Chapter Six
“So you have no clue who could have done this?” asked the King.
“Honestly, Your Majesty!” cried Link. “I keep on telling you this! I have no clue who took it! The guards told me that all of the sudden they heard crashing noises, and when they got to my rooms, it was as it is now. It’s destroyed and the book is missing!”
“I’m sorry, Link. It’s just that I can’t understand how no one saw anyone sneaking into your rooms. It couldn’t have been a crazy stalker from the ball, could it?”
“No.” Link shook his head. “They would not have gone for an old, decrepit book on my desk. They would have gone for my tunic or my sword.”
“Liam, did you notice anything peculiar last night?”
Liam was sitting quietly in the chair next to Link. He had been acting strangely all day. “Oh, uh, no, Your Majesty. I know what you know.” Link thought it was a little odd that the Captain of the Guard knew very little about the incident.
“I did hear about something else, Your Majesty,” supplied Link. “Some of the guards who were close to my rooms said they heard the murmurs.” The King grew very silent. The murmurs were the noises that people had been hearing lately. It was odd that they had been heard near Link’s rooms.
“That settles it,” announced the King. “Whatever’s making those noises is causing the trouble. Tonight, we post guards outside of Link’s quarters.”
The meeting was over. Link wanted to go to the library to get some more prophecy. He definitely wanted to find out what had destroyed his rooms last night. Even though the most important things, like his weapons, hadn’t been touched, his clothes were ruined, all of his precious items had been blown to bits, and, most importantly, his books had been reduced to dust. Link was not a bookworm, but he had a collection of his favorite books that he read over and over again. Some of them were valuable, although all were replaceable. However, the cost to cover all of the damage, aside from all of his whatnots, was enormous.
First, though, he needed to clear something up. As they left, Link pulled Liam aside. “Okay,” he said. “Tell me why the Captain of the Guard knows less about what happened last night than his own men.”
“I’m sorry, Link,” sighed Liam, “I would have helped, but it was so weird…”
“What?”
“The girl, Butterfly. One look at her, and…it was like magic, I swear to Nayru.”
“Yeah, her friend noticed her dancing with you and got kind of upset.”
“You talked to her friend?”
“I danced with her friend. Her nickname’s Fairy.”
“Oh. Well, I can’t really explain what happened, but one moment, I’m looking, naturally, for something to eat, and then my eye sweeps the crowd and just stops. Right on Butterfly.” His face got distant for a moment before coming back to earth. “Oh, I could see you half-hiding. Nice work, I almost missed you.”
“Thanks. Go on.”
“Well, I just kind of looked at her until she walked over. I could tell she was as confused as I was.”
“And then you asked her to dance?”
“Uh, no.” He blushed. “We just started dancing. Not one word to each other. It was so weird.” He looked to Link for reassurance. “Link, I’m going crazy, aren’t I?”
“No, not yet. I have a question to ask you. It’s kind of weird, so don’t get scared and run off or anything.” Liam laughed, and Link could see his friend slowly returning to normal. What was up with him? He was normally just like Link. “Did you feel anything in your chest when you saw her? Sort of like a snap?”
Liam looked thoughtful. “Actually, I did. So you think it means something?”
“I have no clue. I have to go now. I want to find out who killed my room so I can slap them upside the head. Do you want to come?”
“Sorry, I’m in major trouble.”
“What do you mean? The King’s not mad at you, is he?”
“No, I sort of accidentally, on purpose sent Zelda a weight-loss brochure. I’ll see you later.” He started to walk off.
“Not if Zelda finds you first. Then, I’ll see your head, but you won’t be too lively.”
“Ha, ha, ha…” Liam walked around the corner and out of sight.
Link was confused. Liam had felt the same feeling when he saw Butterfly as Link did when he saw Fairy, but he and Fairy acted normally. They didn’t just take one look at each other and start dancing. Link hated when things like this happened.
As he was walking to the library, Zelda came marching around a corner. “Oh, good morning, Link,” she said. Her voice sounded pleasant, but what she said next didn’t. “Oh, can I ask you a couple questions?”
“Sure. What is it?”
“First, do you know where the torture devices are? I’ve looked everywhere for them, except the dungeons, but Father says they aren’t there.”
“He’s lying. They’re in the second dungeon in the closet with the poe engraved on it.”
“Oh, thank you.” Her face became very evil. “And, I have one more question. Do you know where Liam is? I’ve been looking everywhere for him, too.” She grinned.
Link was lucky this time. Last time Zelda had pulled a trick on Liam, Link had told her where to find him because he didn’t know what she was planning. Now, he had a pretty good idea. “Yeah, I know where he is.”
“Well, where?”
“He’s hiding from you.”
Zelda smiled and shook her head. “You know about this one then, right?”
“Yeah. Don’t get upset. He was kidding. If you lost any more weight, I wouldn’t be able to see you…”
“That’s sweet of you to say that, Link.”
“…which wouldn’t be such an awful thing,” Link finished.
“Oh, ha, ha, ha,” growled Zelda. She sighed. “So, whatcha up to?”
“I’m on my way to the library right now. The only thing taken from my rooms was that ancient prophecy.”
Zelda nodded. “That one. I know. Do you think it was what has been causing all of the strange things around here?”
“It has to be. The guards heard the murmurs.”
Zelda’s eyes widened. “That’s serious. Did you even find anything in the old book?”
“Not really.” Link suddenly remembered something. “Wait! Come on, follow me!” He grabbed her hand and they both raced to the remains of his rooms.
Once they were there, Zelda asked, “What is it?”
“Well, I took some notes on things that were interesting,” Link replied. “Now, I have no clue if they’ll be helpful or not, or if they’re still here.” He began to rummage through the rubble. “You never know, though. They key to it all could very well be here.” Zelda began to search as well. Finally, Link found the sheets of paper under some torn drapery. “Here we go,” he said, and began to read them.
…She who holds the key can be found in Hyrule…Only one can open the door to the Triforce…The moon will show its face…The Evil One will ride again…The mirror of the Hero of Time…The key will be in disguise…To get what he wants, he must travel to Hyrule…The Triforce is found within…The key to it all will be protected…He seeks the Princess…
Link had taken it all in note form, and none of it was in any particular order.
“Is this all?” asked Zelda. “It is a huge book.”
“I barely got through any of it. Besides, I took down parts with certain words. See, the first note says ‘Hyrule,’ and so does the one about getting what he wants. The ‘key’ in that sentence was in other ones, too, so I took them down. The last one seems to be saying that you’re in some sort of danger.” He paused. “You wouldn’t happen to have any keys would you?”
“Link, I don’t think it’s about me,” retorted Zelda. “I have no clue what it’s talking about.” She was turning red, and she looked angry. “Listen, I don’t think you were really trying when you took down these notes! They are completely random! What do dead birds and murmurs have to do with keys? You were supposed to be looking up those things!”
“Listen, I’m sorry! It’s not easy to read that stuff, especially when your dad is making me do ridiculous little tasks every five minutes!”
“Don’t say that about my father!”
“It’s true! I didn’t get any sleep for days because of his meaningless tasks and this stupid prophecy!”
“This is just like you, Link! Blaming it on everyone else! No one made you become a Hero, okay? Don’t go blaming everyone else when you have to do your job!”
“Since when do I blame everyone for my job? I don’t blame them, I save them.”
“That’s what I mean! You have to save them! You make it sound like it’s their fault!”
“Zelda, stop it! I am not complaining about my job!”
“Oh, I’m sorry! What were you complaining about then?”
“The jobs that aren’t mine that I have to do anyways!”
“Link, I can’t believe I ever respected you!”
“What are you talking about?”
“You are such a little bastard. You know, it’s a good thing that your parents never knew you. They would be ashamed.”
“Shut up!” roared Link. “Just get out of my room!”
“Excuse me, Link.” She said his name as if she had a bad taste in her mouth. “You only live here because of your job. This is my real home. After these stupid balls are through, you are going back to Kokiri. You don’t deserve to live here.”
“Get out!”
“I don’t have to if I don’t want to. This is my house. However, I’m leaving because I can’t stand to talk to you.” She turned to leave. Link was bright red with rage. Any more of this and…
“Oh, and by the way, Link, I hereby order you to stay out of the library. We can't have you losing any more of our valuable texts.” She shut the door in his face.
Link could not believe what just happened. A few minutes ago, they had been best friends, but suddenly, he was the bad guy because (according to Zelda) he insulted the King, blamed others about his job, he had lost a valuable prophecy, and he hadn’t taken good notes. Steaming with rage, he went to sit on his bed to calm down, but then it hit him. He had no bed because it had been blown to bits.
It was too much. Link kicked open his door and marched down the corridor. This time, his boots were not silent at all. He wanted everyone to hear him and know his anger. He reached the door and opened it roughly. Then he stood, breathing heavily, fuming with wrath.
“What in the name of Din is wrong?” asked Liam.
Link began to say something, but he was so angry he couldn’t talk. Liam could tell the reason for his brother’s silence, and began the remedy for “silence by anger.” He pushed Link into a chair, got some cold water in a mug, forced it down Link’s throat, slapped him across his right cheek, applied ice to the mark, opened a window for approximately one minute, closed it, took the ice away from Link, and pulled up a chair. “So, what happened?” he asked.
“Zelda and I went to my rooms because I remembered that I had some notes that I took from the prophecy that was stolen.” Link sounded winded, and his voice was cracking. “I showed them to her, and she got mad at me because she thought the notes were useless. Then I told her that I had tried, but the text is difficult and the King was making me do stupid tasks. She got flaming mad at me and yelled at me for insulting her dad, complaining about my job, and taking bad notes. She…she…” He stopped and looked at the floor.
“What did she do?”
Link sighed. “She said that it was a good thing my parents never knew me because they’d be ashamed of me.” Liam could tell Link was on the verge of tears. Link had always been sensitive about never knowing his parents, so this remark really hurt.
“Stay here,” said Liam. He left the room, but he didn’t return for an hour. Link sat in his chair looking around. He wouldn’t have left even if Liam hadn’t told him to. Because his rooms were uninhabitable, he was staying in Liam’s rooms. Right now, there was nowhere else to go at all. Link eventually became tired of waiting, so he made another copy of the notes. He had practically memorized them.
Liam returned, his face set like stone. “It’s alright, Link. You’re all set now. You’d better eat dinner, it’s almost seven o’clock, and we have to start getting ready soon so we don’t have to rush at nine-thirty.”
“What did you do,” asked Link suspiciously.
“I had a little chat with Zelda’s pappy. Let’s just say that her father isn’t too happy with her behavior.” Link smiled at his friend’s choice of words. “Anyways, she couldn’t get rid of you even if she really wanted to. I have a feeling that she’s upset about something right now, and your notes weren’t what she really wanted.”
“So I can stay?”
“No, Link. We’re going to kick you out because you are completely useless. Of course you’re staying! The King even told me that if you tried to leave, the guards have permission to drag you back in chains.”
That was reassuring. Link smiled a little and got up. The ball was still tonight, and he needed to get ready to face it again. This time, though, he couldn’t just hang out with Fairy. He’d have to meet some more ladies. The King had scolded him for really only becoming acquainted with one girl. “You’re supposed to be meeting everyone to choose a bride!” the King had said. “Your one true love could be standing right next to you, but you never even meet her because you met this other girl first!” The King had a point, but how was he supposed to explain this (in any way) to Fairy without her suspecting?