Chapter XII – Meeting of Royalties
Ganondorf observed Link and the queen but did not involve himself in their conversation. He only listened half-heartily. Well, at least he got to know that she was called Zelda since Link always addressed her by the first name, indicating they truly were very close to each other.
He used the time to inspect his surroundings and by the look, it had to be Zelda's working office, consisting of a large desk which stood nearby the window, covered with documents and other papers and books. A smaller table with fruits and water stood in the middle on the crimson carpet while the walls were hidden behind bookshelves or pictures that probably portrayed the descended monarchs.
Even though the room itself showed to be well decorated, it was not as exaggeratedly furnished as the one of Azett. It fitted a royalty that was not only interested in herself but her subjects as well and avoided unnecessary splendor.
"I assume that you are Ganondorf, the former gladiator whom Aldar admitted to our courtyard." Cut out of his thoughts, Ganondorf looked down at the woman. He had not noticed that she had come towards him while Link stayed in the back. "I must apologize for my inappropriate behavior. It is impolite to not introduce myself first before. My name is Zelda, Queen of the Kingdom of Hyrule."
"Thanks. I've figured out that much by myself by now," answered Ganondorf bluntly after he had recovered from his bafflement. He certainly had not spent much thoughts on the way he responded. The disappointment still hit him hard, now that he knew the woman who caused the fuzzy feeling was the queen. He would never get a chance to figure out the meaning behind it as he probably would never meet her alone. Truly annoying and he did not put much effort into making a secret of his irritation.
His rude remark did not slip Link's ears. His once relaxed body got tense and his eyes a dangerous glare when he said sharply, "Ganondorf! I've told you to watch your tongue!" Link's view fell on Ganondorf's crossed arms before his chest. "And your behavior!"
Ganondorf grumbled and let his hands fall against his upper legs with a loud sound. He was not in any good mood and would rather just turn around to leave. Before Link could scold him again, Zelda touched Link on his shoulder and looked gently but determined at him.
"There is nothing improper in his words nor his demeanor. You know I appreciate and even prefer if my people behave the same in my presence as they do outside these walls," she explained in a smooth way. "You have told me about his defiant nature, yet I was the one who insisted to meet him despite it. I welcome this manner for it has become a rarity once the day arrived on which I had succeeded my father on his throne. I still wish my people would act less stiffly and artificially around me. There is no need in treating me extraordinary carefully, even though I am the queen." Zelda turned her head towards Ganondorf and a friendly smile appeared on her lips. "I would have been surprised to hear a man of his origin speak and even act in a different fashion than the one he showed to us."
"You mean because of his past as an arenafighter?" asked Link slightly confused.
A short irritation was visible on Zelda's face but it soon vanished. "Yes. Yes, this is of course the reason why." Her voice stumbled as if she meant another cause.
Ganondorf never spent any more time on her hesitation. It pleased him far more that, albeit Zelda spoke and behaved like a royalty, she had her own opinion and a very comfortable way she treated the people around her. Especially how she stepped in for him against Link despite she knew him barely a few minutes. It lightened his mood. He even had to grin and it was not the defiant one.
On that particular day, Ganondorf did not trade many words with Zelda. It did not bother him much. He did not even feel the need to give any naughty remarks when Link gave him another piercing glare because that one believed he talked or acted inappropriate again. For the first time in his life, he just enjoyed the presence of one person and did not care about his surroundings. Though he truly wished that Link would not be here and he would be alone with Zelda, but if he stayed with the army, this moment might come one day.
This meeting was only the first as Zelda asked Link to bring Ganondorf with him on other occasions as well. Though he did not know why she liked to see him more often, especially in comparison to other soldiers who served for years yet did not have this privilege, he never asked for the reasons. It was for his own benefit and he preferred to just enjoy her presence and the warm feeling she caused.
In the conversations with Zelda and Link, he also heard more about their relationship and how it began. Link's father was a member of the army of Hyrule but died in one of the thousand battles in the Great War. Link's mother, mortally wounded in one of the raids of the other folk involved in the war, the Gerudo, escaped into the nearby forest when he was less than a year old.
Link was found by its inhabitants, a folk of children known as the Kokiri. Normally they were shy and resided deep within the woods but they took Link under their care due to the behalf of their guardian and raised him.
Even though Link did not know at this point he was a Hylian, he always felt he did not belong to the Kokiri by blood. The years passed by in which he lived amongst them peacefully until one day a young girl got lost in the forest. To her luck, she was able to escape the curse that laid upon the Lost Woods.
The small village whose houses were carved into dead trees was safe from the curse and the Kokiri allowed Zelda to stay, but they could not help her to find the way back. They had never left the forest, it would equal their death. Link encouraged her to not give up and helped without hesitation to find her way back home.
Unfortunate, they always stumbled back into the village when they tried to find the path through the maze. Even though Zelda kept a straight face about her situation, Link felt that it nagged on her. They never spoke about it, he just stayed by her side to console her as well as he could.
Despite their unsuccessful efforts, Link befriended with Zelda. She told him that she was a princess and on the way back to the castle when she and her supervisor decided to camp for the night in the near of the forest. He had forbidden her to enter it, telling about the danger that lurked inside, yet her curiosity grew too strong, resulting in ignoring his warning. Even though she wanted to take just a short glimpse, she got lost in the maze as she entered.
The days passed by and it must have been about a week or two since Zelda got stuck in the Lost Woods when one Kokiri entered Link's house on a midday. He told them that they found a man who mumbled her name but lost his consciousness when he wandered around the forest for too long. To the surprise of all of them, the curse had not caught him by now and they brought him to the village.
Link had problems in following Zelda. She rushed to the house the Kokiri mentioned. Once they had entered, the eldest, albeit still a child himself but the most respected amongst them, sat by the side of a man lying on a bed. His eyes closed, he breathed heavily and his body was in an exhausted, even unkempt state. Injuries spread all over it as if he had strayed around in the wild for weeks.
Zelda recognized him and shook on his shoulders. He remained motionless. She crumbled before the bed, her hands still encompassing him when she sobbed, "I'm sorry I've ignored your warnings. But please. Please, do not leave me, Aldar!"
Link watched Zelda before he turned his view to the eldest, looking at him questioning about what had happened. And more importantly, what would happen to the man since the forest people distanced themselves from outsiders and especially from adults.
The eldest kept his straight face. "He has to wake up in the next hours. He can't stay here." His voice was pitiless when he first looked at the unconscious Aldar and then back at Link. "Not even until tomorrow. He must leave."
"But why?" interrupted Zelda with a pleading undertone, trying to hold her tears back. "Why is he not allowed to stay? He is an honorable man! He will not harm you!"
"It is not within my power to decide," answered the eldest, still pitiless. "The spirit of the forest has already called for him. If he does not leave soon, his soul will be lost and his remains doomed to haunt these woods for all eternity. He can be glad to be of the magical Hylian blood and to possess a brave heart, otherwise he would not have been able to wander around for days as he supposedly did. But the curse has affected him too much that even the air of our village cannot prevent it anymore if he stays."
The eldest stood up and walked past Link towards the entrance. He turned around one last time. "If he wakes up before dusk, tell him to leave. Immediately. He probably is able to find his way back to the outside but decided to stay for a reason. Otherwise, if he does not come back to us, you have to leave this house for he will follow the call of the forest's spirit and obliterate those staying in his way. At this point, he has lost all memories of you." He glared at Zelda before he left.
Zelda remained by Aldar's side the entire time. He did not move and just mumbled incomprehensible word fragments from time to time. Only her sobbing broke the silence while Link watched the outside, seeing how the sun neared the earth. Not much time left before the man's fate would be determined. For all eternity.
Aldar regained his consciousness. Zelda flung her arms around his neck, resulting in a painful moan from him. Though she told him instantly about the curse that awaited him, he did not seem to be bothered.
"You shouldn't worry about me. I know the nature of the Lost Woods, I've even tried to warn you but seeing the results, I failed miserably. But I had to come. It is my duty and I swore to protect you even at the cost of my life. It's a promise I gave to your father, His Majesty and by no means will I break it." Aldar's voice was weak and his face twisted with pain. "All that matters is that you are all right. What becomes of me is of no importance compared to you."
Zelda looked horrified at him but he smiled in response. "That didn't mean I have given up by now. In the end, I have to bring you home safely. But I'm afraid I don't have much time anymore." Aldar stood up though it was seemingly strenuous for him. "I neither like to rush you, Zelda, nor just leave without thanking my saviors but we have to go now. I'm not keen to becoming a part of this forest forever. Let us just hope that my marks are good enough to get us out of here alive."
Aldar intended to leave but Zelda insisted that Link should come with them. At first, Aldar refused her request since the forest people could not live outside their domain. Link spoke up for himself and followed them even though he held the Kokiri dear. Albeit they never spoke about it, he and they knew he did not belong to them and the day would come on which their paths would part.
What backed up his decision even more was that he found a very dear friend in Zelda even in such a short time. Aldar's courage left a deep impression within him. He had risked his life without hesitation to protect that of another one.
Link told Ganondorf, that despite his rank as the only survivor of once four Highgenerals after the end of the Great War and the responsibility that came along with it, Aldar acted as a mentor and taught him a lot in his rare free time. Once Link was at the appropriate age, he became an officer of the army because Aldar knew he would not be around forever and needed another person who would protect Zelda by any means necessary. One whom he and she herself trusted entirely.
About a month after Ganondorf had met Zelda personally, the time had arrived to go out for duty, together with Link and a handful of other soldiers of their division. After months of preparations, the informants of the army had finally spotted the position of a bandit gang's hideout. They were notorious for raiding the villages in the province around Kakariko, a village near Death Mountain.
The townsfolk complained that those bandits spread misery and even death upon them, kidnapping their family members and demanding ransom or robbed anything valuable while they set houses on fire. Even though some members got caught and were put to justice, their leader always escaped imprisonment. Not because he was extraordinary clever, according to the citizens he was more of the opposite, but because of his brute strength which was a tribute to his origin of the Moblin species. And once he was able to escape, he gathered new followers and all began anew.
Still early in the day Ganondorf rode behind Link in the company of three other soldiers on a rocky path leading up the mountain. Once they neared the location where the hideout was supposed to be after they forced their way through a forbidding environment, they descended from their horses to avoid unnecessary noises. One of the soldiers stayed by them while Ganondorf followed Link.
Once the path offered a turning, they lurked around the edge and Ganondorf could see a human sitting alongside with a Bulblin around a campfire, roasting some bacon and keeping an eye out for intruders. Once the man began to drink from a bottle in his hand, an arrow forced its way through the back of the monster. It felt forward and while the man stared shocked at his crony first, he stood up, intending to alarm the others.
Before he could shout one word, another arrow drilled through his shoulder and he only released a groan of pain. They had not chance to recover from the sudden attack as Link had ordered his two other men to leave their hideout to chain them and their mouth when he put back his bow.
"According to our information, we probably have to deal with a gang of eight to ten people, excluding their leader," said Link when the soldiers had finished their work. The two enemies, bound together, were only able to release some grumbles of annoyance and pain when they looked sinisterly at their captures.
"Due to the nature of caves, it's preferable if only two of us go inside. It's for once too easy to get spotted and otherwise, the fighting range is too restricted to battle properly with many people in the small corridors," explained Link. "You two wait here. Guard them. Ganondorf and I will go inside. If we don't return within the next three hours, go back to the nearby town Kakariko and get additional support from our other men that are stationed there."
"Yes, Lieutenant Link," responded the two knights accordingly.
"As if this would be even necessary. If the rest is as pathetically weak as those two, then we'll put them down in less than an hour." Ganondorf looked down at the two prisoners. It was their luck that they were not supposed to fight in the arena because in regard to how easily they were defeated, they would not have even survived one minute there. Which meant they were no challenge for him and the rest would not be either. Not at all.
Link released a sigh of annoyance. "Listen, Ganondorf. I have told you that this isn't about killing any enemy that crosses your way. You haven't signed in for fighting death battles out here. Which means, if your head isn't threatened or your opponent begs sincerely for mercy, you spare his life. Because we are knights, not gladiators. The court will decide over their fate, not me nor you."
Link glared fiercely at Ganondorf but he remained unimpressed. "Yes, yes, all right. If I'm in the right mood, I'll be nice to them. Maybe." Ganondorf put Link's order off with a wave of his hand when he already moved towards the cave. "Now let's go."
"Since when do you give the orders?" responded Link sharply but Ganondorf had already entered the cave, forcing Link to follow him. In the end, even though he hated the circumstances and reasons for which he had to fight, the blood of a gladiator, a warrior, still boiled in him. Fighting was always a part of his life and it had been far too long since he had a decent battle where he had no reason to hold back. He missed the sound of cracking skulls and crushing bones when the battlefield was bathed in the blood of the enemies and he prevailed victoriously over them.