Saven Years 15

Here is the long awaited section. If everyone is nice and leads some comments I will treat you all to a few selections of poetry I have been working on. You have all been waiting so long that I really shouldn't keep you waiting any longer... HERE IT IS!

As Shiek exited the Scared Realm and her chat with Rauru it was hard to keep a wide school-girlish grin from sweeping her face.

“Princess Zelda, thank you for coming so quickly…”

“Of course Rauru. What’s up?”

“The time has come. Link has reached the age where he is ready to accept his role as the Hero of Time. I will be awakening soon. Could you please wait for him in the Temple of Time?”

It was, perhaps, the dumbest question anyone had ever asked her. The man she had been dreaming about every night for the past seven years was returning. No one needed to ask her to hang around; she’d like to see someone to keep her away. Shiek caught herself tapping a foot again. What in the name of Din’s Furry was taking so long? It had been nearly thirty minuets since Rauru had called her to the temple. Why didn’t he just wake up Link and get on with it?

And then there he was.

His back was to her, but she could already tell he looked exactly like she thought he would. He stood almost exactly as tall as Draq had, his thin frame obviously housing tremendous power in the sinewy muscles that stood out enough to be noticed but not enough to be grotesque. His clothes were the same, only larger, with the long white pants, shirt, and Kohria boots, and he still sported that odd green hat that was so boyishly cute.

Goddess, he was fine.

Navi still floated around his head, chattering incessantly. Shiek wondered if the little fairy ever actually shut up, and figured it answered the question as to whether or not fairies needed to breathe. Link took a step towards the exit of the temple, when suddenly stopped. Obviously sensing that something was watching him, he whirled, drawing the Master’s Sword in a fluid motion. His light blue eyes sparkled with a reckless gleam, his long forelocks waving quite dramatically. She’d forgotten he was left handed…

Rauru had strictly warned her not to reveal herself this early, even to Link. Gannondorf was constantly on the lookout for any traces of Princess Zelda, and it would be wise to avoid abandoning the Shiek guise until Link had awakened all the remaining sages. It was a request she knew she’d have difficulty with, but it was wise and made sense. Stepping closer, Shiek smiled and began the speech she had spent years preparing.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Hero of Time,” Shiek started, trying to sound as official as possible given that she was ready to swoon over at any moment, “I am Shiek, last survivor of the Shiekah,” with Keef gone that was about as true as it got, “as I see you holding the mythical Master’s Sword you really do look like the Hero of Time…”

“Hey man, don’t sound so surprised…” Link replied, sheathing the sword and grinning. His voice was a lot deeper then Shiek had remembered it, but Link was only 13 the last time they had met. She noticed he had also picked up a small earring somewhere along his seven-year absence. She liked it; it looked cute, but not girlish.

Link gave her a quick look up and down. Crossing his arms over his chest, he raised a critical eyebrow.

“So are all Shiekah men, um, midgets?”

“No… and don’t underestimate me. I can fight too you know.”

“Whatever,” his broad shoulders shrugged unconcernedly, “so why are you here anyway…”

“I said, I’ve been waiting for you,” for only about seven freaking years, she threw in mentally, “I’m here to help you on your quest to awaken the remaining sages. Rauru told you about them I assume.”

“Well, yes… but he was kind of vague.”

“Really?” this surprised Shiek greatly. Generally speaking Rauru didn’t know how to shut up. Vagueness was a new thing for him.

“Well, not really,” Link confessed, blushing slightly, “actually he was just so damn boring that I didn’t give him much attention. I had other things to think about. I got the basic picture that once I left, Hyrule went to Hell in a hand basket. Probably that princess’ fault. What was her name, Zelrock or something?”

“Zelda,” Shiek growled.

“Yeah her. Sorry about forgetting such an important thing, but man, I still feel kind of out of it. I guess seven years of sleep will do that to you. And she was a nice enough girl I guess, really cute as I remember… So, you seem to know the answers around here, what exactly am I supposed to be doing?”

Shiek sighed. Fortunately, she had prepared something in case this happened, but she had really hoped to spend the few spare moments talking to Link, not giving him objectives.

“Yeah, ahem… When evil rules all, an awakening cry will go forth from the Temple of Light to the other sages who dwell in the five temples. One in a deep forest, one on a high mountain, one under a vast lake, one in the house of the dead, and one inside the goddess of sand. Together the sages and the Hero of Time will bind the evil and return light to Hyrule,” Shiek trailed off, noticing that Link was eyeing her strangely. After a pause he spoke.

“Um, Shiek, right? One question; you gay or something?”

Shiek felt frustration building inside of her.

“Link! That is not important right now. Look, the first sage is awaiting awakening in the Forest Temple,” whoever the heck it actually is “unfortunately you can’t even get in the temple right now. You’ll need to head to the village and find equipment that will allow you to enter the temple. Got it?”

“Yeah,” he cracked his knuckles and tugged at the leather bracers on his wrists, “go to village. Go to Forest Temple. Kill bad things. Awaken good things. That’s it in a nutshell, right?”

Sighing, Shiek pointed to the door. Her first meeting with Link had not really gone like she had always dreamed it would.

“Yes, now why don’t you get busy…”

“Hey, watch the tone man. I’m a hero, remember?” he laughed, turning and jogging out of the door. Watching him go, Shiek felt her heart skip a beat. She had to admit, he was undoubtedly the best-looking man she had ever seen.

Shiek waited a few minuets to recover before jogging out of the Temple. Link was back! Everything was going to work out! She nearly swooned a second time.

I can’t wait to tell Toran! she thought , quickly running through the eerie remains of Castle Town. Then it struck her that Toran might actually be less then thrilled to learn of Link’s awakening. In their last conversation, he had dropped a major ‘jealous of Link’ hint, and she couldn’t help but wonder what would happen now that Link was here. Link might be her destiny, but Toran was her closest friend, and he had been there for her over the past seven years. She was actually disappointed in a way to know that as she and Link started their relationship, Toran would probably become more distant and less connected to her. The feeling was made worse by the fact that she knew she really should have told Toran about Link at the first sign of his growing affection for her; that might have helped to prevent this issue completely.

Shiek wasn’t far out of Castle Town when heard someone following her. Turning, she saw Impa quickly coming up behind her. The Shiekah must have just arrived at the temple and ran out to find her.

“Shiek!” this close to Gannondorf’s vile tower, Impa generally took greater precautions, “Something terri-” she stopped, noticing the wide grin on Shiek face, “um, Shiek?”

“I’ll give you one guess Impa, just one!” Shiek exclaimed, still grinning widely.

“Does this have something to do with what Rauru wanted?”

Shiek nodded, the girlish smile still all over her face.

“Then I am going to assume that The Hero of Time is awakened…”

Shiek cocked and eyebrow. Impa didn’t seem as thrilled as Shiek thought she would be.

“Is something wrong Impa?” she asked, regarding her guardian closely.

“Well, I had hoped that things…” Impa trailed off, obviously not really wanting to finish her thought.

“Impa! What is it? Come’on, I’m not a child anymore, you don’t have to hide things from me…” Shiek pressed, stepping closer and looking pleadingly into her large eyes.

“It is just that I did not expect Link would return this soon. In all honesty Shiek, I am afraid you’re going to get hurt.”

“I’ll be careful Impa, just like always…” Shiek said, brushing aside the worry with a dismissive wave.

“That was not exactly what I meant,” murmured Impa looking almost dejectedly at her ward.

“Well, he is here now, and so the Goddesses must have felt everyone involved was ready,” Shiek answered, feeling a twinge in her gut at Impa’s words, “now, what were you saying when you ran up?”

Impa returned to her original message, but it was clear she wasn’t thrilled with how the prior conversation had went.

“Gannondorf has used Keef’s treachery to find a secret path to Gordon City. He attacked it earlier this afternoon and has imprisoned most of the Gordons in the Fire Temple to feed to a dragon. When the dragon is fully restored, Gannondorf will probably unleash it on the rest of Hyrule. You should probably travel to see the Zoras and request they raise their forces to help liberate the Gordons. I will go assist Toran, who is already at Gordon City assessing the situation.”

“Toran went to Gordon City alone?” Shiek a flash of worry and concern gripping her heart, “Impa, why did you let him go? It will be very, very dangerous!”

“Shiek, calm down! Toran is not only strong and brave, but quick-witted as well. He will avoid detection if he thinks it the most prudent course of action. I think you underestimate your friend, Shiek.” There was a hint of accusation in the tone that caused Shiek to do a double take.

“What do you mean, Impa?”

“I am not alone in thinking Toran possessed the caliber to be the Legendary Hero of Time. The prophecy is not clear on whom exactly the hero is, Shiek, and you would do well to remember that…”

“But Rauru-”

“Has a tendency to believe what he wants to believe. I will admit that the return of Link certainly places him as the likely candidate for the Hero of Time, but don’t forget that Toran is a hero in his own right as well,” Impa’s eyes softened, and her arms uncrossed, falling to her sides. Abandoning her normal stern demeanor and cautious language, the guardian leveled with her ward.

“I must admit princess, I had hopes that you would see Toran for who he is before Link returned, but I suppose that is your decision. It is just that Link was born to fight, as was your friend Draq… I am afraid you might find yourself falling for a man who is not what you imagined him to be.”

Impa gave a quick nod to indicate she had just said everything she intended to, and turned to go.

“I will go to check on Toran… I suggest you hurry to Zora Fountain and speak with King Zola,” she said over her shoulder, before disappearing with a flash and crack, leaving Shiek standing alone near the entrance of the town.

The Zora nation was the smallest of the four major races, but they made up for it with more courage then the tenacious Greudos, more vigor then the hardy Gordons, and twice the arrogance of the aristocratic Hylians. It had taken Shiek’s father many years of strife and negotiations, some of which was at the point of a spear, before the before the proud aquatic race swore allegiance to the Hylian empire. The Zora had retained a great deal of sovereignty under Hylian rule, and had kept Gannondorf at bay when the empire fell into his clutches. Shiek had been instrumental in convincing the Zora king to join the alliance against Gannondorf’s rule. Shiek had to admit that deep down she did have a soft spot for the proud fishy people who, for all their posing, had often sacrificed their own self-interest in an effort to save Hyrule.

Now she was about to call on them to do so again.

There was no musical warp point to Zora fountain, which meant Shiek was left with three options. A nearly day-long jog across Hyrule Plains to the source of Zora River, or a quick warp to Lake Hylia, where Zora River emptied, and a brief swim to the warp point, or a warp to the Forest Temple, followed by jog over to the secondary warp point to the river’s source. The first option was out of the question, given how important time was. The second was actually the quickest, however it took her right by the lakeside laboratory, which wasn’t a place Shiek really wanted to see right now. So she decided on the third, which, as an added bonus, might inadvertently cause her to cross paths with Link again as he enter the Forest Temple. She also was really hoping to get a look at temple courtyard. Scela had been a great friend, and she needed to give her respects.

The courtyard was unoccupied as Shiek formed again on the warp pedestal. There was a feeling of evil seeping ever so faintly from inside the temple, causing Shiek to shudder. She glanced up to the Temple, and remembered that Saria had been in the temple for several days now. Shiek gulped and looked away. There was no reason to believe anything was left of the poor forest girl by now. She only knew one thing for sure; the Forest Sage already had to be in the temple if Link was back. Maybe Draq was the sage. It would explain why he wasn’t dead in the courtyard with Scela. Maybe Draq had awakened as a sage, defeated the Phantom Gannondorf and found a way into the temple to help Saria. That was a lot of maybes, but she could hope after all…

After spending some time with the grave and small marker for Scela that Toran had placed at the far side of the courtyard, Shiek headed to the warp point to Zora Fountain. A brief swim brought her to the waterfall that was the source of Zora River, but something was wrong. The instant she pulled herself out of the small pond the warp point ended in, she felt a VERY unseasonable artic chill. Never before in the history of Hyrule had it actually gotten cold enough to freeze Zora River, and certainly never during the spring. But now, rather then the flowing beauty of the water rushing over the edge of the cliff and down to the distant Lake Hylia, there was nothing but a sheet of ice. Down below her where the river should have been there was only a frozen path of water that still had ripples and waves, as though it had been flowing rapid one moment and frozen solid the next. If she didn’t know better Shiek would have guessed that someone had frozen the river through magic. There was only one person she knew who would possess the will and power to pull something like that off. First Gordon City, now Zora Fountain…

Gannondorf must have had a busy day.

As Shiek walked into the frozen cavern that of ice that Zora Fountain had become, she noticed a strange absence of Zoras. Generally once could hear their garglely voices call to each other echoing around the large cave, but the frozen spring was deathly silent as she approached the stairs that led to King Zola’s throne room. Looking down, she studied the ice, and soon gave a cry of shock and horror. There were figures trapped inside the thick layers of solid ice, unable even to move. Whatever Gannondorf had done, it had frozen the water so quickly the poor Zoras had not even had time to exit the pool. Shiek got the impression that the victims were still alive; sure they were trapped unmoving under the ice, but given their aquatic nature, they would still be able to breathe. Of course, there was the problem of starvation, but this couldn’t be more then a day old or she would have gotten wind of it. Quickening her pace, Shiek rushed over the frozen fountain to King Zola’s throne room. Gannondorf might be powerful, but King Zola was the Sage of Water. Sure he had been able to withstand the magic and could do something about it at the Water Temple at Lake Hylia.

Fate, it seemed, had other ideas.

King Zola was frozen solid in a block of ice on his throne. He wouldn’t be going anywhere. Shiek felt her heart grow colder then the frozen pool all around her. If Zola couldn’t get to the Water Temple, then Link couldn’t awaken him as a Sage, and without the help of all seven sages it would be impossible to defeat Gannondorf. Her hand reached out and rested on the block of ice, gazing in at King Zola’s sad eyes staring mournfully back at her. The ice around him was at least a foot thick at the thinnest parts, and Shiek knew there would be no way she could break him out without risking killing him. Trying hard to think of someway to fix the situation, Shiek felt her feet walk out the secret back entrance behind King Zola’s throne to the spring that actually was the source of Zora River.

Shiek stood on the small pier where the Jabba Jabba fish used to be tied down before Gannondorf’s minions killed it in a secret raid and looked out over the small lake. The pool wasn’t frozen, but there were large chunks of ice floating around in it. A freezing wind was blowing all around with a chilling howl. As she looked over to her right, Shiek noticed two of Gannondorf’s henchmen on a jut of land near the Great Fairy cave. It was a Lizardman and a Moblin, and they were standing over some kind of small bundle at their feet. Shiek looked closer and saw that it was a Zora, curled into a ball on the ground, trying to shield itself from vicious kicks from the Lizardman.

Time for a little hero work of my own, she thought, diving silently into the cold water and swimming over to the two villains.

She surfaced behind the big Moblin, and snuck up behind it. The Moblin was easily seven and a half feet tall, and very broad, so he totally blocked Shiek’s approach from the Lizardman standing opposite him. Moblins were big an immensely strong, but also decidedly stupid, and Shiek decided to use that to her advantage. She quickly jumped up placing a foot on the Moblin’s back, just above its waist. Pushing off the her foot, Shiek propelled herself high enough to vault over the Moblin’s thick shoulders, twisting and landing on her feet between the two thugs. The Lizardman gave a high-pitched screech and lunged at her, striking forward with its short sword. Shiek had been anticipating that the quick reflexes, but less then quick wits, of the Lizardman would give rise to this course of action. Ducking the blade, Shiek grabbed the Zora at her feet by the arm and rolled to the left, dragging her prize with her. As Shiek had hoped, the lunking Moblin had reacted a few seconds slower then his fellow. Bringing its club down in a whirling arc at where Shiek had landed, it connected smack onto the head of the lunging Lizardman. The reptilian villain crumpled with a bewildered squeak, undoubtedly not planning to get back up.

With the Lizardman gone, only the big Moblin remain a threat. Shiek left the unconscious Zora’s side and rolled over back in front of the Moblin, hoping to distract it from its former prisoner. The hulk of a minion was still staring dully at the crumpled Lizardman in front of it, obviously trying to figure out what had just happened. Shiek decided to enlighten it by flinging a few rocks of the Moblin. The grunted in surprise and pain as the few small rocks bounced off its head. Giving out a low bellow, the Moblin charged her, bringing down its club at her. Shiek rolled beneath the descending club stopping between the Moblin’s thick legs. The Moblin was totally confused, glancing about trying to figure out where its target had suddenly disappeared to. Moblins were not the sharpest tools in the shed. Jumping up behind the Moblin’s thick back, Shiek darted over to the fallen Zora. A young female looked to be around her age, Shiek couldn’t help shake the notion that she should remember who this was. Looping her arms around the Zora’s body, Shiek slipped into the water and began to kick her way to the far shore. Moblins might be stupid, but they were still big and too strong to take down without weapons; Shiek knew she could have punched at the big thug till doom’s day and would never have phased it. It stared dully at her over on the pier for a full two minutes before it figured out what had happened. Shiek drug the young Zora back into Zora Fountain to the very satisfying sound of the Moblin’s howls of rage.

The Zora was just starting come around as Shiek pulled her down the frozen stream. Apparently, the cold water had shaken her from unconsciousness, but she still looked a little dazed. Squatting down, Shiek helped to prop up the young Zora, who was still shaking her head to clear it.

“What happened here?” Shiek asked, still thinking she remembered the Zora from someplace.

“What happened? I’ll tell you what the-” her she inserted an interesting sting of words, “-happened. First off, Gannondorf shows up with like only a handful of minions and demands father’s allegiance. No respect what so ever, the-” here she inserted a colorful string of adjectives followed by a less then complimentary noun. Shiek realized that this must be Princess Rutto, daughter of King Zola. That would explain why she thought she recognized the young Zora. They two of them had met when their fathers were celebrating the new peace nearly eleven years ago. Apparently, Rutto hadn’t gotten the memo about the new Hylian-Zora peace treaty, or decided to fight the final battle of it herself at the dinner in any rate. Shiek had never seen a ruder, more arrogant, attention demanding little snot in her life. Shiek had been forced to invite the Zora princess to every party she held, thanks to her father’s concern for diplomatic procedure. She had often felt that Rutto hated been there as much as she did inviting her. Probably King Zola was afraid it would seem rude to refuse to send his daughter to Princess Zelda’s countless balls and sleepovers.

“Second,” continued Rutto, obviously unaware that Shiek was thinking more about the past then the present, “he goes on to say some-” stuff? What’s wrong with the word stuff? “-I didn’t understand and slam his fist onto the ground. Next thing I know the whole damn place is covered in ice, including father. Well, naturally I started screaming at them to-” why didn’t she just say ‘get out of here’? “Third, those two-” well, I guess that IS an applicable word “take me out back because Gannondorf is-” do I curse this much? “-that I didn’t freeze over or something and start working me over. Then I guess you showed up.” Shiek was almost surprised the list of wrongs didn’t end with a curse. Rutto looked her up and down as she sat up straighter.

“Who are you anyway… I’m Princess Rutto by the way.”

“Name’s Shiek. You could say I’m a bit of a rebel fighting the Gannondorf regime.”

“Yeah, father’s mentioned you…” she gave Shiek a sidelong glance, “and don’t even think about it. I know a courageous, adventurous, and good-looking guy like you must have women throwing themselves at you all the time, but I’m already engaged.”

Shiek gagged, and tried desperately not to vomit. Having Malon hit on you was one thing, having a psychotic fish woman who had gone out of her way to ruin your tenth birthday sleepover was another issue altogether.

“Um, well… speaking of him,” began Shiek gesturing out towards Zora Fountain, “he is probably frozen under the water.”

“Nah, he’s not a Zora, and he hasn’t been around in about seven years…”

Sounds like a vaguely familiar relationship, Shiek thought with a bit of a smirk. Standing she looked back at the frozen figure of King Zola and felt her heart sink again. Clever banter aside, they were still in a bad way.

“Well-” she emphasized with another less then princess-like word, “-this, I’m not sure what Gannondorf did, but I know where to fix it… the Water Temple!”

Shiek tried her best not to start in surprise.

“Uh, you go to the Water Temple?”

“Oh, all the time… I know all the secret rooms and stuff like that… there’s this one spell for thawing the ‘the ice of evil’… I think that it might be able to break the curse Gannondorf hit us with. By the way, if my fiancée shows up and want’s to help, tell him he can find some lead weighted boots to help him get into the temple.”

Shiek nodded and watched as Rutto pulled out a small flute and played the Water Temple warp song. Rauru had always contested that King Zola must be the water Sage, and Shiek had just assumed he always knew. But maybe, as Impa said, Rauru had a tendency to believe what he wanted to believe.

All’s that she knew was Rutto struck her as a very weird Sage…

Seven Years 14

I am sorry it has been so long, but things are crazy... I barely got back from DC to turn around that same week and go to IN to turn around that weekend and go to FL. 6 hours of sleep over three days was the final capstone to this glorious event. Anyway, since it WAS so long, I decided to give you guys a treat and post my longest one ever (I think). It is actually Part 14 AND part 14.5 in the same issue! You might want to go back and read the last entry to, because it has been a while. This one holds a few much antispated entries, so enjoy!

WARNING
This entry does contain a fair amount of blood, gore, cursing, and other potentionally higher rated material, so if you are offened by violance this might be a good time to stop and go play Mortal Kombat or something.

“Ok Toran… it’s worth a look. I’m going to the village to check on Impa, you go to the forest and check for any sign of Draq, and Scela too actually. And be careful… if we are wrong, then that Phantom is still running around out there.”

Toran turned to grab his katana out of the hayloft and yelled back to Shiek.

“You be careful too… you’re walking right into Keef’s arms you know.”

He saw Shiek eyes narrow, cold hatred visible behind them.

“Oh, trust me… I know that very well…”

I really am a jerk… a punky little snot. So Toran and Malon are close friends, who else other then me would have given a care?

Shiek was on her way to village, and making surprisingly good time. This was mainly due to the anger and frustration that was driving her at an insane pace. She was almost as frustrated with herself as she was furious with Keef. Well, first she had to check on Impa, and then she’d figured out what she was going to do about the turncoat shiekah. She had one big advantage on him; he didn’t realize she knew he was a traitor. But she had a feeling Impa might have some extra crafty way to deal with him, so she definitely wanted to see the shiekah elder first.

“Shiek? Hey Shiek, wait up!”

She wasn’t far from the entrance to the village, when she heard the voice calling her name.

It was him.

Choking down revulsion, Shiek stop and turned towards the speaker. The shiekah ran up and stopped a few feet from her, arms crossed and grinning that arrogant smirk at her.

“Keef? What are you doing out here?” she asked, trying to keep her voice level.

“Just finishing off a run; gotta keep in shape if I plan to keep up with the likes of your vaunted team… though I hear you guys have been having a string of bad luck recently.”

Even if Sheik hadn’t been alerted to his treason, the smirk at this remark would have been completely obvious. Before she would have taken it as his cocky, insulting, manner, but now she realized it was probably him congratulating himself on picking a ‘better side.’

“We’ve had some set backs, yes…” she replied, large eyes narrowing behind her bangs.

“Toran left the village in a hurry to find you couple nights ago… seems the ol’ Iron Maiden thought you might be in trouble… did he ever catch up to you?”

“Yeah, we ran into each other…”

“And what about Draq, I heard he ran into some kind of trouble or something…”

She wanted to kill him. Right then, right there, no remorse.

“He’s been gone without notice for a few days, but that’s not terribly unusual for him…” she was finally able to get out without allowing too much open hatred to seep into her voice.

“I see,” Keef responded, arrogant smirk widening.

“Look, Keef, I’m really busy… catch you later,” Shiek turned and continued towards the village entrance.

“Hold it there Shiek,” Keef said stepping to block her path, “I’m afraid you’re going to have to tell me why you need in…”

“That, Keef, is absolutely none of your business.”

“Don’t pull that ‘leader’ act on me, Shiek,” Keef growled, crossing his arms and trying to tower over the much shorter Shiek, “The only way you’re getting in here is letting me know what’s up.”

Shiek looked contemplative for a moment, then suddenly let her right hand flash out. The heal of her palm connected squarely with Keef’s diaphragm, sending him staggering back. Keef barely had time for a surprised gasp before Shiek spun, driving a low kick into his right knee. Keef grimaced, his right leg collapsing, but he was tougher then Shiek had given him credit for. With his right knee still holding his weight, Keef did a quick sweep with his left leg, trying to take out Shiek’s feet. Shiek jumped over the sweep, but Keef pushed off hard with his right leg, driving his shoulder into her chest as she came back down. The force of the blow was not as powerful as it might have been, given that she had just severely hurt the leg he was pushing with, but it was enough to knock her back several feet. Staggering, Shiek was barely able to retain balance, falling back into an open stance as Keef retook his feet.

“You fight like a girl you little punk,” Keef growled, a smirk still hovering around his lips, “Bum rushes and knee shots… but I guess someone a puny and pathetic as you doesn’t have much else to hit for.”

He fell into a Taraja stance. It was an obscure branch of Shiekah Martial Arts, one which was considered very lethal, but which few mastered. Shiek eyed the right hand, which was curled into a fist and held ready at waist level. Keef wasn’t considering this just a friendly sparing bout; he was out for blood.

Guess both of us must be having a bad day, she thought as she readied her she for the fight.

Shiek was worried. She only knew of one Taraja Master, Impa, and Keef was modeling her stance perfectly. The fact that Keef looked so comfortable in the tight stance, right arm ready to strike while the left hand held out to block in front, meant he was probably fairly confident that he could perform any of the moves her guardian could. Shiek had never fought a Taraja artist, master or otherwise, but she knew the kind of destruction they could unleash.

Time to end this, she though, deciding to not wait for Keef to take the first shot. Shiek hopped forward a pace, spun on her forward left foot and tried to side-kick Keef’s lower back. She was hoping the closed stance would prevent him from block a quick blow to the back.

Keef had obviously been expecting this line of thought.

Whipping around his left arm, Keef quickly opened his stance, catching the kick with his left forearm and trapping her leg to his side. In the same fluid motion, he used his momentum to step forward with his right leg while bringing in his right fist around for a powerful straight punch aimed right at her mouth. Shiek tried to doge, but her weight was totally off balance. The fist connected squarely with the left side of her jaw. Shiek fell backwards, landing hard on the ground. She was going to try a recovery sweep when she realized that Keef was still holding her right leg with his left hand. Quickly bringing his back left leg up to his right, Keef pulled up on her leg and brought his right foot down hard towards her groin. It would pull her right leg straight out of socket, totally immobilizing it. It was exactly what she would have done.

It was Shiek’s turn to anticipate the move.

Her left leg shot out as Keef prepared to kick and connected solidly with Keef’s left ankle. Since she was on her back the blow lacked the force to do substantial damage, but it did cause Keef to gasp in pain and bring down his right foot to balance his weight. Rolling and pushing herself up on her arms, Shiek’s left leg shot out again, this time striking Keef’s crotch. Keef gasped, and doubled over slightly, letting Shiek’s leg go as he did so. Shiek pulled the right leg up so she stood in a handstand facing her opponent. She spun once so her back was to Keef, and then launched herself towards him with her hands. She wanted her feet to connect with his chest, but Keef was just out of range. She landed standing about a foot from him. Keef recovered and lunged towards her, striking with his forward left elbow. The blow caught Shiek in the shoulder as she tried to doge it, spinning her and causing her to stagger off balance again. She recovered quicker then Keef had guessed though, and snapped her arm back to bring her elbow into contact with his diaphragm.

Gasping, Keef sank to his knees, anger and hate in his eyes. His smirk was gone, replaced with an animalistic snarl. He obviously had thought the much shorter and lighter Shiek would prove no match for him, but his bruised body was screaming otherwise now.

“You want to play rough, Shiek? Fine, death it is…” he growled, quickly sweeping back to his feet. He fell into the more traditional ko’ara fighting stance that Shiek used, hands open, held chest high, legs in a balanced, slightly crouched, spread.

Guess he’s through messing around, Shiek thought, wondering if that was a good or bad thing for her. She soon found out.

Keef’s right hand shot out quicker then Shiek thought he was capable of. She barely managed to doge the straight to her face, but left her back open. Keef monopolized on the error instantly, drilling his knee into her lower back. Shiek let out a shirk of pain as she sank to her hands and knees. Keef quickly brought up his left leg to stomp her head. Then Shiek saw her opening. Shifting her weight to her other leg, she quickly brought up her right leg and drove a kick with her strength into the side of Keef’s right knee. There was an unmistakable, sickening pop as Keef’s entire weight twisted down onto his joint. Keef screamed in an unearthly high voice, blood draining from his face. Pushing to her feet Shiek watched as Keef sank to take all his weight onto his left knee. Spinning, she brought down her heal in a powerful ax-kick to Keef’s right shoulder. He crumpled into a little moaning ball at her feet.

“Damn it Shiek! What the hell was that for!”

“In case you didn’t notice, that heal stomp I prevented you from executing was going to kill me, punk,” Shiek growled, a blood red haze of anger and hate beginning to fog her vision, “and you’ve had this coming for a long time now. How long have you been working for Gannondorf, scum?”

Surprise flashed through the pain in his the large violet eyes, but it was soon replaced by an arrogant loathing.

“Long enough to see that idiot Draq get what was coming to him. He didn’t die in that grove you know… that would have been too simple,” after spitting out a considerable bloody clod, the old arrogant smirk returned, “we all had some fun before he went down.”

Shiek felt something in her mind snap. It didn’t matter what Impa would do anymore; Keef was going to die, right here, right now, compliments of Zelda, Ruler of Hyrule.

“You little bastard!” she hissed, grabbing his collar and pulling his face up and bending down to glare straight into his eyes. Her fist drew and unloaded punch after punch directly into Keef’s face. It only took five hits before Keef’s face and her fist were coated with blood, and it was splattered all over her clothes. As Shiek fist pulled back for the final rage driven hit aimed to snap the traitor’s neck, an odd frightening thing happened to her. Maybe it was the blood on Keef’s face, maybe it was the fading light, maybe it was the Triforce of Wisdom, or maybe it was just her conscious screaming at her through the rage, but for a moment Keef’s face disappeared, and she was punching the bloodied face of Draq; she even heard Gannondorf’s grim laugh escaping from her mouth. Her eyes fell down to her blood-stained hand, but instead of her white and blue gloves, she saw the heave leather-gauntleted fist of the evil warlord. Gasping, Shiek let go of Keef, allowing his body to sink into a limp pile at her feet. She staggered back a few paces, falling to her knees, the color draining from her face, staring with wide frightened eyes at her hands.

Long live her majesty, Queen Zelda, Absolute Ruler of the Hylian Empire! The words came unbidden to her mind.

“What in the name of Din’s fire happened?” Shiek looked up wildly at the speaker, panic sweeping her.

It was Impa. New scars on her face, and an uncharacteristic look of shocked horror in her eyes, but unmistakably Impa.

Shiek spread her arm out and sobbed.

“Don’t let me Impa! I don’t want to be him! I don’t want to be him!” she was on the verge of hysteria, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face.

“Don’t let you be who?” her guardian asked falling on her knees to check and see if it was Shiek’s blood that coated the princess’ clothing.

“Gannondorf! Gannondorf! GANNONDORF!”

With that, Shiek fell into Impa’s arms sobbing, and for a time she knew nothing more.

Shiek woke up with the feel of a cool rag on her forehead. Moaning slightly, she tried to push herself onto her elbows, and felt her arm groan in protest. Her entire body felt stiff and sore, acting as a very potent reminder of the brutal fight she had just went through. Pulling the rag away from her face, Shiek looked around to get her bearings. Apparently Impa had taken her up to her house on the hill. As far as she could see, she was the only person in the room, but there was a white sheet over a bed in the corner that look like there was someone unmoving beneath it. The sheet was drenched in blood. A wave of nausea swept her as she realized what the sheet had to be covering; Keef’s corpse, bloody and beaten lifeless by her own bare hands. Shiek felt a shiver run through her. The dark room would have been creepy enough, and Keef’s body wasn’t helping at all. She nearly jumped out of her skin when the door suddenly flew open. Recovering herself, she looked to see who had entered.

It was Impa.

“Feeling better, princess?” Impa asked, concern in her eyes, belying the unemotional air she tried to keep about her.

“Don’t call me princess, Impa, please…” Shiek said sitting up fully and letting her sore legs dangle over the bed, “I never want to be ruler of anything, I don’t want to become what I was last…” she trailed off realizing she wasn’t sure how long she’d been sleeping. She made to rise to her feet, but Impa reached out, pushing her back to sit on the bed.

“About that, what happened this afternoon?” Impa ask, pushing some of Shiek’s long bangs away from her face, “I came out of the village to find you and Keef covered in blood; him unconscious and you screaming hysterically about Gannondorf. Were the two of you attacked?”

“Sort of,” Shiek let her eyes travel to the other bed, “is he, um…” she trailed off, unable to finish.

“Dead? Yes, whatever attacked you two must have had a sick twist to it; it pulverized Keef’s face, I could barely recognize him. So what happened? Moblins? Skultiods?”

“No… me…” Shiek’s reply was barely above a whisper, as she looked at Keef’s corpse, unable to tare her eyes away from the bloody sheet in the corner.

Sighing Impa shook her head, a look of pity in her eyes.

“Princess, what happened was not your fault. It was obvious you did your best to help thwart the assailants, which is all that can be asked for…”

“no, you don’t understand,” Shiek replied, still whispering. Her eyes finally traveled back to Impa’s, filled with sorrow and shame.

“I killed him… myself… with this hand…”

Impa didn’t say anything for a few seconds. There was an odd look in her eye, and Shiek thought it looked as though she was trying to decided if the princess was mad, lying, telling some kind of sick joke, or really serious. Finally she must have come to rest on the last.

“So, why did you kill Keef?” she asked, hanging doubt still obvious in her eyes.

“Because I hated him,” it was the truth after all. She had not really needed to kill him. And that was what was burning her soul, the real reason she didn’t want to be Queen. Just another Gannondorf with a different piece Triforce and the same maniacal desire to kill anything that opposed her.

“Um, princess, are you sure you are remembering the afternoon correctly?”

“How else do you explain this Impa?” ask asked, holding up her right hand, which was wrapped in gauze, “or that way I was covered with Keef’s blood. And please… don’t call me princess; I can’t be a princess anymore…”

“That is not something you can choose, princess… it is what you are.”

“Maybe it is what I am… but I cannot do it again.”

“Do what again?”

Shiek sighed. This was going to be a long story.

“…that’s when I ran into Keef outside the village. I confronted him about his treason, and he attacked me.”

“And then you killed him,” Impa said comprehension beginning to form on her features.

“No,” Shiek said, shaking her head, “I defeated him in combat. He was helpless. Then I killed him.”

A shocked looked crossed Impa’s face.

“Why in Din’s name-”

“He said he had tortured Draq,” Shiek interrupted, “and I hated him. That’s why I don’t want to be princess, or queen, or anything. Never again will I be like Gannondorf.”

Impa shook her head looking steadily down at Shiek.

“One does not have to rule to anything to become like that vile magus, and not all rulers are poisoned by the madness that holds his mind. You will be a ruler Princess Zelda, destiny cannot be overruled… the kind of leader you will be is what is in your power to craft.”

Sighing, Shiek looked back to the bloody sheet. As always, Impa was right, but she still had hanging doubts. The rage and passion that had bashed the life out of Keef had come from inside her. Maybe destiny had decided that a Gannondorf would sit on Hyrule’s throne, even if it had to be a female version.

As Impa saw to the readying of Keef’s body for burial, Shiek walked out into the village. Both she and Impa had decided that supporter of Gannondorf or no, Keef was a shiekah, and ergo deserved a proper shiekah resting. Besides, Shiek sort of felt she owed the guy a favor.

There wasn’t much happening in the village. A few peasants wandered around, Fiona’s chickens were running wild yet again, and of course the two odd Gorshii brothers were laughing over something till their sides were bursting in the center of the town. Shiek had long ago stopped asking them what they were laughing at, it was generally just Geral Gorshii laughing about how Georfy Gorshii had gotten scared out of the little wits he possessed by something or other. Walking over to the well in the back of the village, Shiek stared gloomily down into it. At the bottom of the well was where the evil spirit Impa had imprisoned was caged. It was odd how ht well looked so normal on the surface, giving no clue about the great evil it housed.

Perhaps in a way it’s like me… seemingly innocent, but ready to erupt in a violent burst at any second. Shaking the thought away, Shiek turned back towards the village entrance. She reached about the center of the town when she spotted Toran, who was obviously returning from the forest.

“You ok?” the young warrior asked as he slowed to jog to stand in front of her, “you look kind of banged up.”

“Keef,” Shiek replied shrugging, “but don’t worry… he’ll never bother us again.”

Toran nodded, and fell into pace with Shiek as they walked towards Impa’s House.

“I went to the temple courtyard,” he began, jerking a thumb in the general direction of the forest, “and found a few things,” his voice carried a strained sound, and Shiek figured that she had been right after all.

“What did you find?” she asked, already guessing at the answer.

“I found Scela’s body… he’d been chopped into pieces, Shiek, like a Dark Knuckle had gotten a hold of him,” his voice sounded controlled, but Shiek could tell by the look in his eyes that Toran had been simultaneously infuriated, sickened, and grief-stricken at the sight.

So it’s worse then I had wanted to believe, not only is Draq dead, but Scela died trying to avenge him…

“The strange thing is,” Toran voice cut into her thoughts, “there is no sign of Draq anywhere. No body, no torn clothes, not even a sign of his freaking axe… Why would whatever killed them take him away but leave Scela behind? It just doesn’t make sense to say he’s dead…”

“But it doesn’t make any sense to say he is alive either,” Shiek mused, “because he surely would have fought to the death… and even if he hadn’t died after I left, who ever killed Scela would have only been able to do it over Draq’s lifeless body. But you’re right, there doesn’t seem to be a good reason for why there’s no sign of him. You’re sure you didn’t miss anything?”

Toran nodded.

“I checked everything thoroughly… there was absolutely no indication that Draq had been killed in the courtyard, or in the maze outside it either…”

The two stood in contemplation for a moment, and soon found themselves joined by Impa. Toran gave a startled look at the arrival of the Shiekah elder, which soon melted into a small grin. Shiek knew that even though Toran was often frustrated by Impa’s cold manner and strict rules, he respected her greatly and looked on her as the closest thing to a mother he’d ever had.

“Impa? My, you’re up quick. It wasn’t that long ago that you looked like you should have been dead!”

A wry grin tugged at Impa’s mouth, but she remained collected.

“It would seem that Jethro is a very qualified healer… not to mention is rich enough to buy the most powerful medicines ever seen in Hyrule. I was much more then adequately cared for. And I am glad to see you found Shiek and were able to assist her.”

Toran sighed, rolling his eyes heavenward.

“Impa, seriously, chill. Why can’t you just say, ‘yeah, doing much better, and thanks for watching over Shiek’ like a normal person would?”

Shiek was about to interject her own comments when there came a roar that cause all three heads to snap around to the far side of the village. Smoke was billowing from Death Mountain, and it looked as though it was about to erupt. This was not an overly uncommon occurrence, but this time the smoke was an odd color, not the normal grayish white.

“Um, am I the only one who thinks this is probably a bad thing?” asked Toran, somewhat rhetorically, starting to walk towards the foot of the mountain. Shiek made to follow him, but Shiek only took three steps before she felt an odd, yet familiar, tingling in the back of her mind. It had to be Rydum the Sage of Light trying to connect with her telepathically from his place in the Sacred Realm.

“Impa,” she said pointing after Toran, “can you go help him? Rydum wants to talk with me, so I need to head to the Temple of Time…”

Impa nodded and Shiek pulled out her harp. A few strands of the Prelude of Light brought her to the large stone cathedral that acted as the gateway to the Sacred Realm.

Toran and Impa reached the base of Death Mountain after the short jog across the village. Quite a few of the villagers had gathered to see what might be up, and Toran saw concern, surprise, and even fear among the sturdy refugees.

“Impa,” he asked under his breath, starting up at the strange ring of smoke floating over Death Mountain crater, “you ever seen this happen before?”

The Shiekah shook her head, and the two moved to the path up the mountain to Gordon City.

“Please everyone,” Impa said, turning to address the crowd, “we are going to go see what has happened, and if there is any danger. Until then, I suggest you do your best to just go on about the day’s work. Even if Death Mountain erupts, this village has never been in its blast radius, so there should be no threat to everyone here. We will return to give you a report of the situation by this evening.”

There were some murmurs that ran through the crowd at this, but slowly the villagers left to their various jobs. Impa commanded a great deal of respect among the villagers, and if she said something would probably not harm them, they were willing to listen.

The two had only gotten around the first bend in the path when Plarth staggered into view out of the Gordon Cavern. He was the leader of a resistance team that stationed themselves in a cave near Gordon City, and just one look at him told Toran that more then a volcanic eruption was at foot. Plarth’s brown hair was disheveled, there was a nasty gash across his face, and his tall thin frame was hunched over as though he was trying to apply pressure to his lower abdomen. When he saw Toran and Impa, his glazed brown eyes cleared slightly, and tried to take another staggering step forward. His legs gave out though, and Plarth fell to the ground, clutching stomach and groaning. Toran was beside him in an instant, Impa right behind him.

“Plarth! What in Narue’s name is happening?” Toran said, trying to help Plarth sit.

“Gannondorf’s army,” Plarth gasped, obvious in a massive amount of pain, and still wrapping his arms around his midriff, “Lizardmen, Moblins, and Skultiods… They attacked Gordon City early this morning. My team and the Gordons fought them as best we could, but there were just too many of them. We might have even had them, except for the Dark Knuckle leading them…” Plarth fell into a fit of coughing that brought blood to his lips.

“How could they have gotten an army up the Mountain?” Toran asked, looking at Impa, “The only way up is through the village. To get to Gordon City he would have had to attack the village first and all the mainland races would rush to its aid. Gannondorf knows without the other pieces of the Triforce he doesn’t have the military clout to defeat the combined armies of Gordon, Hylian, and Zora races combined.”

Impa shook her head grimly, obviously perturbed.

“There is an old path up the back side of the mountain carved by the normal lava flow… only the Shiekah people knew about it…”

Toran’s eyes hazel darkened.

“Keef…”

“The Dark Knuckle slaughtered our group, only I made it out to try and get word to you, Impa. They took most of the Gordons alive, dragging to the Fire Temple in the crater. Using his arts, Gannondorf woke up the fire dragon that has been dead for countless generations, and plans on feeding it Gordons until its full strength returns. The Gordon king and I were the only ones able to get away. He sent me to warn the village of the attack and went to the temple to kill the dragon. I was only able to make it the Gordon Cavern and warn a few miners to escape before I collapsed. Thank Narue you made it to me…”

Toran reached down and pulled Plarth’s arms away from his abdomen. The bloody gash across it caused bile to spring to Toran mouth. Swallowing hard he looked over to Impa, who grimly shook her head, anger mixed with sorrow in her eyes. Toran knew what she meant; there wasn’t a doctor in Hyrule that could save Plarth, he would be dead before they could even get him to the village. Impa knelt down and placed her hand on Plarth’s forehead.

“You have done wonderfully Plarth, and we got your message. Now, lay back a rest…”

“Get me to the village, ok?” Plarth rasped, curling up and squeezing his eyes shut in pain, “I need a doctor to patch me up so I can get back in there… the Gordons are gonn’a need help!”

“Ok, ok… just rest now,” Impa said, gently stroking the messy brown hair, “you have already done more then enough… your father would be very proud.”

A smile crossed Plarth’s face and his expression looked less pained. His breathing became shallower, and slowly his body relaxed. Impa waited for Plarth to slip away fully before standing and turning to Toran. Toran wasn’t sure, but he thought there were tears in Impa’s large eyes.

“Toran,” she said, voice grim and strained, “I want you to get to the Temple of Time and inform Shiek of what has happened. I will go to the Temple of Fire and see if I can help the Gordons. Then-”

“No Impa,” Toran cut her off, holding up a hand in protest, “not gonn’a work that way. The cause needs you alive too much to send you into the crater alone. You go find Shiek and I will look into the Gordon problem. If you try to continue up this path, you’re going to have to fight me to do it.”

Impa looked surprised that Toran would be so forward to her, but nodded.

“Very well, Toran… but try to not get hurt. Shiek would never forgive me if you died, and honestly, I care a lot about you to. The Goddesses go with you!”

There was a flash, and a crack, blinding Toran for a second. After a moment his vision returned and Impa was gone.

Only way you’re getting up this path is by fighting me, eh? He thought with a smirk before turning to run towards Gordon city.