses, and it was doubtful that Epona could even fit in a cell. Stables may be only meant for the guards' horses, but there really wasn't any other place in the castle where Epona could be held effectively.

Aaron began to walk around the courtyard in search of the castle's stables. Whenever he felt a guard's suspicious eye on him, he would approach a nearby bed of flowers or a hedge and pretend to do some gardening until the guard looked away. There were many guards out and about so he had to do this quite often, significantly hindering his ability to search.

Soon, however, he spotted a building that looked promising. It was a small building that was built into the side of the exterior castle wall, and attached to it were several shaded stalls built to hold horses. If there was any lingering doubt that this might not be a stable, it vanished when he noticed that there were barrels of hay stacked out front.

He took a moment to make sure no one was watching him, and when he confirmed that there wasn't, he stealthily ran over to the building. Once he got close, he heard voices coming from inside the building, so he took extra care to be as silent as possible. There was a small wall between the building and the stall for the horses, and Aaron took advantage of this to hide himself from view from the people inside the building.

Upon checking the first couple of stalls, he was disappointed. Only a few of the stalls actually housed a horse, and of the horses that were there, none of them was Epona. He went from stall to stall, but she was not in any of the stalls that he checked. He found himself growing more and more discouraged as the number of stalls that he had not yet checked slowly decreased in number. But at the very last stall in the row, he found what he was looking for.

There was Epona, and she stared at him blankly as he approached. They had the door to her stall closed, but otherwise, there was nothing keeping her from getting out. Aaron began to look around as he contemplated how to get her out. There was only one way out of the courtyard and that was through the main gates. From there, they would have to go over the bridge and through Castle Town to reach the safety of Hyrule Fields.

This seemed like an insurmountable task. It was daytime, so the main gates would be open at present hour, but that hardly helped. The sheer number of guards patrolling the perimeter easily made up for that. It did give them a chance, however. If the gate was closed, there would be no way out of the courtyard. After passing through the gates, there was the matter of getting through Castle Town. It was the height of noon now, so surely the streets would be full of people. There would be no way to get through without arousing unwanted attention. Given these circumstances, it would be impossible to smuggle Epona out without getting detected. However, if he had her run the entire time, then perhaps they could breeze past the guards in the courtyard and barge through the crowds in the streets to reach freedom.

"Aaron." A mysterious voice said. "I've been expecting you."

Aaron froze at the sound of the voice. He glanced over his shoulder fearfully, thinking that a guard had found him, but he noticed that there was nobody there. And, that aside, none of the guards knew him by name. He almost began to think that he had imagined the voice entirely, since there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary any longer. But then, he saw something moving in the stall behind Epona. It was a figure hidden in shadows, but it was stepping forward and soon, it became visible under the sun.

"Nate…" Aaron said with a gasp.

"Surprised to see me, brother?" Nate said with a light smirk. He came to a stop, and they were now standing only a couple of feet away from each other and only separated by a flimsy waist-high door.

"What the hell?" Aaron gasped in a hushed tone. "What are you doing here?"

"How do you think Epona ended up here?" Nate said with a cynical smile.

Aaron stared at his brother blankly, thrown off by the strange, unexpected question.

"Come on, think." Nate urged when Aaron did not understand, at first, what he was getting at.

"You…" Aaron gasped as realization washed over him. "You are the reason that Epona is chained up. You tipped off the guards, you told them that Link was here!"

"Of course." Nate smirked. "You thought those dimwit guards would have realized that on their own? Please. They wouldn't have recognized him if he walked right in front of them with his name written on his forehead. Ignorant fools."

"Nate, stop this." Aaron said quietly. "Get out while you still can."

"There is no getting out, my brother." Nate said coldly. "Ganondorf shall consume this land. You either join him and be spared, or fight him and be destroyed."

"He won't spare you!" Aaron retaliated. "As soon as he has used you for all your worth, he will throw you out with the trash. To him, you are meaningless."

"You underestimate my Master's mercy." Nate replied. "He will reward those who help him accomplish his desires."

"Nate, father is dead." Aaron said sorrowfully. "Ganondorf killed him. He has nothing over your head anymore, so please, I ask you to reconsider."

"You have been misinformed." Nate said. "Father still lives."

"What?" Aaron exclaimed. "No, he doesn't, I watched him die. I watched as Ganondorf slit his throat!"

"You just don't understand." Nate replied mysteriously. "Father didn't die, my Master just made him stronger."

"What are you talking about?" Aaron asked.

"If you had remained loyal to our Master, you would already know what I am talking about." Nate said coldly. "But don't worry. I suspect that you will find out soon enough. My master has grown tired of waiting for the Hero to act. He has taken initiative into his own hands now. His vengeance will be quick and just. And I am sure that both you and the Hero will witness father's new power firsthand."

"What is this?" Aaron gasped. "Are you saying that Ganondorf is planning to attack? Now?"

"He wanted me to convince the idiotic guards to lock up the Hero's steed." Nate explained. "He thought that doing so would draw the Hero out and try to rescue his horse. And then, with one fell swoop, he would take out both the Hero and the princess. And then, he would burn Hyrule to the ground. Obviously, the Hero did not act as my Master thought that he would. But perhaps that is for the better. Two halves are weaker than a whole. I imagine that he is in the process of taking care of the Hero now, and then he will set his sights on the Castle after that."

Aaron frowned. Link was in serious trouble if Ganondorf was after him now. He had to be warned. "Please, Nate, I'll ask you one more time." Aaron said quietly. "Stop what you are doing. This isn't you. Please, I'm begging you, come join me."

"Begging is for the weak." Nate replied simply. With that, he brought two fingers to his lips and let out a deafening, high-pitched whistle. The resulting sound was so sharp that it seemed to just cut through the air like a sword. Its sound carried all the way across the grounds, and Aaron soon realized what Nate was trying to accomplish. The sound had alerted several of the nearby guards. They had now noticed that Aaron was standing in front of the confiscated horse, and they must have assumed (correctly) that he was trying to release it. Some of the guards were running away to alert other guards and the rest were now sprinting towards Aaron, attempting to apprehend him.

"Enjoy your time down in the dungeons." Nate said with a smirk. He then took several paces backwards so that he was fully engulfed by shadows again, effectively invisible to the unobservant eye.

Aaron quickly cursed under his breath. He didn't have much time, but there was still hope for Epona. He quickly began to fiddle with the door until it swung open, and when it did, he started urging her to run. "Go, Epona." He yelled. "Get out of here!"

In reality, Epona did not need to be urged out. As soon as the door was opened, she quickly galloped out. Several of the oncoming guards lunged at her as she dashed past, but they just bounced off of her and she kept on going. Aaron did not get a chance to see just how far she got, however, because he was soon tackled by a couple of the guards who had decided not to go after Epona.

"Stop right there!" One of the guards yelled unnecessarily, as they had already rendered him immobilized on the ground. Aaron did not resist as the guards forced him to his feet. He had three guards surrounding him, so it would only result in pain if he tried anything now. One guard held his hands behind his back and the other two stood on each side of him as they began to walk. "I'm sure that we can find a nice cell in the dungeon for scum like you."

But before they left, Aaron heard a strange laugh coming from Epona's supposedly-vacant stall.

"Wake up, dog."

Aaron felt someone slap him across the face and his eyes instantly opened. He tried to move his hands to grab his cheek in pain, but he soon realized that he was unable to do so. Both of his hands were chained to the wall above his head. He was in some kind of cell, evidently down in the dungeons. He was surrounded on three sides by a stone wall, and the fourth wall consisted of steel bars. The door through the steel bars was open, but that did not help him much, seeing as he was still chained to the wall.

With him in the cell were four other people. Two of them were common guards. There was also a scribe, carrying an official-looking piece of parchment. And the last one looked to be some kind of nobleman.

"Now that you are awake, we may proceed with your judgement." The nobleman said, and Aaron could only assume that he was a judge. "You have been charged with trespass, impersonation and attempted theft of official property to the throne. Due to the severity of these crimes, a formal trial with a jury of your peers will not be held. Your punishment will be handed down by single high-ranking judge, which will be me. Is this clear?"

Aaron nodded ever so slightly, but he did not know what he was agreeing to. In truth, he had not heard a word that the man had said. His head was still spinning from the blow he took earlier. He began trying to think how he had ended up in this cell but he simply could not remember. The last thing he could remember was releasing Epona, so he must have passed out some time after that.

"Hold this trial." Said a new voice.

Both Aaron and the judge turned at to look for the unexpected newcomer. There, standing just on the other side of the steel bars, was Princess Zelda.

"I will be taking control of this sentencing." She said sharply.

The judge looked at her in shock. "You…what?" He stuttered.

"Do you have a problem with this, Judge Eli?" Zelda said quietly.

"N-no, of course not, your Majesty." The man quickly replied. "It is certainly within your power to do so. But, forgive me, as I have never seen you exercise that power before."

"Very well, then." Zelda replied. "Criminal, for the crimes you have committed against Hyrule, I sentence you to seven days confined to this cell. You will also be forced to pay a fine equal to the value of the horse you attempted to steal."

"But, your Majesty," The judge said, seemingly flabbergasted. "Perhaps you are unaware, but the horse he was trying to steal was the captured steed that belonged to Link."

"I am well aware of this." Zelda replied indifferently.

"But, then, don't you think that your sentence is too lenient?" The judge asked carefully. "This crime is fairly serious, after all…"

"Are you questioning my decision, Judge Eli?" Zelda said sharply.

"N-no, your Majesty." The man replied hastily.

"Good." Zelda replied. "You may leave now."

The man gave Zelda a slight bow before quickly exiting the cell and vanishing out of sight. The scribe finishing scribbling something down on the piece of parchment before he, too, left the cell. With that, the two guards also left the cell, closing and locking the door behind them. They then resumed their posts in front of the cell.

"I would like a moment alone with the prisoner." Zelda said to one of the guards.

"Yes, your Majesty." The guard replied before he and the other guard also walked in the same direction that the judge and scribe had went. They quickly disappeared from sight and soon after, the sound of their footsteps also faded into silence.

"You are lucky." Zelda said quietly through the steel bars once the two of them were alone. "I did not think that I would be able to get you off so easily."

Aaron frowned but he said nothing. He did feel grateful, but to call his sentencing 'easy' was an understatement. He knew that he did not own enough rupees to pay off the fine, and a week in this godforsaken cell would be very depressing. His arms were already beginning to fell numb in the shackles, and he had only been chained for a few minutes.

"Did Epona make it away?" He asked.

"Yes." Zelda replied. "My guards say that she escaped into the southern fields and they gave up the chase from there."

Aaron nodded but he said nothing more. At least some good came out of this situation.

"What happened to your shoulder?" Zelda asked when Aaron failed to break the silence.

Aaron looked down and soon noticed that he was completely bare-chested. In fact, all that he was wearing was a ratty pair of shorts. The guards must have confiscated his clothes at some point when he was unconscious and replaced them with this prisoner uniform. Putting that matter aside, he glanced at his shoulder and knew what Zelda was referring to. The wound that he had sustained a few days previously, back at Link's house in Ordon, had still not healed completely. Indeed, Aaron had not paid much attention to it after Link had bandaged it up, so it was not healing very well. The skin around the wound was puffy and showed signs of infection. And the wound itself was still bright red in color.

"It's nothing." Aaron replied distractedly. "But look, I got something more important that I have to tell you."

"What is it?" Zelda asked.

"I fear that Link may be in grave danger." Aaron said quickly. "I think that Ganondorf may be after him as we speak."

"What?" Zelda asked. "How do you know this?"

Aaron bit his lip. He knew that if he told her the real reason he had come upon this information, she would think that he was crazy. "Look, just trust me." Aaron said after a moment or two. "You have to warn Link."

"I will see what I can do." Zelda said quietly, then she added with a frown, "But when you get out of here, you need to get that shoulder looked at."

Aaron smiled lightly and watched her leave down in the same direction that the others had gone in. It wasn't much, but knowing she still cared about him enough to bail him out of here might be enough to make the next few days at least bearable.