Between Timelines: A Legend of Zelda Fanfic

Chapter 3

Riju quickly helps me back into my ceremonial dress, and once I have on all my jewelry and my circlet, I glance quickly at myself in the mirror before leaving the room. The shower and down time have definitely helped, not to mention Riju's skill in the makeup department. I look relaxed and a lot less tired than before. I look happy, and... I guess I do look a little pretty.

"Ok, stop staring at yourself and let's go," says Riju from behind me, "we both look beautiful, and we don't want to miss the ceremony you stayed up until 4AM for."

I pull on my sandals, and we race out the door and down the hallways, heading for the gardens, where the actual coronation will take place.

When we reach our destination, the guests are milling around under that shade of the tall oak trees that surround the courtyard. Bushes and flowers line the edges of the pathways, butterflies flitting gently through the air, and small stone fountains are sprinkled throughout the gardens.

When Lady Impa sees me, she glares across the crowd, silently admonishing me for being late, and motions for the guests to take their seats in the rows of benches lined up in front of the raised platform she is standing on. In the middle of the courtyard, there is a pathway leading between the benches and up to the platform, which I am expected to walk up. Someone hands me a bouquet of silent princesses, and I realize that this feels somewhat like a wedding, only instead of marrying a person, I'm marrying an entire kingdom.

The guests quiet down in their seats, and I swallow as Lady Impa addresses the crowd.

"I would like to start by welcoming everyone here, and by thanking you for coming," Lady Impa says in a voice that is frail, but is also somehow projected across the whole courtyard, so that even I can hear her. I look around, realizing that Riju has quietly taken her seat, and I am standing all alone, save the royal guards standing a few paces behind me.

"Today is, as you may have guessed, a very special day for our kingdom." says Lady Impa, "for it is the day we crown our new queen, Zelda."

There is polite clapping from the audience, and Lady Impa continues.

"Zelda, the direct descendant of a goddess of pure light, blessed with those powers herself, is here to become queen of Hyrule on the day of her 18th birthday, July 21st, the summer solstice. On this day, the world will experience more light than any other day of the year, and so will our kingdom, as a new queen, a goddess of light who held off the great power of the calamity for 100 years, now takes her rightful place on the throne."

Now, Impa motions for me to start walking towards the platform.

"All rise for princess Zelda, goddess of light, who will leave here today as Queen Zelda!"

The audience rises together, and once again I feel hundreds of eyes on me as I begin to walk down the aisle, taking small, (hopefully) sophisticated steps. The walk to the platform seems like it takes an eternity, every step I take, I'm reminded of the eyes on me, of the sweat pooling at my back, of my dry and scratchy throat. I walk up the steps to the wooden platform, and Lady Impa takes my hands in hers, a serious but reassuring look on her face.

"Princess Zelda will now complete the ceremonial speech." she says. There are cheers from the crowd.

I stand in the middle of the platform, facing the audience, and take a deep breath.

Just as I'm about to open my mouth, something wizzes through the air, so close to my head that I feel the wind of it on my skin. It embeds itself in a tree behind me, and that's when all hell breaks loose.

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Before I can think, someone pushes me to the side, using a shield to knock away two more arrows, both of which would have hit me if he hadn't reacted so quickly. Link stands in front of me, tall and tensed for battle, sword out, shield up. He quickly locates the red bokoblin that shot the arrows, hidden behind some bushes at the back of the courtyard, and shoots it in the head, killing it. There are screams in the crowd, and panic ensues.

Everyone starts running toward the castle at once, clustering by the royal guards stationed at the doors, but the guards won't let them in.

"What's happening?" I yell, "Why won't the guards let them inside?"

Suddenly, Sidon, Yona, and Riju appear at my side, all looking unhurt (but very worried), as bokoblins continue to rain arrows down into the courtyard from the high surrounding walls.

In between knocking away burning arrows and shooting monsters, link mortions for us to move behind a large oak tree, and further out into the gardens.

"Link!" I yell, putting aside any type of formal hello, "we have to get inside the castle! We'll be safer there!"

"I agree with the princess," says Sidon, "more places for us to hide."

But Link just shakes his head.

"We need to get away from here," he signs, "I know a secret passage out of the castle, from when I was a boy training to be a knight. Hopefully it's still usable."

Suddenly, the royal guards, who had been stoically ignoring the pleas of the guests to be let into the castle, all stand up straighter, as if receiving some sort of command. Then, as we watch, horrified, every single one of them transforms in a poof of red smoke, wearing the matching red and white uniforms of the Yiga clan.

"Yiga," growls Riju, who is not a stranger to their plotting, " I should have known. This is the perfect opportunity to take out the queen, and all of her closest allies, all at once."

I don't bother correcting her that I am not technically the queen yet, and instead we all head in the direction of a cluster of bushes where Link claims a small trap door will lead us to freedom.

When we get there, we see that Link is right, and a small, wooden entrance is visible under the leaves. It creaks loudly as we tug it open, rusty after years of disuse, and Link continues firing his arrows at any monsters or Yiga clan members who try to approach us. Sidon drops into the hole in the ground first, making sure that it's safe, and then helps Lady Yona down with him. Monsters start to pour into the courtyard, Bokoblins and Moblins and Lizalfoses of all colors, seemingly working together with the Yiga clan members.

"What are they doing?" asks Riju, horrified at the scene unfolding before us. The monsters cut down anyone with weapons or swords, knocking them out, while the Yiga members round up all the guests who aren't resisting, bind their hands, and lead them inside the castle.

Suddenly, we hear a small scream from the bushes near us, where a group of people are huddled, trying to hide in the bushes. Although most of them seem small enough to avoid notice, one of them is a fully grown Goron, and we watch as a Moblin stalks towards them, wooden club held high.

After a closer look at the people squatting in the bushes, I can see that aside from the adult Goron, there are two small Goron children, a small Rito, a little Gerudo girl, and a Hylian girl, who I realize with a desperate cry is Rita, the girl who tends to my rooms.

From beside me, Riju seems to glow a little. Her face is calm, but I can feel her anger and rage in the air somehow, building up in a tension and static, the same feeling in the air as before a thunderstorm. As the Moblin stalks closer, she opens her eyes, which glow green against her dark skin, and extends her arm with a shout towards the looming monster.

Suddenly, a bolt of yellowy-green lighting splits the sky that, just a minute ago, was blue and void of any clouds, and strikes the Moblin. Unfazed, Riju runs the 15 feet to the group of people hiding, and quietly motions for them to follow her, shushing the crying of the younger children.

Once all of them have made it through the small opening, Riju jumps through, leaving me standing behind her in shock.

"Quickly!" Link signs, too involved in battle to have noticed the lightning at all, "I can't hold them off much longer! There's too many of them!"

Regaining control of my muscles, I nod, and, without thinking, jump into the pitch black hole left by the trapdoor.

That's all for now guys, i hope you like where this is going :)

As usual please leave suggestions, or even just what you think so far in the comments. Thanks so much for reading! <3