The Wind Bride

The Wind Bride / Chapter one

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I haven’t even… lived out half my life…

Over the months, princess Zelda had gotten used to life in the darkened Hyrule
castle. Of course she wasn’t princess anymore, yet she was still referred to as
such. She was allowed to roam where she pleased within the castle, although she
knew it was only because Vaati had his constant eye on her. Even her attempting
to escape would have been useless, as there was nowhere to escape to.
Everywhere, every town and village, every inch of land was under the sorcerers
control and the borders were well guarded.

All in all, life could have been a lot worse, however she wisely chose to spend
most of her time in the wing that was dedicated to her. Although she knew she
would not be harmed – indeed the only guard who had dared hurt her before
suffered a miserable death at Vaati’s hand – but there was still that constant
feel of dread lingering in the air. Her master treated her well however, she ate
with him and made nervous conversation in his presence. Yet he intimidated her
and he knew it, lavishing in it, content in the knowledge that she would do
anything he asked out of pure terror.

She would quietly wait in the rooms she was allowed to wonder, although what for
she didn’t really know. Each day that crept by was beginning to feel like an
eternity to her and part of her was beginning to wish he had ended her life that
night after all. She hadn’t had any contact outside the castle and the thought
of books bored her now. The only excitement she seemed to encounter was when her
master came to see how she was.

He had acted so strangely to her since that night, although he retained this
fascination with her. Indeed, he still enjoyed admiring her, staring at her for
minutes at a time and running his fingers through her hair with pride at the
thought she belonged to him, yet most of the time he kept his distance. There
was no intimacy like there had been forced onto her the first night, no trailing
lips, no cooling kisses.

‘But of course there wouldn’t be,’ she mumbled inside her head. ‘He only did
that to try and frighten me after all.’

She was rather grateful he had dropped that act now.

Perhaps it was the thought that he had a renowned princess in his clutches that
had prevented him from slaughtering her. The very princess that had escaped from
him before. Keeping her locked up reminded her of the power he had over her now
and it was disheartening to say the least.

She would freeze whenever he entered the room, the very thought of him being
close would send shivers up her spine. Her body would grow stiff as he pulled
her towards his chest and each stroke of his hand would cause her to quiver in
terror. Even the sweet yet subtle scent of rain on roses that lingered wherever
he would go failed to soothe her even a little. Perhaps the position of power he
was in was doing him good, for he seemed so much healthier nowadays than he had
before. His pale skin had become less septic and more milky in colour, even his
lengthy silver hair had seemed dull and lifeless compared to what it was now.
His appearance, in her mind, was disgustingly ironic.

He seemed to be visiting her more lately; perhaps he was becoming bored with his
role of Overlord. After all, everything had gone to plan for the last few months
or so. There was just no drama.

Not that she knew what she was to him anyway. Not a lover, she was not treated
as such. Not a partner and not a whore, certainly not a wife. No, she decided,
no she was more like a…

…a trophy.

Sighing and placing a bookmark within the pages of the novel she read within the
library, she shut the heavy cover and stared miserably towards the window. It
was raining as usual, it seemed to nearly always rain now. If not rain, then at
least a wretched grey sky and furious winds. It was as if Vaati willed them to
stay there so that one would be reminded of who was in control each time the
wind stung their cheek. Yes, she sighed, that was exactly what he was doing.

She looked angrily at the book she had been reading. Read, that was all she ever
seemed to do lately. There was nothing else to do. She was not allowed to leave
the castle and Vaati would hate it to have her meddle with his affairs and would
probably issue a nasty punishment. She shuddered, this way was boring but at
least her safety was guaranteed.

At least, she thought it was.

Perhaps she should talk to him more; she stood up and wondered over to the
window, too lost in her thoughts to really pay attention to the rose gardens
outside. Perhaps he would learn to like her more if she showed more of an
interest in what he was doing. But what was he doing - she peered through the
window panes and sighed moistened clouds of breath on the glass - was torture.
She really had no interest in helping with the terrorisation of thousands of
innocent people.

‘Still… better him than Ganondorf I suppose.’

Her mind wondered to thoughts of that evening. The princess had always had an
outstanding voice, yet it seems that it had been pushed to its limits in the
recent months. Once every five days she would have to sing a different song to
him as he listened in blissful silence, one leg crossed over another and his
chin on his hand. He would lean against the armrest and smile distantly. Yet he
would never, never play his harp again.

She was snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of a thump from the floor above
her, followed by the howl of a Wolfos as it met an undeniably gruesome end.
Perhaps the monsters were fighting again, she decided, or perhaps her master was
bored. He usually found entertainment in ending the lives of random unfortunate
living beings when he was bored.

What a disgusting pastime.

Shaking her head, she thought no more of it.

In the room above her, a young man gave a tug on the hilt of his sword, barely
flinching as it removed with a slurp from the belly of the beast that he had
just killed. Wrinkling his nose at the hideous smell of blood, he inspected the
damage on the Wolfos and sighed. It had taken five strikes to take it down, so
either they were a lot more difficult when roaming around the dark castle, or
his fighting skills were getting rusty. Normally he would have brought it down
in one.

They were more difficult, he decided, continuing his exploration to the next
room. Definitely more difficult; not that he understood exactly why the Dark
Lord had monsters in his castle, it wasn’t as if anyone had the courage to
attempt to invade anyway. At least, nobody but him and he had been fighting
monsters for months, ever since Hyrule was plunged into darkness. Countless
hours had been dedicated to keeping the savage beasts at bay and each night he
had gazed longingly at the castle, wondering what was happening to their
princess. Nobody had seen her since that night and it was quite apparent that
the wind mage was fiercely protective of her.

Rumours of the Lord and his princess had been passed from one person to the next
through the castle town. Some said he forced himself upon her while others
claimed that she was quite in love with him. There were some that said she was
kept locked up in one room of the castle and only he was allowed to set eyes on
her beauty. Yet all of them agreed on one thing – only he was allowed to touch
her.

Link refused to put his faith in mere gossip however. He knew what Vaati was
like, having fought with him before, and although the man was power-hungry and
destructive, he liked to keep people in their place by just frightening them and
nothing more. He would want Zelda alive and healthy so he could parade her off
to the town folk to remind them of just who their master was and what he had
done. His mind twitched at the thought of the Lord touching her however, he
wouldn’t put that past him at all.

He wondered the next few rooms of the castle in silence. There was so much less
security now than there had been. For months he hadn’t even been able to get to
the castle drawbridge, let alone this far into the complex. Pushing open another
door, he drew his bow and aimed it inside, checking to see if it was clear
before stepping in with a sigh. First so many monsters, now none at all. It was
all a bit too strange for his liking.

Suddenly turning his head to the side, the hero stared suspiciously into the
dark corner, swearing to himself he just heard a noise from that direction.
After a few moments he shook his head, beginning to think he was going mad. As
he went to leave the room, the noise sounded again and he turned on his heels,
pointing an arrow in that direction with his eyes narrowing. The noise sounded
like a whimpering, then a squeaking – an excited childlike squeaking. Or maybe
it was… a sneeze?

“Achoo!”

Link let the arrow soar through the air and at the direction of the sound. There
was an outraged squeal and there was a crunch as someone – or something – landed
on the floor. Drawing another arrow, the blonde made his way over to it, hoping
he hadn’t just hit some randomly innocent Minish. Then again, there was hardly
going to be any innocent Minish hanging around Vaati’s castle anyway, or at
least not this far in. As far as Link was concerned however, it was actions
first and then tackling the consequences afterwards.

Kneeling down, he poked at the tiny form on the floor. It was roughly the size
of a Keese, with six small wings which appeared to be detached. Two small horns
crowned its head, yet he couldn’t work out any sort of face within the dark fur
in the terrible lighting he was forced to rely on. He picked up the arrow from
the floor and inspected it. It was bloodless, so whatever he had just hit, it
had only stunned it. Upon closer inspection, he noticed a rip on one of the
creatures’ left wings; it was only small, but large enough to cause hindrance
to… he gazed at the creature suspiciously – to whatever it was.

Frowning, he turned the arrow to its feathered end and poked it curiously. It
didn’t work, so he poked again. After a few more moments of nothing, he turned
the arrow to its point and once more gave the beast a gentle nudge with it.

“What is the source of this poking which pokes me so?!”

Link jumped, staring down at where the creature had now opened its single large
eye and was glaring angrily at him. It rose from the ground and flew close to
his face, its tiny wings beating against each other to keep it in the air. Link
instantly recognised it to be a miniature version of Vaati’s final form and
quickly recovered from the shock, swiping at it through the air in a futile
attempt to grab it.

The demon raised itself out of his reach and hovered above him, tilting
strangely to the left as a result of its torn wing. It flopped suddenly, but
quickly regained its balance and rose once more out of the hero’s reach.

“Foolish little fool!” it shrieked, “My eye of vision sees all of your
everything! You have the stupidity of a small child who is stupid!”

Link swiped at it again frantically, but it fluttered around his head mockingly
before suddenly souring off in the opposite direction lopsidedly, crashing into
the doorframe with a nasty crunch that made the blonde wince. Grumbling
bitterly, it shook the daze from itself before finally finding its way out of
the room and leaving Link alone.

The hero blinked. Nothing happened and he blinked again. Then the events finally
began to set in and he found himself panicking. That irritating little beast
must have been one of Vaati’s messengers, although it was so awfully clumsy that
he had doubts about whether it could make it back to its master in one piece
anyway.

Dashing into the direction in which the demon had headed, he made every attempt
to keep up with the beast, but he had already lost it before he even began. The
demon was nowhere to be found. Cursing himself, Link looked around the room in
which he had ended up in silence. A long velvet curtain draped over a golden
rail which was fixed from the tall ceiling, yet there was no window to cover. A
single candle stand which stood lonely in the corner provided only a dim light,
yet it was enough to show the sinister eye-like markings carved deeply into the
stone of the castle walls. They reminded him of the messenger and he muttered,
turning towards the handsome marble staircase on his left. Apart from a dead
moth and an abandoned book left by the candle stand, it appeared to be the only
other thing in this tiny room.

As he descended the staircase, the thickness in the air seemed to deteriorate
and although the castle still looked the same as ever, it began to seem slowly
less intimidating. He wondered the next few rooms in silence, filled with hope
at each new room he came to. Having already checked the dungeons, he grew
confident his princess had to be around here somewhere.

The princess jumped as the great door of the library began to open and she shut
her book hurriedly. It was odd, she thought, that her master would call for her
at this time. Surely it wasn’t evening already?

She gazed out of the window and then up at the fancy and rather frightening
looking clock on the wall and frowned a little. No, it was only around midday.

So why?

“Zelda…?”

The princess jumped again and turned, her eyes widening at the sight of the boy
standing there. “What the-? Link? My goodness, is that you?!”

At first her expression was ecstatic, her deadened eyes beginning to show a
glint of hope at her friends’ presence. But her excitement didn’t last long and
she sadly looked down at the floor, mumbling “You shouldn’t be here…”

Link ignored her, taking hold of her wrist and pulling her away from the window.
The book she had been holding fell to the floor, the pages bending as they
pressed against the stone.

“Link, what are you doing?!”

“Escape first, questions later,” came the reply as he led her out of the room,
gathering speed in order to get her safety as quickly as possible.

“But if Vaati finds us then-”

“Pffftt,” he turned his head very briefly to look at her as he escorted her down
a flight of steps. “I’ve beaten that albino freak before, I can do it again.”

“But you don’t understand! He’s already extracted-”

“No time Zelda!”

He stopped in his tracks very suddenly, feeling the princess press against his
back with a squeak as he ceased too fast for her.

“Which way?”

“I don’t know. I’m not allowed in this part of the castle.”

“Uhhh…” He looked left and then right. “That way!” He headed forward.

The princess looked around her as they hurried down the corridor. She had been
in this certain part before, but only by escort. She had no idea which was the
way out of the castle from here, but at least she knew they were on the ground
floor.

“Link, I think we’re headed the wrong way.”

“No matter which way we go, it’s gonna lead us outta here at one point or
another. Trust me, I go in places like this all the time.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just that-”

“There!” the hero motioned to a particularly important looking door in front of
them. “That’s gotta be it, it has creepy looking statues and everything!”

At first she allowed herself to be led, but then her blood ran cold as she
realised exactly where that door led to.

Right into the lions den.

“No!” she struggled against his grip as Link headed towards it, picking up
speed. “Link, not there! That isn’t the exit, that’s--”

There was a crash as the door rumbled to a quick close behind them and Zelda
held back a shriek. Casting a quick look around the room, she confirmed her
surroundings and looked up to where her master sat on his altar, his arms
hugging his one raised leg as he rested his chin on his knee. He seemed amused,
if not a little surprised.

The demon Link had previously been trying to follow fluttered around the mages
altar lopsidedly, the beats of his wings quickening pace with the hero’s
presence. It stared at him as it flew in continuous circles and Link was sure
that if it had a mouth, it would be grinning. It was joined by a calmer,
strangely female looking companion who didn’t seem as excited to see him. It was
as if she had seen it all before.

“Well now, this is convenient.”

Vaati stood up and brushed some of his silky silver strands from his eyes, only
for them to fall back into place again. Even these simple actions made Links
skin crawl, this was certainly the narcissist he had fought those eight years
ago. He had almost forgotten just how much he hated him.

“I take it this is the one you were talking about?”

“Indeed!” the messenger squeaked, “He he he he tore my wing! He is the creep to
rule all creeping creepy-crawlies! He is your favourite fizzy beverage gone
flat!”

The female looked as though she were going to fall asleep.

The hero regained his composure and looked around the room warily. It was
rounded, and the walls seemed to be made entirely of glass spilt into sections
with pure white marble, which ran up to a ceiling Link figured must have been at
least 150 foot up. Extensive, silken purple drapes had been allowed to fall over
some, while others were left bare so the thick, brooding storm clouds could be
admired from inside. Yet despite the immensely sized windows, the room still
seemed incredibly dark. Candle stands with dancing purple flames gave a dim glow
when natural light could not. The skies appeared darker here, more threatening…
almost black.

It was cold, bitterly so. But Vaati liked it that way, even the very clothes he
wore were designed so that the wind could flow through the soft folds as freely
as possible.

The hero shivered, looking at his princess and noticing their breath misted in
the freezing temperature. A bitter yet noiseless wind stung at their flesh the
longer they stood there. She apparently didn’t notice him, just gazing at the
marble floor as if she knew she was in disgrace.

Vaati coughed to get their attention and the other man glared at him, only to
receive an icy glance in return. Even the very look of the wind sorcerer made
the hero feel colder than ever. The paler man beckoned towards Zelda and she
hesitated, casting Link a desperate look before lowering her head and walking
slowly towards her master. His arm held out to greet her and gripped her wrist
as his other hand lifted her chin a little.

“Now now your majesty,” he said in a soft, joking tone not dissimilar to a
mother scolding a young child, yet his voice still held a subtle yet threatening
air to it, “You should already know you cannot escape from me. Why, where would
you go?”

She was silent, looking at the floor and suddenly feeling as though she were
seven years old again.

“This castle is the safest place for you” he finished, giving her long hair a
soft tug and turning away. Zelda bit her lip, she hated it when he scolded her
like that. The very thought of being talked to like a young child irritated her
and Vaati knew it. It was the very reason why he did it of course.

“As for you…” the wind mage eyed Link in disgust. “You infuriate me, you offend
everything I stand for with your very presence…”

“You are that bit of bellybutton fluff that will not go away!” chimed in the
demon.

“Be quiet!” Vaati barked and demon flew away a few meters, silencing.

“Is this the bit where you say you’re unstoppable?” Link enquired.

“Silence!” The hero flinched as the mages cry made the winds outside beat at the
windows furiously. “I have waited too long for this moment and this time ‘hero’,
you don’t have the Four Sword to assist you.”

The hero blinked, then withdrew his sword from the sheath. It was the only sword
he had, but Vaati was right. It wasn’t the Four Sword at all, that had been
placed back into the sanctuary eight years ago after the short lived peace had
returned. As he pointed it at the mage threateningly, Zelda put her head in her
hands in despair. She just couldn’t watch…

The dark lord rolled his scarlet eyes and looked at his nails absentmindedly.
“Sen?” he asked, not so much as looking up.

The female demon - who had until now been hovering around the altar aimlessly –
looked at him, her wings quivering with apparent excitement at being addressed.
“Yes m’lord?”

“What day is it?”

“It’s uhh…” she hesitated, surprised at being asked such a random question.
“It’s…”

“Tuesday! It’s Tuesday it’s Tuesday it’s Tuesday!” the other demon shrieked,
fluttering first around Sen and then around his master in a fit of enthusiasm.
“Tuesday is the most cunning day of the week! Tuesdays cunningly rule over all
other cunning days that are cunning! Tuesdays-” Vaati stuck his fist out and the
messenger soared awkwardly across the room, hitting the wall with a squeak.

“Indeed,” he said coldly.

As Link pondered over whether it was standard for evil lords to have idiots as
envoys, he noticed that Vaati had turned his attention away from his personal
appearance and onto him, glaring at him with a wicked smile on his face.

“I love Tuesdays. Do you know why I love Tuesdays Luke?”

“It’s Link,” said Link. “And uhh…” he eyed the ball of magic the wind mage had
just made appear in his hand. “I don’t really care that much.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything more.”

Link positioned his sword defensively, though in all truths he felt rather
inadequate. He had beaten this mage before, he knew, but back then he had the
goddess of fortune smiling blissfully in his direction particularly often. But
this time there was no Ezlo to urge him on, there was no fancy equipment, there
were no elements, no Four Sword and overall, there was no chance.

The sorcerer scoffed, “Do you really think that a sword such as that really has
a chance against a god like myself?!”

No, he decided. No, he didn’t.

“You are not a god…”

Link didn’t know what hit him next. He didn’t even see the ball of energy
release from its creators palm. He was knocked to the side roughly as if
something had just picked him up and thrown him, his sword spinning from his
hands and impaling into the floor only inches away from where the male demon lay
dazed. As he struggled to get up, he felt himself slip as if he were unable to
hold himself up anymore He felt himself crushed, squeezed, pinched, pushed and
hammered into the floor as if the weight of a thousand boulders had come down on
him at once.

Attempting to look up, he could barely make out the form of Vaati and that of
the terrified princess next to him between the hot flashes of white light that
dashed over his eyes over and over again. The princess seemed to be screaming at
the mage to stop this torment, but even his hearing was beginning to fail him
now, the sounds of the world almost ceasing completely.

It was only then that the real agony started. It felt as though people had
gotten hold of different parts of his body and was moulding him, crushing and
shaping him into an unfamiliar form. His arms and legs went numb as the world
around him suddenly seemed so much bigger, before the suddenly loud sounds of
sobs from Zelda and giggles from one of the demons informed him that his hearing
had not only returned, but was twice as sensitive. Even the room was beginning
to smell mustier than he remembered it.

Then as quick as it had begun, the moulding ceased and the hero was left laying
on the ground, in shame and in agony. It had lasted only seconds, but to Link it
seemed like an eternity.

“What have you done to him…?” he heard the quiet, yet panicked voice of Zelda
not too far away from him, her voice cracking as she forced out words. “What
have you done to him…?!”

Link attempted to speak, but all he could manage was a whimper like that of a
wounded animal. Even he eyes couldn’t open, it was as though he wanted to lay
there and rest forever.

“I think he looks better.”

“How could you say that?!”

Vaati ignored her. “Ramna, Sen. Show this little rat the castle door, if you
please. He obviously couldn’t find it himself last time.”

The hero winced as he felt a pulse of greater pain run through his body, as if
something had shocked him. He felt it again and it compelled him to get up,
snapping in the direction where it came from.

There was a snicker from the male demon, who had apparently recovered, and again
he felt a shock run through him. Seeing that the doorway was now opening, he
forgot everything and just fled through it, through the corridors and away from
the great room where his princess still stay captured. He wanted to slow down,
but couldn’t, the continuous jolts from the messengers that followed him forcing
him to run faster and faster, even though he wanted to just collapse and let the
pain subside. Their laughing pounded in his ears and he felt as though his heart
had shifted to his throat.

Half of his mind screamed at him to go back to the great room and reclaim his
princess. He couldn’t possibly just leave her there in Vaati’s clutches. What
would he do to her if the other just ran away?

But he still didn’t stop, even when the castle drawbridge lowered to let him
pass, even when he found himself in Hyrule field he didn’t so much as slow down
his pace.

It hurt too much.