Zelda

Chapter 10: Strange Suspicion

Two months have passed since I was assigned a mentor I didn’t quite agree with. My new mentor happened to be Sir Ganondorf. He was quite stern, and his training schedule was… surprisingly efficient, as much as admitting it disgusts me. In these months, nothing bad has happened, despite Ganondorf’s presence… He was really only seen at the castle, and very rarely ventured outside of it. Eventually, I felt my suspicions start to falter a bit… This unnerved me, so I had to visit Zelda about it… The only problem, I had no idea where her room was!

I was running down one of the many corridors in Hyrule Castle. The hot summer weather had little effect on my ability to move around, as I had done a lot of exercise in my life. Although I was well aware of my position on the ground floor, in my two years of service at Hyrule Castle, I had never been upstairs. That was where the Royals and other important people lived, and I wasn’t exactly a snotty noble like most other people who actually lived upstairs.

Eventually, I came to a large staircase. I stared at the stone steps and swallowed up whatever it was that was coming up. With some slight hesitation, I placed my foot on the first step.

This isn’t something a squire should be doing… I thought privately, but it was too late, now, for I was already halfway up the stairs. After about a minute of climbing, I found myself on the extraordinary second floor of Hyrule Castle. It didn’t look any different, but it seemed to have a regal aura about it. Every room felt different. This was most likely due to the magical powers said to be passed down in the ancestory of the Hylian Royal Family. I searched for a minute, looking at each individual room, unknowingly figuring out who was in what room and moving on each time.

My search came to an abrubt halt when I came upon a room shining of the utmost purity. Inside, I could hear someone singing Zelda’s Lullaby. I listened closer, and found it to be Zelda herself. Quickly, I knocked at the door.

“Who is it?” Zelda asked from beyond the stone wall.

“It’s Link!” I called back. Soon after, the door creaked open a crack.

“Wait here for a second,” she said. “I have to make myself somewhat presentable.” With that, she closed the door, and I heard loud footsteps inside her room, seeming to rush around, only stopping for a second or so. I waited a good twenty minutes until I heard the words, “Come in!” upon which I opened the door and walked into a room decorated with the finest silk carpets, drapes, and bedsheets. They were all a brilliant shade of red, and I found myself staring at the wonder that was Zelda’s bedroom. It seemed to make my little shack out in the Knights Barracks look like a wooden crate.

I looked at Zelda and noticed she was wearing a lovely red dress, with golden shoulder-plates upon her arms. She bore the symbol of the Hylian Knights on her breast and had complex knotwork lining her skirt. I couldn’t help but stare at her. Her hair hung down as it always had, with her usual headpiece adourning her brow. I found myself speechless, until she giggled and ran up to give me a hug.

“So…” Zelda started. “What’s the occasion?”

“Occasion?” I repeated. I had suddenly forgotten why I had come up to Zelda’s chambers in the first place.

“Yes,” Zelda stated, bluntly. “This is the first time you’ve ever been inside my room, let alone come upstairs!”

I suddenly found my senses and looked the Princess in the eyes.

“It’s about Ganondorf…” I started. “I’m starting to… Believe it or not… I’m starting to think he may not be the one that killed Gauron… I mean, it’s been two months, and he’s already your father’s most trusted advisor, so he’s had every available chance to take the throne for himself, but he seems to not care about that… Not to mention, his training methods are surprisingly effective… He may be a different man, after all…”

“Well, maybe you should talk to him…” Zelda suggested. “You never know a person until you sit down and have a good heart-to-heart conversation. We had plenty of them, and look at us now!”

I shook my head. “Yeah…” I began. “In love, and hiding it from the rest of the world...” I held the Princess tighter, and she began laughing. “But… I think I’ll take your advice… It might help me settle down, for now…”

Zelda gave me a kiss on the cheek as I fell from her embrace and left the room. I walked down the hallway, pondering what to ask the man. Ganondorf was quite confusing already, bearing a striking resemblance to the man I already knew, and fought, but seeming more genuine in his intentions. I truly wanted to believe that he was a different man, but I still had my doubts.

I found Ganondorf near the archery range. He had borrowed a bow from the armory and was shooting at the targets at the far end of the grass plain. I then decided to take up a position beside him, and strung up my Hero’s Bow.

“Link!” Ganondorf exclaimed. “This is rare. I never really see you outside of training!” He released a shot from his bow, hitting the target shockingly close to the center. “Archery… Never was my strong suit…”

I quickly nocked an arrow on my bow and took aim. I remembered an ancient technique that Know-It-All Brothers in the Kokiri Forest taught me called, “Locking On”. It was much easier whenever I had a fairy following me, because they would fly over to the target, but over the years I had been without one, I had learned to “lock on” to targets and enemies on my own. This had made me a sure-shot with any ranged weapon, and made sure that my focus was completely centered.

“Well,” I said. “I believe I want to talk to you later… Perhaps, after this very training session?” I released my shot, and the arrow I fired flew right through the shaft of Ganondorf’s arrow, hitting the center of the target, dead center. Ganondorf looked at my shot, and his now shorter arrow, in total awe.

“Very well… But first, we see who can score the most shots on the bull’s eye.” Ganondorf replied. We continued to train for the next few hours…

Shortly after the archery training, in which I had scored a total of twenty-seven consecutive bull’s eyes, all at the same angle, and leaving me with only three good arrows, Ganondorf and I went to the Dining Hall, where the many cooks were hustling and bustling to create cullinary works of art.

“So, what did you want to talk about, Link?” Ganondorf asked.

“Well, honestly, you.” I stated. I leaned forward on the table, supporting most of my weight on my left elbow. “I actually knew a man who looked exactly like you once, and I never really liked him. He even had the same name, but there was an air of evil around him… He was… Menacing… and he… He even killed the Great Deku Tree…”

Ganondorf stopped me, right there… “I know of that man…” I froze and stared at him in total shock. “He was my Hylian counterpart… Link… I’m not from Hyrule… I’m from Termina…”

I loosened up a bit and thought to myself. Termina? How? I didn’t see anyone like him there! Then I realized. I didn’t have to… Many people in Hyrule seemed to have someone in Termina who was a physical double of them. The gravekeeper, Dampe, was a perfect example. He could never have been in two places at once. I knew there were Gerudos in Termina, they were pirates. I had infiltrated their stronghold using only two masks, the Zora Mask and the Stone Mask, in order to steal back the Zora eggs they had in their posession.

Ganondorf cleared his throat and continued. “You see, I once lived in the stronghold of the Gerudo Pirates. But… I hated piracy with a burning passion… I wanted to do something good with my life. Despite my size, I didn’t think I could get out of the stronghold alive, until I saw you…”

I looked at Ganondorf questioningly. “You saw me there? How?! I was wearing a mask that makes me as plain as stone!” Realizing my admittance, I quickly shut my mouth.

“Yes, I know, but a few of them, as well as I, were not fooled by the power of the Stone Mask. When I saw how you had weakened the defenses of the Pirates stronghold, I decided to make my escape, and that I would make it up to you… I had actually been following you, until you went to the castle, where the guards stopped me. I was told of the wicked man who bore my name and relemblance, and I decided, I would make up for the slander that the other Ganondorf had placed on the name we shared. I quickly became a knight, but you had already gotten a mentor. It was my goal to teach you myself, and become an important figure in your life, for what you did for me, but you already had the best knight in all of Hyrule as your mentor, Sir Gauron… I had no complaints at that, and decided to become the King’s advisor. Then… Gauron died… I decided I would do the best I can to take his place as your mentor… I know I can never be as much as a role model as Gauron had been, but I hope you come to accept me as a friend, one day… Link…”

I stared blankly at the tall Gerudo man. “I… I don’t know what to say… except…” I contemplated what to say… I could tell he wasn’t lying. Having posessed the Lens of Truth for such a long time, I had come to tell whenever someone lied to me, and when someone had been truthful. Ganondorf was completely serious during the whole conversation… “Thank you for being honest with me…” I finally said. Soon after our chat, Zelda came into the Dining Hall, where Ganondorf and I explained his story to her. We then sat until the cooks came with a nice, hot meal for us.



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