A Fair Penalty

So, let's continue on with what happened after we discovered a band of traitors discussing their plans over tea. OK, so I didn't check if they were drinking tea, but it wouldn't have surprised me at all.

Silence fell over the canyon.

They had heard our voices and were quiet in the hopes that we would just walk away. Little did they realize, I had brought the very man they plotted against. Ganondorf raised his hand, kept his face toward me, but glared his eyes at the tent as he fired a huge red orb of magic at the center of it. The Gerudo inside were thrown in random directions, along with the supplies. They tried to crawl back to their feet, but my subordinates equaled them in number and restrained them. The traitors were forced to face their king on their knees. At last, he turned to them.

"Speak!" I shouted, so he wouldn't have to. It would have just made him angrier.

"We do not follow your villainy! You have cursed our home, and a hero will save us!"

"Sh!" - "Quiet!" - The others tried to silence her, but it was too late. Ganondorf squeezed his still raised hand into a tight fist. The outspoken woman began to shine with the same purple aura as his magic. She crawled forward, and gripped at the dirt to pull herself along as if her legs were useless. Her actions were like a wounded animal trying to escape from its predator, but instead fought to reach him as if he could save her. She gagged and coughed, until blood drooled from the edge of her mouth. She clawed at her neck, as if fighting a hand that choked her. Honestly, I didn't want to imagine what she endured because of his sorcery.

I glared at her, full of hate, and waited for her life to end. Ganondorf held back, and allowed her to kneel at his feet. She stared up at him with the white of her eyes filled with his dark magic, and her veins black as if she was infected with it. Her eyes rolled slightly into the back of her head. She gripped at his legs, begging him to release his magic and spare her life. Suddenly, his fingers spread open, and the Gerudo took in a deep, sharp breath. With some air returned to her aching lungs, she begged, "My king, please be merciful. She lied to us about your power. Please don't kill me, your majesty. I will never forget my loyalty to the great Ganondorf again."

I wanted to kicked her face in, stomp on it until she died and her blood soaked the dirt, and he must have sensed my barely restrained hostility because he held out that open hand to me. "I promise a fate worse than death if any of you so much as breathe a thought of betraying me again. I am your king, and I have done more than that wretched woman ever could for any of you. We will soon prosper as we have always meant to. We will be feared. I will rule the world, yet you want to follow a woman who believes in ancient legends?"

He waited for a response. My team glared at their hostages, and the rest stared at the ground in shame. None of them answered.

"Get out of my sight," he ordered darkly, taking a turn to glare at all of them, like disobedient children. My subordinates released their captives, and they ran like mice back to the fortress. Except for one, who stopped to help the girl at Ganondorf's feet.

"Care to stay for a drink?" I offered, grinning with satisfaction.

"No. Thanks to you, I have important business to attend," he said and turned back to the fortress. He made it out to be more of a nuisance than a favor. I was really hoping he wouldn't go running right to Nabooru, but I knew that's exactly where he was going. I bit my tongue and sealed my lips to hold back my unkind words. I wasn't looking to be the one who took the brunt of his anger, but mostly I just wanted to celebrate my small victory.

Within the hour I consumed a large amount of ale, and I started to feel bold. I don't remember exactly what we talked about, but my team encouraged me to admit my feelings to Ganondorf right then, or I'd lose my chance forever. "Go talk to him," Rayne said, "it will be fine," she said.

Yeah. OK.