For once, the dry, sandpaper-like feeling in Link's mouth wasn't dehydration.
It was legitimate sand.
When he opened his eyes, he'd expected the bright sun to blind him as usual, the morning to burn a hole through his retina as if he'd been hiding in a dark cave for a week, but he wasn't met with that at all. He was met with dim torch lights, sandstone walls and Arn sitting in the corner of the room, his arms crossed and a slightly sulky expression.
It took a moment for Link to take in his surroundings. Sandstone? Sand? Why the hell was he in the desert?
I don't recall inviting Barns out with us, but this is kinda what happened last time…
Link tried to stretch his arms but the loud sound of a metal shackle scratched his ear drum. A simple glance up had him realising he was chained to the wall in cuffs.
"Good morning." Arn muttered depressingly. "We got drugged."
"Oh." was all Link could really say. That explained a lot, but was the opposite of reassuring.
Who took us? Why am I chained up? Oh no. I have to get back to Zelda.
Once his eyes adjusted to his surroundings, he realised that they were sitting in a cell. There were familiar rusting bars keeping them locked inside a small room, the walls were made of a red-tinted sandstone, recognisable of the Gerudo Highlands.
Link pulled on the chains that kept his hands above his head. Rusted metal shackles were clipped around his wrists and the chains themselves were secured to the wall. Arn, on the other hand, wasn't shackled at all. He simply sat in the corner, leaned against the wall as if he'd given up trying to escape.
"How long have we been here?" Link asked curiously, yanking on the chain a bit. The secured plate for the chains rattled lightly against the wall and bits of sand crumbled onto his back. Clearly, they hadn't seen much use recently. That particular piece of knowledge was somehow both inspiring and worrying.
Arn looked around at the torches outside, then to the ceiling, equally made of sandstone. "I've been awake for a while, I have no idea." He said. His voice rasped dryly. "Can't see sunlight in here, it's just the torches that get switched sometimes." He stretched out on the ground.
Link stopped jingling the shackle against the ceiling and tried to stand, but instead, fell against the wall the moment he attempted to balance himself.
"You've been drugged at least three times since I woke up, kid. Sit down." Arn told him.
"Me? Why?!" He asked, baffled. Wasn't once enough to shackle him up? Why did they bother doing it three more times since the first?
Arn shrugged. "Every time you seem about to wake, one of those clansmen come in and inject you." He informed him. "You go right back to sleep."
It seemed to track. Link couldn't recall anything apart from when they'd left the pub. He remembered the dizziness and stumbling, but there were only brief flashes once they'd left the pub.
Link didn't understand any of it. They went through so much trouble to capture them, why not just kill them? Why give them a chance to escape or do more damage? What was the point in keeping them locked up? Who was 'they' ?
Link paused.
Arn had said clansmen.
The only group in Hyrule that referred to themselves as a clan who were also aggressive could only be the Yiga.
"Why aren't we dead?" Link blurted.
"Hell if I know." Arn laughed sarcastically. "Maybe it's a ransom they want."
It was a reasonable tact as to why they were still alive, but Link had never heard of the Yiga asking for ransom. That was more a tactic utilised by common thieves rather than assassins, even if they were subpar.
"Ransom eh?" Link joked. "King's Guard Captain and me? What kind of ransom do you think that fetches?" He tried to lighten the mood. In his head, there was no way it was a ransom. Maybe a hostage exchange, but not a ransom. It was far too risky given their combined combat strength.
"Good chunk of the Treasury maybe?" Arn added comically. "It's got to be easier to just kill us instead."
"Where's the fun in that? Killing someone when they're already unconscious. No fun there." He retorted dryly. Did the Yiga have that sort of honour? Did they even care about that stuff? Regardless, the audacity they had to capture two high-profile fighters and not kill them, instead keeping them captive was a brave decision.
"I just have one question." Arn asked him.
"What is it?"
"Why did you scratch 'I am a dumbass who doesn't listen' into your arm and when did you have the time?"
Link tried to turn his arm until he saw the telltale red lines in the side of his forearm. Clearly, written in what looked like chicken scratch, were the words 'I am a dumbass who doesn't listen' in bumpy red scratches in his skin. It seemed it could only be one person-
"Where's my sword?!" Link immediately started searching the cell.
"You didn't have it when we got here." Arn told him. "And if you did, they wouldn't have let you keep it anyway." Arn lifted the bottom of his shirt. "They took the knife I had."
"So they strip searched us." Link concluded.
"Definitely."
Link let his head hit the wall painfully. There was no way he'd have anything sharp on his person now. Disappointed and definitely disgusted, he let out a long sigh. "Fantastic. How often do they pass?"
Arn shrugged. "I'd say every few hours, those torches stay lit for a very long time."
Who's to say it isn't just our perception of time that's warped? Maybe the torches would stay lit for an hour at most, but it simply felt longer due to their imprisonment.
"Do we get any food?"
Arn pointed at a single banana peel that was half buried in the sand near the cell door. "We both get a single banana to share."
Link deadpanned. "How generous."
Inside the box had been a set of keys Zelda recognised in a distant memory.
It reassembled every other bedroom key she'd seen in her life in the castle. Black, glistening, but covered in a thick layer of dust, it remained on a small silver chain at the bottom of that box, but it was something about these keys that were different than most. The wards were complicated, and seemed difficult to make in a mould.
The chain had a set of four keys, something uncommon generally but to Zelda, she was sure of each's purpose.
As a young child, she'd pick the lock on her mother's bedroom door, but only to be refused entry the moment she tried to click the door open. Something kept the queen's door locked and her room away from prying eyes even with the first lock opened. The door would open three inches but it was as though there were multiple locks on the other side, and the window was in a similar fashion.
It wasn't blinds blocking the way in, but a solidly braced wooden window cover that refused to budge even when banged with the back end of a weapon.
Late that evening, Zelda dragged her guard with her along with the set of keys to her mother's old bedroom door and tried the first key. It slid into the lock but didn't turn, so she tried the next, then the one after until the key turned and she heard an initial click.
She pushed the door open, but felt the resistance when it opened three inches in.
A heady mix of dust and rosewood invaded her senses and Zelda stood there for a moment and embraced the comforting smell. She tried to push the door again but it wouldn't budge, but she caught the sound of a chain.
There's an indoor lock? Of course there was. The doorframe was thick and refused to allow Zelda any sight into the room.
"Are there any tunnels that go into my mother's room?" She asked Dame Caya, stationed behind her.
"I am unstudied in terms of the castle's tunnels, Princess." The woman shook her head.
Zelda stepped back and scratched her head. Four keys likely meant four locks, maybe more if some of the locks were identical.
How did maids or anyone come into her room? It's a veritable puzzle to get in there, I can't imagine the maids enjoyed doing this. There had to be a way to enter though. She knew that Link possessed a key to her room in case of emergencies, meaning if his father had a key to the old Queen's room, there had to be a way to quickly enter in the same case scenario. She eyed the keys again. Maybe the windows? That's a crazy idea, who would enter to check on her through a window of all places?!
She scratched the idea away.
"Perhaps there's a secondary key hole?" Dame Caya suggested. "May I?"
Zelda happily dropped the set of keys into the guard's hands. The woman took her hand and lined it along the inside of the door frame a few times, each time slow.
You were eccentric alright. She thought to herself.
"Princess, there's a hole." Dame Caya stepped back and allowed room for Zelda to step in. There was a small keyhole painted black against the black and grey stone and wooden frame.
Zelda took the keys and started the routine again; she went through all four keys before the fourth was able to slide it and click. The chain behind the door made a clanging noise against the wall and the door opened a bit more, this time allowing her some sight within the room. It was dark and dust invaded her nose immediately, but she continued.
Zelda slipped her arm through the door and the frame and fumbled around, trying to feel around for any other hole yet found none.
Who makes a mechanism this complicated to open?! Zelda wanted to momentarily strangle the person who'd decided this was a good idea. She touched the chain and followed it to the wall where it was connected by a small metallic box. She hoped it was a lock. Her hand fumbled around until she found a latch on the side and pulled it open where there was another hole.
Zelda debated with herself if she should even try to open the third lock. Her arm was outstretched far against the wall and her shoulder was against the door. If she fumbled the key and dropped it, it could easily fall out of reach.
If the key fell, then she could always try to keep something in the door while she reached out and threw a stick or something into the room.
She fumbled with the next key and felt around for the next keyhole for a moment before finding it on the side of the box.
Click!
Zelda pulled the key out and put it in her other hand before going back into the room and feeling around.
She felt her hopes dwindle.
The key had only revealed a new puzzle inside the box. Though Zelda couldn't see it, it felt as though there were small cubes and wooden rectangular prisms that slid across a small enclosed area. She felt around and tried to slide one until she realised there were either missing pieces or it was a puzzle she had to do blind.
"I hate you so much." Zelda muttered to the box as she attempted to feel around for any other way to get in.
She felt for the chain and followed it back to the box where she felt a mess of metal coils where the chain was attached. She tugged a bit and tried to slide the chain along the metal coils but found it far too messy to do blind.
How does anyone get in here?!
"I want to give up." Zelda moaned. She let her head rest on the doorframe, her arm still inside the room and yanking on the chain helplessly. "How long has it been?"
Dame Caya pulled out her pocket watch and clicked it open. "Nine minutes and forty-seven seconds." She told her and flashed the dials.
"I've been at this for ten minutes?" She exclaimed incredulously. She looked at the keys in her hand then back at the thick four inch thick door. "What's the purpose of such an elaborate puzzle?!"
The guard shrugged. "I imagine if Her Late Majesty's door was left unguarded, it would take a substantial amount of time to get in, allowing for guards to arrive before they could ever get in."
"I see…"
"Pair it with the fact the Queen's Guard's captain's quarters are meant to be just around the corner, the one to break in would need to be very familiar with the locks layout to get in before anyone else got here." Dame Caya pointed down the hall. The hall's residences were mostly empty now since her mother's passing; there was no use having a captain or the Second In-Command residing here when they didn't have a charge. "Could the Sheikah get in?"
Zelda shook her head. "I've asked Impa in the past if she could get me inside while using her shadows and she said there were wards against Sheikah Magic."
Dame Caya cocked her head curiously. "Why Sheikah Magic if they're meant to protect the Royal Family?"
Zelda remembered that not everyone was knowledgeable about the magic the Sheikah tribes used. "While the Yiga and the Sheikah split thousands of years ago, their magic stems from the same source." She explained simply. "Wards against the Yiga typically also apply to the Sheikah unless there's a latent magical ability stemming from a separate source." Sources like that often came from other races as Hylians weren't typically magically inclined like Princess Mipha's family or Lady Urbosa.
Zelda continued to fidget with the blocks for another few minutes without a clear goal until finally, she gave up.
The chain wasn't showing any sign of giving way, and the block puzzle was far too confusing to handle when she had no idea how to solve it to begin with, and who knows if there was anything else after.
"How long did that take us?" Zelda asked, exasperated. She shut the box's hatch and pulled her arm from the barely-opened doorway momentarily.
Dame Caya looked at her small pocket watch and laughed. "Seventeen minutes and fourteen seconds."
Zelda gawked. Seventeen minutes to crack into her mother's room? "I guess no intruder could get in unless they were familiar with the locks then…" She muttered. As she turned back to face the door, she watched it close by itself and there was a series of small clicks that followed immediately.
"What was that?" Dame Caya asked once the clicks were done.
Zelda shrugged and tried the handle, only to find it locked again.
"Did the door just lock itself again?!" Zelda wanted to throw the keys at the thick door. She instead stuffed them into her pocket and stormed away. "That's it! I'm visiting Purah. Maybe she finally managed to get the Bomb Runes working."
She wouldn't be surprised if a bomb proved to be useless.
One of the first places Zelda went was the laboratory where she found Purah scribbling in a notebook, pencil in one hand and fan in the other. Zelda found it strange, it wasn't that hot today, if anything, it was a bit chillier.
But today, she was alone in the lab. Cherry wasn't there, Robbie was nowhere to be found and it was simply the glowing terminal, the slate on the table, and the scratching against parchment that echoed against the stone walls.
"How can I be of assistance today?" Purah asked without looking up. She continued to furiously write on the page and look between other pages. Typically, Zelda would have found the behaviour to be insulting, but she also recognised that this currently meant that Purah was on a rare thought tangent that mustn't be interrupted. Zelda hated to be interrupted when she had those.
"Link isn't here to help?"
Purah shook her head with a grumble. "He's made it clear to Robbie that he's got plans all week, so our research is on pause for now until everything is resolved." She told her. "And pair it with the fact we still don't know who drugged him the other night, the others are a bit busy with the investigation.
Zelda was surprised. The Sheikah weren't usually the ones investigating those types of things. "Why are the others doing that?"
Purah kept silent for a few more moments before finally sighing and closing her notebook. She pinched the bridge of her nose and reached for the nearby glass of water. "I don't know, something about my sister ordering the investigation."
"I see." At least it was Impa doing it this time.
"I've been having to do all the heavy lifting all morning and I could do with a good nap, you know?" Purah complained. She grabbed one of the hairsticks from the table and scratched under her bun at the back of her head with a force that made Zelda cringe.
"Are you feeling alright?" Zelda attempted. It'd been almost a week since she last saw Purah taking her frustrations out on her hairstick. It reminded her of her behaviour from their desert excursion.
Purah finished scratching her hair and threw the hairstick back on the table. "Me? I'll be fine." She muttered, quite frustrated. She motioned over to a small empty injector on her personal desk. "Just that catching up to me, that's all."
Purah's pre-heat phase is so long… She remembered Link's pre-rut phase had been two days, how in the world was Purah's so much longer? I guess I still have so much to learn. Zelda had sympathy for Purah.
"Why aren't you resting? Or at home?" Zelda inquired curiously.
Purah looked at her surprised. "I have work to do. I can't let this shit get in the way."
Zelda pulled back, surprised at the casual way she swore in her presence. You're not fine. Her self-control had to be slipping, Zelda wondered. "I'm sure it can wait a few days?"
"No, it can't."
"Well, if Link's made it clear he's busy all week and you said it yourself, everything's on pause until he can continue with the slate, then perhaps this is your chance to go home and take care of business. " Zelda suggested strongly. She rolled her aching ankle around a bit to get blood flowing to her foot.
Purah took a heavy inhale and a loud sigh came after. "I'll think about it." Purah shook everything away and took a long sip from her water, along with a small pill. "Right, you came here for something, is there something I can help you with?" she inquired.
Is right now the best time though? Zelda wondered if she should go bother someone else with her suspicions of Link. Who else could help me right now? Everyone else is busy… She could always go to other royal guards, but with her current thought process, this felt like the better plan.
Zelda took a seat on the couch and let the aches of her lower back relieve themselves as she sank into the plush sofa. "Is now a good time?"
"Better than any, I suppose. Sounds like you're worried." Purah commented.
Zelda hesitated before coming right out with it. "Link is acting odd, don't you think?"
Purah shrugged slowly. She glanced up at the ceiling for a few moments as though in thought. "I… suppose…" She spoke slowly. "But I wouldn't say he's terribly different, why?"
"He feels a bit different…" Zelda said. "I know this bond thing is still new to me, but he's been pretty… I don't know how to explain it." She said, she'd never really talked about this subject to anyone else—did others even feel emotions through bonds?
"Try your best."
Zelda tried to put her words together. Was numb a good word to use? Disconnected? Blank page? Receiving nothing?
"He feels… disconnected? I don't know…" Zelda tried to explain it.
"Disconnected?" Purah raised a brow. "Now you really have to explain yourself, Princess."
Zelda wanted to rip her hair out. How to explain a bond when it wasn't words but emotional cues she was feeling, or rather not feeling at the moment. "I usually feel his little tics throughout the day, like I know what he's usually thinking throughout the day-"
"Oh you mean like you feel like the bond isn't working?" Purah asked.
Was 'not working' a good way to put it? It was about as close as she could realistically think. "Maybe? It feels like a dead signal." She explained. Hopefully that made sense. "Maybe a very faint signal, not a dead one." she took back. She wasn't feeling nothing, it just felt like there was the smallest feeling, even if he was next to her.
"A faint signal?" Purah muttered with uncertainty. "That's… a description, I guess."
Zelda felt rage starting to bubble up within her. She wanted to come out and say it with accuracy, but felt as though the words were on the tip of her tongue. "It all started the night Link came back from the pub with Captain Arn. I can't read his thoughts at all!" Zelda raised her voice without meaning to.
"Did Link ever learn bond-blocking?" Purah asked
Zelda leaned forward. "Bond-blocking?! What's that?"
"I'll take that as a no. It's an advanced skill that allows you to block out your partner's thoughts if you're trying to focus on something." Purah briefly explained. "You'd know if he was learning how to do it." She brushed off the idea.
"He was drugged that night, at the pub. Is that interfering with it?" Zelda suggested hopefully. Maybe it was a side-effect of the drug?
Purah shook her head. "As far as I know, no plant or medicine can make such an effect unless you've been knocked unconscious." She explained. "Sometimes distance can make it happen too, but he's here and clearly awake."
Distance? Maybe that's it. But Link has been no further from me this week than the last. Unless… A horrible, itching sensation crawled up her body as she thought of the way Link had been acting recently. Distance dulls the bond, she thought.
"Is it… Is it possible that Link isn't who he says he is? That it isn't Link?" Zelda suggested with heavy hesitation. If Impa had been impersonated before, and other knights as well, what was to say that Link couldn't also have it happen to him? He's acting weird, the horses don't like him, it's possible.
"You think Link isn't who he claims to be?" Purah asked, repeating what Zelda had just told her. "What's got you saying that?"
Zelda stood from the table and began pacing around the Sheikah lab, creating a clear track of footsteps in the rug below. "Epona's in a terrible mood since she saw Link yesterday." One horse is a common occurrence, but Abraxas too? He did try to trample Link yesterday… And Epona was so violent with him too…
Purah blinked and stared at her, unbelieving of what she was hearing. "You're going to trust a horse with this?" She asked incredulously. "Princess, do you hear yourself?"
Zelda whined quietly. "I know, I sound insane."
"You do." Purah told her bluntly. "It's just the pregnancy talking."
"It is not the pregnancy talking!" Zelda snapped. "Fine, if you won't take me seriously, I'll go find someone who will!"
Purah threw herself off her chair and grabbed Zelda's hand before she could leave. "No, I didn't say I didn't believe you, please Princess." Purah pleaded and pulled Zelda back to the chair. "Tell me all of your worries. As Sheikah, it is my duty to investigate these suspicions, even if I'm not a soldier." Purah stressed. "You mentioned a horse, elaborate." She took a seat and readied her pencil into her notebook.
Zelda tried to take a deep breath and shake away any of her more crazed thoughts. "Yesterday, he wanted to go for a ride," she started between breaths. "I know it's normal for Epona to be snappy on bad days, but she kept snapping at Link but he did almost nothing to soothe his mount."
Purah nodded and wrote that down in her notebook. "Link not soothing his mount, do you want to explain more about that? I'm not too knowledgeable on equestrian habits. Sure I have a horse, but can't tell you more about it."
Zelda felt a small lump form in her throat. "Link always carries fruits or treats for the horses in his pocket, and he's always so sweet with Epona and Storm and Abraxas and I've even seen him fall asleep in a stall before with his brushes and-"
"Princess, you're rambling." Purah stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. She put the pencil down and took slow breaths so that Zelda could do the same. "Is there anything else you're noticing?" she asked slowly.
Zelda remained quiet as she tried to breathe slower and carefully. She slowly reached out for a cup of water and drank a bit before shaking her head. "No…" She muttered softly.
"Do you want me to go check?"
Zelda nodded through her sips of water.
"Who's your captain right now?" Purah asked.
"None officially, he's in the process of picking someone but currently, it's Dame Caya and Sir Balar who split the responsibilities."
Purah nodded. "Right, have both of them accompany you and keep your Ladies-in-waiting close—speaking of, where are they?"
Zelda sniffled a bit. "I dismissed them. Their whispering is always grating in my ears, I just don't like it." She said, anger lacing into her tone. "And I hate the thought they could be gossiping about my pregnancy to others."
"Noblewomen are very snakey, I'll give you that." Purah commented dryly. "Alright, hear me out, I'll go check on Link and report back to you. Sounds good?"
Before Zelda agreed, she glanced at the injector on the table. "Are you in any state to be approaching random alphas at all?"
Purah laughed. "If you're truly bonded, he'll be able to tell, but he won't react. If he does, he's either the most sensitive man on this continent, or unbonded."
Fascinating. "Do it please." Zelda pleaded gratefully.