The Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction ❯ Gerudo Forest ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

She woke up sometime in the middle of the night. Her clothes had been removed and were hanging by the window to dry. She hoped Armos had gotten someone else to do that. She felt as if someone had hit her head with a hammer. She got up noticing the food they had left for her on the dresser. Once again she had missed dinner. She wondered if Ganon had felt good enough to show up. He had wanted to ask her questions the night before but hadn’t bothered to re-summon her to get the interrogation over with. She didn’t like having unfinished things hanging over her head, and until he did so she would worry. Melissa grabbed the tray of food and brought it to the window where a little more light from the moon was coming in. She munched on it a little but wasn’t too sure what most of it was once again. Where did they get their food? The desert wasn’t really the best place for a garden. She looked outside to see Armos. Now what was he doing out there? Even from this height she could see the perspiration glinting off his skin. He had waded into the pool and looked like he was trying to copy what she had done this afternoon. He got the water to rise above his head and she could make out the concentration that lined his face as he willed it go higher. How long had he been out there practicing? As she watched Armos she let her mind drift off. She thought about home, Jimmy, her family, even her work place. Surly they were worried about her by now. She could see her picture being on the news. “Has anyone seen her” the caption would read, or quite possibly “Girl kidnapped from her own home.” Was Jimmy searching for her now? Her eyes teared up knowing he wouldn’t find her. She was in a completely different dimension. She straightened up. What was she doing? No amount of crying was going to get her back. She wondered if maybe she could get an audience with princess Zelda. If anyone could send her home she decided it would be her. All she would have to do is learn how to ride a horse, travel to Hyrule castle, and keep her ears covered. She might be able to pull it off. She got up and paced. She wasn’t really in the mood to go back to sleep and there wasn’t really anything to do it this room. Melissa tried to think of anything she could do without success. Melissa felt her clothes and found them mostly dry. She put them on and paced a little more for lack of anything better to do. Her thoughts returned to Ganondorf. Why couldn't she stop thinking of him. His face framed by long red hair kept popping up in her head. She tried to shake it out feeling embarrassed but it only changed to thoughts of Armos. Who was this mysterious man and why had Chara acted so funny earlier? She knew Chara was hiding something from her but she would just have to wait for them to tell her what was going on. That is if she stayed long enough for that to happen. Melissa finally stopped her pacing in front of the door. She turned the handle out of nothing better to do and to her surprise the door swung open. Had they forgotten to lock the door tonight? She peaked her head out and looked down the hall expecting to see guards but there was no one. Should she stay where she was? If she was caught wandering the halls without an escort they probably wouldn't be too happy but maybe she should try to escape. She had seen a poorly built structure that some of the gerudo's had been leading horses in and out of when she had been outside. Maybe she could steal a horse. Only problem was she didn't exactly know how to ride one. Well she wouldn't know if she didn't try. Working up her courage she eventually decided to go. She tried to remember which way Chara had taken her and kept getting turned around. It was much harder to find her way due to the halls being dark. The torch light was hardly any help and kept making shadows jump around her. It made her very nervous because she hadn't seen a single guard and each shadow could have easily been one. Making her way through the halls she ended up in front of Ganondorf's doors. She hesitated. She really didn't know how she felt about him and, even though it had been one of the most stupid things she had ever done, she didn't regret helping him. She didn't trust him but he had protected her the other day and she really wanted to know why. She also felt she should thank him for not letting the spider eat her though it probably wasn't the smartest thing to pop into her head. If he really was too sick to join his people this morning, he was probably still too weak to kill her for interrupting his sleep. She knocked on the door. No answer could be heard. She tried again several times. Still no answer. She cracked open the door and peeked in. He was nowhere to be seen. “Hello?” she called in. No answer. Where had he snuck off to? She knew she shouldn’t but she started to poke around his room. There were several books open on the table open to various pages that all had the same theme on them. A dragon, a sword, and the Triforce were illustrated on the sides of the pages. She wished she could read them. What was he studying? The writing wasn’t any alphabet she had ever seen before. Picking up the book something fell catching her eye. It was a scroll that had been hidden under the books. She pulled it out carefully. It looked to be real old and she didn’t want to damage it. It was very ornate and as she opened it she saw a very familiar hand writing. It was in English. She was so excited she unrolled the whole thing. Inside was another paper with the strange Hyrulian alphabet. Maybe Ganondorf was trying to decipher it. She skimmed over the scroll. It didn’t really tell her anything she hadn’t already heard from the ghost king. It talked mainly about the sword of kings though. She didn’t like the idea of Ganondorf knowing the sword was actually a person. If he figured that out he might figure out who it was. If that happened would he come after her when she escaped? After thinking about it she decided to hide the scroll and paper even if it might get her in trouble later. If he hadn’t translated it all she would be safe. She looked around the room for a good hiding spot. It wouldn’t be hard considering his room was a pig sty. Didn’t he ever clean? After searching for a few minutes she decided to wrap it in an old ragged cloth he had thrown on the floor. She threw it behind one of the book shelves. He wouldn’t find it there unless he moved the whole humongous book shelf. He would probably be too lazy for that, she judged, by the state of his room. She left the room feeling that she had accomplished something. Her secret was safe for now. She rounded a few of the hallways now trying to find her way out and didn’t notice the dark shape in front of her. She bumped right into him and jumped back not realizing what she had walked into. “What are you doing out of your room?” She heard the deep voice say. At first she panicked thinking it was Ganondorf, but after the figure sent a fire ball at a torch lighting up the hallway she could see it was Armos. He looked tired and annoyed to see her standing there. “I asked you a question. What are you doing out of your room?” he repeated with a scowl on his face. She didn’t know what to tell him. She frantically tried to think of something to tell him. “I was bored” She finally said. “I didn’t wake up till just a few minutes ago and couldn’t go back to sleep and when I found that my door was open I thought I would just take a quick stroll.” It wasn’t exactly a lie she told herself. “Well you shouldn’t be wandering the halls by yourself. I thought you were told not to leave your room without an escort.” He said face softening a little. Good he was too tired to yell at her. “ Honestly what harm do you think I could possibly cause just walking around?” She said sarcastically but he had actually taken her seriously. Folding his arms with a frown as he looked her up and down as if sizing her up. “Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked unsure. He chuckled donning one of those evil smiles reminiscent of Ganon’s. “Well the last time you went off on your own our king ended up ill.” “What are you talking about? He's...”She stopped herself before she gave away where she had just been but it had been too late. He gave her a suspicious look and she was sure he knew what she was about to say. She quickly thought of something to change the subject. “I have a question. Is there a place to take a bath around here?”She asked feeling how greasy her hair had gotten from two days without one. “Actually.” He said with a grin sliding across his face. “There is and under water hot spring that waterfalls down into one of the deeper chambers here in the temple.” He gave her a sideways glance. “I was actually about to head there myself to rinse off. Want to join me?” He said raising an eyebrow and giving her a mischievous look. Melissa blushed at the thought. “Uh… I think I can wait. Just show me where it is and I will use it later.” She said looking away. “Nonsense!” He said enjoying how uncomfortable this was making her as he pushed her down the hall foiling her attempt at escaping.