My Savior

My stomach sank. I wanted to be in a dream, or dead, but neither were reality.

The three of us passed each other. Rayne and I gently brought our horses to a stop, not really wanting to turn and see the face of our angry king. He snapped his horse around and glared so ugly at us.

The beating hooves signaled the approach of our pursuers. "Ganondorf, I..."

Rayne tried to explain. "Dora and I... This was my idea."

"Silence," he growled, rather than shouted.

I was in deep, drowning in quicksand.

He calmly turned his horse back to face the knights as they arrived. They slowed to a stop in front of him. Ganondorf was not fully mature yet, but he still towered over them because of his massive Gerudo stallion. The rumors I heard was that the horse was spawned, not born, much like what I heard of Ganondorf's own birth. I frequently cared for his horse, and from my perspective he was just a gentle giant that obeyed the strongest master.

Ganondorf glared at the Hylian knights, and they stared back. I knew he waited for their explanation, but they were not sure what to say, as if his presence had stolen their power of speech. "State your business!" he demanded.

"Those two trespassed in Lake Hylia, territory we share with the Zora," the guard with the beard accused, pointing at me and Rayne. "Recently we have heard rumors of people swimming in the lake at night. When we went to investigate, these two ran and we chased them here."

"That is quite the claim when they have been with me, patrolling our borders, all night," Ganondorf explained confidently. "Do you have proof?" he asked, and I heard the grin in his voice.

Well, needless to say, the knights could not provide anything. They had never seen us.

"No, but we followed them all the way from the lake," he added, as if it made a difference. "It must have been them."

Ganondorf scoffed. "You have no evidence that these are the two you chased from the lake, or if you became lost. Regardless, you have trespassed into my territory. Leave!"

The bearded guard, who seemed to be a captain, went to speak again, but Ganondorf cut him off. "Or perhaps I should make your leaders aware that you rushed to the desert to find two innocent Gerudo to blame for trespassing in your lake, for a drink of your precious water. Or that you went to the lake under false pretense to see if Nabooru swam naked again, as I have heard it told."

I was quite impressed at Ganondorf's cunning.

The guards shifted their eyes to each other with a look of guilt. "We better not catch them there again, because next time we won't be so nice," the captain warned before turning away.

Ganondorf kept his back to us until the sound of the palace horse's disappeared in the distance. He pulled the reins of his horse to turn toward the valley again. "You know about Nabooru?" Rayne asked suddenly. I swear she was an expert at saying the wrong thing at the wrong time!

"I have been forced to practice constant vigilance on my subordinates, including my second in command. The amount I know regarding what goes on among my people would leave you amazed," he explained, arrogantly. That left me with a pit in my stomach.

"I am so sorry, Ganondorf. We never meant to cause any trouble," I said, with my head bowed as he passed by.

Leading us toward the fortress, he advised, "General, if you wish to continue your endeavors, personal or otherwise, it would be in your best interest to end your excursions to the lake and never swim there again." His voice was deep, and his warning perfectly clear.

He didn't need to tell me twice. I knew the guards would be on watch at Lake Hylia from then on, those two specifically wanting to catch me and Rayne. If I was caught, I would never be welcomed back home, I would be forced to discontinue my trips to Hyrule castle because I would be recognized. And I would have never had a chance with Ganondorf. I was not so thick to risk everything over a little swim.

I heeded his wisdom. I only returned to the lake once we conquered Hyrule.