Chapter XXII - Forbidden Path
The wind blew the rain into Ganondorf's face, hidden under a hood, while clouds coated the stars and the moon was no greater than a crescent. There could not have been any better weather condition for him as it caused the streets of Hyrule Castle Town to be empty. Only patrolling soldiers roamed around, but he avoided them by taking the alleys.
Since they seized his sword and armor and it would have caused a scene if he tried to get them back or broke into one of the armories, he only carried around bread and a canteen as well as a dagger, all swiped from the dining hall this evening. Besides his clothing and a black cloak which kept him warm, he left all his other belongings behind. Even his stallion as he could not figure out how to take him from the stables without raising the suspicion of those responsible for its care. Getting it would only be worth the trouble if he had to escape at high speed with a whole company hunting him.
When Ganondorf walked through the side roads, he did not notice where he went until he crossed the path of a familiar building. At first, he did not pay much attention and moved on until he remembered those magnificent sounds of the organ, powerful on their very own. He stopped when he looked back to the cathedral and rummaged in his trouser pocket to look if he carried the key with him.
His view switched between the ancient walls and the found key, knowing that he should just go on. Though once he left the capital, he would and especially could not return in the near future, if ever. It was unknown if he would find an organ which delivered such an acoustic might ever again.
The night being young, it would not ruin his plans if he stayed a few more minutes, maybe even half an hour, longer. Only once he crossed the borders he would antagonize Aldar and his knights, but inside he was free to go where he wanted to.
Ganondorf opened the door, followed the path through the benches, up the stairs towards the only instrument which ever caught his fascination. Unfortunately, he could not use his left arm as well as he would have wished to, but he played that one melody, the sinister and cheerless one with the urgency of doom drawing near. How well it fit his mood.
The last sound faded away when Ganondorf stared at the keys. From his feeling, more time must have passed then he first intended to spend here, but the music carried him and his thoughts away, making him regret nothing. Because that felt good, so good after all what happened.
Ganondorf intended to go as the dark hours fitted his departure the best when a voice reached his ears. "That melody reminds me of a tale telling about a dark king awaiting the advent of the hero to declare the fate over the kingdom's future." Alarmed, he turned around, his hand sliding down to the dagger fixed on his belt. "Yet if this battle of destiny ended well or in a tragedy depended on the teller and either lead the country to prosperity or drowned it in a living hell."
At first he gazed speechless at the woman, dressed aristocratically and wearing her long hair open. After his bafflement vanished he stumbled, "You? What are you doing here?"
Zelda looked calmly at Ganondorf since they shared about the same height when he sat down. "This evening, a friend of mine visited and revealed his fears to me. His fears of another friend perpetrating insane deeds and his own inability from discouraging him to commit them. I decided to come here to pray for his safety, yet after I had entered this sanctuary, I decide to solely listen to the melody."
Ganondorf released a grumble when he stood up. "Well, have fun with that. I've finished anyway." Without looking, he walked past her. Although he noticed the warm feeling raising inside once again, his mind was made up. There was no return. He would leave, tonight.
"That friend I have mentioned, he was concerned about you, Ganondorf."
"What?" In an instant, he stopped, turning around. Zelda stood with her back towards him. "Are you mocking me? I tell you, even for you that's not a good idea!"
She showed no intimidation or irritation in her voice when she answered, "Let me reassure you, I am not amusing myself at your expense. It is a behavior I do not appreciate whether it is you or any other person."
"Whatever." Ganondorf turned his view away. He felt how his old desires woke up and he did not want them to hinder his plan. "I'm off."
"Do you assume it is a wise decision to tell your own sovereign your intentions about leaving when you are not allowed to step outside the walls protecting us?" Her intonation did not carry a demand or menace and she neither made a movement to stop him.
"And your point?" The best would have been to just be quiet and leave, but despite all the things that happened, she still caused that impression on him. He grinned dismissively when he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I doubt that you can stop me, all alone."
Despite his exception that Zelda would only show him her cold shoulder, she sounded soft when she responded, "There is no way I can convince you to stay?"
Ganondorf tried to understand her reasoning, but he had to give it up. It went beyond his comprehension. He lowered his arms. "Why would you want that?" Suspiciously, he eyed her before he stated self-confidently, "Anyway, there's nothing that keeps me. And if the consequence is that those plate cans called knights claim me to be a deserter, outlaw or whatever, I could care less. I suffered worse, but I don't expect you to understand."
He believed her to ignore him or getting angered by his words, but she just turned around. It felt weird once their eyes met, reminding him of that one night where only the wind broke the silence while they stared speechless at each other. He did not wish to relive that night once again.
Wordless, Ganondorf took his gaze off and walked towards the stairs. He heard her soft voice from behind. "Would you mind to stay at least for a few more minutes?"
He forced his nails into his palm to remain calm and go on, fighting his inner desire to stay with her. He did not look back when he sneered. "So that you can call for your knightly drudges to come and stop that evil gladiator? As if!" He headed down the stairs.
"It saddens me to see you are consumed by a rage this destructive. Yet I do believe that even the fiercest storm can be tamed by the calm breeze."
Ganondorf went on without answering, otherwise Zelda would disturb his feelings once more, making him become a shadow of his former self and crushing his plans. She showed that very well to him the last time.
He walked the way back to the entrance, yet his footsteps echoing from the walls were overshadowed by another melody. A lighthearted and calming one. It slowed him down, he even grinned pleased, though once he noticed the effect, he shook his head and marched towards the door, encompassing its handle.
Ganondorf did not go any further. He did not even push the handle down. He ended up in just gazing at the ornaments engraved in the door and listening to that melody. Lighthearted. Calming. Even charming. He grinned forlornly when he braced his head against the door. Frightening to see what a single woman, and only this one, was able to do to him.
The last sound faded away in the gigantic hall. Ganondorf had returned, looking over Zelda's shoulder and watching how she matched the keys. A lot more elegant and accurate than him, composing a melody he could only envy due to its beauty. "You're playing well."
Zelda put her hands on her lap. "Thank you. My mother often played that lullaby when I could not sleep. It never failed to calm my heart." She looked up to him with a friendly smile on her lips. "And thank you for staying, Ganondorf."
He despised that he had succumbed to his one strange feeling, but it possessed a strength which overpowered a lot if not all of his other desires. He still hesitated in believing that the one woman who denied to see him for weeks sat right in front of him, even asking him to stay.
"You love the timbres of the organ, am I right? I have to admit I prefer instruments of smaller size, yet I cannot deny the fascination of the great ones. If you wish, I can try to coax another melody out of it."
Nervously, Ganondorf fiddled around on his cloak, as with Zelda's arrival, he had overstayed his visit at the cathedral by far. Even though his inner self screamed to stay, he still had to escape the town at night. Tonight. Once he noticed how she offered him a seat next to her, he succumbed, regardless of how insane it was to stay after all that had happened between him and her. As well as his current status at the army.
As he sat down, Zelda pulled his hood off. "Heh!" he burst out, reflexively grabbing for it.
"There is no need to hide your fiery hair. It suits you very well." His annoyance flew away when he looked at her gentle face, carrying a smile. He just began to enjoy the melodies she created, making him forget many concerns plaguing his mind and letting him only care for the here and now.
"Ganondorf?" After Zelda had ended playing another song she called the 'Song of Time', she turned around to him, but he gazed in enjoyment at the pipes. "Ganondorf?" Brought back to his senses, he turned to her with a surprised grumble. "It might be coming without caution, yet there is a matter concerning me ever since you have returned and Link had told me about the mission at the Shadow Temple. May I ask you about that matter?"
Although he had no idea what could interest her what Link had not told, he responded, "Sure."
For a short moment, he believed her kindness to have changed to dread. "Is it true that the former priest Naotz had called you the 'King of Darkness'?"
Ganondorf raised an eyebrow, but put her concern off with a wave of his hand. "This lunatic called me many things. Not sure if it was exactly that, but guess there was something along that line."
"You do not have trust in his words?"
"What's that for a question? If I were a king, no matter what kind, I wouldn't have struggled more than thirteen years in death battles or been consider a property." His first suspicion about her question changed for anger. "Besides, this moron is a madman who cries over his lost love, this Shadow God thing. He is unable to say anything worth to save his life and should have been killed." He gritted his teeth and balled his fists by the mere thought of Link letting Naotz stay alive. "Too bad they carried that bastard away before I had the chance to bring his deserved fate over him. I just don't get why they spared that cursed lowlife."
Zelda lowered her head. "You do not carry a grain of pity or mercy in your heart, I fear."
Ganondorf, still caught in his anger, responded roughly, "Guess you've never been out on a battlefield, otherwise you'd known it's power that makes you win and spit in the face of death, not pity or mercy. Enemies who're foolish enough to threaten my life deserve nothing except death as you either kill because you're strong or you get killed because you're weak. It's easy as that. And any sort of sentiments on a battlefield and even outside make you weak." He spit out the last statement, as his former suffering swordsmanship was a first-hand proof of that point.
"You are using harsh words, though I have to approve your assumption. I have never fought for my life, only been told the stories of war and seen the wounded, even the tortured and deceased." Calmly, she looked up to him. "However, I do not see if those harsh words are the truth you believe in from your very own or if it is the truth the men at the arena imposed on a child's mind over the range of years."
In confusion, Ganondorf stared at her. He wished she would spare him the flowery words and just speak clear when she continued, "You are born within the same time as me, yet still up to this day, I am only barely able to imagine, much less to understand, how you must have felt as a child. Alone and unprotected, raised by foreigners and surrounded by blood, a world very different from my own sheltered one. My mind often questioned what becomes of those children not being in the favor of a caring family, but forced to fight on a cruel battlefield." She stopped, putting her hands against her chest to remain calm. "The more my thoughts concerned the vision, the more horrible it became. Even unbearable. Until the day you entered our court."
Ganondorf kept silent. He had no idea what to answer as he never believed Zelda would waste thoughts on a matter like this, still less on him. "You were a child unfavored by fate, yet you showed, besides all those atrocities you must have faced, my horrible vision does not have to be true. Since the first day, I believed in you. I believed that you, despite any origin, deserve to see the light. The more tales my friend shared about you and the more I have met you in person, the more I wished for you to bathe in that light, leaving the darkness behind forever. Yet I fear… no, I dread that once you will leave, all of your light will vanish, leaving behind only the shadows, pushing you back into that darkness. I, as a queen…" She stopped, breathing in. "No, I as myself, do not wish to see you succumbing to that darkness. That is why I came here to pray for your safety, yet it might be destiny's whim that I encounter you within these walls. That is why I do not wish to pray for you anymore but to ask you to stay on our side, by my side."
"By your side?" repeated Ganondorf, overwhelmed by her whole words. Not once, not even for a single second had he believed Zelda would think in such a way about him. After he had sorted his thoughts at least a bit, his defiant grin returned. "Heh, I'm not used to that dramatic stuff, but guess you royals are just that way with words. Better I don't even try to copy that style, it would sound ridiculous. But don't think a few pretty words will change my mind to not leave."
"Your rebellious behavior is truly remarkable." Zelda played a few tones while she added in awe, "I would have never believed to meet a man this overly honest and boastful in the presence of a royal, fearlessly facing any consequences his manners might cause. It fills me with pity to see such a man leaving."
The minutes passed by, the melody filling the cathedral. He should go. He must, now. With Zelda knowing about his attempt to flee, he could not stay another day as he would end up in prison or even worse. Instead of finally getting up, he just sat there, next to her, even feeling her leg touch his own. In all those weeks, it had not died off. He never had lost it. His desire, his deep desire for her that rooted him to the seat. Pathetic. It was truly pathetic what became of him when she was involved.
Zelda took her hands off the keys. "Ganondorf, do you believe in destiny?"
Her question worsened his mood instantly. "Didn't we had such a conversation the last time?"
She looked surprised. "You remember?"
"Of course. As if I would ever forget that," he grumbled, annoyed when he thought about the moment she tossed him away. Ironically, even though he had not suffered from a physical wound, her refusal hurt like a mortal blow to both his feelings and pride. "So, has the time come where you run away with scribbling words normal men are not meant to understand?"
"No, I will stay by your side," responded Zelda firmly. "Just as you stay by my side despite your desire to leave."
In disbelief he stared at her. She did not avoid his gaze, not even for a short moment. She was absolutely serious about what she just said. Carefully, he tended his head towards hers and she did not reject it. "Did you just say you'll stay? Here?" She only responded with a smile, while he gave her an arrogant one in return. "Here, together with me? By your side?"
"I believe it needs no words that the feelings between us have not changed since the last time, yet the circumstances have drastically. At times unknown, destiny opens paths which are branded as forbidden, never meant to be walked by any human. Neither one, nor two." She laid her hand on his upper leg, coming closer to him while he put his arm around her hips. "Ganondorf, you, such as I, carry the knowledge that we both walk along the verge of the forbidden. Do you truly understand the menace for your life if another man ever sift out the secret of our paths crossing each other's?"
He grinned when their noses met. "I'm not skilled with words, never want to be either. But I can tell you: I'm used to that guy called death, so he can keep his threats to himself. They're getting old anyway."
Ganondorf looked Zelda into her eyes, deeply, when he pulled her carefully nearer to him, closing in the distance while her hands ran up from his chest to encompass his neck. Though he shrank when she touched the wound on his shoulder, he did not let go of her. And no words, no words were needed. It was one, if not even the most wonderful moment in his life when their lips met. He had found the place to stay, the place he would call home. Never would he leave it, less her. Never.
Author's Note
Just wanted to remark that I still not plan to change the genre of this story. So, after this chapter, don't get your hopes (or fears, who knows :P) up that I'll start to focus on that and everything else is forgotten. 'Cause it's not. ;)
Though there's another thing on my mind: I answer reviewers via PM to not clutter up the story with notes, which also means guests won't hear back from me since the site just doesn't offer a proper possibility. But I can't let the last guest review just pass by uncommented, because I find it an interesting and insightful one and just want to make sure no one is afraid I'll bite if a review also mentiones lacks in my story or writing. 'Cause that's not the case, in contrast, I appreciate them as well as any other. :)