Chapter 12

"Nakil, where's my project?" growled Ganon, with Master Sword in hand. "Sir," said Nakil, "It is ready for action in-" "Good." interrupted Ganon, smirking reptilishly. "You have permission to release them upon the castle, with the intention of wreaking havoc. I shall remain behind and-" Ganon fingered the Master Sword thoughtfully. "-work." He grinned. "I amaze even myself sometimes." he gloated. "Vone question, sir," said Keln, who had just walked in, "Vhy are ve alvays veaking hawoc on the castle?" he asked. Ganon dropped the sword in anger, but quickly snatched it up greedily and glared. "Stupid fool! That's what we do best. Besides, it's the only thing we can do, with the pitiful soldiers I have at my command. Besides those Morguls, of course, but aside from them, my idiot Moblins and Stalfos are-" Keln stormed out. "Typical." grumbled Ganon, looking at Nakil once more, who was trying to keep a straight face. He glared at Nakil. "Get going. Kill Link if you can." he said. Nakil shrugged. "Seldob-cha!" he called. The project was ready, and it was now in front of the evil sorceror. Ganon looked impressed as he saw it. "You darling." he said. Then Nakil marched up to it. "Come on." he said simply. The soldiers escorting the project followed Nakil as he marched off. "Oh, and pick up a few Wolfos for the journey! Ving ching wing ting!" Ganon called. "You sound like my dad or something!" joked Nakil. "I am your dad!" replied Ganon. He fell back onto his giant carved stone throne and smiled. "Ah, Master Sword....tell me your secrets..." he said, beginning to laugh.

"Link?" said Zelda a few days later as she heard the door to her bedchamber-used for Moblin quarters, incidentally-unlock, then open. Link walked into their room. "How are you feeling, Zel?" he said. "Uh....yes, I'm feeling fine, sweetheart." Zelda said, smiling angelically. "That's very nice and good, Zel." Link said, wrapping his arm around her and giving her a loving kiss. "Why, thank you, Link!" beamed Zelda. "How's our little bundle of joy doing?" he grinned. "Oh, he feels fine. Have we decided on a name yet?" replied his wife. "Hmmm.....how about Nakil? No, only joking!" Link chuckled, giving Zelda a wink. Zelda gasped in mock-horror. "Don't even say his name..." she shivered. "Okay, I surely won't. Well, I must go tell the king something. I'll be going now! See you in a little while!" Link said. He gave Zelda a reassuring smile and walked out. Zelda immediately glared at his retreating form. "He never calls me 'Zel'....and he never kisses me anymore!" she sniffed. She pouted angrily for a minute, thinking. "And why was he talking so eloquently? I mean, even for Dad at his worst, that's eloquent. Why did he even pretend to want to name our baby Nakil....how would he know that it would be....." She set her jaw. "Something fishy is going on. Link is acting too weird for his own good." she muttered. She closed her eyes and began to concentrate on the Temple of Light. She disappeared in a flash of white.

"Zelda! What brings you here?" said Rauru, turning around from the Catherdwell Organ, the massive centerpiece of the great Cathedral of Light, which was part of the huge Temple of Light. Zelda looked serious. She sighed and walked forward towards the organ. "I need to ask you a few questions." she said. "My child, you look troubled. Has anything happened?" he asked. "I said that I needed to ask you a few questions." Zelda growled. "Zelda, I sense something is wrong today. You must tell me this before I answer any of your questions." Rauru replied. "I'm not telling you anything until you answer my questions!" barked Zelda. Rauru shifted. Suddenly Zelda was caught up in a transparent ball of light. "You cannot fool a Sage such as I! Now-" began Rauru. Suddenly Zelda stormed in through the giant doors. "Rauru, something is wrong!" she yelled, as the organ had suddenly begun playing rapidly. Then she saw her image in the ball. Rauru's concentration was lost and the first Zelda destroyed the ball. "Destroy her!" she barked, pointing a finger at the second Zelda. The second Zelda gulped. "Rauru, don't believe her." she said, beginning to tremble uncertainly as she sized up the situation. "Look! Look how weak she is!" said the first Zelda. Rauru looked sternly from one to the other. "I must use mind-torture. This is too big a job for any other magic." he said. Both Zeldas screamed. "No! Rauru, no!" said the second Zelda. "You can't do that to me! I can't believe that a Sage would mind-torture his own friend and companion!" the first Zelda exclaimed. "It must be done in order for me to save the real Zelda from the imposter." Rauru said, beginning to bring a hand up to his head. The second Zelda trembled and closed her eyes. "If you must, Rauru.....if it will help you....." She was not able to finish the sentence. A tear came out of her eye. The first Zelda flung herself at Rauru and grabbed him by the hood around his neck. "Fool!" she screamed. Rauru suddenly flung both hands into her. The first Zelda began to get electrocuted by bolts of yellow lightning flying from his hands and the ceiling. "You are not the real Zelda, you tremulous creature! Get out of this sacred place or I shall destroy you and send you to where you truly belong: total darkness!" Rauru bellowed. The first Zelda groaned and managed to shake free. She called up on her last bit of power to teleport her away. "By evil's dark heart, I'll destroy all of you...." she vowed as she disappeared. Zelda looked up and gulped uncertainly. "Rauru...what was it?" she asked. Rauru pounded on the organ furiously to quiet it, then began to play a soft melody. "Zelda, it was someone very close to Ganon. I fear that he shall be attacking once again." he said. He stopped playing. "Come closer." he said. Zelda stood up shakily and walked over to him. Rauru smiled and touched her enlargened stomach softly. "What a wonderful thing it is to have a child." he said. Zelda couldn't restrain herself from grinning. "It's going to be so fun raising him.....him or her!" she giggled. Rauru chuckled. "What are you going to name him? Um, excuse me, him or her?" he asked. Zelda looked at him curiously. "This is only if Link says so, but I've decided that the baby will be named Liam if it's a boy, Holly if it's a girl." she said. Tears welled up in Rauru's eyes as he smiled in pride. "I remember so well the joy of my first children...." he said. Zelda gasped. "You had a family?" she said. Rauru nodded and wiped the tears away from his eyes. "We had twins. Their names were Jaina and Rebecca. Both girls, of course. Oh, Zelda, you should have seen the look on my wife's face when those angelic little things came into this world. It was like heaven." he said, sighing sadly. "Go on." said an enthralled Zelda. Rauru closed his eyes. "We had such a wonderful family for nineteen years. Until....until.....the day....that......he came...." Rauru said, trying to restrain the hot tears running down his face. Zelda was beginning to cry with him now. "What happened, Rauru?" she asked. "Ganondorf, in one of his many forms, came. Needing soldiers for his army. I told him to get out of my house, as I had no soldiers to give to him. No sons. Oh, Janie....." he said, choking back a sob. "So brave. She went up to him and slapped him in the face. Told him he was a fool. She'd heard of him, of course...and.....then.....Ganondorf said she would do nicely. He put a hand to her head....drained her emotions, somehow.....did the same to Rebecca. My wife and I were horrified. Horrified that our family was going to pieces so suddenly, so soon. Then we said that he would get them over our dead bodies." He paused for a second to weep softly, then resumed. "My wife resides in Kakariko Graveyard now. I nearly did as well." He blew his nose, very uncharacteristically. "Zelda, I have no family now. It has fallen to the winds of time. My brothers and parents are with the Goddesses, as is my wife. And....Janie....Becky......with.....Ganondorf......how......how?!" he screamed, beginning to sob in horror. Zelda sobbed with him. "Rauru, I'm so sorry..." she said, and she was. But she was also crying for fear that Ganondorf could strike her future family, any time, any day.....

"Zelda?" "Yes, Link?" said Zelda. It was that night, and they were in bed. "What do you think about that slaving incident over in Kakariko?" he asked. "Oh, goodness, Link. Slavers?" she groaned. "Yep. You must not have heard......the citizens captured them and paraded them around on the back of a few donkeys. Going slightly too far, I think." Link grinned to himself. "Oh, yes, I certainly agree." said Zelda. All was quiet for a few minutes. "Link?" "Yeah, Zelda?" said Link. "What if we make a mistake in our ruling?" said Zelda, a note of fear suddenly in her voice. Link was silent for a few seconds. "I'm sure you're not talking about a simple little error. Go on." he said. "Well.....I was just thinking that maybe we might make an oversight.....and someone....evil.....someone who works for Ganondorf.....might infilitrate into the government.....and then, Link, we'd be finished....." Zelda quivered. All was silent, and she knew Link was grinding his teeth in anger, silently. She knew how he agonized over Ganondorf being his father, and on top of that, Ganondorf was King of Evil and he was Hero of Time.....father and son, at opposite ends of the spectrum. And if Ganondorf got a spy into the government....."Well, we just won't let that happen." said Link finally. "What if it does?" whispered Zelda. "Then......then, we'll just send away the traitor to be eaten by whatever's out there. Life will return to normal. That's all." Link said, lying. "No, that's not what will happen." Zelda countered. There was silence for a minute as Link formulated his response. "You're right, Zelda. There will be havoc. Chaos. Witch-hunts will begin all over the country. Mass murderings. Brother fighting brother. Civil war. In the middle of it all will be Ganondorf, coming to destroy them all. And only we will be left to save Hyrule. That is, if we are left to save it. Most likely we will-I feel that honestly. But there's that chance.......that is really what'll happen, Zelda." sighed Link, getting depressed thinking about it. Zelda scooted over and snuggled into him-Link was rather insecure in matters such as these. "I'll be there for you." "Thanks, Zelda.......good night." Link whispered. "Good night, honey. I love you." Zelda whispered back. She felt the baby kicking inside.

Don't worry........Mommy and Daddy will take care of you.....

Epilogue

Malon sighed as she waddled around the castle carrying her son Michael, and she was five months pregnant. She was finding it uncomfortable, again. Why was she here? Well, there was a baby being born-a very special one. She ran into Link. "Oh, hi, Daddy." she teased. Link didn't even notice her, walking hurriedly past into a secluded room. "What's with him?" she said to no one in particular, continuing on to her destination-the castle hospital, which, she thought to herself, was the only one in Hyrule. Finally she reached it. And somehow, there was Link. There was Aaron, too, and the Sages, and the doctors, and of course, Zelda. She was holding tightly to Link's hand, tears flooding out of her eyes. "Being an extremely stubborn'un, this'un," growled the doctor. "Easy now, let 'im out!" "Don't go too hard!" Malon watched, memories of her son's birth flooding back to her. Michael reached out with his stubby hand towards Zelda. "Queen Zelda's having a baby today...." Malon whispered to him. Suddenly there was a loud cry, and the next thing everyone knew, the doctors were holding up twin babies. "Wow." breathed Aaron, shaking his head, no sarcasm in him for once. Link and Zelda looked at their son and their daughter and laughed, overwhelmed. "Well, since if it was a girl we'd name her Holly and if it was a boy we'd name him Liam...." Link began. "I-I-I guess!" stuttered Zelda. "Liam and Holly it is, then!" said Aaron, pounding his foot on the ground. Liam and Holly threw what could have been piercing glares at him. Aaron's mouth dropped open as everyone else followed suit and glared mockingly. "What? I didn't do anything!" he said innocently. "That's what you've said your entire life." said Malon. Everyone laughed. Holly cooed softly as Zelda tickled her chin. "You're going to be the best daughter ever...." she whispered softly. "No kidding." said Link, swinging Liam around in the air. Suddenly a cold rush of air blew through the room. A man who looked quite skeletal swept in. "Master, they are here." he said. Suddenly an image of Ganondorf.....well......appeared. Everyone in the room screamed as he leered at them all. His eyes stopped on Liam, then swung to Holly. "Excellent......excellent.....they shall be mine. NOW!" Dark bolts of energy suddenly flew everywhere, none hitting Liam and Holly directly thanks to the Sages. Zelda looked shocked. "How.....how dare you!" she said indignantly. Link drew his sword and sliced at the image, but of course, nothing happened. Quick as a flash he swung at the man, who deflected it away easily. "Only the Master Sword can get through my magic...and we have it!" Ganondorf began to laugh, and laugh, and laugh. He stopped finally and the image walked forward, flickering slightly. It reached to touch Holly, but Zelda pulled her away in terrified anger. "BEGONE!" Rauru suddenly roared. Ganondorf the image and the man looked up. "You will not ruin the lives of these families as you did mine! You will return to your wretched tomb at once, or I shall destroy you so completely you shall never return to the land of the living! BEGONE OR DIE!" Rauru roared, stretching his hand out. The man stood firm. But Ganondorf suddenly disappeared, and so did the man. Rauru let his hand fall to the side...."C-can I hold them?" asked Saria. Link grinned nervously. "Sure, Saria. Here you go." He handed Liam to her. "Hey, Liam....I'm your Aunt Saria....." cooed Saria softly. She giggled as Liam swatted her face and wriggled. Then she said the same thing to Holly and gently rocked back and forth. But the mood was definitely gloomier now. What did Ganon (dorf) have planned? Would the children of the Hero of Time and Princess of Destiny be safe? No one was betting on that much......

As the people of Hyrule and the world found out about the birth of the royal heirs, huge celebrations began. The people of Aidnaryk, Molderia, Sosaria and many other countries raised a cry. The entire world was swept in cheering and laughter. It was truly a wonderful day.

But in the governments of Tanol and Velattiane.....there was no laughter. No cheering. There was only Adolian Moriartis and his intelligence services preparing to destroy the governments of the free world. And exactly as the children had been born, a Tanolian expedition had invaded Aidnaryk. A joint Tanol-Velattiane expeditional force captured Sarnilia.

The battle was just beginning. Long live Hyrule.

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This is the end of Outcasts and Heroes, second book in the trilogy. I hope you have all enjoyed the book, and I'm sorry if it was too short. Never fear, however, for this is the start of the third and final book in the trilogy. Whether a fourth will be spawned from the third and the plotline stretched remains to be seen, but I feel it would be an insult to my characters not to continue their trials and triumphs to the very end.....

But is it the end? When or if Link defeats evil,, is that the end of the adventure? Does death signify the end for our intrepid heroes? I don't think so! As good old Professor Dumbledore said, 'death, to the well-organized mind, is the next great adventure.' So it is for Link, Zelda, Malon and Aaron, and so it will be for future generations in Hyrule.

The next book is tentatively titled, something like "Victory and Defeat". It should be better than this story. I hope you will think so too.....Liam and Holly, Michael and Amanda.....what things the world has in store for you.....

Mallard

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