The Gerudo Prince

The Gerudo Prince
Chapter IX

~*~

The next morning, Link dragged his groggy self out of bed and joined his future bride and father-in-law in the royal dining room for breakfast. It was a lovely day, with early morning sunshine streaming in through the tall windows. It was too bright for Link however, who had gotten very little sleep after the sexual encounter between him and Princess Zelda that he still could not understand.

It was worse when they had to have their breakfast together, sitting across the table from each other. Zelda tapped at her hard-boiled eggs in front of her with a bored expression on her face, not once looking up to meet Link’s quizzical, questioning gaze, and the King gorged himself on the incredible breakfast feast that was laid before them. Link found he had very little appetite, eating bread with butter that tasted like sawdust in his mouth, and drinking the tea and the milk but finding it had absolutely no taste. Overall he felt quite miserable.

After his excessive gorging, the King cleared his throat, let out a belch and patted his belly, as though for good luck, and turning to Link with much difficulty, he smiled brightly. “Link do you care for croquet?”

Zelda’s head shot up with glaring eyes, as though wanting to tell her father to shut up, but Link merely ignored her and shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not familiar with it.”

The King nodded, as though it were entirely understandable. “It’s a game played on the grass, not necessarily applicable in the desert. I think you’ll quite enjoy it.”

Across the table, Zelda rolled her eyes dramatically and crossed her arms, as though this were a praise she had to listen to over and over again.

And the King clearly wasn’t finished. He slammed a fat palm down on the table and grinned. “I think we should play a game after breakfast-“

Immediately, Zelda intervened, straightening up. “Father, I promised Link I would show him the library after breakfast.”

Link frowned in confusion, and frantically searched through his memory. Had they discussed going to see the library today after breakfast? Maybe she had mumbled it in suggestion last night when Link was laying like a slug on the bed after their copulation.

One terrifying look from Zelda and Link swallowed. Her eyes narrowed. “Isn’t that right, Link?”

“Erm...” he looked between Zelda, who stared at him, and the King who was looking at him quizzically. “Quite.”

The King’s bushy white eyebrows rose in surprise. “The Gerudo knew how to read?” Then he shrugged his shoulders, and waved a hand at him before returning back to his feasting. “Well, fancy that.”

Anger bubbled up inside Link’s stomach, and he wanted to lash out at the King for suggesting that all the Gerudo were illiterate, which they most certainly were not. But before he could even open his mouth, Link was literally being pulled from his chair by Princess Zelda, and in a matter of seconds they were gone from the dining room, fleeing down the hall.

~*~

Although the library was positively massive, Link had very little time to enjoy it. In behind the maze of shelves upon shelves, into a secluded little corner against a window, Zelda pressed Link up against the shelves, unfastened the ties on his trousers, and dropped to her knees to suck him. Link nearly crippled under her ministrations, lying one flat palm against the window while the other gripped the shelving, trying to keep his balance.

Zelda pressed her gloved hands against his hips to hold him still, and she bobbed on his erection, looking up at him with wide open eyes, sucking hard and then slowly, and then letting him slip from her mouth just to listen to him moan in frustration. She continued until he was leaking with pre-cum and ready to release, and then she stood up, swivelled Link around so that she was now against the shelving, and bundling up her dress and lifting one leg, she invited him to come closer. Link, too anxious for his orgasm, was all too happy to accept the offer.

She wrapped her legs around her waist and gripped his shoulders as he pounded her against the shelves, her moans loud in his ears. His thrusts were short and hard, like little bursts of energy, but he quickened his pace with the urgency for release. He grunted as she groaned in his ears, and gripped his golden hair in her fingers and pulled, her thighs squeezed his hips, begging to have her harder, and he did. He thrust into her relentlessly, and screamed into her shoulder as his orgasm washed over him, gripping Zelda tightly as he released hard into her. It lasted for moments and then he was stripped of all energy, and collapsed against Zelda.

Zelda giggled, wrapping her hands around his neck and kissing his sweaty face. After a moment of complete stillness, she eased herself down from him, groaning from the cramp in her legs, and smoothed out her dress while Link fastened up his trousers.

Afterwards, she shook out her long hair and gave him a sweet little smile. “Well, I’ll see you at dinner.”

He frowned at her as she walked past him. “Dinner?”

She looked at him over her shoulder. “Of course, I have my music lessons to go to, and my fencing lessons. I’ll see you at dinner.”

And she disappeared out of the library and Link didn’t see her again for the rest of the afternoon.

~*~

The library didn’t personally appeal to him, so Link took to adventuring through the courtyards. He was still thrilled by grass, the softness of it, the smell of it, and the vivid colour of it alone was enough to make him stare at it for hours. The grass and the flowers, he absolutely loved them, he’d had no idea that such things existed in Hyrule. He’d always felt that the desert was beautiful, that the night sky was beautiful, but these could be beautiful too, the grass and the flowers.

The guards ignored him as he walked by them. Every now and then Link spotted one of them looking at him because he still wore his Gerudo clothes, but he paid them little mind. He walked to one of the fountains and sat to listen to its calming noise. He settled on the soft grass, and then he laid down and nestled in its softness and listened to the gurgle of the fountain.

He still couldn’t understand what was going on with Zelda. Her sexual escapades confused him. Was she doing it just for satisfaction, or was she doing it to defy her father, or was she doing it simply because she liked him? It seemed like fairly unprincess-like behavior to him.

Then his thoughts began to wander. He thought of Nabooru, and her promise to visit when Link and Zelda were married. Then he sighed heavily, for the thought of being married to Zelda was becoming more and more unappealing.

At mid afternoon, when his stomach began to grumble, Link forced himself up off the grass and went back into the castle. The great halls were empty, save for the guards that eyed him curiously as he passed them. When he returned to his room he was able to summon a servant and make a request for food. He sat on his bed and quietly digested the bread and cheese that was brought to him, and he watched the sun as it began to set against the sky.

Finally he was called down to dinner. Without changing his clothes, he went into the dining room and sat with his future wife and his future father-in-law.

The meal was wonderful, except that Link had already had his snack and wasn’t very hungry. He watched Zelda pick carelessly at her food, and his future father-in-law wolf down mouthfuls of meat and vegetables and bread. Link didn’t understand how a person could eat so much.

“So as I was saying,” the King explained between mouthfuls, “I was meeting with a random scout this afternoon. He told me that Lake Hylia, for some reason or another, is only half full at this point.”

Link had no idea what Lake Hylia was, where it was, or who it concerned. But it didn’t concern him, so he didn’t find it very interesting that the lake was half full.

“The magician who lives on the lake, however,” continued the King, “Says that he saw a dark man riding by on a horse shortly before it happened.”

Link’s eyes shot up. “Dark man?”

Zelda looked at him quizzically, as though he had suggested something ridiculous.

The King cleared his throat. “Yes, a dark man on a big black horse. Probably Gerudo, but from what I understand, a Gerudo man is born only so many years, is that correct?”

Link hardly heard the question. It had to have been Ganondorf. A Gerudo man on a black horse...before seeing Ganondorf, Link hadn’t known there were Gerudo men. Who else could it possibly have been?

Link felt his heart began to beat a little faster the more he thought of Ganondorf, unaware that Zelda was eyeing him suspiciously.

“Anyway,” the King waved it away as though the matter meant nothing. “I’ve called for a Zora messenger to inform me of what is happening with Lake Hylia.”

The word “zora” was alien and foreign to Link, so he tilted his head quizzically. “What’s a Zora?”

Across the table, Zelda rolled her eyes as though she had never heard a question so stupid. However, the King seemed impressed that he was asking questions. “They are the underwater fish-like species that live in Lake Hylia and protect the temple. They are very strange in appearance - well, I needn’t tell you, you’ll see him when I call for him.”

That made Link smile. The thought of meeting someone new, and from an entirely different species, was exciting. In his head he wondered what Zoras looked like. Were they more fish than human? What did they eat? And what was the temple that they were assigned to protect? And where was Lake Hylia? Far from the fortress?

~*~

That evening Zelda seemed to have the good sense to leave Link alone, so he was free to lie in his bed, staring at the roaring fire in the fireplace, and gather his thoughts. In his mind he tried to picture the Lake Hylia. He imagined it as a huge lake of crystal blue water surrounded by green grass, flowers and tall trees. The place sounded wonderful, especially for a boy who had grown up with only sand around him as far as the eye could see. He was quite jealous of Zelda, who would have grown up in this castle and had the privilege to run and play and lounge in the gardens amongst the flowers and the grass.

He thought about Ganondorf riding his horse along the shore of this great crystal lake, big and powerful, instilling fear and respect into all those who looked upon him. Link managed a little smile, thinking about what it would be like to make love with Ganondorf in the soft grass that surrounded Lake Hylia, and then perhaps even in the shallowness of the water, stripped of all clothes, two hard sweaty bodies connected as one while the lake’s water lapped at them. It seemed very romantic.

Then he tried to imagine what the Zora looked like. He imagined they would look like ordinary fish...except if they were expected to report to the King, how could they be? They must have legs and voices and the ability to walk on land...shouldn’t they? He couldn’t picture them, no matter how hard he tried, but he knew that any day following he would soon learn what they looked like.

~*~

Link was not disappointed. Three boring, sun-filled, lazy days later, the Zora messenger arrived from Lake Hylia to report to the King. Because the trip was such a long one, the messenger was invited to stay as a guest at the castle for three days before his departure. Link figured this would be ample time to find out what the Zora looked like, and perhaps even have a conversation to see what the creatures were like.

He stood with the King and Zelda at the gates of the castle and watched the Zora approach. At his side Zelda was picking at her nail beds while the King patted the sweat off his forehead with a handkerchief. Link anxiously watched the road to the castle, waiting for the sight of a large fish with legs to come walking up and eye them all with enormous black blinking eyes.

At noon the horns at the gate went off, scaring them all out of their wits, and Link kept a look out and noticed a very tall white figure approaching the gates, and within moments crossed the drawbridge to meet them.

Link was awestruck by what he saw. A tall humanoid fish creature, with a scaly white and blue body. From its elbows came two long purple and orange fins, and it had feet that were not feet, but flippers. Instead of hair, there were two long scaled appendages that fell down on either side of the face, and another long one extended from the back of the head. The creature was absolutely beautiful.

This one had shocking green eyes and a very human face with very lovely, feminine features. The Zora was not clothed but didn’t need to be, its figure was simple and beautiful and its colours were magnificent.

The Zora bowed low to the King, who extended his massive hand and patted the Zora’s shoulder, a kind gesture that nearly knocked the poor creature off its feet. “Welcome to my castle, Zora messenger. Kindly give me a name I might call you by.”

“I am called Ashratu, your majesty.” The Zora said, and bowed low again.

Link stared in awe as the scout walked beside the King, and they proceeded past them to the palace entrance. The Zora did not look at anyone or anything as they walked, the King speaking to him lowly, but Link watched him the entire time until they had disappeared inside.

“Odd, aren’t they?” Zelda said after awhile, her gaze fixed on where the Zora had disappeared. “They are creatures that live solely around water and yet he is able to withstand three day journey in the sun.”

Link shrugged and smiled a little. “Perhaps he found small pools and lakes to swim in along the way.”

Zelda sighed as she moved towards the entrance, signaling for Link to follow. “I certainly hope the Zora will not dine with us. The smell of fish turns me off everything.”

Link scowled and reluctantly started to follow.

~*~

The Zora most certainly did dine with them, for the King would not hear of excluding a guest and valued messenger from his dinner table. The Zora sat directly across from Link, much to Link’s delight, and next to Zelda, who sat with an ugly expression on her face throughout the entire course of the evening. The low light of the candles gleamed off the Zora’s scales, making him look golden and silver at the same time, and Link could barely keep his eyes off him.

Link noticed that the meal (inhaled by the King as per usual and picked at by Zelda as per usual), was not the food that the Zora was eating. A special meal was served to the Zora, a plate of full bodied fish, scales and fins and gills and all. The Zora looked more than pleased when the meal was presented to him, and began to eat heartily.

Link swallowed, for he was simply itching to talk to the Zora, ask him something, anything really. He wanted to hear the Zora speak, and look at him with his big green eyes. The King had introduced Link to the Zora as the Prince of the Gerudo, which made Link smile, but the Zora only gave him a respectable bow and said nothing, and then they sat down to dinner.

The Gerudo Prince ached to break the silence. Clearing his throat, he leaned across the table and politely inquired: “You’re able to eat fish so neatly...I hope you don’t mind me asking, but do Zoras...have teeth?”

Everyone at the table looked up at Link as though he had said something extremely forbidden. Zelda’s eyes went so wide that Link was sure they would fall right out of her head. The Zora himself looked at Link quizzically, as though he didn’t understand the question.

However, the King simply wiped his mouth and pat his bulging stomach. “Yes Ashratu, I’ve always wondered that myself. Do Zoras have teeth?”

Ashratu looked between the King and Link and smiled very softly. “Yes, we have two rows of very sharp teeth, perfect for tearing through scales and bones.”

The Zora’s voice was absolutely musical, not too masculine and not too feminine. Link smiled, glad that the Zora wasn’t offended at his question. Everyone resumed eating quietly, except for Zelda who seemed to have absolutely no appetite. She picked at her food and later sat back and crossed her arms.

Ashratu seemed to pick up on the coldness in the room, and very quietly cleared his throat and leaned across the table towards Link. “I’ve never been to the Gerudo fortress. Where is it exactly?”

Link beamed, happy that someone was finally asking him about the fortress, after the King and Zelda seemed so uninterested in the subject. “The fortress is in the desert, at the base of the mountains and just before the dunes.”

“The desert?” Ashratu said, surprised. “I didn’t know there were deserts in Hyrule. Unfortunately Zoras would never be able to visit your fortress, it would be far too dry for us.”

Link nodded. “Yeah, we don’t have any pools or lakes, and the sun hits us right before dusk and it becomes very hot.”

Ashratu grinned, happy that someone was interested in starting a conversation with him when it seemed everyone else was afraid of him of very uninterested in him. The Zora opened his mouth to say something, when he was abruptly interrupted by Zelda.

“Link, even though you may think you’re Gerudo, you clearly are not. You’re Hyrulian living with Gerudo people.” She said in a tone that suggested Link was stupider than anyone she’d ever met. “So you really shouldn’t be referring to the desert as ‘we’ having no pools or lakes, or that the sun hits ‘us’ and gets really hot.”

Link felt as though he’d just been smacked in the face, and he might as well have been. Ashratu looked at Zelda in question and then looked to Link, as though for an explanation. “But Link...you are the Gerudo Prince, are you not?”

The blond-haired boy opened his mouth, determined to answer that yes, he had always been considered Gerudo and was deemed a Gerudo prince. But once again Zelda stopped him dead in his place. “Somebody should have told those Gerudo women that their Gerudo ‘prince’ should actually be a Gerduo and not a Hyrulian.”

Link stared at Zelda, hoping to catch her eye so he may start a screaming fit with her, but she sat back in her seat and tapped her fork on her plate as though she’d said nothing wrong at all. Poor Link looked to the King, who obviously did not hear anything over his compulsive gorging, but the Zora was looking at him with wide, suspicious eyes, as though silently judging him.

Sitting there in his seat he felt a great surge of anger boil up inside of him. He scowled and felt tears start to pinch at his eyes, begging to fall, but he tried his hardest not to let them out. His hands balled into fists and he wanted to bash them on the table in fury, but he willed himself not to do it. Instead he stood up from his chair, which then clattered back onto the floor, and with no regard for what the Zora would think of him, Link ran out of the room.

Link ran down the hall in the direction of his room when the tears started to pour. That horrible, horrible bitch of a princess! This woman would soon be his wife, the woman who blatantly insulted him in front of guests at the dinner table as though she were entitled to make a fool of him. And to suggest that he wasn’t Gerudo, that the Gerudo women were stupid enough to take a Hyrulian as their prince, was the worst thing he had ever heard.

He pushed through the doors to his room and closed them, and then flung himself onto his bed and cried harder than he had ever cried before. Goddess how he hated this place! He wasn’t even free to speak to new people without being ridiculed or belittled in some way or another. He hated it! He hated the palace and he hated Zelda, and he would not marry her ever!

~*~

Next chapter: An argument, and Link discovers more about the Zoras.
A/N: Again I apologize about Zelda’s bitchiness. I like Zelda, really I do.