Twinxie's Note: Hey guys! Have you been watching E3? Some gooooood Zelda stuff there! No, I am not getting paid for this advertisement…XD That'd be sweet! Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Oh, btw, I am not sure if we are still updating on Sundays but we'll see how it goes. ;D
Gliss's Note: So this was supposed to be uploaded on Sunday, but I forgot! Whoops! Next chapter will! I promise!
Please review and enjoy! :)
Zelda creaked an eye open, trying to clear the fog in her mind. The world was dark and blurry. Her back seemed to be frozen in ice, while her face was burning with heat. She felt around, waiting for her vision to clear up and for it to make sense with the strange noises she was hearing. A strange, rough language that was not unfamiliar. Where had she heard it before?
She gasped and sat up with a jerk. Immediately her vision cleared and bright, fiery light pierced through the threshold of her irises. She covered her eyes from the garish light. She remembered.
Her eyes adjusted to the glaring flood and she took in her surroundings. She was somewhere in Hyrule Field, and it was nighttime. She was sitting in front of a fire, one of the many around the camp site, with her back to the cold night. The foul creatures that had stolen her away conversed with themselves in a way that made her think they were saying something vulgar or blasphemous. Some were laughing at what probably was a cruel joke, while others looked like they were about to come to blows. She didn't understand their strange ways, but one thing was certain: They all hated her with a passion and were offended by her presence. They hated her pure Hylian blood and the light within her soul, and she could sense their bloodlust for her.
She shivered and turned away, not comfortable with their glaring eyes on her. She found someone with a different expression sitting next to her. It was the strange youth from before. He was smirking.
"Looks like someone's finally awake." He lightly tossed a necklace in the air and caught it in his hand.
Zelda's eyes widened. "My mother's necklace! Give that back!" She lunged forward to take it from him but he just laughed and sent his metal boot flying into her abdomen. Winded, she fell back onto the ground in a heap. She winced and clutched her stomach.
"Don't overdo it. You haven't fully come to your senses yet." He said smugly, twirling the silver chain around his fingers.
"When am I going to get that back?" She asked darkly. She did not like this boy. Not at all.
"When you've done all that we tell you and you have been good enough to earn it back." He answered simply.
She glared at him. "Tch. You're paying me with my own coin."
He looked up at the stars and smiled contently. "Perhaps…"
There was a silence. The questions that formed a tempest in Zelda's mind began to stir themselves. Where was she headed? What was their plan? Who are these people?
"So…" Zelda started. She had no idea how to start getting answers from him, if he would give them at all. She struggled to find words.
He looked back at her, waiting expectantly for her to ask. He grinned at her obvious discomfort and effort to find words.
"Who are you?" Zelda asked at last.
"No one you need to know about." He shot back without a moment's hesitation.
Zelda sighed. His eyes had hardened and he didn't look so playful now. "Can you at least tell me your name?"
"You don't need to know that either." He turned his face away, staring intensely into the flames.
Zelda furrowed her brow in confusion. "Then what am I to call you?"
"You don't need to call me anything. Just do as I say and shut up." He answered curtly.
Now Zelda became angry in her own right. He was so irritable! "That's not fair! You can't engage me, your captive, in conversation and not expect me to ask you some simple questions! You know my name, do you not? It is unjust to keep yourself from me!"
"Keep myself from you?" He laughed, a twinkle coming back into his eyes. "Shall I come closer?"
Zelda scowled at him. "You know that is not what I meant. Now answer my question!"
He ran a hand through his hair. "Are princesses always this fussy? What a disappointment. I thought you all were supposed to be gentle and sweet or some trash like that."
"Gentle and sweet? When deserved and in good time." Zelda retorted. "Now I'll ask again. What is your name?"
The strange, dark youth looked into her eyes, finding pleasure in how she was so easy to bait. She was not the stereotypical princess, for she had some fire in her to be sure. It was a humorous how she tried to gain a little control in the conversation with him. Almost as if she wasn't his prisoner. He sighed. "Very well. I guess it can't be helped. My name is Varlorion, but those who know me well call me Var."
"Var…" Zelda tried the name out on her own lips. "You said 'those who know me well.' Does that mean you have a family?"
"You are extremely curious for a girl, aren't you?" He smiled lazily as he kicked a log back into the fire, sending up specks of fire into the blackness.
Zelda stared at him. "Fine. I will ask you no more." Zelda put on her poker face, a new plan forming in her head. If she could get on somewhat of a friend status with this "Var," then maybe she could find out some information. Or if it really worked out, he'd let her go. She decided to move the conversation away from him.
"They are not the most…holy looking things around, are they?" She gestured to the multitude of demonic figures crawling throughout the camp. They made escape impossible. That was the reason Zelda was not in chains.
"Holy?" He echoed. "The exact opposite, more likely. They are not all that competent either." He japed.
A few wandering around them heard his joke and began to growl. They snarled, showing wolf-like teeth. Some even got close to them in a threatening, animal-like position. Zelda shrunk back and clutched her cloak tighter around her shoulders, letting out a shriek of fear.
Var, seeing this, laughed and shoed them away. When one particularly persistent demon refused to back off and continued his advance, Var lifted his boot and smashed it squarely in the creature's face, holding the demon back with just his boot. "We have strict orders not to harm you. That's why I'm not letting them get to you right now." Var explained to Zelda, all the while holding the beast back lazily. "Understand?"
Zelda looked at him with wide eyes and nodded. She didn't think her whole 'befriending' plan would work. Eventually the evil beings settled and Var kicked the wild one away. The demon was sent sliding in the dirt and he did not rise. Zelda watched the still form with horror.
Var studied her face, clearly sensing her disgust and shrugging it off. His usual smirk returned to his face. "You haven't seen much of world outside your palace walls, have you?"
Zelda, still speechless, shook her head that it was so.
"I see." Var nodded. "You're innocent and naïve. You are a child." He summed up as he prodded the fire.
Zelda, once again angry, found her voice. "I am not! I know a great deal more than you and you would be wise to remember whom you are speaking to!"
At this, Var stood up, and Zelda was afraid he would leave her. If he left, who knows if another demon would try to kill her or not. His eyes turned cold as steel. "I will remind you to do the same. Remember whom you are speaking to and exactly who is in charge here. Your title is nothing more than a name, and here, I am king. I made the mistake of allowing you to speak freely to me, but not again." He said firmly. He glared at Zelda, daring her to say another word, but she kept silent. She burned on the inside at this treatment, but she did not desire his wrath.
He suddenly turned his head and looked out into the night. It seemed like he was sensing something. Without another word he grabbed Zelda roughly by the shoulder, making her cry out in pain and shock. He began dragging her over to another part of the camp, all the while shouting orders to the demons. The camp began to bustle immediately and they began to pack up.
Zelda was sure she would be bruised tomorrow, but Var did not lessen his grip on her. She turned her mind from the pain by trying to avoid touching the demons who snarled and howled as they went about preparing the camp for departure. She looked up at Var to try to get inside his mind, but his face was set as cold and emotionless as stone.
"Var!" She didn't know why she used his nick name. "What is going on? What is the meaning of this? Let me go! How dare you treat me thusly!" She shouted at him, forgetting the whole 'know your place' speech he just gave her a minute ago.
He didn't answer. Instead he took her wrists and bound them with rope he had on hand. Zelda struggled but she was outmatched and had never wrestled against anyone before. Still she fought him and she was giving him a great deal of trouble with the task. "Be still!" He shouted at last. Zelda, of course, paid no attention to this and struggled all the more. Eventually he succeeded and added a gag around her mouth, just to get her to shut up. She kept blabbing furiously about how he was touching royal property and some other trash like that.
A dark horse was brought before them and Var picked her up and plopped her on top of it. The horse was extremely tall and not natural. She was a little afraid of the beast and she began to say "I am not riding this monster!" but her complaints were muffled by the gag. Var hopped on behind her and took the reins from her lap. "Var! VAR!" She screamed at him, but he paid no attention. He shouted in the foreign tongue and the entire company spurred out into the night.
Zelda gasped through the gag. The horse shot off so fast that she collided into Var's chest, making him wince from the impact. Good. You deserve it! She thought to herself. The extinguished fires caused hands of smoke to claw at the stars and Zelda was overwhelmed by the sudden darkness. She could not see a thing in this blackness and she wondered how Var and the rest of the group were able to navigate. She looked into the eyes of the dark horsemen around her and saw a yellow reflection. Ah. They can see in the dark… She noted.
The cold was unbearable. It was easily dismissed at the fire but now that she was riding in utter darkness, it swallowed her whole. It was hard to breathe as well. The cold air rushed past her like a cookie plate rushes past a child. Completely too fast to grab a hold of.
Zelda sat silently. She could do nothing to get herself out of this nightmare. She was utterly helpless. She couldn't see. The roar of the horse hooves was too loud for her to hear anything, and she could hardly breathe. All she could do was let herself be absorbed into the rough jostles of the dark horse. Her sense of touch was the only thing she had now. And she had no comforting hand to hold. And there was only one hand on her mind right now.
I wish Link were here…
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