The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time - Part Two: The Quest

Chapter Eighteen: Elsewhere; the Castle, and Home

The castle's torches were lit in an effort to stave off the chill from the air that evening, and the rain from earlier that day had returned again. The desert king marched through the halls towards his chambers, markedly dissatisfied with the proceedings of this last council. The Gorons and the Zora still raised their concern over the incidents of the Gerudo arriving at their doorsteps, claiming the conspicuous timing of the events to be no coincidence, and suggested foul play was at hand. They wanted an explanation, and a satisfactory one, before proceeding with the negotiations further. He had of course pleaded innocence, and had argued his case both eloquently and aggressively. These were rogue Gerudo, he had told them, most likely taking advantage of his absence from their homeland. He had dispatched his own guard to locate and deal with these ruffians, he had claimed, and took responsibility for their actions, as a king ought too, in a bid to prove his trustworthiness and

Technically, he was not wrong either. He himself had not directly ordered these Gerudo to their little kingdoms. If he could even call them that. No, he had planned this long ago; it was his second, still residing in the desert, that had ordered them. He had personally gone to the Great Deku Tree, for he was, no, had been, a powerful spirit no one else of his tribe could dared have challenged. Well, perhaps his twin mothers, annoying hags that they were. They had instructed him in the arcane arts, and he knew well their power was great. But he was Ganondorf Dragmire, King of the Gerudo, born once every one hundred years. His power was greater, and far more terrifying. And still he could not kill the Great Deku Tree outright, he had had to resort to a slow-acting curse. That sheer raw power evaded him, but only for now.

In the meantime, he had to listen to the babbling of complacent fools, all riled up over a little trouble. So what if the Gorons had lost their choice meal? What did the desert offer but scorpions, snakes, and other deadly critters? So what if the water from the river and into the lake was tainted? What water was there in the desert? They had suffered only a minute portion of his own peoples, and they whined so. Their rich lives left them lazy and soft, and he despised them for it. Even the king of Hyrule had grown lax it seemed to him after 10 years and more of peace. While he had listened more fairly than the other races, he had ultimately sided with them, kindly asking him to find some way to prove his words were truth. As if he had been asking a friend to kindly lend him a book that was beside him. Had he really forgotten that 10 years ago they had tried to kill each other? Surely not, or he was a fool. And an even bigger fool for trying to play friends. Vermin did not draw near a scorpion without risk of being stabbed in the back.

This last meeting had yielded some good news to him, however. In other news, Dodongo's Cavern was open and in business again, the Goron representative was happy to announce, and production and shipment of goods could resume at full speed. Similarly, the Zora representative informed them that their Lord Jabu-Jabu was healthy and well again. Neither had disclosed any particulars of their good fortune, but he had surmised that it was due to a certain individual.

He paused outside his door, staring out the window across from him. The boy had all three stones. Surely, he would come soon.

He had put it together some time ago. He had seen that boy before, he remembered now. He had met Princess Zelda, in the courtyard that his room sat high above. He stared out that window now, in his room, staring down at the empty courtyard. She had the Royal Family's treasure, and the boy now had the stones. It was almost laughable, but he was certain of it: They were trying to enter the Sacred Realm.

He could have stopped their silly game easily enough. He could have had the boy pursued. He could have informed the king of the intruder, and let him deal with it without himself having to do a damn thing. But, he had chosen not to. He had continued to let the child wander free as he had first decided, and now it would be easy work to take them. Without the Ocarina of Time, the Spiritual Stones were pieces of pretty rock. So long as the two of them did not meet, He could still claim that sacred power, and then he would have his revenge.