An Unexpected Rescue

I returned to consciousness with a start. My head throbbed. I tried to roll over, but found my arms were bound in rope behind my back, and so were my ankles. I could hear voices filled with fear, panic, and anger.

"What were you thinking bringing her here?" - "That's the queen!" - "Exactly! We can use her as leverage, threaten to kill her if he won't listen to our demands."

Oh, really? I was pretty impressed that these simpletons had come up with such a dirty scheme. But I was enraged I had allowed myself to become a pawn in their plan.

I struggled against my ropes, but the knots were expertly tied. I searched for my sword next, but it was missing from my sheath. The room was too dark to see if it was lying around. I concluded one of my hosts must have held on to it.

"What if he comes here to save her?"

Ha. Save me? Ridiculous, I thought. I planned to break free and make it home without any help.

"He won't come here himself, even if he could figure out where we were keeping her." - "Well, did anyone see you?" - "Absolutely not." - "How do you even know he cares to worry about her?"

I laughed out loud wickedly in the silence that followed, and they opened the door. They held a torch in the room, which illuminated just enough area to know I was in a tool shed. "What kind of treatment is this?" I screamed as loud as possible, hoping to wake the whole village. "I am your queen! I should atleast be provided proper hospitality and appropriate accommodations for royalty."

That didn't go over very well. They slammed the door closed again, and I heard a woman say, "Why would anyone want to rescue her?"

"Hey! I heard that. Come say that to my face!" I was ready to fight. I squirmed around on the ground like a worm, trying to tear my ankles loose and free my feet, but I wasn't going anywhere. I finally maneuvered myself against the wall so that I could try to get comfortable, while I thought of a way to escape.

I must have dozed off, which was really dangerous if I had a concussion. My heart raced when I woke to men and women screaming. Then, I remembered I wasn't home. I was in a shed in some random village, and the fate of those people mattered little to me. I shouted, "Here! I'm in here!" I could smell smoke, which made me start to panic. I hoped it was Ganondorf destroying the village for kidnapping me, and not people trying to burn me alive. I shrieked involuntarily when the wall to my right exploded. A body came flying at me and landed with a thud and groan at my feet. The corpse was twitching and jerking from a deep wound that ran diagonally across his whole torso. Smoke from the remnants of black magic seeped from the orifices of his body. My eyes popped open at the gore before me. To that moment, it was the most grotesque sight I'd seen. I shivered with true fear and peered up at who had killed the man. The fire silhouetted a large figure, but I didn't need more than a glance to recognize him. I was so relieved. "Hurry! Untie me!" I twisted around to my knees to try to stand.

"Ah, a trophy! I shall claim you is my prize for victory over this village," Ganondorf declared. Instead of untying me, he heaved me up onto his shoulder.

"You better put me down," I hissed as a warning.

"You should control your mouth before I teach you your place and have my way with you, trophy," he responded darkly.

Oh, that was the longest ride home in the history of riding home! He tossed me over his lap, and I barely managed to stay in the saddle as we left the burning village behind for the Gerudo and other monsters to finish pillaging.

He heaved me onto his shoulder again when we arrived at the castle. I gave this growl, because I was too afraid to talk, but I was so insulted by the treatment that I couldn't let it slide. Stable hands took the horse away, and he carried me inside. I wasn't going to take it anymore. I jerked around so fiercely that he nearly dropped me when he roughly plopped me on my feet.

"What is the big idea?" I shouted, but I was still in quite a vulnerable position with my hands and ankles tied.

"The big idea?" he repeated, glaring at me angrily. "Did you even consider the consequences when you went marching thoughtlessly to that tavern without my consent?"

I stared up at him with an odd expression somewhere between hurt and remorse. I truly felt like a child being scolded. "Of course I did! I took enough soldiers, and they were successful."

"Yes, at the cost of their queen. When they returned to the castle, they were frantic. They realized you were missing and went back, but you were gone.  I had no choice but to mount a full scale hunt for you!"

"I was capable of freeing myself, thank you," I responded sarcastically.

"Your confidence and arrogance can exceed even mine. Do you realize the position you're in?"

I glared at him. I wasn't about to admit I was having a hard time keeping my balance. "I could have gotten out of there the moment my legs were free. I would have killed them all for doing this to me."

"The point is that you should have never been in the situation to begin with. Ganondora, you are my queen, and most people will see you as my only weakness."

"I know that," I yelled. "I heard them talking about using me as leverage. I would never let that happen. I'd rather convince them that you don't care about my fate."

"Your fate is important," he reminded me, quite aggravated.

"I didn't mean to make you worry."

"Arrgh!" he roared. "Then, why did you?"

"Because you shouldn't worry about me! Did you forget, I was a lone warrior before you came along and married me? I'm not frail, or incompetent. I can handle myself. You have to trust me, just like I always trust you."

Ganondorf was silent after that, and just stared at me. His eyes weren't cold, or uncaring, and I guess that was the problem.

"It's only natural to be concerned for someone you love. I'm sorry I made you worry."

"That isn't all. I could never let word spread that I allowed a group of Hylians to kidnap my queen, and that I sat back and did nothing," he explained, while he untied my wrist. I reached down and untied my ankles.

"I guess I better learn to talk over my plans with you, before I rush head first into something and get in over my head," I admitted.

"I have never feared that you are a capable warrior, but let's stick to using your skills when we've discussed it beforehand."

"Agreed," I said with a smile.

And it was just one more settled argument that brought us closer together.