Chapter 9
I had a flashback that night...of my final moments with my sister...
A little over four years ago...the two of us and Devyn were in the Sanctum of Hyrule Castle. It was a circular room with two staircases lining the circular walls, leading to a platform with the throne on it well above the ground. The three of us were meeting with the King of Hyrule about The Voice...Anastasia in a pink and lilac dress, I in a blue one, Devyn in royal guard attire (a red shirt overlain with a blue vest, hat, and shoulder pads, accompanied by long white boots and gloves).
"My daughters," the King began, "The Voice is rapidly growing in influence...we keep hearing of more and more hylians falling under its twisted sway. That can mean only one thing...Ganon is beginning to wake up. The Ritual must now be perpetuated...Anastasia, Barclaya...the two of you must go to the Temple of Darkness and reinforce Ganon's seal."
"But father!" Anastasia yelled out, "Why should Barclaya go?! Why should we both sacrifice our magic to keep Ganon contained?! Surely I alone have the strength for the job!"
"Ganon's slumber has rejuvenated him the past thousand years, daughter...I do not dare risk you doing it alone...if you are not strong enough to contain Ganon alone and yet try to anyway..."
"For a Princess of Hyrule to lose her magic is like a normal person going blind, father! It's as if a part of her dies when she makes such a sacrifice! Please, let me do it alone! At least let Barclaya keep her magic a little while longer!"
"Zelda Anastasia of Hyrule, that is FAR too dangerous! As King, I command you to bring your sister with you! Having just a part of two people die is far better than having Ganon wipe all of Hyrule out with The Voice! You know full well what he intends to do – blot out all benevolent life to make way for his twisted new world! The loss of my two daughter's magic is a small price to pay to ensure Hyrule's self preservation..."
"Surely there must be another way?!" Anastasia cried out.
"Do as I say, daughter!" Anastasia had had enough and simply stormed out, sobbing. The King – my father – looked grieved.
"I...I wish there was another way, Zelda Anastasia...but...but without a Hero...this is all we have to work with..." Devyn and I were then dismissed...Devyn looked really unsettled and I felt the same.
The next morning...Anastasia was summoned from her home in Mabe Village to join me in going to the Temple of Darkness to reinforce Ganon's slumber. To hasten the process I reluctantly went with them...but Anastasia was nowhere to be found. Horace (her husband) and Zelda Diana (her daughter) were absolutely freaking out.
"I went to bed with my wife and now she's gone!" Horace yelled out. Diana was sobbing and could not say anything. I quickly inferred what had happened.
"OH NO..." I yelled out, "she went to that damn Temple of Darkness alone! We must haul arse after her before she gets there or else we may lose her forever!" So Devyn and I hurried to Akkala, in far northeastern Hyrule...we never got to the Temple. When we approached the Shadow Pass we were attacked by a horde of monsters...Devyn desperately fought them until the sky turned blood red...we both heard the terrifying sound of deep, demented, masculine laughter...
"Zelda Barclaya, are you alright?"
I promptly woke up to see a very old sheikah woman, quite short and wrinkled, with brown eyes and her hair in a bun. Impa...my own bun and scarf had not fooled her in the slightest.
"Nanny Impa...yes, I...I'm fine...just sprained an ankle yesterday."
"You're not fooling me, Zelda Barclaya...Namib told me everything. He saw you fighting the Plague Witches...I don't remember you being this reckless as a little girl. Or this scrappy..."
Oh I bloody hope he did not hear my name! After processing that uninvited thought I got straight down to business with my former nanny.
"Peggle gave me a letter to give to you, Nanny." I handed it to her.
"Oh, thank you, child."
"Now...have you seen a young bloke named Link?" She put her hand over her chin, as if in deep thought.
"'Link'? The blonde boy that killed the lynel that was terrorizing our village?" That was him alright...lynels, those terrifying lion hylian horse things, are almost impossible for the average hylian to subdue alone.
"That's him!"
"Ah. Glad I could help...anyways, he came here to learn about this demonic Voice he has volunteered to fight and then retreated to the southeast. Seeking the Sword That Seals The Darkness I believe." Impa had told me how The Voice began years ago, but now I wanted a refresher course...
"Can you remind me how this damn Voice started?" She shook her head in dismay.
"Oh how quickly you forget, Princess...a thousand years ago, Ganon broke his previous seal and returned to ravage Hyrule. In response a Hero chosen by the Sword and a Princess with the blood of the Goddess Hylia rose to fight him...my ancestors gave VERY clear instructions to that Princess; 'When the Hero delivers the final blow, seal Ganon away in the Dark World!' But she was STUBBORN, that Princess...when the Hero defeated Ganon, instead of sealing him away, she put him into what was SUPPOSED to be a ten thousand year slumber and ordered that he be chained up within an igloo shaped structure she had built in Akkala, one which came to be known as the Temple of Darkness. She thought Hyrule had finally found a ten millennium long break from Ganon..."
"HOWEVER! Within only four years, Ganon began to stir...The Voice began billowing out of his sick, twisted mind and driving innocent hylians to madness. The Princess and her beloved knight came to inspect the situation...suddenly a tendril of Ganon's vile malice burst from his body and seized the knight, devouring his arm! In a desperate attempt to save him, the Princess poured all her power into strengthening Ganon's seal...it worked, but she was left with no magic and realized that this would have to be done time and time again. So began that wretched Ritual, where Princesses of Hyrule must regularly enter that vile Temple and sacrifice their divine gift to keep both Ganon and The Voice at bay..."
"My ancestors were deeply offended by that Princess's flagrant disregard for their counsel...they forsook Hyrule and fled here to avoid reprisals for it. It is a hard existence, especially since the Plague Witches sacked Hyrule Castle...I do not think we would still be alive without Namib. He's a worthy ally...take good care of him."
"Do you know what became of my sister?" I asked. Impa's gears turned furiously...
"No...all I know is that she tried to perpetuate the Ritual alone, and judging by how hog wild The Voice has since gone she must have failed at some point in the process. Frankly I thought you were dead too...but since you're not..." I knew what was coming.
"I'm not fulfilling my damn 'destiny', Nanny! It's the stupidest, most pointless thing that I've heard of in my life! To sacrifice all my magic just to hold that swine at bay for a few decades maybe..."
"That's better than losing Hyrule forever, my child..."
"Surely there must be some other way! Hyrule can't keep doing this forever!"
"With Link's aid you could weaken Ganon enough that we won't need to do this again for centuries...that is all I can think of."
"But we WOULD need to waste our magic on that wanker again sooner or later! Ganon will keep coming back for more if I just repeat that damn Ritual! There must be some permanent solution, and I don't want to waste my power on any stop gap measures!"
"Hyrule has tried everything, Princess...please, just fulfill your sacred duty already!" Impa then left in a huff. I felt dismayed...THAT is why I did not want to fulfill my destiny; seemed completely and utterly pointless. Ganon would just keep coming back for more no matter how much magic I put into extending his unnaturally long power kip...I felt some guilt about those feelings; it was my lack of desire to fulfill my "destiny" that prompted Anastasia to try to perpetuate that wanker Ritual alone, and all signs pointed to her being dead, a victim of my own "radical" views on that swine. Still...I felt like there HAD to be another way to deal with Ganon...
My dismay was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Breakfast, Lady Barclaya!"
"Come on in," I replied unenthusiastically. In came this cute teenage sheikah girl with red eyes holding some kind of...paste? A blast of cold air followed her through the door.
"Mashed potatoes. The Hero taught us to make these using those tabantha potatoes we grow around here...he finally made them taste good! He was real handsome too...my heart went aflutter when I saw him..."
"Just give me the paste already! It's getting cold in here!" I replied with an attitude as frigid as the town's average temperature. She looked like I stabbed her in the heart for a moment before forking over the potatoes and quickly retreating out the door. The potatoes were as good as advertised, and once I was done I turned to dealing with my sprained ankle...I focused intensely on how much I cared about Link, how much I wanted to ensure he was safe, and it happened. My magic happened...that blinding yellow light, the birthright of the Princesses of Hyrule's Royal Family, which I had only just begun learning when Anastasia disappeared but had mastered in secret during the ensuing four years. I applied my right hand to the sprained ankle for a few minutes...before I could finish, however, there was a knock at the door. I quickly turned off my magic.
"Petra, can I come in?" It was Namib.
"Go ahead," I replied. When he came in he was surprised to see me standing and walking competently.
"Crikey, that was fast! Ya sure ya sprained your ankle yesterday, Petra?!" I did not dare let him in on my magic...
"I'm real fit, Namib! That was nowt! Now let's leg it out of here to find Linky!"
"We really should stay here one more night, Petra...seems really soon to put so much strain on your ankle."
"I'm fine, I'm fine! I need to find Linky now, that's what matters!"
"If ya break your leg worse ya will never find Link in time...ya are mortal, Petra; ya can only do so much."
"I AM LEAVING TODAY, NAMIB!" I packed my things and stormed out the door, leaving him behind...eventually I left the Tabantha Snowfield and entered the Rowan Plain, warmer and more lush but still buffeted by nasty gusts from the nearby snowfield. I found an abandoned shack to set up camp at for the night...while I was unpacking Namib caught up with me, carrying his rubbish. It was late afternoon by the time he caught up...I did not want to tell Namib this, but my ankle still hurt and I did not want to walk very far that day.
"Petra...your ankle...doesn't look so good..." he spat out as he panted in exhaustion, having run to catch up with me. Clearly it was swollen enough for Namib to notice...must have pushed myself too hard that day.
"It's bloody fine, Namib...please, let me be..."
"Can I at least apply a medicinal herb to it?" I wanted to complain, but with the way my ankle was feeling...
"Alright, go ahead." He pulled a medicinal herb out of his sack and gently massaged it into my ankle...really, really gently, as if he'd known me his entire life, as if we were lovers, not near strangers. Not what I expected out of a thief lord...I felt more relaxed than I had been in a damn long time.
"That...that feels really wicked, Namib...cheers..." He just smiled and kept gently rubbing it into my ankle...the swelling gradually went down...I smiled...
Is Namib...my friend? Have I been this wanker to him this whole time for nothing?
"Petra, can I...can I ask ya something?"
"Go ahead," I said in complete and utter bliss...
"Are...are ya Devyn's sister?" My eyes bugged out of my head in horror and I quickly scooted away from Namib...the bliss was gone.
"WHO TOLD YOU THAT PORKY?!" I yelled out in a last ditch attempt to conceal my identity. It did not work.
"Why are ya so ashamed of that? Most sheilas would kill to be a Princess of Hyrule..."
HE KNOWS! WHO TOLD HIM?! DID IMPA TELL HIM?! DID HE OVERHEAR BLUSTER YESTERDAY?! HOW DOES HE BLOODY KNOW?!
"Why the hell does it matter to you?!" He paused for a few moments...
"Just curious." That sounded like a porky in its own right...I could tell he was withholding some important information of his own.
"Well then, thief lord, tell me this; who are you?! I know you are hiding something from me!"
"In my prior life? A gerudo prince. Supposed to be the heir apparent...but the Plague Witches murdered...murdered my...my family...when I was 18...now only...only I am left..." Namib did not manage to finish that statement without crying...I felt little pity for him as the eye sweats kept dripping down.
"Devyn...he...he was my best cobber...about four years ago he...he asked me to take care of his little sister should...should something happen to him. I've...I've long suspected that was you, and now I know..." I was NOT convinced.
"You are just trying to get cozy with me, freak! I don't believe your damn porkies for a second! Go away!" Namib, looking heartbroken, retreated a distance away, opting to set up camp under a nearby conifer. As I settled down for the night, though...my thoughts were plaguing me.
What if that damn Namib is telling the truth? Did I...did I just treat one of Devyn's best friends like rubbish?
Chapter 10
I had this miserly dream that night...about my "destiny". It is one that has passed through my psyche many times...
I had arrived at the Temple of Darkness alone...the "sanctuary" is essentially a giant stone igloo, with its entryway to the northeast, facing the sea. I walked inside and saw HIM...Ganon, that demonic blue boar...chained up, asleep, many meters above the floor, barely visible through the gloom, ironically illuminated only by his own red, fluid malice. I held my right hand up and began using my magic to reinforce his slumber...I strained, strained, strained some more...felt like I was going to pass out...but it did not work. Eventually, when my strength was completely exhausted, malice burst forth from Ganon and engulfed my body...I screamed in agony from the pain before blacking out...and then, in the real world, I woke up, terrified, drenched in sweat.
WHY do I keep having that wretched dream?!
It was still pitch black and Namib was still sawing logs, so eventually I calmed myself down enough to fall back asleep...
When I awoke for the day Namib was making breakfast, roasting up some meat from a tabantha moose I had shot the previous day. I packed up my things and joined him by the fire.
"Barclaya...Petra?...which do you prefer, Your Highness?"
"...either works, thief lord," I said as I begrudgingly acknowledged that I was Devyn's sister.
"Alright...Petra...since...since ya are the Princess of Hyrule...does that mean ya are expected to perpetuate that Ritual?"
Damn it, don't tell me HE is going to get on my bloody case about it! I glared angrily at Namib...he seemed really confused.
"Are ya trying to AVOID perpetuating it?! But, in that case..."
"I already lost my sister to that damn Ritual, Namib! She's gone forever! I'm not participating in that good for nowt scheme that has cost Hyrule so much! Cost me so damn much already!" By then I was crying, as much as I hate to admit it...
"Well...that's two of us then..."
"What are you talking about?!"
"I'm running...running away from destiny myself...one mum chose for me before I was born..." I could hear Namib's voice tremble in fear...I paused long enough to answer him.
"Well then, spit it out, Namib! Who were you before you were a thief?!"
"Can I...can I have more time...before I tell ya?"
"..."
"Please?!"
"...fine, Namib. But you WILL tell me, in this lifetime, what in Hyrule you are legging it from..." At that I set off towards the Lost Woods, with Namib following behind...
We traveled east to the Elma Knolls, a set of grassy hills punctuated by the occasional conifer and haunted by small groups of bokoblins on horseback. I hate hate HATE bokoblins on horseback...they can easily outrun you, and they are usually armed with bows and thus have no need to let you near them to swat them off their steeds. Poor Namib seemed to be at a complete loss how to deal with the cretins...
"Namib, throw me!"
"At them?! What would that galah idea accomplish?!"
"No no no, up, throw me up, Namib!" He complied...time nearly froze as I pulled out my bow and sniped the bokoblins off their horses, at which point Namib was quick to finish them off before they could climb aboard their steeds again. After harvesting the parts the monsters left behind I realized that I could probably ride one of the horses...I quickly mounted one and, after soothing the beast, claimed it as my own.
"But what am I supposed to do, sheila?!" Namib grumbled. "These brumbies would never support my weight!"
"Figure it out, Namib! I'm not ditching Devyn!" Those words...I promptly had a double take. I had just named a horse after my late brother...who I had indeed ditched...I stopped 'Devyn' and cried again. Namib walked over to me...
"What...what happened to Devyn? I...I've not seen him in four years...I've feared the worst." I just nodded...before long Namib was sobbing. It was no porky cry; he was genuinely distraught. I appreciated the sympathy but not what it meant.
Damn it...he was telling the truth about Devyn yesterday, wasn't he?
Eventually I calmed down enough to tell Namib what happened. "We...we were fleeing the Castle...after those wanker Plague Witches sacked it...Devyn...Devyn died to protect me from their mug soldiers. It's just me now..."
"That...makes two of us. Devyn...he...he was like the brother I never had...I sorely miss him..." It dawned on me in that moment that Namib and I were really not that different...just two boats cut adrift by the Plague Witches, with no family of which to speak. I felt awful for how I had been treating him.
"Namib...I...I'm sorry..."
"She'll be apples. If ya are not a Plague Witch, I'll forgive ya. Now...where exactly are we going?"
"Impa said Link left New Kakariko to the southeast looking for the Master Sword. I assumed she meant the Lost Woods, so I'm heading there..."
"Ah. This route takes us quite close to both a military training camp and Hyrule Castle...we must be careful."
We continued near the base of the Rauru Hillside, occasionally fighting more bokoblins on horseback, until we reached the Rauru Village. It was devoid of civilians now...only the occasional Voice maddened soldier roamed the ghost town, and of course we had to knock them out as we went along for our own safety. Not long thereafter we reached the ruins of the Woodland Stable...again, looked like a ghost town, perfectly intact but devoid of intelligent life.
"The Lost Woods lie north of here, Your Highness," Namib told me. "Now that I am thinking...if ya are the last of the Royal Family, does that make ya Queen?" That thought had never occurred to me...
"Maybe? Don't really like being called that, though..." We veered north but did not get far before fifty Voice maddened soldiers blocked our path...brought up some very bad memories.
"KILL THEM!" several of those mugs screamed in unison. Before long a brawl broke out...Namib quickly threw me into the air before engaging the melts himself. While airborne I knocked several soldiers unconscious before landing and having to fight them hand to hand...the brawl lasted about an hour. We tried not to kill any of them, but several soldiers died regardless...we both felt a bit guilty.
"Damn it...they would have been people again once this bloody Voice was dealt with..." We took a few minutes to bury the deceased before we stole into the Lost Woods, leaving "Devyn" behind at the woodland's entrance...it was an extremely creepy place, with dense fog, perpetual gloom, and trees with what looked like faces carved into their bark. We quickly learned where the name came from...were we to take a wrong turn through the woods a terrifying unseen force would envelop us in fog and drag us back to the entrance. Eventually it stopped being terrifying and just got really annoying.
"THIS DAFT FOREST!" I yelled out in frustration.
"How did Link get through this?!" Namib remarked. We fumbled in the woods for a while longer before noticing that the embers from some nearby torches seemed to form a path...we followed the embers until we found one last pair of torches, at which point we took a portable torch leaning against one of the other torches, ignited it, and followed its embers for a while. Eventually the creepy forest yielded to a beautiful, sunny glade with silent princesses (beautiful blue flowers) everywhere, a massive tree with pink leaves and what looked like the face of an old man carved into its bark, and a pedestal built in the form of the Triforce (those three sacred triangles that can grant any wish). There was just one problem...the Master Sword was nowhere to be found. I promptly lost the plot.
"DAMN IT!" I yelled out for all Hyrule to hear, "Linky has come and gone already! NOW how are we supposed to find him?!"
"That is not very regal of you, Zelda Barclaya..." said a very deep, seemingly phantom voice. I jumped back, not having a clue who was talking to me.
"Who are you?! And how the hell do you know my name?!"
"I...am the Great Deku Tree. I have watched over this forest...and Hyrule...for millenniums..."
I can't imagine the kind of experience this old tree has...wait, maybe he knows where Linky went!
"Did Link tell you where he was going?"
"'Link'? The Hero who just plucked the Sword some hours ago? He said something about gathering allies to storm the Temple of Darkness...sounded like he already recruited the Sheikah and was rebuffed by the Gerudo, so..."
Damn it! Missed him by so little!
"Must have shot through to either Goron City or Zora's Domain then," Namib replied. The tree looked disturbed by Namib's interruption.
"And who are you, stranger? I don't recognize you, and yet...there is something unsettlingly familiar about you..." Namib bowed to the tree.
"Namib, Great Deku Tree. I lead a band of thieves out in the desert."
"I sense something very dark and wicked about you, Namib...I am not comfortable with you remaining in my forest. Please...leave."
"What are you talking about?!" I barked back. "He's no damn monster!" The tree paused, unsure how to answer me...
"Barclaya...I firmly believe this man has pulled the wool over your eyes. I would not recommend keeping him in your company...there is just so much darkness billowing from his person...it's like night and day placed next to you."
"Believe me, the way I've been treating him, if he was half as 'dark' as you are saying he would have buried me alive by now!"
"Barclaya...the Goddesses left behind gifts for the next Heroine, the one destined to seal away Ganon...gifts you will need to fulfill your destiny. But I am not comfortable giving you any of them so long as this man is in your presence..."
Here we go again...
"And who says I need to fulfill that 'destiny'? Why can't I rise far above it and just off the old swine instead?!" The tree paused...
"You will never succeed in leaving as much as a scratch on Ganon without the gifts I have to offer you...and I will not give them to you so long as this vile man is in your company..." Namib was looking distraught.
"What must I do to prove to ya that I am not some vile mongrel that would axe her given half a chance?!" The tree paused several awkward minutes...
"Alright...I will give you one chance, Namib. Take the Hero's Trial atop the Great Plateau...if you pass I will accept you. Until then...do not dare return to this glade..." With that Namib was suddenly enveloped in fog and disappeared...I freaked out.
"What the hell did you just do to him?!"
"I just dropped him off outside the forest...Princess, since you are so concerned about this stranger, I am going to need you to pass the Hero's Trial as well before I dare offer you your sacred gifts...you must prove your worth to me regardless of how you intend to deal with Ganon..."
"How are we even supposed to reach it?! The Plateau is hundreds of meters above everything around it! We cannot fly!"
"You have a fiery determination about you, Princess...you will find a way. Now, please...let me sleep until you both are ready..." With that the same creepy gray fog enveloped me...I passed out...and I eventually woke up at the entrance of the Lost Woods, next to a concerned Namib. It was early the next morning...
"Barclaya, are ya alright?!" He helped me to my feet.
"I'm fine, I'm fine...seriously, though...who the hell are you? That tree was freaking out at your mere presence." He looked EXTREMELY uncomfortable...a few days ago I would have been a wanker about it and kept pressuring him until he said something, but this time I let him off the hook. We continued southeast for a few more hours, found some abandoned (but mostly intact) village ruins, and tied "Devyn" to one of the fence posts before we slept in them through the rest of the day and the ensuing night...