CHAPTER THREE

We lazed in Hyrule Field’s deep grass, watching the clouds.

I twisted a long white flower’s stem in my fingers, examining the petals vigilantly, and lightly brushing off any minute specks of dust that I found there. It had to be perfect.

Just like her.

“Father is urging me again to wed Jack…” Emma said, in the whispered, angelic tone that was her typical pitch.

For me, it would only have been relatively above a murmur.

“Oh?” I said, still examining.

Jack Osmont was a seventeen-year-old rival merchant’s son, black hair, blue eyes, whom relentlessly harassed her, and sought to marry her anyhow. He was ecstatic when David offered his daughter’s hand.

They were, after all, of the same social status, her father reasoned.  This way, there would be no lower-class peasant marriages, and perish the thought of any upper-class marriages…

I smirked.

“Yes…” Emma answered me, and she found this next part particularly difficult to say – she found it thorny to be rebellious, period. “On one hand, my father is right…we are of the same class. On the other…well…I don’t love him at all, Sheik. Honest, I don’t.”

I turned my head to look at her, “Then forget about him.”

“I…I just can’t…” she said frustratedly. “I cannot. What if I disappoint everyone? I will then have no one but myself to blame…”

I flicked at a few new specks.

“Take it from someone who is used to it, Em’. People are going to be disappointed in you. That’s life. You can’t please everyone. But you can most certainly please yourself, and that…is what I want you to do, alright?”

Emma smiled earnestly at me. “Alright.”

She then looked away, back up into the powder-blue atmosphere, admiring a cloud that was shaped rather like an acorn.

She traced it with one index finger.

“You’re an amazing person, Sheik.”

She had been soundless for a while, so this startled me.

“Really?” I inquired, though by now I knew the response:

“Yes. You aren’t like most men.”

“The totalitarian oppressors have themselves an oddball,” I confessed, while finalizing my search.

I believed the flower to be ready.

“Some queen is going to be mad about that oddball one day,” she sighed, and was then startled when I put the daisy in her hair. I sat up, and turned to look at her, grinning as I stared into her russet eyes.

“You look like royalty to me.” 

* * * * * *

The chain turned an attractive golden-brown.

But mostly it was just brown.

It was no longer smooth, immaculate, and icy, as it had once been.

No…now, it was just repulsive, coarse, and tepid, three sheets to the storm, all the way up to the bind which fixed it into the wall. I gripped it tightly in both hands, scheduling to wash them thoroughly later, and Destiny smiled, calmed and thankful, as I snapped it swiftly in half like a stick. She snapped the bracelet on her arm in much the same manner, standing and stretching for the first time in perhaps ages…half a year?

Holy hell…

Now there was just the problem of Demon and the Hairball.           

What to do with them?

To be honest…for the second time…I hadn’t any ideas at all.           

It was time for Destiny Williams to work her own form of magic.

A loud grunt and a variant of a roar were heard, compliments of two of Zeppelin’s…whatever they were…from her native land, Somalia.

What? Did you think she was from here?

A wall of sand-carpeted stone taller than I in the wake of the Spirit Temple, at the far-flung end of the Desert Colossus…it alienated us. The Somalians feared us – despised us, because we were far less primordial, and thus far more authoritative, than themselves.

Not Zeppelin, however…

Zeppelin wasn’t afraid of anything.

But she did despise us…there was no getting around that…           

One of them, whom I’d dubbed Hairball – naturally because of its thick fur and the comment earlier – had to have stood at least twenty feet tall, with minuscule, curled pig’s ears, a pig’s snout (only far larger and longer, accompanied by integrated fangs, or so was the story of the shadow it cast by light of the dim hallway torch).

Its extended lion’s tail swept the floor as it paced about impatiently.

It let elsewhere another deafening roar – actually, a cross between a roar and a squeal – and the other creature snapped at it.           

With any luck, aiming to silence it.

Good little mutant.

The other…was a thirty-or-so-foot-tall black bipedal dragon, with a wingspan twofold its height, although they were now collapsed firmly against its back for the lack of range. This was ‘Demon’.           

“Alright,” I said, leaning backwards against the wall, while I prepared myself to watch the fireworks. “Your turn.”

“I don’t have any weapons,” she stated simply.

Fireworks – thou art dead. Damn.

“Do you really need those?” I asked her.

“Yes,” she replied with a nod. “I really do.”

“Here’s a better plan, then – run.”

“Oh…” she smirked. “Another thing you’re an expert at?”           

“Shut it, Destiny, just shut it.”

And then Destiny laughed.

* * * * * *

October 12th, 1313. Sometime around noon – although, with the sky as dark and cloud-ridden as it was, you would scarcely realize it wasn’t seven in the evening – the rain began coming down in torrents, making the deserted market a slick, risky place to be, and the road to and from the castle even riskier.

* * * * * *

Is this a nightmare?’ I wanted to ask her mother, while she stood outside their family’s shop door, wrapped in a thick black shawl, and weeping at the sight of her dead youngest.

I knew the question would have been pointless.

I was conscious, this really was happening…

“What happened?” I settled for, tears hazing my eyesight.

She scarcely said a word to me after that…

When she did speak, it was to tell me that it was all, entirely, my fault; the young man that her daughter been so stubbornly insistent on pleasing by showing up that night.

If it had not been for me, asking her so many times, pleading with her…maybe…just maybe…

* * * * * *

Avoiding a number of mud vats…the ones that Destiny fell short of shoving me into, anyway…she seemed to think this was hilarious, what with me being so painstaking about it…we made it to the streets.

* * * * * *

She left the house against all wishes at five, and her mother went to the downstairs quarters, retrieving a book from a shelf in order to calm her nerves – Emma was impossible, and I was a terrible influence.

Not more than ten minutes later…she heard an explosion.

The ceiling rattled, but settled into place, and the alleyway was briefly illuminated.

* * * * * *

Emma, sitting on the rim of the well in the market’s center, looked up at me, although rather dejectedly; it never seemed to get through her head that Destiny and I were not…well…together.

Yuck.

* * * * * *

Dropping the book to the floor like a rapidly incinerating stick, after waiting and looking around, bewildered, she ran outside to find out what was the cause of all of it. By light of a lantern, she discovered Emma lying there, beside her favorite haunt in the market, possibly the world – bleeding to death from multiple wounds, and no one could figure out what or where they had originated from. No one had the time.

* * * * * *

“I’m sure to regret this later,” she told me, allowing the drops to fall randomly onto her face – indeed, she looked rather like a wet dog at the moment – “But you’re right – it feels wonderful. It’s so liberating.” 

I gave a soft smile, walking towards her, “Yes…but Em’-”

Destiny walked around in random directions, on polished stone and through building rainwater caught in the gaps. She came to stop in front of Emma, just as I had, and stared at her looking incensed.

…Would someone care to fill me in on her problem?

“-When I was talking about standing in the rain…” I continued, “…I didn’t mean standing under a waterfall…”

“Oh, what does it-?”

Lightheartedly, she had started to respond, but never ended up getting the chance to, startled and screaming as Destiny thrust her backwards into the well’s mysterious, deep chasm.

I leaned over the rim, staring into it – nothing…absolutely nothing.

Not even water.

There came a small splash, hardly amounting to anything when you compared it to the full capacity; perhaps just enough to drench the nearby walls, as Emma undoubtedly arrived at the base. Fleetingly, she screamed again, and then she moaned softly……

“Emma?” I called. “Emma, don’t worry. You’ll be out of there soon, I promise, just as soon as I massacre her!”

“Okay.”

I was not certain if that was her speaking, or simply the wind.

                                     * * * * * *

Destiny stared at me, attempting to maintain a straight face, and whatever it was that she was thinking about as she did so made that a living nightmare. A smile kept tugging at her lips, and she kept biting it.

Did I even want to know?

I stared back at her, “Are we quite done admiring yet?”

She dismissed all efforts to hold back the grin.

“Why yes we are, bait.”

I blinked several times, “Pardon?”

                                    * * * * * *

“What the hell was that!” I demanded, rounding on Destiny.

She shrugged and looked away, “Boredom.”

“Well, goddesses-” I just about saw red. “You’re bored pretty damned often then, aren’t you?!”

“You could say that.”

“Get out of my sight!”

She smiled, “And why should I? What can you do to me?”

“Keep this up until my coronation,” I replied. “Find out.”

My eyes were as hard as frozen winter ground, almost silently daring her to challenge me again.

Akin to Raulin in her case, she just didn’t have the audacity.

Her smile faded, “Very well then. I shall see you at dinner.”

Rotating about-face, with her hair now nearly the shade of fresh ink, and her tunic, boots, and leggings drenched, she strode away, as smooth and composed as her tone.

She didn’t make an effort to shirk the mire…and you know what?

Never once did she lose her footing.

Never once.

I unclenched my left hand from its fist, descending the dangerously wet stepladder, and praying that Emma was alright.                       

                                          * * * * * *

“Well, what do you think I mean?” she said. “If we just…dashed out there, Demon would sauté us both. We need a distraction. And since you’re expendable–”

“An admirable statement about the person who is saving your life!”

“What I mean is–”

“What you mean is,” I finished the sentence for her. “‘Why risk myself when I have a mortal standing right next to me?’”

“Sheik, you know that isn’t–”

“No, Destiny. That’s exactly what you were going for.”

She was silent for a blissful moment, and hence was I.

Any one word…any at all…could be the ember that lit the bomb.

Following said moment, tranquilly and silently Destiny walked out of the cell. Her inmates were in a chaotic uproar, shouting and threatening, but with the air of someone passing a caged barking dog, she paid them no heed whatsoever, approaching Demon and the…um…pig…?

I desperately – you have no idea – wanted them to shut up.           

If this continued, they were sure to…

Wait a minute.

You know what?

Disregard them shutting up.

They could be thick all they wanted.

“Wait for my signal…” I muttered to Destiny, accompanying her under the doorway. To which she resentfully replied, “Your signal? Why should I wait for your signal?”

“Because for once…I know what I’m doing.”

“You mean you think you know what you’re doing.”

“No, Destiny. I know what I’m doing.”

I glanced back, as did she, at the fifteen or twenty-some-odd. She had been the only female in there…it must have been lonely for her.

A few of the men weren’t roughed up too terribly; they must have been new arrivals, from when Ganondorf’s nightmare prodigy Zeppelin first took over. Some of them…had been around since I was growing up, probably, and the more ancient-looking ones…almost savages…must have been from my father’s era.

“One…”

Demon, with humid black smoke expelling slowly from his nostrils every few moments, and Hairball inspected our movements with the utmost distrust. Their gold eyes rotated, glimmering in the candlelight.

The racket originating from within the dungeon seemed to have them only slightly bothered, which bothered me far more than slightly.

Come on…I silently begged them, Come on, you idiots…

To be honest, I was terrified to be standing in their presence, within striking range of their tails, their claws, their teeth…even Demon’s wings could cleave me into a bloody mess if given the chance.

“Two…”

I didn’t want to wait very long…

Zeppelin could materialize at any given moment, to watch Destiny be collected, and then to shove it in her face, when I would not.           

And when and if she did, and she saw us standing here…           

Well…she’s never been exactly stupid…

She would know what we were trying to do.

What I had been intending to do all along.

“Three…”

I paled even further than the normal at the thought of what she might do to me. I swallowed, though it was painful…and then I silently prayed to Farore, creator and guardian of all life in Hyrule, to spare me from harm.

What if she didn’t exist?

What would I do then?

I didn’t want to think about that.

I heard them talking about me…

“Four…”

About how I was the last member of the Harkinian bloodline – so horribly, unfortunately true – and then ranting about how useless I was, and why couldn’t they have someone better?

Someone who was actually concerned about their well-being?           

Did I have news for them – the Hylian monarchy was deceased.

It had been so since summer.

I had no authority, no say in anything, my throne wasn’t mine…

So why should I give a damn?

“Well, you lot are an enormous help to the kingdom!” I shouted. “Locked in there…why do you think you were! On a random whim?”

I realized that a few of them probably were…

But then, I had only been half-serious.

It was more to rile them than anything.

“Sheik, don’t talk to the vermin,” Destiny chided. “You’ll only encourage them.”

Wow.

For once, she was actually helping me.

I doubt she knew it, though.

Otherwise, she’d have stopped.

They were louder and more headache-inducing than ever.           

The beasts turned to look in their direction…

And I gestured to Destiny.

“Now!” I whispered.

We slid out from under the doorway, racing around the corner.

Destiny, the lither, was ahead of me by several feet. Her boots the color of wet wood, they pounded across the stone at the pace of light, and I had to fight and struggle to keep up with her.

Did she even know where we were headed?

I wouldn’t have blinked if she’d told me yes.

I was once more winded, traveling the castle corridors in a string.

Why was Emma dead?

Who murdered her?

Was it a Hylian noble, I wondered, one who could not stand the thought of yet another lowerclass marriage in the royal family?

Who still resented my mother for going against tradition?            

Perchance Jack?

‘If I cannot have her, no one can.’

Was it an accident?

No.

No, it couldn’t have been.

People don’t just accidentally cause another to bleed to death…

When the Sages later informed my parents that, after twenty-four long years, the Sacred Realm’s seal had finally snapped, much like the rusted chains which had once seized Destiny in bondage, I swear my heart missed at least two beats.

It was then I realized what must have happened.

Emma had met up with Ganondorf, hadn’t she?

If only I had spent that morning with her…

We could have left to the castle together.

I could have spared her life.

Even if it meant surrendering my own.

What a prize, I thought sullenly, when I had at last lost sight of her; I had known it was going to happen for some time now. It was inevitable.

I could still faintly hear her, though, and I was following that alone.

The life of the son whose father had nearly destroyed him forever.

Well, he had promised revenge on my father’s descendants…           

And right now…that was me.

I doubt that was why he murdered Emma, though.

How could he possibly know what she meant to me?

No…most likely, she was in his way.

The courageous little doormat…

I smiled.

The narrow corridors were hauntingly still and vacant…they were almost ill-omened in a strange, unexplainable way. I was vigilant, but in high spirits at the same time.

We were finally on our way out of here…

Approximately ten minutes later, I rejoined Destiny, who was leaning both nonchalantly and as though she had been there forever and a half against the wall beside to the staircase, which led downward into the fifth basement. Try saying that five times fast.

No.

Honestly.

I challenge you.

She rolled her eyes and walked to me, “Finally you get here!”           

“Yes, yes, Destiny,” I said just as irritably. “There is not a rabbit in the world that does not envy you right now. Come on!”

And so she followed me this time.

“Where exactly are we ‘coming on’ to?” Destiny asked.

We walked up and down staircases of varying sizes.           

Occasionally, we crossed a room…

Like in the second basement, moving silently across the bedchambers of Zeppelin’s two small, sleeping daughters…

Their small forms curled beneath the substantial fur bedspreads, almost suffocating them.

The tops of their heads were visible – crimson.

Just as soon as we had departed from the room, first waiting, of course, directly behind the door for Phillip to pass by on his way back to the dungeons, I told her.

By now, she was extraordinarily cross with me.

So what else is new?

“Where do you think?” I replied, as though it were completely obvious, even to a rat. “The rooftop; it is the one region of the castle where we can escape with a remote possibility of going unnoticed.”

“What about the drawbridge? That’s actually on the ground!”           

“And here I was, thinking I was the stupid one!”

I then climbed up the staircase, leading to the hallway in which I had originally hid from Zeppelin; a sign that we were making progress.

“Wait a minute!” exclaimed Destiny, and I then gave her a fierce look– we had to be more careful now; we were nearing the throne room. “You are calling me stupid, when you are the one who is suggesting that we leap off of the third floor! If we survive…that sounds totally brilliant!”

“You are suggesting,” I pointed out, “that we bypass the throne room – basically inviting Zeppelin to chase us, and slaughter us – and then, if she doesn’t, we run across the drawbridge, down the staircase, to a front garden absolutely swarming with who-knows-what-they-are…who will then do the job for her.”

“…Sheik,” said Destiny harmoniously; she had most likely ignored every word that I had just said. “Let me explain something to you…”

Oh, boy.

Here we go.

“…A human cannot survive a two-story drop. So how are we supposed to survive three? Sarcasm your way out of that-”           

And just when I thought that she actually had a point there…           

“-Furthermore, even if by some bizarre miracle, we do, we’ll still be facing the same front garden of minions! You do realize that, don’t you?”

…I was proven correct.

“I would rather face the three-story drop than Zeppelin Dragmire.”

Destiny seemed to be of the same opinion, for she followed willingly.

The same night I had found her in that condition…

My father left.

It was the very last time that I would ever see him.

He felt it was his obligation, you see, to go after Ganondorf, not only to avenge Emma’s death, but in addition to ensure that none of his other subjects’ lives would be put into danger.

He was far more valiant…more self-sacrificing…than I shall ever be.

And despite all his demands for me to be like him without mistake…

Despite the reality that, to a degree, it was his fault that Destiny came to live here…

I missed him.

                                        * * * * * *

“Father, you can’t go!” I protested, as he mounted his horse. The Sages, save for my mother, were waiting for him on the opposite end of the garden. They could wait an eternity for all I was concerned.

He looked down at me, as usual speaking not a word.

He waited to hear my explanation.

“We have soldiers that we can send, hundreds of knights, but Hyrule needs you here!”

I didn’t want to tell him that I needed him there.                       

Perhaps if I had done so, he might have stayed.

Oh, who am I jesting?

He lived for warfare!

This was confirmed when, after staring at me for a moment afterwards, he then turned Aphron around, and started down the trail to join the others.

“Fine!” I shouted after him. “Go ahead and kill yourself!”

I turned, and started walking back towards the castle.

“See if I care…” I muttered.

                                     * * * * * *

But I did.

I did care.

And when I found out – was it a month later? – that he had done just that at the Spirit Temple…I found myself caring so much that it hurt.

In the distance, I could hear them; my people, apprehensive, concerned, wondering why they were to be made to watch this no doubt horrific and bloody event. I wished that I could tell them there was nothing to fear…that they would be alright…but I couldn’t. How could I tell them that when their would-have-been future sovereign was, as they spoke, abandoning them to Zeppelin’s mercy?           

When there was still an alarmingly high chance of her finding us?

There was an insane point when I almost considered stopping…

I would tell Destiny to go on ahead and save herself, that I could not just leave them here…

Then my sanity suddenly returned from its breathtaking vacation.

“Coast clear?” I asked.

“Coast clear,” Destiny confirmed.

We were just about to cross to the second-floor stairway, when…

“Don’t worry…he’ll be here soon.”

We froze, flat against the wall.

That oh-so-very familiar elegant and airy tone coming from just around the corner sent iced needles hammering into my spine.

No doubt if I’d had eyes in the back of my head, they’d be watching the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention…

“Coast not clear,” Destiny whispered.

“As if I could not figure that out for myself!”

“What was that you said about the roof being safer?”

“What is it that compels you to say anything at all?”

After that, we were silent.

Zeppelin Dragmire was half-Hylian, and half-Gerudo, with a Gerudo’s small round ears, but still the Hylians’ adept hearing.

If we said anything more…

Oh Din.

“Hide!” I hissed.

“What do you call this?”

“I mean somewhere else!”

Destiny looked at me indecisively for a moment, as though for a time I had gone insane, but then she did as she was told, going as softly as she could off to who-knew-where. If it was the drawbridge…           

…then I bid her farewell.