Disclaimer: Nintendo owns all rights of the Legend of Zelda video games and the characters Link, Zelda, Ganon, the King, and Captain Krin. All other characters were created by me, so please do not use them. But feel free to draw them and send me a copy. I make no money off of this work. Legends of Hyrule is my second series set in the Legend of Zelda universe after the defeat of Ganon. The Hyrueliana takes place three years after Destiny. If you have any other questions about the sequence of events, please see the timeline.
A land that sits on a peninsula, separated from the rest of the world by a mighty ocean corralling it on three sides and a range of mountains. A land of forests, plains, deserts, croplands, villages, and isolated homes. A land chosen to be the focus for the magic of an entire world. A land where a kingdom was created for the creatures of that magic. A land where a legend was born and heroes recognized. A land called . . . Hyrule.
Zoe fingered a dagger set out in the display case. The proprietor of the weapon shop smiled at her. "Looking for something?"
"A gift for someone special," she looked up into the man's broad face. "How much for this dagger?"
"This dagger," he hefted it out of the case and weighed it in his hand. "Is very special. Old, too. It has a magical property; it will hit anything you throw it at. Would you care to try?" He offered it to Zoe.
She weighed it in her hand. Cleverly crafted, the silver blade merged seamless into the green hilt. The hilt was forged into a frozen serpentine dragon, complete with intricate scales and ruby eyes. The hilt conformed to her hand and she tossed it toward the pillar in the center of the weapon shop. It hit the exposed wood with resounding force. "How much?"
"Forty-five rupees, lovely lady." He walked around the display case and easily pulled the dagger out of the pillar.
Zoe smiled slyly. "It's worth much more, just on its antiquity. Why are you giving me such a reduced price?"
The shop owner smiled back. "Obviously, from the way you threw the dagger, you know weapons." Zoe smiled. She wasn't wearing her sword with her simple green and brown jerkin (much like her father's); she usually didn't when she came to town. The shop owner knew his craft. "And I saw you admiring my picture."
She turned to the framed picture hanging over the mantle. A woman in full armor with a regal expression on her noble face brandished a flaming sword. She stood next to a stone altar that supported a jewel that appeared to have a flame engulfing it. The background had an erupting Death Mountain, spewing green fire into the sky. "She's very," Zoe searched for the right word, "mysterious. Who is she?"
"The Hyrulian, witch-slayer, goddess of warriors, protector of knights, champion of the Fire-Sword, creator of Hyrule, wife of the god Orden."
"The Flame-Thrower," Zoe finished. "The jewel, right? I heard most myths represent him as a fire-encased jewel."
"I'm glad you know your mythology. So many young people don't these days. Just because most of the gods of old have proven to be Gensiarians doesn't mean we can't learn anything from myths. They have a base in truth somewhere in the past."
"I love mythology," Zoe smiled. "My father would tell my brother and I the ancient myths and legends he knew until we knew them by heart."
"A very wise man," the shop owner commented.
"I always knew he was."
"You have an interesting variation on a simple chess move, Orden." Prince Kevin walked down the halls of the North Palace with his hands resting on his belt.
"I told you I have played a game similar to your chess," Orden smiled, tossing his thick, orange mane of hair over his shoulders. Zoe's younger siblings were stronger in brains rather than brawn, which was the source of Kevin's pout; he hadn't expected to lose. Orden didn't hold it against him, in fact, it was the reason for his and Zoe's great proposal.
Princess Kelamane, Kevin's twin sister, joined them before they started down the Grand Staircase. Almost like she read Orden's mind, "What proposal are you and Zoe suggesting to Mom?"
Orden laughed, "It's a surprise, Kela."
She sniffed disdainfully and let her thick, blonde braid fall from her shoulder. "We're going to be the rulers one day. It only makes sense that you tell us too."
"You're not in charge yet," Orden replied and let his orange eyes twinkle at Kela's displeasure. "Stop fretting, you'll know soon enough. Show a little patience like your brother." That was the right thing to say; they would attack other people together or separately but they would never attack each other.
Zoe wrapped her arms around Orden's neck and squeezed his shoulders as they reached the first floor. "I saw your wife today."
"Did you look in the mirror today?" Orden kissed her brown-tanned hands.
The twins' confusion didn't surprise him. It was a joke between him and Zoe about their lack of marriage. "How can she be your wife," Kela began.
"If you two aren't married?" Kevin finished.
Zoe rolled her brown eyes. "I thought you two had given up talking in half sentences."
"Sorry," Kela quickly replied.
"We fall back into the habit without realizing it," Kevin answered.
"And the reason she's my wife without being married is if she doesn't marry me, I'll die a bitter and heartbroken man." Orden squeezed Zoe's hands and released them so she could join him by his side.
"Then why haven't you got married yet?" Kela asked.
"Because every time I ask her she tells me to wait a little longer."
"Oh, stop complaining," Zoe popped Orden's arm. "I've never told you no, have I?"
"I may stop asking all together. A man gets tired of being humiliated all the time."
"Let's go talk to Mom."
"You always change the subject when I bring it up."
This was your idea, wasn't it? Zelda turned her mind viciously toward her husband.
I'm innocent, your Highness, Link proclaimed hotly through their telepathy. I'll admit I helped them research it but they came up with the idea.
Zoe guessed what her parents were discussing telepathically by their expressions. "Mother, I would never go over your decision, but Hyrule needs an order of Knights again. There are increased raids from foreign outlaws in the Borderlands, increased riots from ruffians in the towns, and increased trouble all-round the Kingdom. Without Ganon to unify the people, certain types have decided they want to stir up things."
Zelda grimaced, "I know; I've been studying the reports all day." She gestured to the stack of papers next to her ornate throne. She sighed. Kevin and Kela took after her rather than their father, and they didn't have the battle tactics Ganon had taught her. They would need military they could trust when they inherited the throne, and she and Link could use the help now.
"Who do you two have in mind to run the show?" Link leaned back in his less ornate throne.
"Actually, we were planning to run it, your Highness," Orden answered respectfully. "We would find the recruits, train them, and hold them accountable."
Zelda frowned, "Just you two? Alone?"
Zoe's frown matched her mother's. "Yes, what's wrong?"
"Appearances."
"Mo-ther, Orden and I have been traveling together for a year now and no one thinks anything's wrong with it."
"That's different," Zelda insisted.
Zoe turned to her father. "I'm going to have to agree with your mother on this one, Zoe. Before, you have had someone with you, even if they weren't chaperones."
"We'll have the recruits."
"But not at first and not always. Besides, you'll be in charge, they'll ignore what you tell them to."
"Do you really think I would do that?! Is that how far you trust us?" Zoe spluttered angrily.
"We trust you, Zoe," Zelda soothed softly. "But that's what people might think."
"By the Triforce! I think you're still trying to put me in a dress! I'm not staying locked-up in the Palace while Orden has all the fun!" Zoe marched across the throne room, threw open the doors, and slammed them shut behind her.
Orden grimaced. "I'm sorry, your Majesties."
"No need to apologize for our daughter, Orden," Link answered. "We know what we're up against." Orden left, and he sighed. "I wish you weren't so stubborn. Then we wouldn't have so much trouble getting those two married."
"Me? She doesn't get this hardheadedness from me!"
"She doesn't! How 'bout a kiss, Princess?"
"All right, half at least. But do you think she got the idea?"
"Zoe got the idea. And if she didn't, Orden did. But that's not the problem. Will she decide to go with it out of love and convenience or not to go with it out of spite at us?"
Orden braced himself and stepped out on the battlements of the North Palace. Zoe sat there, wrapped in her yellow razer, the cloak of honor of a Dragon Slayer, and looking sorrowfully across the land. "I think you misjudged your parents. They are only concerned about your honor."
"I can take care of my honor just fine by myself."
"And they definitely don't want to keep in the North Palace when you have this bad attitude." Zoe smiled and Orden leaned over and kissed her oftly on the lips. "Why not just marry me?"
"Didn't we already have this conversation today?"
"Well, at least then no one can say we are doing anything wrong."
"I'm just sick and tired of the stupid double standard. The next thing will be it's not proper for me to be in charge at all. I am not playing the docile wife at the Palace. She has no right to demand that of me."
"Oh, is that what she said?"
"Orden, don't make fun of me. But the whole thing is so stupid."
"I agree."
"Even the legends and myths make more sense. A goddess was the protector of knights."
"Was that what you meant when you said you had found my wife in town?"
"Actually, she's your namesake's wife. The Hyrulian, goddess of warriors, protector of knights, champion of the Fire-Sword, ex cetera, ex cetera."
"Sounds like someone I would like to know better," Orden grinned. He turned toward the west. "Almost sunset; it's been a long day. Let's go in and act civil at dinner."
"I'm always civil at dinner," Zoe replied stiffly as she took Orden's hand. "You can keep your mouth full and use it as an excuse not to converse."
He laughed as he pulled her close. "No wonder your mother finds you so exasperating."
"I learned the trick from Dad," Zoe laughed.
Orden started to reply when a blinding flash of light interrupted him. He pulled Zoe slightly behind him, not to protect her but to make it easier for him to maneuver. Zoe realized this and fell back. A man stepped out of the light, a tall, thin man with long, black hair. Orden stared into his thin-featured face and locked eyes with the stranger's silver and blue ones. The stranger gestured and the light surrounded him and Zoe.
"Orden!" Zoe grasped his hand. "Where are we?"
He gazed around at the thick forest. "It's not Dragonsworld. Are you sure it isn't another location on your world?"
Zoe's eyes looked at him worriedly. "It is Hyrule. But no part of Hyrule I recognize!"
Josh Kemper's eyes slid shut. Lissa was often doing her top secret magic stuff, and he had to make sure home didn't go kaput while she was gone. So far, so good. But you'd think sleeping alone wouldn't be so bad considering how often it happened during their eleven years of marriage. Josh sighed, and stared out the window.
His son's scream jolted him to his feet. "Mommy! Mommy!"
He hurried to Lyle's bedroom, down the hall from the master bedroom in the Palace tower set aside for their family. The lamp flared on as Josh opened the door. Lyle's black hair flopped toward his mismatched eyes streaming with tears. "What's wrong?"
Lyle curled his body so he could hug his knees. "Mommy. I need Mommy."
Josh sat down on the edge of the bed. "Stomachache back? That's what you get for eating too many green apples."
His son twisted away from his comforting hand. "I need Mommy!"
It had been a while since they had to deal with this. "Mommy's away on a trip."
"I need Mommy!" Lyle's wet faced reddened.
"Mommy's not here."
"Yes, I am." Lissa rushed into the bedroom with her dress and cloak flapping.
Josh ran a hand through his own black hair. "I thought we agreed not to cater to Lyle's every command."
"This is different." Lyle barely waited for Lissa to sit on his bed before burrowing into her embrace. "What happened, Lyle?"
What he said didn't make sense through Lyle's hiccups. Josh shook his head. "I hope the rest of the universe isn't collapsing while you're babying our boy."
Lissa's blue and silver mismatched eyes narrowed at him. "I solved that issues and the inhabitants can handle the rest. Lyle did something here."
"He snuck into the garden's fruit trees and ate too many green apples."
"This is Gensiarian trouble."
"How? Lyle didn't do anything!"
"But I did! And I didn't!" Lyle's mismatched blue and silver, bloodshot eyes swiveled between his parents. "I don't think I've done it yet, but I did it and Zoe and Orden are gone!"
"You think you sent Zoe and Orden away?" She smoothed Lyle's hair away from his eyes.
"But I didn't! I was trying to make the medicine work faster, that's all." Tears welled again. "It was my magic that did it. I could have hurt Zoe and Orden."
"Now you know how hard it is to hurt Zoe and Orden. Don't worry about it. Mommy will figure it out." She laid Lyle back in his bed and Josh smoothed the covers over his gangly body. Lissa followed by kissing Lyle's forehead. "Go back to sleep."
The lights went off without human touch, so Josh closed the door softly behind them. "What's wrong? Why doesn't Lyle know what his magic did?"
Lissa chewed on her bottom lip before answering. "He's always had a problem with the present. Maybe because his future magic is affecting our now?"
"And he doesn't know what he did because he hasn't done it yet?" Josh pulled her into a hug after she nodded. "Will he be all right?"
"He should be," she said with a squeeze. "But I still need to track down what happened to Zoe and Orden."
"Okay, I'll wait up."
She smiled before brushing his lips with hers. "You do hate sleeping alone." Then she vanished in a flash of purple tinted light.
"I can't explain it. The guy who sent us here seems familiar to me." Zoe stopped fanning the fire. The larger fallen branches had finally caught.
"Don't worry about it. His name will come to you in time." Orden cut the last lashing of the lean-to and stepped back to observe his handiwork. He turned with a smile. "Reminds you of the old times?"
She looked at up. "I thought our traveling to different worlds was done." Her gaze fell back to the flames. "All this is missing is Zauk."
"I'm not missing him."
"He is my sword brother, how can you say that?"
"Because he was always underfoot when I wanted to be with you alone." He sat down next to her, and put his arm around her shoulders. "Don't fret. We'll be alright. Actually, this gives us an opportunity to talk without any well meaning interruptions from your family."
"What do you want to talk about?" She leaned against him.
"Us, our future. Is it proving your mother wrong or is it me?"
"What?" Zoe straightened to look at his face.
"Why you won't marry."
She stroked his cheek. "How can you even think it would be you?"
"Because I can't think of one good reason why we shouldn't." He caught her hand and squeezed it.
"Mother has to stop with the meddling. I'm not doing anything because she said I should." Her face darkened. "Besides she'd want a big state wedding and die of embarrassment after I trip in the dress and knock three rows of attendees over. All the kingdom would be a buzz and she'd bring it up at every meal." Her shoulders slumped.
"You can get married in chainmail for all I care."
"Orden...."
He spoke quickly to keep her from going on. "Your mother has nothing to do with us. We can run away and get married if that will make you happy. All I want is a commitment that my leaving my life and world behind was not in vain."
She shifted and turned his head to look at her face. "Do you doubt my love for you?"
"At some point, your actions must match your words."
"Well, take heart in these actions." She reached out and pulled him into a kiss.
They had slept all night in each other's arms and broke camp at dawn. It had taken all of the day to reach a village to the south. Zoe tucked Orden's orange hair under the hood of her razer as they stood in the shadows of the forest beside the road into town. "I'm not sure what the townspeople will think of your hair."
"What about you? What will they think of a girl with a sword?"
Zoe opened the pouch on her sword belt and pulled out a dark green, hooded cloak. "Kela gave it to me to hold." She threw it around her shoulders and pulled the hood over her head. The cloak only reached her thighs but it managed to disguise her femininity. "Are we ready?"
"As ready as we'll ever be," Orden replied. "Be my brother and let me do the talking. Nothing unfair about it; you just don't sound like a boy."
"I hope not," Zoe answered as they stepped out onto the moonlit road and marched into town.
The town was quiet and dark, except one building. "Is this place familiar?" Zoe wordlessly shook her head. "Don't worry, we'll go to the tavern and find out where we are." Zoe let Orden lead the way. Her meek attitude troubled him slightly. It wasn't like her. Maybe it was the shock of being in a world that she knew was Hyrule but didn't recognize.
The tavern was large and filled with smoke and men, large country-folks. Orden walked up to the bartender. "Can I help you two?" He asked cheerfully guarded, wary of two armed strangers.
"What town is this?" Orden asked casually, trying to sound like a weary traveler.
"Saria Town," the bartender answered. Zoe flinched but quickly recovered herself. "Would you like anything?
"A meal for both of us," Orden led the way to a corner table, away from everyone else. The regular customers watched them for while then turned back to their affairs. "Are you all right?"
"This can't be Saria Town; it can't be!" she whispered back fiercely. "I've been to it hundreds and hundreds of times. This isn't the same place!"
"But it's still Hyrule?"
"I can't explain it, but it is," she broke off as the bartender set steaming plates of food on the table.
Orden cleared his throat slightly. "My brother and I are travelers. Who is the lord over Saria Town?"
"That would be Lord Saria, vassal to King Mechkeoff," the bartender answered.
"So this is King Mechkeoff's kingdom?"
"Nay, his kingdom is over the Border Mountains. We're just settlers who chose a Lord for protection who chose to remain under the rule of a far-away King." The bartender left them to their meal.
"King Mechkeoff, a distant ancestor of yours?" Orden whispered to Zoe.
"No, Hyrule isn't even a kingdom. Orden, I think we've traveled back in time!"
"That would explain what you have been experiencing. We have to find a way back."
"What if there is no way back?"
"Don't think that, Zoe. We have to keep hope."
"Why are we here? Why did he send us here?"
"Maybe we're needed."
"But how do we know when we're needed or when we're messing up the past?"
Orden paused, "This is going to be difficult."
Suddenly, screams erupted outside the tavern. A man stumbled through the door. "Moblins! Moblins are attacking the town!" He fell to the floor. All the patrons of the tavern could see the wicked gash that sliced his back open.
The men jumped to their feet. "The weapons, Jolo!" One yelled as the bartender wrenched open a door and passed out swords, bows, and axes.
Zoe grabbed hold of a man's arm. "Ganon's moblins?"
"Who's Ganon?" The man shook off her hand. "The elves control these moblins!"
"Before Ganon," Zoe murmured, confused. "Elves?"
"Come, Zoe!" Orden shouted as he plunged through the door.
Zoe drew her sword and ran into the street. A group of screaming children ran past her, dodging between the tavern and another building. She jerked the hood back and ran after them.
A moblin blocked the end of the alley, towering over most of the children. Another moblin blocked the street end. The largest boy pushed the rest of the children behind him and curled up his fists, facing the one between them and the forest. "You fight us, boy?"
"Pick on someone your own size!" A blinding flash of light enveloped the moblin at the street before another flash flew over the heads of the children to envelop the other moblin. They disappeared. The children stared at her in shock. "Are you all right?" Her voice was harsh; the battlefield was no place for this stupor.
"Aye," the boy answered. "How did you do that?"
She didn't answer. "Where can you go and be safe?"
"We usually go to the forest and hide until the moblins leave."
"Then go." The boy led the way to the edge of the forest. Zoe followed them until she was sure they were safe, and turned back to the town. Fog swirled around the buildings, and the glow of a building on fire was suspended over the town by the fog. Adult women screamed now, punctuated with yells of full-grown men. She gritted her teeth. A moblin pole axe laid on the ground where she had zapped it. She scooped it up and ran down the alley back to the street. Moblins swarmed between the buildings. Zoe let loose a blood-curdling cougar scream, batting moblins left and right as she wielded the pole axe like a sickle.
A horn sounded in the distance, and a moblin yelled "Retreat!" One moblin didn't listen and raised his sword above a man on the ground.
Zoe reached the moblin first. His head rolled on the ground and she pushed the body away so it wouldn't fall on the man. "Are you injured?"
He gaped up at her. "Elf! You did this! You brought these beasts here to attack us!" He scrambled to his feet.
"What are you talking about? I just saved your life."
A crowd of humans gathered around. The moblins were running away from the village, leaving the townspeople armed and angry. She couldn't make out all that they muttered but it was all hostile. "Kill the elf! That'll teach the rest."
Where was Orden? She glanced quickly around, but didn't see a yellow razer or orange hair. "I'm not your enemy."
"Your kind always comes with the moblins!"
Hoof-beats pounded on the road. The humans scattered from a group of gleaming white horses and riders. The lead rider grabbed her, yanking her into the air. The last thing she heard was Orden's voice screaming her name.
The gleaming white horses and their riders had borne his Girlwithsword away. Orden bowed his head, but it didn't ease the throbbing where the townspeople had clubbed him. They had taken his sword and now two men in leather armor guarded him. Not that he knew which way to follow the riders even if he was free.
"What have we here?" A female stopped in front of him. Her maroon gown brushed against the dirt of the road.
"The townspeople said he came with the elf that brought the moblins, Lady Agmaraa," one of the guards answered.
"Indeed." She crouched down to be head level with Orden. "But this is no elf. What's your name?"
Orden looked at her face. She spent little time in the sun, and her black hair had streaks of grey fanning out at her temples. But the skin around her green eye and her silver eye was supple. Her expression held no malice. "My name is Orden Larksphere. My companion and I had nothing to do with the moblins. We were traveling and decided to stop here for the night."
"They saw the ears," a guard sneered.
"She's not human, but she's not an elf either. And we are both enemies of moblins."
"Then why would she ride off with the elves?" The other guard asked.
"The lead rider seized her. That's being carried away, not riding off." Orden gritted his teeth to hold in his anger.
Agmaraa noticed Orden's empty scabbard. "You fought the moblins?"
"Is that a crime too? They attacked this village, and the people living here are not trained warriors of any sort. We were trying to help."
She nodded and stood up. "Come, we need to see Lord Saria." Orden scrambled to his feet and the guards followed beside him as she led him to a group of armored men.
"My lord, the keep must be extended to protect Saria-Town. It is too vulnerable to attacks as it is." The speaker broke off as they approached and gained the attention of the oldest man present, a sparse man with a bony face and at ease with command.
His expression did not change. "Is that the elf, Lady Agmaraa?"
"His name is Orden Larksphere and he fought the moblins. He is no elf. His companion was mistaken to be an elf and was kidnapped by the elves that rode into the battle."
"What the elves take is never returned," another armored man muttered. Orden's heart lurched.
Agmaraa glanced back at Orden before continuing. "Lord Saria, he is not safe here. The townspeople restrained from killing him only because of your arrival."
Saria pulled at his beard. "What do you want, lad?"
Orden lifted his chin. "To save my companion. Can you spare aid in tracking the riders?"
The rest of the group gasped and muttered. Saria smiled wryly. "If you lot had half the guts this lad has, the elves wouldn't find us such easy prey. There is no way to track them. They live under the hills and the entrances are enchanted. Your companion is buried."
"Perhaps he'd relish the chance to keep the same fate from another," Agmaraa said.
"The elves have designs on my daughter, Zeldra. She is rebellious and does not understand their devious natures. She needs constant protection, and mayhaps you could make her understand the threat. What say you?"
If the elves were after this young lady, it may be his only opportunity to flush one out and demand information on Zoe. "I accept the charge, Lord Saria."
"Good, Lady Agmaraa, please take him back to the keep."
Orden's sword was given back to him, and Agmaraa led them to a carriage. "Be not fooled by their talk of burials and death. The elves only take those who are willing to go. They offer what cannot be found here above ground."
"Zoe would want nothing that is theirs."
"You speak so confidently, what do you offer her to return to?" Agmaraa's eyes bored into his. "Love? Why did you not call her your wife?" She laughed and climbed into the carriage without aid. "If she has nay married you, what makes you so certain that another man cannot woo her away? Especially one with magical skills."
Orden frowned and climbed into the carriage.
"I understand what you feel. You are all alone, among people who are not your people." Her smile was compassionate. "They are good people, and need aid to reach their final destiny. Make up your own mind, Orden Larksphere, but I hope you will decide to help me help them. It is better to mend a heart by doing good."
"I'm willing to help for now." Orden said. "No one knows the future."
Agmaraa smiled slightly, but didn't reply. The carriage started down the road.
"This is madness, my Lady," Sir Lont, the youngest Knight to Lord Saria, followed the girl through the twilight of the forest. "If your father discovered this . . . ."
"He will not discover this unless you betray me." Zeldra smoothed her colorful frock and brushed her long golden hair into its plait with her hands as she sat on a moss-covered boulder. "Now go. I will be safe." Lont shook his head and walked away, disappearing into the trees.
A sigh from the trees reached her ears. "I thought you would never tell him to leave." The silvery figure slipped out of the shadows and sat beside her.
"Holias," Zeldra whispered as she fell into his arms. She pulled away almost as quickly. "We can no longer see each other. My father is arranging a delegation to accompany me as I go to betroth King Mechkeoff's son. We will leave next week."
Holias jumped to his feet. "My warriors will attack the delegation and carry you away! Your father can't stop that!"
"No," Zeldra grabbed his arm. "You can't give my people any more reason to hate your people." She dropped his arm. "I wish it were not so."
Holias knelt next to her legs. "Am I to stand by and do nothing but watch you be shackled to misery? Is that what you ask of me?"
"I want to be with you, I just cannot see how. The only reason I was able to leave the keep is my father had to rush out to Saria-Town and see the remains of a moblin and elf attack."
"We did not attack! The moblins we were tracking attacked the village and we drove them off. Why do you keep creating an alliance between us and those monsters?"
"I don't! My father sends me away from his meetings now because I stand up for your people. He says I don't understand politics."
"Oh Zeldra," Holias cupped her face in his hands. "I thought it was dalfas when I first saw you. But something keeps forcing us apart."
"It's Agmaraa." Zeldra pulled her golden braid over her shoulder and brushed the wisps of golden hair behind her ears. "Father listens to every words she says. She has bewitched the entire court, all but Lont and I." She frowned. "He has seen her talking to someone through her mirror."
"We had no doubts she is a witch."
"She is plotting something against us all."
Holias sighed as he stood up. "If only there were someway to deliver your Father from the witch. Then he would listen to our hearts."
"What can we do? Send a hyrueliana to kill her? Only we are cursed to live in a time without one. You better go, Holias. I must go back before I'm missed." Zeldra turned away.
"Gone but not forgotten, my Lady," he slipped away quietly. And when Zeldra was sure he was gone, she burst into tears and buried her face against the boulder.
Lont followed the sound of the spring, muttering to himself. "If she loves him so much, why doesn't she just run away with him? Lord Saria would understand eventually." He pushed aside a tree branch and stopped.
The spring was where he usually waited for Lady Zeldra to finish her secret tryst with her Elf-lover. He was content to watch the natural beauty of the land unfolded before him. But today, someone had beaten him to the spring. A silver-clad woman sat on a boulder next to the pool of water, humming a tune to herself as she ran her fingers through her long, black hair. The sight mesmerized Lont and he stumbled forward into the clearing. She jumped up and whirled around, her sky-blue eyes eclipsing her face, and pressed her hand to her breast. "Don't go," Lont managed to gasp. "I will not hurt you. I'm sorry I frightened you."
"I did not know this spring had been claimed." She turned her feet from running, but remained standing.
"No one owns it." He found a stable boulder away from the water's edge to perch on, hoping that his sitting would ease the lady's skittishness. "It's a pretty place to waste time in, for me. But if I'm barging into your spot?"
She sat down again. "I only wanted to feel the wind. Company was unexpected."
Lont felt his face warm. "I am told that a lot."
A blush stained her cheeks. "I did not mean to imply it was unwelcome."
"You must be alone a fair bit if I'm a welcome change." He considered how lonely Zeldra was. Maybe something in this land made father turn daughters into prisoners. "Though I'm having a hard time seeing someone like you as lonely."
"There's nothing special about me." Her face fell as she looked down at the pool of water. "Nothing good at least."
Lont realized he was taking a huge risk, but he couldn't let that beautiful face remain so discontent. And sitting next to her was probably better than his first impulse to hug her until that expression melted away. His quiet slide onto the boulder next to her brought the startled blue gaze to his face, but she didn't run. "I don't want to scare you, but evil? I spend the majority of my daily activities avoiding beautiful evil. Whoever says there is nothing good about you obviously has no idea what evil really is."
"What if you are the one who is wrong?"
Lont courageously kept his eyes off how her hands writhed in her lap. "I'm not. That witch is in league with the moblins and would have my head if she knew that I know. She makes my skin crawl like it was covered in ants. And I would never get this close to her."
She turned her head so he only saw one pink cheek. "I accept your judgment then."
"Well then, will you accept my sword to defend your honor?"
"You don't even know me. How can you offer that?"
Lont caught her fluttering hands between her own, but his eyes met hers calmly. "It's all I have to offer, my Lady."
She slipped her hands free but didn't move further away. "I have never met anyone like you." She wrapped her silver-sleeved arms around herself as the wind whipped her silver skirt. "I never saw anyone like you. You are like a piece of the earth and trees come to life."
"I'm the homeliest knight in the land. What do you find so extraordinary about me?"
"What do you find so extraordinary about me?"
"You are like a storm cloud visiting the earth." He took a lock of her black hair and raised it to his lips. He kissed it softly and let it fly in the wind.
"You hold the soul of the sturdy oak tree in your brown eyes." She wrapped her arms around his neck and planted her red lips on his. "Dalfas," she whispered.
"Dalfas?" Lont asked.
"Destiny only stronger. Destiny can be balked or changed but not dalfas."
"I am Lont," he whispered back. "What is your name?"
The girl pulled away, "I cannot tell you. I cannot betroth myself to you as long as your people kill mine." For the first time, Lont saw her pointed ears.
"I do not want to betroth you now; I just want to know what to call you."
"For an Elf, giving away your name after a kiss is a betrothal. I am sorry, Lont, but I cannot."
"Wait! Don't go!" Lont shouted, but to no avail. The Elf-girl had vanished into the forest and she had taken his heart with her.
"Easy now, Prince. I think the changeling's waking." Zoe groaned and opened her eyes. A cheerful face beamed down at her, a young face that held eyes as old as the stars. "Hello, lovely. Awake now, are you? Good, sit up here." The woman, small in stature, pulled Zoe upright then piled pillows behind her back. "The Prince wants to talk with you." The woman left the room still clucking to herself.
Zoe stared around the fire-lit room. It was underground, for the smooth walls with no windows had been worked flat. "You carry a sword made from Elvenblade, you have Elfin features, but you are bigger than most Elfin men-- not to mention women--and you fainted riding a teragrade." Zoe's wandering brown eyes finally found the speaker. He sat beside the fire, a thin circlet of silver gleaming around his forehead. His long hair was a silver blond and his ears were highly pointed. When he finally matched her gaze, it startled Zoe to see Lin's intense green eyes staring out of a stranger's face. "Who are you, strange lady-warrior?"
"Teragrade?" Zoe questioned. Her voice and thoughts felt sluggish, as if swimming through a strong current. "My father knew a song about teragrade. I capture a maiden by a stream, My lady she shall be. Away we'll ride till we fade, On my teragrade." She stopped, realizing she was singing it. Nervously, she pulled on one of her brown braids that hung on either side of her face. "But he said there are no more teragrades."
"They are the mounts of the Elves; we are the only ones they permit to ride them." He sighed patiently, "Who are you?"
"Zoe. My name is Zoe."
"Where did you get this sword, Zoe?"
"My father gave it to me for my eighteenth birthday. Only one in each generation can use it and it has been in our family for years."
"An Elvenblade with a geis? I have never heard of such."
"Good, then we're even."
This remark brought a confused look to his face but he hid it quickly. "Why were you fighting moblins?"
"Because they're big, dumb, and ugly and I know how; why do you think? They were attacking the townspeople who didn't provoke them. Why were you?"
"Because they attacked my people in the Underworld and killed many of them. What are you, Zoe? You seem like an Elf that has forgotten how to be an Elf."
"Is that why you kidnapped me, because I fascinate you? Hardly justifiable." Zoe had a strange feeling, a warning of danger. Lamonica, one of the Elves now living in the Underworld that Ganon had left, had told her that the oldest Hyrulian families had Elf and human ties and throwbacks in these families had Elfin features. She was the product of throwbacks--Elfin blood flowed in her veins. Much more human than Elfin, but she shouldn't tell this Elf-man that.
"I apologize," the Elf bowed to her. "It seemed the safest path to follow. Humans hate and fear Elves to the point of murder. I would not leave a woman in that situation."
"Instead, you grab me up, don't tell me anything, leave Orden behind; Orden! He doesn't know where I am! He must be worried sick! I have to go to him!"
"No!" The Elf grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back into the bed. He was about Zoe's height but his strength surprised her. "You cannot leave the Underworld for this Orden or anyone else!" He threw open the door. "I will know what and who you are, Changeling! And you will not leave here until I am satisified." He strode out, taking Zoe's sword with him.
The Elf-woman returned, quivering with fear. "You put him in a dark mood, Changeling. Why? The Prince is hard enough to keep pleasant as it is."
"Prince?" Zoe turned to the woman. "He's a Prince?"
"Aye, Prince Holias, Prince of the Elves." Zoe gazed back at the door.
Agmaraa sent a steady stream of energy to the mirror, just slightly more than she usually needed to form a communication spell. "That damned boy was with them the last time. Reveal his location!"
The mirror's black surface lightened to a stony grey. A green half cloak swirled around a hooded person keeping him shrouded. The next image was a sword churning with golden energy. It vanished into one of those damned Elf-holes to the Underworld. The mirror went black before reflecting her anguished face.
She paced her study. It had shown her the same image three times. Did it mean he was aligning with the Elves? She stared out the tower window at the keep below. A world without halflings, one she could shape into a copy of her home as long as no halflings were ever born.
Freedom from the fear of death, but only if she was vigilant. The blonde, young woman harvested vegetables from the kitchen garden. That little slut would ruin everything. The sooner Agmaraa got her over the mountains and married, the better off the plan would be.
A knock resounded on the outer door. She dropped the dried herbs into the brazier before answering the door. The curtains closed by themselves before her guest entered. "Hello Orden Larksphere. I trust you slept well."
"I have rested." His orange eyes met her green and silver ones without suspicion or fear. But curiosity was there. "The guards told me to come see you, though I confused them when I called you a Gensiarian."
She stopped herself from snarling at the term. "I am not a Gensarian, even though I share traits with them." Another reason to stake a claim in this world ages before it gives birth to the bitch and her spawn who sent her here. "All I am known by is Lady Agmaraa, Chief Advisor to Lord Saria." She led him to the divan closest to the smoking brazier. "I am a stranger here as well, so I know what it is like to rebuild a life. To change everything you had planned to do."
Orden blinked. "They say I can't go after Zoe. But she won't remain anyone's prisoner."
"So she wants to return to you?"
"She loves me."
"You are married? She has given you proof of her devotion?"
"We aren't married." His eyelids drooped.
She smiled at the wall. The gods had dropped him into her lap before he married his princess and they forged an unbreakable bond. She could make Orden hers. She set her expression to sympathetic pity. "Oh Orden, they will take your Zoe so far into the Underworld time flows differently. They will cloud her mind with magic and woo her with everything she desires. She will forget you."
His eyelids struggled to open as he shook his head. "She would never forget me."
Agmaraa stroked his arm as she leaned closer. "You gave up so much for her, your entire world, your life, your future. And this is how she repays you. She could have fought her abductor but she didn't. She wanted to go."
His face twisted with pain. "Zoe."
"None of those elves can be trusted. She has chosen her people over you." She put her lips next to his ear. "I would never treat you so cavalierly."
Orden's eyes flew open and his arms flailed as he fell against the seat back. "Lady Agmaraa!"
She stroked his jaw lingering on the fine stubble, but leaned back. "Forgive me. I've been lonely too long. You are the first who understands what I have been through on world after world. Forgive me for wanting," she sighed, "it doesn't matter. What matters is that you understand why Lord Saria is so desperate to keep his daughter out of the hands of the elves."
His eyelids drooped again. "He would never see her again."
"No father wants that. So you will keep Lady Zeldra from the elves?"
"Yes, Lady Agmaraa. I will protect her with my life."
"Thank you, Orden Larksphere." She leaned over him again and brushed her lips against his. "And you will forget your warrior princess," she whispered.
Meletas' dreams were filled with embraces from the brown-haired knight who whispered the most beautiful things ever said. After dreams like that, it didn't matter how much the head housekeeper sneered at her.
"Change the world we know? You can't even dust a room properly!"
A prophecy was given with the birth of every child, so she didn't understand why everyone had to bring up hers. But Lont hadn't thought anything was wrong with her. So her good mood extended to her time off in the afternoon markets.
"It's a good thing we have an heir and a spare before Prince Holias." The shopkeeper confided into another customer. 'First, he was chasing after a human in the Overworld. Now he brings home an elf that's not an elf."
"He could marry any woman he wished. But no parent would approve the match after how he has acted."
An older woman abandoned her quest for ingredients to join in. "Filthy humans! We should have never allowed them to settle above us. And someone made a child with one?"
"They say she looks like an elf, but couldn't ride a teragrade. Whatever she is, she's fully grown, wears pants, and carries a sword like a man."
Meletas crept away. This was why she had left Lont in the Overworld. They would never accept him. And it sounded like poor Prince Holias was in the same situation.
Holias' mood was already dark and the reports he had received from his guards did not improve it. He scowled at the brown-haired changeling who ignored him in favor of pretending to read a book. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
Zoe glanced at him. "I was trying to leave, but your guards are competent."
He bristled but before he spoke, Contraite moved past him rearranging the books. "Do not bother, your Highness. The changeling does not listen to reason."
"She will have to listen to this reasons." Her head bent over the book again, but Holias continued. "The humans will kill you."
"But they won't have an easy time of it," Contraite added.
"My people want to kill you."
"Now that, I'd pay to watch."
Holais glared at the servant, who started dusting the shelves. He turned back to his unwilling guest. "The guards are for your protection, Changeling."
"Zoe." That statement drove the other points he had to make to her out of his mouth. She closed the book on her lap. "Here's a pain free lesson. You get better results with lectures when you use name instead of titles, Holias."
Prince Holias!" Contraite exclaimed.
"He's not my prince. And I don't plan on staying here long enough to change that."
"You dismiss my protection so quickly?" Holias crossed his arms.
"By the Triforce!" Her book skidded across the side table. "Don't you think if I can handle moblins, I can handle humans or elves that don't like the way I look? Save the patronizing excuses for your subjects." She matched his glare. I know why you're not letting me go, your Highness."
"Enlighten me," Holias commanded.
"Because you can't have your heart's desire. I'm assuming it's a girl. Why won't she have anything to do with you?"
"Her father hates Elves and she doesn't dare disobey him." Zoe snorted. "Her father is Lord Saria and he wants her to marry King Mechkeoff's son."
"You're better off without her," Zoe replied as she relaxed in her chair.
"How dare you! How dare you judge Zeldra and me? You! Who has no idea what we are going through!"
"How dare I!" Zoe jumped to her feet. "Looks like we're all in the same boat! You got someone keeping you from your precious Zeldra and I got someone keeping me away from Orden!" She turned her back on Holias, trying valiantly to keep down her temper. "If only I had my sword to knock some sense into you," she finally muttered at the end of the brief inner struggle.
Holias stared at her. "What would you do if your father would not allow you to marry the man you loved?"
Zoe snorted again, "My father wants me to get married. He would encourage any signs of matrimony in me and wouldn't care who it was toward. But if he was keeping me from Orden--which he wouldn't dare do because he has more sense--I would run off with Orden."
His green eyes grew wide. "You would brazenly disobey your father?"
"If I loved Orden--which I do--I would. Now, I wouldn't get myself caught doing it, but that's beside the point."
Contraite snorted. "I doubt the ladyship is capable of that. Humans are so frail compared to us. Their passions must pale too."
"Not Zeldra's!"
"Have you ever heard of the vow 'forsake all who stand in our way?' You're a prince and you're letting a measly lord stand in the way of what you want?" Zoe snapped. "Tell Zeldra if she really loves you she should be more than willing to run away with you. And maybe once you're happily married, I can get out of here."
Holias turned away from the Changeling. This idea had possibilities; but Zeldra? Would she be willing to attempt it? There was only one way to know.
Zoe turned from the slammed door to see that Contraite shared her bemused bemused smile.
The cloying scent was drifting into the hall from behind Lady Agmaraa's chamber door. Lont held his breath as he pressed his ear against the wood.
"Keep Lady Zeldra away from the elves. Kill any who get near her. Can you do that for me, Orden?"
"Yes, milady."
Lont backed away from the door. He had hoped to warn the strange man, but Agmaraa got her hooks in first. And Lord Saria had already made this Larksphere Zeldra's new bodyguard. Lont swallowed down panic. Did Agmaraa discover that he knew her secret?
He retreated to the stables, empty at this time of the day. Cathina's head reached over her stall's gate and she nickered.
"Glad to see you too, girl." He scooped up a curry comb as he climbed into her stall. "I need your horse sense."
Cathina butted her head against his chest and tried to nuzzle her way into his belt pouch.
He chuckled as he fed her the apple peices but they changed to sighs as he ran the brush over her coat. "I already told you about Agmaraa ordering the moblin attacks. I'm worried she knows I know."
Cathina snorted.
"It's the new knight, Orden Larksphere. She already got Lord Saria to make him Zeldra's bodyguard and she's turning him against elves."
The mare nickered.
"Kill any that get near Zeldra doesn't leave much doubt. So is she doing it to get rid of me with less fuss? I'm Zeldra's bodyguard."
Cathina froze, focusing her attention on a patch of dark shadows at the end of the stables. Lont climbed out of the stall and wrapped his hand around his sword's hilt. "Come out or it'll be worse for you."
A green-eyed elf stepped out of the shadows. His silvery-blond hair was held back by a thin silver circle around his forehead.
Lont dropped his sword back into its scabbard. "Are you crazy? What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to take Zeldra away from this place." The elf's hand warpped around his own sword. "Will you hinder me?"
"Yes." The green eyes flared, but Lont ignored him to unfasten Cathina's stall. "Because if anyone else catches you here, you are a dead man and Zeldra's heart will break worse that it is now. Why didn't you take her with you last night?"
"I did not think of it."
Lont rolled his eyes as he saddled Cathina. "You're almost too late. Now get out of here, go to your meeting place, and I'll bring Zeldra there."
"How can I trust you with this?"
"Who do you think has been bringing her out there?"
"Right. This may be of use." Zeldra's lover dropped a tiny coil of rope into Lont's palm. "That is carrying size. It will expand when you need to use it."
Lont nodded and slipped the rope into his pouch. "Thank you. Now vanish."
He nodded and stepped back into the shadows.
Cathina shoved her head against Lont's shoulder to get his attention. He rubbed her forehead. "You know where to wait." Lont eased open the stable doors and the bay mare crossed the keep, moving under the shadows cast by the rising moon. He let her get ahead before he jogged up to the guardhouse. He kept the one guard busy while the horse left the keep, then headed into the Tower.
Lont paused at the head of the stairs. Larksphere sat in front of Zeldra's door. He unwrapped himself from the yellow cloak as he stood. "There you are. I can relieve you after I've eaten."
"Relieve me? What happened?"
"I missed it too." Larksphere's orange eyes crinkled with amusement. "But whatever it was shocked the whole Hall into silence and Lord Saria banished his Lady daughter to her chambers." He swept down the stairs.
Lont knocked once he was sure Larksphere was gone. Zeldra opened her own door, her cheeks still burning. "What did you do?" Lont blurted.
She pulled him into her sitting room. "I told my father that he only had the word of one witch and frightened peasants of the evilness of elves and he should start diplomatic relations with them." She paced savegely across the room. "I leave for King Mechkeoff's realm tomorrow." She twirled to face Lont again. "Why is Cathina under my windows?"
"Because I was in the stables when a green-eyed elf appeared out of nowhere. He said he was here to take Lady Zeldra from this place. i convinced him to leave the keep assualt to me." Zeldra stared at Lont's face while she sank into a chair. "What's wrong? This is your chance!"
"Father will never forgive me."
"I do not believe this!" Lont yanked his brown hair. "Your lover will never see you again if you do not go. Lord Saria shall never consent to your marriage to an elf. And if you do not marry him, you shall doom him to a life of misery. I know."
"How do you know?"
"I met a girl; a girl I don't want to live without."
Her blue eyes melted. "That's wonderful!"
"An elf-girl who will have nothing to do with me because I am a human."
Zeldra bowed her golden head in thought. She looked up, a bright, strange light filling her blue eyes. "Do not fail me, my friend."
"Have I ever?" Lont grinned as he opened the window. True to the elf's word, the coil of rope grew once he pulled it from his pouch. He tied it securely to the casement and then made a loop for Zeldra's foot.
She pulled on her riding cloak and gloves before joining him at the window. "You should come with me and Holias."
"I can't come back here." He shrugged as he helped Zeldra out the window. "I could try my hand at being a farmer, I suppose."
Zeldra smirked as she gripped the rope. "That would put you under the tyranny of the land. The plow does not suit you, Sir Lont."
He grunted and lowered her to the ground. Once she was safe, he snuffed out the lamps and climbed down the rope. He reached the meadow outside the keep's outer wall and the rope untied itself and shrank back into its carrying size.
She had already climbed ont Cathina's saddle. "Come with us, Lont."
"If you're convinced I won't be a bother. I have no intentions of going to all this trouble to get you married, just to have irrational jealousy ruin it." He settled into the saddle behind Zeldra. "I can see how useful elven rope is. T'would love to try an elvenblade."
"I shall arrange that and more for you."
"Now I'm worried."
Orden frowned at the empty post outside Lady Zeldra's door. Sir Lont hadn't struck him as the type to neglect his duty. But the chair was empty.
"Orden?" He pivoted and saw Agmaraa continue soundlessly up the stairs. "What's wrong?"
"I left Sir Lont guarding Lady Zeldra and now he isn't here."
Her mismatched eyes hardened. "Let's see what we can discover." She brushed past him and entered Lady Zeldra's chambers. The lights reignited with a wave of her hand. "No one is here." Her voice was cold.
Orden looked out the open window. "There's nothing for them to have climbed down."
"They had help from the elves undoubtedly. I underestimated their ternacity." She pressed her lips together as she examined the room. "We have to go after them. If we don't find them before they go underground, Zeldra will be lost forever."
Like Zoe. He breathed in deep to ebb the pain in his chest. "I'll get the horses."
"No need for that." She linked her arm with his. "You are not frightened by my powers." She clapped her hands together and the sitting room vanished.
Holias jumped off the boulder and whirled to face the hoofbeats. His expression lit with joy. "Zeldra!"
She slipped down off the horse's back and wrapped her arms around the Elf. "Did you doubt me, Holias?"
"I was afraid you had been discovered, my Love. Are you willing to go with me?" Holias tightened his arms around her.
Lont smiled and turned his head. At least Zeldra would be happy.
"To death, if you lead." Zeldra's voice grew muffled at the end.
"I hope it shall not come to that too soon."
"Sooner than you thought." Agmaraa mocked.
Lont whipped his head back to the lovers. The witch stepped out of the trees followed by a yellow-cloaked figure. Holias shoved Zeldra behind him.
"You had to try to be clever and elope. So now you have to die." Agmaraa's hand glowed purple that condensced into a fire ball.
Cathina jolted forward when Lont spurred her. He yanked his shield forward and caught the fireball on it. He tossed the burning shield away and pulled out his sword. "Run!"
Agmaraa sighed over the sounds of crashing undergrowth. "Orden, take care of this traitor while I stop the lovers." She vanished.
Orden threw back the hood of his cloak, and drew his sword. Lont dismounted quickly. "Stop being her slave, man! Do you think you're the first in Lord Saria's court that she has wooed with sweet kisses and whispered promises?" He stood ready. "She is the source of all this turmoil. She's the one who commands the moblins!"
Their swords clashed. Orden pressed the attack again. "I will have revenge! They stole the only person who made all my sacrifices worth it. They will pay!"
Lont parried, but managed to hold their swords in place so he could stare into his teeming orange eyes. "You have felt a love like that? A love like they have and you want to destroy it?"
Orden jerked back. Lont relaxed his guard slightly. Maybe he had gotten through to him. Orden's sword lashed out and hit his left arm. Lont jumped back, but the sword crashed against his and his sword spun off into the darkness. Orden's fist and sword hilt slammed against his head. Everything went black.
Zoe had stopped reading the book, but there was nothing else to do but turn the pages. What language the elves used was close enough to current Hylian for her to follow the story, but she wanted out. She wanted Orden and freedom. Maybe once Holias was preoccupied with his girl, she could slip through the defenses. She flipped another page, seeing tunnels instead of words.
The door slammed against the wall. A black-haired Elf woman stood there panting. "Come quick, Changeling! I need your help!" She ran out of the open door.
Contraite shook her head when Zoe stared at her for an explanation. "That child cannot do anything properly." She sighed and unlocked a trunk. "Best take these." She held out Zoe's sword and sword belt.
"You've had them the whole time?" Zoe buckled it around her waist.
"The Prince ordered me to keep them from you."
The young woman thrust her head through the doorway again. "Hurry, Changeling please!"
Zoe shook her head and ran into the tunnel. "What's wrong?"
"I followed the Prince to see," the elf shook her head quickly as they ran down the tunnel. "I wanted to find Lont, and talk him into joining us like the Prince is with his lady. But they fell under attack. You're the only one who can help them."
"The Prince has a whole squadron of warriors?"
"Who would kill the humans." She skidded to a stop, and stared at Zoe. "Changeling, please."
"My name is Zoe, and I'll keep your precious Lont alive, if that's what you're worried about."
She nodded but still looked worried, and pressed her hand against the rock surface. An opening spread wide enough for the two of them to move side by side, and it angled up into the rock. "Yes, Zoe, we must hurry." She ran up the new tunnel.
"You are stuck on one idea." Zoe pulled her shield ring from a pouch. The shield expanded until it fit her arm.
Soft moonlight filled the tunnel when the opening rose above ground. The elf woman darted forward with a cry. A dark-haired man struggled to sit up. She fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around him. "Lont!"
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Find that lunatic with the flame colored hair before he kills them both."
"Orden?" Zoe scanned the trees. Purple energy lit up a section. She drew her sword and plunged into the underbrush.
Holias threw all his weight into holding his shield against the purple flames. The onslaught finally ended.
"Valiant until the bitter end?" Agmaraa laughed. "Children, it doesn't have to be this way."
He refused to listen to the witch, ignoring the throbbing in his arm. Something crashed through the trees toward them. Holias barely had enough time to bring up his sword and block the chop coming from the leaping flame demon. He heard Zeldra screaming just over the dervishe's taunts. "You're mine, you will pay for stealing her!"
Another sword parried his opponent. The man in the yellow cloak stepped back. The Changeling shoved Holias aside and faced his attacker. "If you want the dragon that badly, you can have it!"
"She still choses them over you, Orden!" Agmaraa hurled another fireball.
Holias glanced at Zeldra. Run, he told her silently. She heard him somehow, and sped into the darkness. Zoe's shield deflected the fireball.
"You never loved me!" Orden sprang into the air again.
Zoe's sword stopped his, locking their faces into a staring contest. "How could you say that? My path has been your path since that first dragon." Her voice broke. "You are my strength to give up everything that was expected of me."
His orange eyes flickered and blinked.
"How touching," Agmaraa said. "He wasn't nearly that faithful to you, my dear." Orden's face paled as he glared at the witch. "But then he has no idea how faithful you actually were. Mayhaps you were seek consolation in the arms of another as he did with me."
The flame-haired man pointed his sword at Agmaraa. "You lying witch!"
She laughed as she vanished.
"she's going after Zeldra!" Orden sprinted into the darkness.
Holias dropped his ruined shield. "She will kill her!" He could feel the Changeling behind him as he ran after his beloved.
Zeldra fled, heedless of the grabbing branches that snatched at her hair and her dress. She could see a stone building through the trees and aimed for it. Maybe there would be help.
"Running away, Zeldra?" Agmaraa blocked her path, appearing suddenly in the darkness. "Run back to your father."
"And deny my heart? I will not be trapped in a cage."
"You can survive without love. And your father has done me no wrong. Do not make me take him tidings of your death."
"You care nothing for my father!" Zeldra stepped away from Agmaraa's outstretched hand. "You just use him to hurt the Elves you hate."
"Actually, I don't hate the Elves. But I can't let you and your precious prince breed a brat that will kill me. You don't want him hurt, do you, Zeldra?" Agmaraa stepped closer. "Go over the Border Mountains, become a Queen like your father wishes, and the Elf will live a long life."
"Why can't you just leave us be?" Tears sprang to Zeldras eyes.
"I explained that, you silly girl. I--" A bolt of white light flashed through the forest and hit Agmaraa. She staggered back with a silent scream and Zeldra saw her bones through flesh before running again.
She broke through the underbrush into a clearing. What she had thought was a stone building was a lifted portion of the earth hemmed with stone blocks and guarded by two large pillars. A tunnel headed down. She didn't hesitate but plunged into it.
The tunnel ended in a nexus of tunnels lit with torches. Somewhere deeper a bell tolled, and a group of armored Elves ran closer with each peel. "Halt intruder!"
More steps were in the tunnel to the surface behind her. Zeldra whirled to see a haggard Agmaraa raise her hand and send a blast of purple fire. It surrounded the Elves and their flesh melted away. Their bones and weapons clattered on the floor. Zeldra screamed.
Agmaraa grabbed her. "See what you have made me do? But already one exists that can hurt me."
"Let her go."
The women whirled to see Orden entering the tunnel. Agmaraa smiled. "And what would you do to me?"
"I swore to her father I would protect her. That includes from you." He brandished his sword and stepped forward.
Agmaraa smirked. "Oh Orden, do you think I'm going to make this easy for you?" She gripped Zeldra's shoulders and jerked her back. The floor beneath their feet sped away, and Zeldra looking up realized that she and the witch were flying down one of the tunnels. Orden ran but grew smaller.
The witch sighed in her ear. "I tried to keep it from coming to this. I really did."
Lont leaned heavily on his unnamed love. She led them into a clearing and then down into a tunnel with an opening framed nicely with stone pillars. It led to a bigger cavern and they saw Zeldra's lover, Holias, and the Elf woman warrior arguing outside another tunnel opening framed in black marble carved in a language Lont didn't know. His lady made a distressed noise at the sight of armed skeletons crumpled on the cavern floor, so Lont angeled her toward the arguing warriors instead.
"It is the Forbidden Way. No Elf can take that path."
The cloth clad warrior shook off Holias' restraining hand. "I'm not an Elf." She marched to the black marble opening and slammed into something unseen and flew back.
Holias offered her his hand as she laid on her back. "Apparantly you are enough of an Elf for the spell to hold."
"Why is it forbidden?" She grabbed his hand.
"It is the most direct tunnel between our caves and the moblin fortress in Death Mountain. It's old magic, Zoe. No moblin can use it as well."
"Zeldra went in there?" Lont pointed to the opening.
"Yes and Agmaraa and Orden." Zoe's mouth twisted.
"Okay, I'll scout."
"Lont!" His unnamed love turned distrught blue eyes up at him.
He released her shoulders. "We're not hearing sounds of battle or murder. And Zeldra is my friend." She didn't say anything else, and despite his reassuance, Lont didn't fancy heading toward Death Mountain unarmed. He picked up a discarded from the group of skeletons.
The black marble of the opening continued into the tunnel and dust caked the floor. Three sets of footprints marred the dust; two with gown marks and one without. Then a disturbance in the dust, after that the mans footprints ran down the tunnel.
Lont sighed. "Zeldra, if we survive all this, what a tale it will make." He went back to the main room.
Cathina draped her head over his love's shoulder. She petted the horse. "She came down here."
"Cathina is a good horse." Lont rest his head against Cathina's muzzle before turning to the other two warriors. "Near as I can tell, Orden ran down the tunnel toward Death Mountain. I'm guessing because the tracks vanish, but Agmaraa magicing Zeldra to there is not unthinkable."
Holias' face twisted, but he regained control over it and turned to Zoe. "What do we do, Hyrueliana?"
Zoe started, "What did you call me?"
Holias smiled, "Hyrueliana, witch-slayer."
"But I didn't slay the witch."
"The magic from your sword hurt her. None of us could manage that." Holias drew his sword, laid it at Zoe's feet and knelt in front of it. "I pledge myself to you: Zoe, the Changeling, the Hyrueliana. Command your Knight."
"I, too, pledge myself." Lont laid his new sword down and knelt as well.
Zoe took a deep breath. "Lont, you're human. Follow Orden through the Forbidden Way. Keep him from doing something stupid. Holias and I will take the Overworld route."
Lont nodded and his Elf love pulled him aside. "Be careful, Lont."
He kissed her, and held her tight. "I will return. Just for you."
"I am Meletas," she whispered in his ear.
Lont kissed her again, "Now, I will be sure to return, Meletas." He slowly let her go, and mounted Cathina. His horse went into the tunnel easily. "Let's go. Do you think the Hyrueliana would be upset if I let you kick Orden?"
Zeldra didn't dare shut her eyes. She was too afraid of what would happen if she did. Agmaraa flew her down a long tunnel that emerged into a cavern. Balconies were carved and built along the walls until the ceiling became a forest of stalactites. They glowed, and filled the room with light.
Agmaraa soared to a balcony and dropped Zeldra onto its floor. "Now it's time for the clichéd villainy. I wanted something different this time, a new life." Her green and silver eyes bored into Zeldra. "But what would you care of that, you selfish little brat?"
"Lady Agmaraa?" The bulky humanoid creature stepped out of the shadows of the balcony door. It was grey with a bulldog-like head, and wore a richly carved chestplate. Zeldra felt her eyes opening wider. A moblin, she was in the presence of a moblin bowing to Agmaraa.
"Oh yes, send your troops to defend all entrances to Death Mountain. There's going to be a rescue attempt for her, and that means a fight for us."
The moblin looked at down at Zeldra. "And what of her?"
Agmaraa paused to give another withering glare. "She is going back to her father." She strode out and the moblin followed. The stone wall shot up into the opening.
She was trapped in a cage. She didn't dare look over the railing.
Orden paused as he entered the cavern off the main tunnel. But the warm tone of firelight drew him closer. The room appeared empty, but Zoe had taught him nothing is what it seems in Hyrule. He had to save Zeldra, why was he wasting his time here? But maybe there was something in this cavern that would help him.
As he gazed around the poorly-lit cavern, something stirred to life behind him. Orden tried to whirl around but the thing struck him in mid-turn. His sword clattered to the floor some place away from him and he fell to the floor to avoid the creature's blows. He rolled to his feet out of its reach and quickly looked for his opponent.
His original assumption that anything was possible in Hyrule was correct. The creature attacking him looked like a piece of the rough wall come to life. The creature saw Orden and roared, charging straight toward him. Orden dodged to the side and rock creature slammed both its fist into the wall. The wall crumbled away from the impact. Orden gulped, there were times he wouldn't mind going back to just slaying dragons. The rock creature turned around quickly as Orden glanced around for his sword. The lumpy, rock face shattered into a grin as it balled chunks of the wall in its fists.
Orden spied his sword lying behind the rock creature and jumped as a rock slammed down where his feet had been. He jumped again to dodge another rock, and before the rock creature could pick up some more, he flipped over the creature. But the creature shifted suddenly, throwing Orden's landing off, and he landed roughly on his back. The rock creature roared and swiftly turned to face him. Orden, as he rolled to his feet, grabbed his sword, swiveled around, and zapped the creature for all he was worth. The creature flashed and vanished.
Now where is the firelight coming from? Orden sheathed his sword and followed the light.
A stone altar rested against the furthermost wall. And resting on the altar, without any means of support, was a brightly burning fire. Orden stared speechless at it and a voice from nowhere spoke. "I am the Flame of Justice. If you and your quest are worthy, the power will remain with you until it passes to another. Claim the power."
"How?" Orden managed to ask.
"If you are worthy, you can carry part of me away with you." Orden reached out, letting his hand enter the cool flame. It closed around something and he pulled it out, a palm-sized orange gemstone that flickered and glowed with a fire all its own.
Cathina's hoofs pounded against the rocky surface. Hopefully, it wouldn't take Lont long to catch up with Orden. For someone on foot, the enigmatic human was still out of sight. He urged Cathina forward; Meletas was waiting for him to return.
Suddenly Cathina pulled up short. "What is it, girl?" Lont asked as he pulled out his sword. He sensed nothing but Cathina had saved his life more than once by acting in the same way she was now. "Is it a moblin?"
A sharp, piercing laughter filled the tunnel. Cathina shied away from the sound. "Easy, Cathina." The laughter resounded, and a bright light darted in front of the horse. Cathina screamed and reared. Lont lost his seat and fell back. His sword landed on a rock, splitting the blade in half.
"Oh dear," a voice lamented. "You're not hurt, are you? I didn't mean to frighten your stead."
Lont gazed in amazement at the tiny feminine creature with iridescent wings hovering over his face. "What manner of witchery are you?"
The perfectly-proportional girl laughed. "I'm no witch, I'm a faerie. I live here. What brings you to these caverns, human?"
"I'm following another human who is trying to reach Death Mountain," Lont answered as he sat up.
"Death Mountain! Very bad place, no good springs of water, filled with moblins. Why would your friend want to go there?"
"He is going to challenge a witch."
"Crazy human," the faerie answered.
"And I am trying to stop him." Lont gazed around and cried out, "My sword!"
"Oh dear," the faerie gazed woefully at the cloven parts. "I didn't mean to break it. Wait, I'll fix it!" She grabbed the two halves in a mighty glow and flew away with them.
"Wait!" Lont cried. "Where are you going?" He ducked through a small opening in the tunnel wall and stopped short.
The fountain filled the room, bubbling up high enough to reach the ceiling and cascading down into the pool beneath it. The faerie dropped the pieces into the pool and the water began to glow. The faerie floated in this glow and it seemed to course through her, leaving a strange gleam in her eyes. She spoke in a voice unlike her own. "A land where the air and water and earth is filled to the brim with magic. Where it comes from, few know. But one shall come that will stumble onto the source of this land's magic and shall try to corrupt it, forgetting that magic is incorruptible but human nature is not. He shall be this land's greatest scourge. However, evil cannot exist without good. And from your love shall descend heroes that shall battle this scourge. They will know great despair, may even give up hope. But this land of magic claims its own. Generations and centuries later, they shall return." The glow faded and the faerie blinked. "Oh dear, what have I been saying? Something came over me and I couldn't stop it. Ah well, here." The whole sword floated out of the pool and into Lont's hands. "All fixed. And it'll never break again. But . . . ."
"But what?" Lont asked fearfully.
"It will only serve one master in each generation of your descendents. Others can use it, but not to your extensive skill. When the child destined to possess it comes of age, you must let it go. The sword will tell you which one is the right child. Always give it away and never possess it longer than you should. Some things with no life often have a stronger will than those that do."
"Thank you," Lont said as he sheathed the sword.
"It's only fair," the faerie replied. "Now, don't you have a quest to finish?"
A teragrade had agreed to carry Zoe. The majestic white creature, five hands taller than a horse with large liquid-blue eyes, moved faster than a horse. The sun was breaking through on their left as they plunged through the forests.
The trees finally ended and the grassy plains began, rolling to the foothills of Death Mountain. Holias drew his teragrade aside hers. "Hyrueliana."
"Please no titles, not now."
He looked uncomfortable. "Whatever happens I want you to know. I am sorry for the way I treated you. I was jealous of your freedom. You could relish what you felt and I could not. I should not have tried to steal that from you."
Zoe took a deep breath. "It's already forgotten. Let's concentrate on saving our loved ones."
Holias led the way over the ridge and stopped his teragrade. He pointed down into the valley that led to an opening in Death Mountain. A legion of moblins had already taken position. "Agmaraa is well aware of our coming."
"When are the evil ones aren't?" Zoe asked sardonically. "Is there any way around?"
"Not without losing many hours. And there is no guarantee that those entrances are not guarded as well."
"They probably are. Well, we'll have to go through them." Zoe urged her teragrade down the ridge.
Holias followed her lead, shocked at her allowing the teragrade free reign. But that only lasted long enough for her to draw her sword. He quickly drew his; it wasn't wise to chase a legion of moblins without a weapon.
Zoe urged the teragrade straight through the middle of the moblin horde, zapping them left and right. Holias gaped as he hewed down the moblins. The Hyrueliana did not even have to touch the moblins with her Elvenblade sword to send the evil enchantment back to its source. She commanded a sword of white fire.
In a short time, the legion of moblins was no more. Holias reached Zoe's side at the other end of the valley. "Surely, the gods have blessed you."
"I hope so, since it's the gods' fault that I'm here," she answered cryptically.
The teragrades stopped in front of the cave and reared. "They will go no further." Holias turned his aside. It calmed down to allow him to slide off. Zoe did the same. "Hopefully they have gained us enough time."
Orden crept into the main chamber. He guessed he was somewhere inside Death Mountain and the cathedral-like chamber seemed empty. The gem in his hand burned without pain. "Zeldra? Zeldra, where are you?"
"I'm up here!" Her voice wailed, tiny in the cavernous space.
The top row of balconies, and he had no way up there. Orden clenched his teeth. Maybe his refusal to use any magic was slightly unreasonable. Zoe would have a magic rope or lasso or maybe even a ladder in her pouch. His heart thudded. Don't stop to think about Zoe now. Get Zeldra out of here, make amends, and then find Zoe.
A purple bolt of energy whistled through the air. Orden jumped before it hit the floor right where he had stood.
Agmaraa's red gown fluttered as she settled on a broken stalagmite. "I tried to kill you much too slow last time, Orden, and that was because you attacked me and I wasted too much time relishing in revenge. I'm not making that mistake this time." Another purple blot flew from her hand.
An orange glow surrounded him and repulsed it. "Is that the best you can do, witch?" He gripped his sword and the gem tighter, then dashed toward her stalagmite.
"So you found magic? It will not aid you, you're no half-blood of anything!" The purple stream from her hands resembled fire.
It wrapped around Orden. He dropped to his knees under the assault. The orange glow around him weakened, letting more of the pain through. He dropped his sword and clutched the gem to his chest. The air thickened like he was in the center of an inferno, but he found enough to draw in and scream. "Girlwithsword!"
Lont left Cathina in the tunnel. He emerged in the main chamber of Death Mountain. Orden dropped to his knees surrounded by purple fire that Agmaraa shot down on him. He ran forward with a battle cry and threw his shield between the witch's death spells and Orden.
Agmaraa paused, "Another human? This is most intriguing. But I have no time for this foolishness. Moblins, attack!"
Lont drew his sword and remembered how Zoe had managed to shoot fire with hers. He could not leave Orden's side. "I hope this works." He extended the sword and willed its power forward. A moblin was caught in the light and vanished. Agmaraa screamed and Zoe and Holias burst through the moblin ranks.
Zoe paused in the tunnel. Holias stopped beside her. The tunnel led into Death Mountain and flickering torches lit it. "What is wrong, Zoe?"
"I thought I heard something." Zoe frowned in concentration. The sound was faint but recognizable. "Orden!" She sprang ahead and ran through the tunnel.
Moblins tried to block Zoe's path but she paid no heed to them, hewing them down as she ran. Holias finished the ones she missed as he followed her. "What shall we do when we reach Agmaraa?"
"Stop her from killing Orden!"
Moblins never change, Zoe managed to observe as she fought her way through the mob. Lont was standing at the other side of the chamber, using his sword to zap moblins from a distance and not moving from his position. Her heart thudded; he must be protecting Orden!
"Fools!" Agmaraa screamed. "You will never win, never! No human or Elf can destroy me!" She raised her hands above her head. Purple lightening danced among the stalactite. "Prepare to meet your doom!"
Zoe jumped forward, "Slight problem with your plans, Agmaraa! I'm not human or Elf! I am Zoe, the Changeling!"
"The Hyrueliana and the Champion of the Fire-Sword!" Holias shouted.
"Protector of knights!" Lont added.
"And you just made me very mad!"
Agmaraa snorted, "So you have a string of titles now, Captain? It changes nothing for you!" A glowing purple sphere formed between her hands.
"Holias!" Zeldra screamed from a balcony high above Agmaraa. The Prince ran to the nearest entrance on that wall, jumping over the moblins bolting away from Agmaraa.
Zoe saw Orden lurch to his feet. Lont half-gazed at him, keeping most of his attention focused on Agmaraa. "I thought you were dead!"
"Not yet," Orden wheezed as he stumbled toward Zoe. He tossed a bright orange gem into the air. "Zoe! The Fire-Stone!"
Zoe swung her sword and zapped it as Lont zapped Agmaraa. The Fire-Stone captured Zoe's beam and focused it on the Sorceress. She screamed and withered under the barrage, but they continued their attack. Her purple sphere shot toward the ceiling an exploded with deafening thunder, followed by another horrific flash of brilliance. The stalactites pelted the floor. The energy danced up Agmaraa's body leaving nothing behind. She vanished as if she had never been.
Orden caught the Fire-Stone before it hit the floor and he fell--prone--to the ground. "Orden!" Zoe cried as she sheathed her sword and grabbed hold of him. "Orden!"
"Is he dead?" Lont whispered. The mountain shook around them.
Holias pulled his sword free of the moblin carcus, shoving the dead weight down the staircase behind him. he ran up the stairs two at a time and emerged in the tunnel behind the top tier of balconies. The shadows blackened as new lights ignited in the main chamber.
More moblins pushed into the sloping tunnel in front of the prince. Holias parried the axe blows. He saw long, golden hair moving away from him behind the moblins. He grabbed one's axe while kicking the second away. he sliced the first moblin and stabbed the second before slinging the first body to the wall.
Another moblin grabbed Zeldra and spun her around. She screamed.
"Zeldra!" Holias crossed the space in fewer steps than it should have taken and stabbed his sword into the moblin's back. It let go of her and slid to the ground. Her blue eyes widen when she saw him. He hugged her with his free arm.
She clung to him. "Holias." The mountain shuddered. "We have to leave this place."
Holias pulled her away from cascading rocks. "This way!"
Lont didn't know what to do. Zoe cradled Orden's flame-colored head in her arms. "I should have told him yes. I should have told him yes." She said as she rocked with the tears streaming down her face. He had no words that could possible comfort her.
A bluish light appeared next to the couple, a light that condensed to the form of a man that knelt beside them. Zoe looked through the tears in her brown eyes. "Take us home, Lyle, please!"
He looked at her and smiled, but his silver and blue eyes held no mirth. "I never could hide from you."
"Please," Zoe pleaded. "He could be dying."
"He'll survive." Lyle, the man, surrounded them with blue light.
The blue light spread out and embraced Lont. Death Mountain vanished as if it never was. Green grass spread under his feet and the blue sky stretched over head. Two teragrades jerked their heads up from grazing. Cathina nickered and started grazing. Lont gaped. Holias and Zeldra stepped around the horse.
Zeldra looked back. "We're outside Death Mountain, but how?"
"Where is the Hyrueliana and Orden?" Holias frowned.
Lont finally found his tongue. "A god appeared and took them away. He must have magicked us here."
Holias' frown eased. "I knew those were no ordinary mortals. Friends of the gods or gods themselves?" The Prince sighed, "Nothing will ever be the same again." He turned to Zeldra. "My lady, the Hyrueliana slayed Agmaraa. We are free to create a kingdom to match any other kingdom in the world."
"A kingdom for humans and Elves," Zeldra replied, her blue eyes shinning brightly.
"For everyone," Holias replied as kissed her. He released her and turned to Lont. "For all you have done, you have proven yourself, Elf-friend. Do you wish to aid us in building this kingdom?"
Lont grinned, "I would happily. Nothing, probably, would please my Lady more. A Kingdom of Hyruelianas. Are you really the Prince of the Elves?"
"Yes. You did not know?"
"Lady Zeldra keeps her secrets well; I had no idea." Lont grabbed Cathina's reins and coaxed the horse into the chamber. "It would be best if you two rule. I know I cannot handle the responsibility, and all who know her love Lady Zeldra."
Zeldra blushed as Holias helped her onto the back of the teregrade. She started to wilt but it ended once the Elf leaped on the teregrade back with her.
"Then you shall be the Captain of my Knights," Holias replied. "I do not believe that the transaction will be easy for all; we will need knights. There is a stretch of land north of Saria Town that is sparsely inhabited, yet very beautiful and fertile. It is a perfect place to begin a kingdom."
"I know the place you speak of. Let us leave this accursed place."
Lissa poured more power into the portal she found on the battlement where Zoe and Orden were last seen. The portal cracked opwn, but she couldn't sense where it led to. Only another Guardian or a Gensarian could block her like that, but why would they?
She grounded her feet against the stone to test her anchor to the world. The other side of the portal was opening wider, equally straining the magic user attempting it on that side. The new magic felt familiar as they both worked to open the portal. "Why don't you want to go through?" He grunted at the figures at his feet before looking through the portal at Lissa.
"Lyle?"
The lanky man with Josh's black hair and her mismatched eyes smiled. "Just cleaning up loose ends, Mom. You pull while I push."
She grabbed the man and woman Lyle shoved through the portal and pulled harder than she had ever had to with any portal travel. They landed on the stone next to her. The portal slammed shut so hard it knocked her back. Lissa groaned but moved to the couple and rolled Zoe onto her back.
While Lissa felt for a pulse, Zoe's brown eyes flew open as she gasped. "Where are we?"
"Home again, by the Triforce!"
"I don't feel well, Aunt Lissa," Zoe managed to say before blacking out again.
Lissa turned to Orden. His pulse was more erratic but she didn't have enough energy to stablize him.
"Aunt Lissa?" Kevin peered out of the stairwell nervously to look down the battlement. "Mom sent me to find Zoe and Orden; what happened?"
"Get help, quickly!" The boy clattered back down the stairs and she turned back to the comatose couple. Orden curled around a Fire-Stone and its energy kept the damage done to him at an ebb. She coaxed it into more protection before examining him more closely. Why would a Gensarian attack Orden?
Link hurried down the hall and into his oldest daughter's sitting room. Josh blocked the bedrrom door. Zelda paced in fron of him, not a good sign. The Queen stopped and glared at Josh. "What right does your wife have to keep me out of my daughter's sick room?"
"Don't play the Queen card with me, Zelda." Josh shook his head. "Lissa said stay out; everybody stays out."
"What happened?" Link squeezed Zelda's hand.
"Don't know, but Orden was worse off. She had to wake Lyle up to help heal him."
"They weren't gone that long and this is the Palace." Zelda's green eyes narrowed. "How could they come to harm?"
Link guided her to a seat. "Nobody reported anything."
"How often were we attacked and the guards arrived too late to be of any use?" She covered her face as her voice broke.
"This isn't your fault." Link hugged Zelda and tucked her against him.
"Zoe needs her mother!"
The door behind Josh opened and Lissa slipped out. "She just needs to rest right now."
"See," Link brushed his fingers against his wife's ticklish side, "she's fine. You two will be back to your you-don't-understand-me fights by the end of the week."
"Stop it. What happened, Lissa? Are we under attack?"
Lissa flopped onto a nearby couch. "No attack."
"You feel okay, Sis? You usually like to make longer sentences."
"I'm exhausted." Lissa stuck her tongue out at Link before continuing. "They went through a portal and then had a hard time returning. But details of what happened beyond that will have to wait until they wake up."
Zelda took a deep breath. "Can we sit with her?"
"If you want." Lissa blocked a yawn with her hand. "No questioning her about what happened until I'm back." She extended a hand to Josh and he pulled her off the couch.
Zelda trotted into their daughter's bedroom, but Link lingered. "You're suspicious about something."
"Just don't want Zelda upsetting Zoe before we find out." Lissa leaned against Josh as he steered them to the hall.
Link rolled his eyes, but followed his wife into Zoe's bedroom. She had already pulled the chair as close to the bed as it could go and held Zoe's hand. "Link, you don't think it's our fault, do you?"
"You think Zoe rushed into something because we said the m-word to her?"
You've been talking with King Kevin again, haven't you? But yes."
"Oh Zelda." He draped himself over her and kissed her cheek. "Our daughter will fling herself into danger no matter what anyone says."
Zoe didn't want to open her eyes, but her roiling stomach planned on fixing itself with or without her. A pot was thrust under her mouth before she ruined the bed.
A hand rubbed her back. "That was impressive. Did you two celebrate before coming home?" Her father's voice and his calused hand, and Zoe felt like she was ten and ill with goriya malady.
"No," she croaked out to answer his question.
"Are you done?"
"Think so."
Link helped her sit up in her bed. Zelda was beside it, placing a warm hand to Zoe's forehead. She usually was nowhere nearby when they fell ill. "I'll clean this out." Then he did a disappearing act, leaving her alone with her mother.
"You gave us quite the scare," Zelda said.
"Didn't mean to. Is Orden okay?"
Zelda pressed her lips together. "He was hurt worse than you. Lissa is with him again this morning."
Zoe stopped breathing. "I have to see him. Now." She would have had her feet on the floor if only her dizzy head had cooperated.
Her mother pushed her back into bed. "Your father would tell me I would be hitting low if I told you if you were married, Orden could be in here right now."
Zoe glared.
Not how I wanted to bring up the subject." Zelda smoothed Zoe's brown hair away from her face. "I'm not forcing you to get married, Zoe. Orden makes you happy. Your father and I... well, we lost time because we were stubborn fools. I don't want you or Kevin or Kela to go through that."
Zoe blinked. "I don't." She shook her head and started again. "I didn't expect that from you."
"I know. You're too used to me dictating how you should stay safe. I'm trying to remember you don't need me to keep you safe anymore."
A rapid knock on her bedroom door announced Lissa and a nervous steward. "Your Majesty, the delegation is waiting."
"Duty calls." Zelda bent over and kissed Zoe's forehead. "Seize your happiness, my bravest daughter."
Lissa didn't say anything as Zelda and the steward left. Zoe twisted the sheet in her hands. "How's Orden?"
"In worse shape than you are. He hasn't woken up yet. Where did you go?"
"To the past before there was a Kingdom of Hyrule. There was a Gensarian trying to keep elves and humans apart so no Hyrulians would ever be. I killed her."
"She attacked Orden?"
Zoe nodded.
"That explains much."
The bedroom swam slightly. "How long am I going to feel like this?"
"Four months roughly. But it will come and go."
"Why so long?"
Lissa blew out her exhale. "You're pregnant."
"I'm pregnant?" Zoe felt the blood drain from her head. "I can't be; Mom will kill me!"
"You should have thought about that before."
"You haven't told Mom, have you?"
"How crazy do you think I am? It's your and Orden's responsibility; not mine. And both of you had objects that held you to that time and its magic, making it harder to pull you and Orden back to the point of time you traveled from."
Zoe crossed her arms. "I wouldn't call a baby an object."
"That's beside the point. I don't know how this is going to affect you and Orden, much less the baby."
"I must see Orden. I don't care what condition he's in, I have to see him!"
Lissa nodded. "I understand, but let's take it slow."
Take it slow they did. Zoe had to lean on her aunt and it had never taken that long to walk down the hall to Orden's rooms. She fell into the chair next to his bed. His hand felt cold, and she had never seen him so pale. "Oh Orden. Why did you run after her alone?"
Lissa squeezed her shoulder. "You haven't lost him yet. Don't give up." She shut the door behind her when she left.
Zoe didn't let go of his hand as she brushed his orange hair away from his closed eyes. "What a pair we make. Can't do anything on the same schedule. Please wake up."
The hand she clutched twitched before Orden's eyes opened. "Since you said please."
She cried out before kissing him, and for once didn't feel embarrassed by the display. Orden broke it off. "What's wrong?" His orange eyes avoided her brown ones. "Oh don't be an idiot. I know that witch lied."
"I wanted to believe her." He looked at Zoe. "She said you didn't really love me, and it made so much sense."
"She was using magic on you." Zoe sighed. "Ask me to marry you."
Orden blinked. "Haven't we done this enough? No, I refuse to be humiliated anymore."
"Fine. Will you marry me?"
"Of course I'll marry you! Haven't I asked enough times over the past year?" He had more to add to his rant, but Zoe captured his lips in another kiss. He shook his head when she pulled back. "We're getting married?"
"Princess Zoe of Hyrule and Orden Larksphere of Dragonsworld are getting married and soon." She looked at the firmly shut door. "I'm pregnant."
He gulped. "You're pregnant? As in going-to-have-a-baby pregnant?"
"You know of another kind?"
"How do you know?"
"Aunt Lissa told me. We're out of waiting time."
He reached up and stroked Zoe's cheek. "Have you thought about how this will interfere with gathering the Knights?"
"How come I have to do all the thinking? We're both the parents."
"You've been awake longer than I have."
Zoe pulled on one of her signature braids beside her face. "It shouldn't interfere that badly. Besides, I'd rather not be in the Palace where people will make a Royal fuss."
He nodded before pressing something into her hand. "For you."
She gazed at the dark orange jewel with an amber gleam like an ember coming from deep in its center. "What is this?"
"The Fire-Stone; I found it in the caverns. I doubt I can use it again."
"Let's give it to the baby. Since it started where--when--this comes from." She pulled something out of the pouch on her belt. "This is for you. I got it before this quest began."
Orden turned the dragon dagger over in his hands. "It's beautiful, Zoe. It'll make the perfect gift for firstborn." He smiled. She moved to the bed and settled in the crook of his arm with her own smile.
"What's wrong?" Zoe asked as she dismounted her horse at the Gateway to the Golden Land. "Lin's different but he's still my brother."
"I'm afraid he's going to challenge me to a duel," Orden answered as he took her mount's reins and tied them with his horse's to the sapling.
"He wouldn't do that."
"Why wouldn't he? You did and so did your father! And you have never explained what makes him different from the rest of your family."
Zoe paused, "I want you to see for yourself. Maybe you won't see anything different. It's difficult to explain."
"What's so difficult to explain?"
"A long story."
A light surrounded them as they entered the Gateway, and when it faded the landscape had changed to a formal garden outside a castle. Zoe grabbed his hand and led him through the castle gate.
They found a black-haired woman climbing off a ladder in the hall. She admired the paint-splattered wall.
Zoe shook her head with a grin. "What are you doing?"
She whirled around. "Zoe! Why didn't you tell us you were coming?" They embraced.
"I wanted to surprise you, but you surprised me. What are you doing?"
"Painting. I realize how mundane it is, but it is boring here. And there is only so many times you can impose on relations."
Zoe nodded, before pulling Orden forward. "Orden, this is Elaine, my sister-in-law. Elaine, this is Orden, my fiancé."
Elaine squeezed his hands. "I'm so glad to meet you finally." She turned to Zoe with twinkling blue eyes. "When is the wedding?"
"Next week. We came to invite you."
"Isn't that rushing it?"
"Don't complain!" Orden grabbed Zoe's shoulders from behind. "I've been asking her for an entire year!"
Elaine laughed. "Lin is in the study. Go tell him while I finish this chore."
Zoe shook his grip on her shoulders and led him further into the castle. They went up a short flight of stairs, and she opened a heavy wooden door. It was a dark room, all wall-space filled with bookshelves, and a bright, cheerful fire burned in the fireplace. Two men sat in upholstered, high- backed chairs, conversing in low tones until Zoe cleared her throat. "Zoe!" One sprang up and hugged her. He was a brown-haired young man about their age with haunted eyes colored green. "Wedding time already?"
"Next week," Zoe laughed. "This is Orden. Orden, this is my brother Lin."
Lin shook his hand. "Pleased to meet you at last, Orden. Zoe's been hiding you well."
"We've been busy," Zoe admonished. "Will you come?"
"Of course! Do you think I would miss the chance to see you walk down the aisle in a dress? Come meet my other guest," Lin gestured toward the chairs and two more appeared.
"I see what you mean, Zoe," Orden whispered. "He is different. What happened to him?"
"It's a long story," Zoe whispered back as she sat. "Cassonn!"
"Who?" Orden asked bewilderedly as he stared at the white-haired man with laughing hazel eyes.
Zoe recovered from her shock while the old man next to her smiled. "This is Cassonn, the chief historian of Hyrule."
"Former chief historian," Cassonn amended.
Zoe swallowed, "I didn't know . . . I should have known. But really the thought never crossed my mind that . . . ."
"That I would die?" Cassonn finished with a laugh. "It's the natural order of life, Princess; an order I'm quiet happy to leave. I started my dream--to collect all the history of Hyrule in one place and begin to compile it--which is more than what some men do in their lifetimes."
"We were just talking about history and you before you came in," Lin announced quietly. Orden watched Zoe's brother carefully. He was different, and the longer one looked at him the more different he became. He looked like an ordinary Hyrulian but Orden sensed an untapped reservoir of strength, power and goodness contained by Lin's sheer will. Yes, it would be a long story to explain what happened to him.
"Actually, we were discussing the mythology about your namesakes," Cassonn clarified.
"Our namesakes?" Orden asked nervously.
"Orden the Flame-Thrower and Zoe the Hyrulian. You must have been named after her."
"Must have," Zoe replied with a smile aimed for Cassonn.
Lin fell back in his chair with laughter. "The man's dead, by the Triforce! He can't give away your secrets! Especially when he already knows the truth."
"You know?" Orden stared at the old man with unbridled surprise.
"Yes, I know. I know that you are Orden the Flame-Thrower and that the Princess is Zoe the Witch-Slayer, along with a slew of other titles. You traveled back in time and the people then and their descendents mistook you for gods." Cassonn sighed, "You should feel privileged. Not many people get to see the beginnings of their family origins."
"Family origins?" Zoe repeated. "I guess some families were started but I don't see what that has to do with my family tree."
"Don't be bull-headed about this, Zoe," Lin admonished. "Holias and Zeldra were the first King and Queen of Hyrule-- or what became Hyrule. Mother descended straight from them. And Lont and Meletas started Father's family." He sighed, "I wish I could have gone with you. The fourth Link meeting the first."
"What's stopping you?" Orden asked curiously, only realizing after he said it how reckless the question was.
"My destiny," Lin replied, locking his teeming green eyes with Orden's orange ones. And they call my eyes inhuman, Orden thought wiry as he averted his head.
"What do you mean forth Link?" Zoe demanded. "You're the second!"
"Forth, dear sister, forth. My counting isn't that badly off. Dad was the third, there was one before him, and Lont was the first. Lont is an ancient rendition of Link. You should have paid more attention in language class," Lin shook his finger mockingly at her.
"I had more important things to worry about then. Just like now." She turned to Cassonn, "What can you tell us about this?" She pulled the Fire-Stone out of her pouch.
Cassonn took it gently. "A Fire-Stone! This must be the last one remaining. Ganon destroyed the Fire of Justice when he took over the Underworld. A Fire-Stone can be used generationally . . . ."
"Generationally?" Orden asked. Hyrulians had strange terms for things. He thought they made them up as they talked.
"Used by only one in each generation. Like Zoe's sword," Cassonn explained. "Now where was I? A Fire-Stone can be used generationally and only for a cause that is just. But there is a legend."
Lin leaned back in his chair. "I just love legends. They can say anything, mean anything, and get away with it because they're a legend. There's a certain irony to being a legend. But are sure it's a legend and not a prophecy?"
"A mixture of both. The offspring of gods will control a Fire-Stone and rekindle the Fire of Justice." Orden squeezed Zoe's hand. "A shame the legend was almost completely lost."
"Maybe it just hasn't completely begun," Lin murmured as he gazed at the oblivious Zoe and Orden.