Seven
“So, you don’t know what’s happened to Malon.”
It was a mistake to come here. Zelda had been so shaken, trying to deal with all the strangeness they’d encountered, that they’d nearly walked past Talon’s ranch before she’d remembered it was there. It had seemed like the perfect idea to meet with him, with how often Malon visited her father. Talon would have to have news.
He had news. Important news, but Zelda wasn’t sure it was worth the cost of having to tell him all that she didn’t know. It had taken some time for Talon to even believe that the Sheikah boy standing before him was really Zelda, and when she’d heard her own deep, rough voice answering his questions she hadn’t quite believed it herself. Impa and the others had waited outside, knowing this meeting would be difficult enough as it was without them.
“The Chaos Glass seem to cause no physical harm. Even if Malon had been standing right next to it, there’s no reason to think it would hurt her more, or harm her at all.”
No reason to think it wouldn’t, either. No reason behind any of this, wasn’t that the entire point?
Talon’s home had seemingly been spared from most of the magic, except that half of his herd had shrunken, tiny llamas Zelda could hold in her hand. He’d moved the tiny animals to a small area in the center of his table, fenced in by a wall of books and kitchen utensils.
“Link wasn’t with her?”
“Malon rode Epona in. She said he’d been hurt, trying to complete a quest. I can only assume it was searching for this Glass you mentioned.”
Zelda raised a hand to her mouth, remembering what Impa had said about battles and blood trails. “She didn’t say where she’d left him, or how he was?”
If Link had given her Epona, if he had sent Malon into danger it could only have been dire. He was alive, but badly wounded and perhaps even alone? Malon wouldn’t have left him alone, would she?
//If Link told her she had to, she would have listened to him.// He could do that sort of thing, with those stupid earnest eyes of his. Convince them to let him take all kinds of risks. Convince them that his life was worth keeping the Triforce out of Ganon’s hands, when as princess, Zelda knew that was only her sacrifice to bear.
“No. She was too worried about getting to the lake.” Talon’s face worked against the strain of his own emotions, staring at a place on the floor, and the tension building in the air left Zelda clenching her hands against her legs and wishing for something, anything to say.
“So there’s a chance... that Ganon found my daughter.”
Zelda shut her eyes, the crack of pain in his voice nearly more than she could bear. It had been difficult for her to form alliances, after Ganon had so mercilessly destroyed the Sages’ brotherhood. Never a lack of brave heroes willing to fight, but Zelda was still sickened by the thought of losing them, of sacrificing even those who would gladly give up their lives for a free Hyrule.
It was too easy to think of Malon’s smile, the proud, determined look in her eyes before a fight, or the wistful yearning there when she spoke of her mother.
... and then she had to open her eyes, and see Talon staring back at her. Blaming her, though he would never really blame her, despising her even as he swore his life and loyalty to her name.
“We’re going there now, to where the Glass was kept. I will find out what happened, and where Malon might be. There’s a good chance Ruto was up in that area as well, and I know she would never let anything happen to her friends.” Somehow, Zelda managed a comforting smile. “We don’t know what’s happened yet, or where Ganon might be. We have to have faith, and trust in Malon.”
It wasn’t much, but she’d seen too much devastation to offer him anything more, and the words would have all been empty anyway. Talon nodded, invisible weights tied to his hands and feet as he slowly rose from the chair, keeping his back toward her as he moved to the fire. Once, she would have had better words to comfort and console – or perhaps he would have just worked harder to convince her she’d made a difference. Zelda sighed, hand clenching against the tabletop, and it was very hard to find the strength to get to her feet. The parts of her not weighted down with fear for Malon were frozen from what he’d said about Link. Where was he now? Was he safe? How badly had he been injured, and who was taking care of him?
She glanced back once, but the sight of Talon motionless in front of the fire, silent and still as stone, was too much to bear, and she quickly looked away.
“I do not blame you, princess. My daughter lives her own life. It would be an insult to say she didn’t do exactly as she wished.”
Zelda nodded, though she couldn’t manage more than a soft sound in reply. Malon was her friend too, and one of their best allies. Zelda hated the sick, helpless feeling that swept over her even more than she despised Ganon. How dare he make her feel that way? How dare he make a nightmare of her land, and a misery of her people?
It was late, pitch black outside past the slight nimbus of light from the doorway, and even that disappeared as she shut the door behind her. She should have been exhausted, but already knew sleep wouldn’t come. Talon’s home seemed safe enough, but she didn’t know if she could bear to stay there. To think that he was watching her, that every time he looked at her he was thinking of all that had gone wrong, all the ways she had failed as the steward of Hyrule.
At least the constellations hadn’t changed, even the power of the Glass unable to reach so high. Zelda smiled a little as she looked up, picking out the same familiar shapes she had studied with her father on so many peaceful nights. With Link as well, bundled together in the crook of an obliging tree, explaining how the three stars of Farore’s robe entwined with the span of Din’s outstretched arm – until he’d told her that in Kokiri forest, they’d always thought that group of stars was a giant fish.
A soft sound made her turn, and Zelda’s eyes widened, recognizing the profile even though most of the man stood in shadow, beneath the last tree that separated the edge of the forest from the house. For a moment, she wondered if her thoughts had called him, if he’d understood how afraid she was for him, how she did not want to live if he couldn’t be at her side.
“Link!” She took a step forward. He did not move, or answer.
“Highness.”
Impa’s voice was soft, right behind her, but Zelda had already frozen, relief twisting into a growing dread even before the figure moved out of the shadows and she withdrew the step she had taken. Reverse-image, monochrome sharp and so very pale, the creature wore a smile she had never seen on anyone she could call a friend. Link, but not the one she knew, and he turned the back of his hand up to show her, proudly, that there was no Triforce there.
Link had never spoken much about the battle against his dark half, the monster Ganon had created that shared his face. Zelda knew it had bothered him deeply, on some level beyond even the most difficult of fights, having to destroy an evil that shared his shape. Some of it was obvious to her now, staring at eyes that were nearly the same, a mouth that looked like the one she had kissed before, and yet the cold it struck in her was nearly unbearable, the wrongness in him rubbing on emotions already raw with worry.
The grin sharpened, his eyes glinting like sun on steel. Zelda’s hands flexed around her knives, and she wondered just when she’d pulled them.
“I know what you are.”
“You have the advantage, then.” His voice was cool and full of snakes, and Zelda bit her lip at the chill that ran up her spine. From the corner of her eye she saw the slightest hint of movement along the wall of the house – the Sheikah had also noticed the threat, and were waiting for the shadow to make it’s move. Dark Link’s eyes flicked from side to side – just once, but she knew he had seen them too.
“I see your servants have enjoyed a rise in power, along with yourself, Princess. Or should I not call you princess anymore? So much has changed in such a short time, it’s hard to be polite.”
Zelda refused to wince at the soft chuckle, focusing on her balance, the places she should strike – he would move fast, Link had said the shadow was every bit as skilled as he was. She wished she had sparred with him more often, trying to remember anything she could use to her advantage.
“What do you want?”
“Your blood on my hands, of course. Perhaps my blade through your heart. I’ve already killed Link, although that wasn’t much of a challenge.” She couldn’t stop the gasp, and his smirk was pure poison. “You didn’t know? I found him, collapsed and wounded – helpless, really. I think I actually did him a favor, he wasn’t looking very good at all.”
“You’re lying.” Malon would have found a safe place, no matter what the hurry, and Zelda was angry with herself for believing him, even for a moment, as he let out a long, high and breathless laugh.
“Yes. Yes, I am lying. I haven’t seen any sign of my lesser half, although if he’s changed at all like you have I’m not sure I’d recognize him now.”
“I’m going to destroy you, monster.”
Before Link could see, before he even had to know that his shadow self had returned. The dark creature took a step out from the shadow, and she could see now that his eyes were red, not the color of metal at all, although there was nothing in them but the will to violence, and destruction. One of the Sheikah was growling.
“I’d be a fool not to catch you by surprise, princess, with your bodyguard so painfully attendant. But I’ll be watching and waiting – and when you feel the dagger in your back, that will be me.”
He threw up two fingers, pantomiming a salute, and melted back into the shadows, and she knew when he was gone. Zelda forced herself to relax, slowly sheathing her knives as the Sheikah sniffed around the place he had vanished from.
“He’s been following us, but he made his presence known, his intent, and yet did not attack?”
Zelda wasn’t surprised, that Impa didn’t understand. She was a warrior, a woman of honor and courage, as far away from the creature they’d just seen as anyone could be.
“It wouldn’t be as much fun to kill me, if I didn’t know he was trying.” Zelda said, amazed how steadily the words came out. “It’s a game, and he’s already on the side that’s winning. I suppose it’s only enjoyable if he gives himself a handicap.” Shaking off the thought, Zelda turned fully toward her nurse and bodyguard, and the Sheikah behind her.
“It isn’t safe to stay here, it puts Talon in too much danger. Keep your guard up, for all I know we’ll be attacked before morning.” Zelda adjusted her face scarf, determination rising, though it did not overpower the fear.
“We need to find Link before that shadow does.”
------------------------
It was a very strange land he found himself in, a sort of patchwork place, where even no two streets seemed the same. He had finally found a city, though it was still early enough in the morning that the streets were empty. He looked down, the tiles on the path beneath his feet shifting themselves into a new position, settling down as he walked across them, and he could hear the tinkling sound as they continued moving in his wake. Odd.
He passed a row of houses that were all upside down, seemingly unconcerned with the way they had been balanced on the points of their roofs. Just how did one build a house like that, and who would live there?
“Let me go!”
A shriek, and the sound of scuffling. He moved further down the street, turning the corner to see a woman struggling in the grip of two much larger beasts - soldiers with the faces of pigs? A bushel of apples was strewn on the ground around them, the remains of the basket beneath one of the creature’s hooves.
“I can’t give you these! Please, I can’t! We don’t have any food ourselves!” Heedless of the woman’s desperate pleas, the soldier drew his fist back – iron-knuckled and as big as her head.
“Stop!”
He hadn’t meant to shout, couldn’t help it, amazed then when all three of them stopped, caught for a moment in a frozen tableaux of astonishment. It lasted the span of a heartbeat, before the pig-soldiers let go of the woman, dropping to one knee at his feet.
Heart pounding, and obviously more confused than they were about who he was, the only thing he could think to do was continue the charade.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“She was hoarding food, Lord Ganon.” It was difficult to understand the creature, though one word came through clear. Ganon. All right, so at least now he had a name.
“Is this true?” The woman was gingerly clutching the wrist one of the soldiers had been holding, dress ripped, her face soaked with tears, new ones falling from her eyes, watching him in mute horror. As terrified of him as she was of the guards, and he was filled with a sickening dread, that he would have to find out why.
“It is, lord!”
“Did I ask you?” The words seemed appropriate, though he was shocked at how viciously he spoke, a forgotten impulse, or memory? Even if he didn’t like it, it seemed to be the right reaction, the soldiers going silent and still with fear.
Ganon. He didn’t like the sound of it.
“You have a job to do, and it isn’t roughing up passerby for apples.” He put as much disgust as he could into his tone, watched them cringe. “You are dismissed, don’t let me see you back here again.”
“Yes, lord!” They spoke as one, saluting him before quickly disappearing down a side street. Ganon let out a slight huff of relief, turning to the woman who remained.
“Are you all right?”
Two trembling breaths, and she screamed. He had seen his reflection in the pools of water he’d drank from as he walked. He was not exactly human, not quite like her, but there was nothing inherent in his roughened features that should have inspired such terror.
The soldiers had listened to him, and that was the likely reason.
“Please, don’t-” He was amazed she hadn’t awakened the entire town, and took a step closer, hoping he could calm her down. Instead, it seemed to jolt her out of her frozen panic, she turned and bolted, quickly disappearing down a side street. He was half tempted to turn and go the way he had come, but his feet were aching badly and his stomach rumbled as he stared at the apples on the ground.
With a sigh, Ganon shuffled forward, slowly reaching for one of the apples, biting in only to spit it out a moment later, staring at the inside in amazement.
Chocolate pudding.
With a sigh, he dropped it on the ground. An apple would have been somewhat filling, but dessert alone was useless. Every step he took ached more than the first, he just needed a warm place out of the wind, maybe some bread or soup or even a real apple or two. Bracing himself for what might come, he opened the door of the nearest tavern, ducking inside.
It was quiet, one man behind the bar obviously shuffling through his early morning rounds, looking up as Ganon shut the door behind him. Of course he froze, back pressed against the wall behind him, incomprehension and so much fear carved into his expression.
“I would like some food.”
He bit back the ‘please’, to play this role, though it felt wrong to do it. He sat down before the man could stop him, easing the backs of his shoes off his feet. At that moment, Ganon realized he had no way to pay for the meal, although he doubted the man would actually ask for money. After a few moments, and the sound of pots and spoons clanking in the back, a shaking hand carefully placed a steaming bowl of stew in front of him.
Ganon hesitated for only a moment, before his stomach determined that even the threat of poison wasn’t a good reason not to eat. A first taste detected no strange flavors, though he nearly burnt his tongue, reaching for the goblet the man had also brought. A simple stew, and only water in the cup, but Ganon sighed happily as the warmth of it spread through his whole body. He ate quickly, not wanting to stay here long, hoping no one else would come, that he wouldn’t have to see another face frozen in fear.
//What am I? Why did those soldiers listen to me? Why is everyone so afraid?//
Some sort of invader, perhaps, if he didn’t look anything like the rest of these people – but he hadn’t looked anything like the soldiers, either. He rubbed a hand against his head, scraping the bottom of the bowl with the wooden spoon. He couldn’t ask anyone for help without revealing the true scope of his ignorance – helplessness, really. Maybe these people wouldn’t even help him, afraid he was trying to trick them, or trap them. Playing the role they expected might be the only armor he had.
//What kind of a monster am I?//
“Excuse me, I...” Ganon looked up, but the man was already gone, hiding in the back part of the kitchen as soon as he’d set the bowl down. Apparently not destroying this man’s kitchen or hurting him was going to be payment enough.
“... thank you.” He murmured, and walked to the door.
The inside of the tavern had been surprisingly normal, nothing too out of place, though he hadn’t been sure the fish mounted on the wall wasn’t twitching. It was difficult to go back outside, but he wanted to get out of this town before everyone was awake and something worse than screaming might occur.
Unfortunately, he was too late. Ganon made it to the end of the street before he was spotted, turning at the corner at a sharp shout. The mob moving toward him was lacking torches only because it was still daylight – he even swore he saw a pitchfork in the mix of clenched hands and angry expressions – feathers and tails - though it seemed these people had once been human, not the same as the soldiers he’d encountered before. Transformed? How? Was it his fault, was that why they were so angry?
“So, it’s true that you’ve lost your power then.” The spokesman for the group was a centaur, one front hoof pawing at the ground as he spoke, staring at Ganon without a hint of mercy or even interest in his voice. The crowd had stopped when he did, only two or three storefronts separating them now, the mob still too afraid to push further – at least until the order was given.
He tried to raise his hands in a placating gesture. “I’m not... whoever you think I am, this Ganon person – I’m not him. I don’t remember anything. I don’t even know why you hate me. Please, I don’t know what’s going on.”
The crowd was awash with angry whispers, and the only word he could make out, repeated over and over, was ‘liar’.
“You have the mark of Power.” The centaur gestured to the cluster of triangles on the back of his hand. He’d wondered what it was, and it seemed like he was still the only person who didn’t know.
“Only Ganon has carried the mark of Power, and he used it to destroy this land, and make everyone in it his servant. We have not fought back, because we knew there was no chance of victory. Not against the all-powerful Ganondorf.”
Scorn and fury in that voice, and Ganon took a slow step back as the villagers inched forward, goaded to action by their leader’s tone.
“I’m not...” He rubbed at the mark on the back of his hand, stupidly hoping it might disappear. “Even if I have this thing, I don’t know what it means. I don’t want to hurt anybody. Please... I don’t even know who I am.”
He thought he saw a moment of compassion in the centaur’s eyes, hesitation – but it vanished all too soon, and he knew it was too late to try and change their minds.
“If you truly are innocent, I am sorry. However, if you knew of us and our position, you would know why we can’t take the chance.”
The mob surged forward. Ganon turned, and ran.