Sleeping Zelda chapter VI: A PLAN FINALLY!

The doctor stayed at the King's bedside, and worked his art as best as he could. On the third day, the monarch's color returned. On the seventh day, and much to the doctor's delight, the royal patient asked for a breakfast more solid and consistent than broth. The doctor left the king to inform the princess of that progress in her father’s health, still, it is no surprise when Edwin appears...outwardly from nowhere. “How is he?”

“Much better today, thankfully,” the physician replies and takes the spectacles from his nose, “Slowly, but he is recovering.”

The prince smiled and put a hand on the doctor's shoulder, “Good. When I saw him yesterday, he seemed much stronger. I was worried for him. This illness set upon him so quickly.”

The old man nodded. “I'm still not sure what made him ill.” He looked up at the young man with a frown. “I don't like it, my lord. It's all very strange. I don't like it one bit.”

The prince squeezed the man's shoulder, to reassure him. And to quiet him. He saw Zelda long before the old doctor did, dressed in her morning dress as she rounds the corner and stops.

“What's strange?” she asked.

“The king’s illness,” Edwin said, the concern in his voice measured against the doctor's discomfort. He felt the tension in the doctor's drawn up shoulder and squeezed again. A warning.

Zelda frowned. “Has he gotten worse?”

“Not at all, your grace. In fact, he is with a maid, eating his breakfast now.”

“If he is better, then why is his illness strange? Doctor?” she asked. The prince would answer for him, if given the chance. Zelda is determined not to give him that chance.

The doctor hesitated and looks at Edwin for support. The hand on his shoulder felt heavy, like lead and the old man seemed to shrink beneath it. He swallows before he answers. “I don't know what made him sick, Your Highness,” he said slowly, carefully.

Zelda hides her confusion behind indifference. “It is not a dish with expired ingredients, then?”

The doctor answers, “Not at all princess, I am not really sure, it’s not really clear… ”

“Tell me anyway!”

“It doesn't matter.” Edwin squeezes again and the doctor is silent. Zelda notes it but says nothing. “Our father is getting well. He would want to see you certainly, my sister. You may speak to the doctor afterward.” It took Zelda several minutes to process what just happened.

She hurried up and stopped in front of the doctor and pleaded:

“Please, tell me what’s wrong with my father, I know it was a strange illness from the beginning…”

“It might be poison, this kind of rare poison it kills the person slowly…” explained the doctor slowly with a lot of hesitation.

Edwin wanted to stop the doctor from speaking but it was too late…He had to play along or he risked to be discovered.

“How dare you keep this secret?! This is scandalous! Why didn’t you tell this earlier?!” he feigned outage.

“But my lord you didn’t let me talk…”

“This is nonsense! What a stupid excuse, I don’t remember holding a sword against your throat! You should be able to speak thus!”

The doctor was utterly befuddled, Zelda looked at both of the men with confusion. But soon she understood, she was no fool to fall in her brother’s game, he had hidden something, something wicked but she didn’t understand what. However, she decided to let it sleep for now; she would take care of that matter later, for now she had to take care of her father and protect him no matter the cost

“Is he going to be alright? Will the poison’s effect be removed for ever?” she asked.

“Certainly my lady, for now his highness needs peace and a lot of rest”

The physician turned towards the exit of the castle, his case in his hand, ready to leave.

He bowed to both the prince and the princess:

“My work is done here, I shall go and take care of my other patients. Keep me informed about his highness’ health, if something happened, send me a raven I’ll come back here as soon as I can.”

“Thank you very much for your work doctor, you saved our father’s life…We can never thank you enough…”

“It’s nothing my child” The healer reassured her “I can see your father’s condition left you restless and worried, you also need some repose, do not work too hard or all your effort would go to naught”

On that note the doctor, walked away.

The princess stood there, thoughtful. Who would do such a thing as poisoning her father? And to whom would it benefit? Her though were interrupted by her brother “Are you going to stand here until the sun comes out?” he mocked her.

She glared at him and then walked away, she found her feet were leading her to her private studies, as she opened the door, she was greeted by her tutor Shadrian.

“Good afternoon, my lady, how are you today? You look like you didn’t sleep at all, is it because of your father’s health?”

“Yes, I just learnt he was poisoned” she answered, her voice heavy with worries and tiredness.

The scholar looked shocked and asked “Who would do such a thing?!”

“I have no idea” Answered Zelda. “But I will uncover that mystery soon” She added more determined than ever.

“Good...After many days of research, my work came to fruition, some people are against you taking the thrown, however I found that also many people are for you to take the thrown; there are also many people working in the shadows: spreading confusion and terror in that village they are working for…someone, they are trying to stir up the village; I think it’s an attempt to discourage you and prevent you to take the thrown.” Claimed the tutor.

‘As if it wasn’t enough, someone is poisoning my father and now other are sowing discord inside of that village’ mused Zelda quite distressed.

“Worry not your highness, I am sure we will find a solution” the scholar reassured “But for now you have to take care of your own health, we can’t have you die of exhaustion right before the coronation, can we?” he winked.

“Thank you very much Shad, for everything you did to me, I can never thank you enough for that.” The princess beamed.

“You are very welcome, you’re highness, now go to rest” replied the scholar.

The soon-to-be queen left her private studies and went to her chambers, As she opened the door she heard the clap of bird wings, to her big surprise, it was a bird…No actually it was a paper in the shape of a bird flying in circles within the room, at a moment and fell gracefully on the table and unfolded itself to reveal the true form of the paper. She hurried to go read the paper.

To her delight, it was a letter from the Gerudo king asking her how she was and telling her that he was going to see her tonight to talk about political matters and future agreement for the betterment of the relation between Gerudo and Hylian. She took the paper folded it and hide it in her night-table. Thrilled, she seized her quill and another paper and wrote an answer. After sending it by a raven, she went to her bed and finally get a well-deserved sleep.

The soon to be queen was so exhausted that she slept until late in the afternoon. Yet her sleep was interrupted by nightmares, revealing several different images, all of them were equally horrible; but then again all of them revealing the same fate of her father, his death. The death cases were different; suffocation to death, executed by beheading, poison, torture, evisceration and countless other unpleasant demises.  Zelda awaked of her tormented sleep, feeling as if she didn’t sleep at all, the mystery behind her father’s poisoning not leaving her a second. She put her evening dress and walked toward her bookshelf, choosing a book randomly. She recognized a book of her tender childhood, Impa always read that book whenever she was going to sleep. The princess flipped the book to his cover page, the title of that book was “SLEEPING BEAUTY”. She learnt the story by heart through her childhood. She could still hear Impa’s voice telling the story:

“Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a king and a queen, after many childless years, welcome the birth of their daughter, Princess Arya . They proclaim a holiday for their subjects to pay homage to the princess and celebrate her birth. But angered upon not being invited to the feat, a mad witch curses the princess, proclaiming that before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle   of an enchanted spinning wheel  and die. But a kind fairy used a blessing to alter the curse so that instead of dying, Aurora will fall into a deep  sleep   from which she can only be awakened by true love's  first kiss.    

And at that time the she would interrupt her:

“What kind of foolish magic would be destroyed by a kiss?”

“Silence little one and let me finish!” The maid said in amused and annoyed tone “The king scared for his daughter’s life orders all spinning wheels in the kingdom to be burned. The fairy doesn’t believe it is going to save the little girl and she spirit the baby away to a woodcutter's cottage in the forest until the day of her sixteenth birthday. Years later, Aurora, called Briar Rose by the fairies, has grown up into a beautiful and young girl. The day of her sixteenth birthday the fairy take Aurora back to the castle that evening…”

“That’s all the princess will go to her family and will wed a young prince?”

The servant laughed, and replied: “No, silly, the mad witch then appears, and magically lures Arya away from the fairies and tricks the princess into touching the spinning wheel in a tower. Despite efforts to stop her by the three fairies, Aurora pricks her finger, completing the curse, and falls into a deep sleep.  He awakens Arya with true love's first kiss, finally breaking the curse

Princess Arya and the Prince live happily ever after.” Finished happily Impa…

Her reverie was interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

“Enter”

Her chambermaid entered and told her that her tutor wished to see her in her private study this instant. She put the book back to its place and went to her private study.

She found the scholar there, he was sitting across a table:

“Good evening your highness, please take a sit” He said softly.

“Good evening Shadrian, what is the reason of summoning me?”

“Well, I was as usual reading history book inside the library I came across the history of Amlaíb…Tell me Zelda, What do you know of that person?”

The princess rolled her eyes, seemingly annoyed by her tutor being enigmatic again; “If people learnt from the past they wouldn’t do the same mistake” he asserted.

“I don’t know!” the now irritated soon-to-be queen answered, “Wasn’t it the king who has been poisoned?” She asked as a cold realization washed over her.

“Of course not!” the scholar answered “This is outrageous princess you are supposed to know this we reviewed this lesson a week ago! It was king Alenios who was the poisoned king!”

“But by whom was Alenios poisoned?” asked Zelda.

“This is not the question princess” replied Shadrian, annoyed.                            

  “By whom was he poisoned?” the young lady insisted.

“If you want to know then I advise you to go read about him, there are many books about him…Now focus on your goal and not on someone else.” The professor cut her off.

“But I need to know…My father was poisoned and if what you say about history is true then maybe we can know who the wannabe assassin of my father is!”

“If you really want to know, the assassin of Alenios is…His own son, the prince was mad, power and blood-hungry and all Hyrule declined and was totally destroyed during his reign, due to defeated wars, corruptions and many other mayhems, that mad prince was killed by a man called Ellyrios who is…”

“My great- grand-father.” Zelda finished.  

“I know what you are thinking princess, but I don’t think your brother would commit such an atrocity” the tutor replied knowing what his student was thinking. “True your brother, the prince, wants to take the thrown, but he wouldn’t go this far to get what he wants especially not killing his own father…Fear not, we will uncover the identity of the king’s would-be murderer.”  He gently continued.

The young woman didn’t seem convinced, however she didn’t argue with her tutor.

“Back to the king Almaib, now. I will tell you, however next time pay more attention to your lesson. Many of his people weren’t convinced of him being a good king, there were also discordance and besides all of that he had to fight war…What he did was earning his  people’s trust and show confidence and his leadership skills…”

“So what did he do?” Asked Zelda impatiently
“He did a speech in front of all his folk, and what a magnificent speech it was! It brought all his nation to his side and realized his goal, that is to say, to be seen as their true and rightful king and get his army to fight by his side in his battle against the Labrynnian king.”

“I see” replied finally the princess.

“If you give me enough time, Princess, I can manage to write for you an excellent speech which will…”

“That won’t be necessary, Shadrian, thank you very much. I’d like to write my speech by myself I’d like to win the trust of my people by myself and prove that I am as a good leader as any good king who reigned over Hyrule.”

The scholar smiled “I like your spirit princess, you are one of my best student… Now let’s decide of the date and place of delivering the speech.”

“For the place, how about the public place on top of the platform.”

“Excellent choice, your highness, for the date I would suggest the day before your coronation.”

“Good, it is settled then. I will write a speech for that special day, until then…”

“My lady, are you sure you are alright…let me at least help you a little…”

The princess smiled “Truly Shad, I am alright, I still have eleven days until the coronation and ten days to finish writing the speech. But thank you very much for everything you did to me.”

The worried tutor exhaled “Alright, your highness, I trust you.” And then smiled “Well, my lady, I wish you a good evening and have a good rest you deserve it, and if you need anything from me don’t hesitate to ask me”

The soon-to-be queen bid her teacher goodbye and left her private study room to attend to her own business, unaware of her hidden brother who was spying on her and heard all of her conversation with the old scholar.

The devilish prince thought ‘So she is thinking of doing a speech to reassure her pathetic people and end the discord I planned?’ A lurid and wicked smile appeared on Edwin’s face as he remembered the poison was going to be ready in five days ‘Perfect! She is going to have an amazing surprise the night of her speech’ the prince was gleeful and eager, anticipating and scheming what he was about to do in his sister’s special day. After making sure Zelda went away without noticing him, he went back to his own room to wait for his dinner to be brought by a maid.  

It was already dinner time, the princess decided to take a look at the kitchen, observe and maybe acquire a hint about the poisoner’s identity. The kitchen were outside the great hall, the walk to that latter place was long; usually it was the servant’s work to walk that path and bring the cooked food from the kitchen to the great hall; however it wasn’t long enough to discourage Zelda from doing it. The kitchens were placed outside the great hall for fire safety. She finally arrived and entered the hot place; Spits roasting meat and large, iron cauldrons bubbling with soups and stews were all part of the kitchen's daily routine. Lambs, cattle, pigs, and fowl were tethered or penned nearby, the castle also kept a pond stocked with fish, and cooking herbs were grown in nearby gardens. The kitchens were large enough to roast up to three whole oxen at a time, for special occasions and receptions or social events like balls or any other ceremony.

As soon as the cooks noticed the princess’ presence, they all stopped what they started in order to greet the soon-to-be queen; they bowed deeply to her; but they were also astonished what was the princess doing in the kitchens? It wasn’t a place for a lady, after all.

“My lady, how can we help you?” asked one of the cook as they redressed themselves. The cook seemed to be older and was certainly the head chief and the other working under him.

“I just came to check on the kitchen” replied the princess. “What are you preparing for dinner?”

“We are preparing soup for his highness, he asked that” he answered. The other sous-chefs stayed silent.

“Show me the dish” Zelda ordered.

The head chef, led her to a nearby cauldron. ‘Alright’ the princess thought as she smelled the soup ‘Nothing strange in the scent.’

She finally took the ladle full of soup and held it out to the cook “taste it.” The soon-to-be queen commanded. The cook did not argue and did as the princess said, yet nothing happened.

After a long pause the royal lady asked “Did you notice anything strange? During these weeks.”

“Well, no my lady… nothing happened.”

“Who took the plate to my father? Was it always Impa?”

“Yes, my lady.”

“No one penetrated the kitchen except Impa, is that correct?”

“Yes my lady, however…”

“Yes?”

“Your brother, the prince, has been coming here for about a month…We never knew about his business…He always came here to ask about trivial matters or about what he wanted for dinner, and then he would ask to see what we were going to give his highness for dinner…I mean he could send a maid but he always came by himself…” the cook trailed off.

“I see” replied the young lady, processing what the cook just said. “Thank you for the information”.

“You are welcome, princess” answered the cook.

The young princess left the kitchen with a lot to think about, and went to join her father for dinner in the great hall.  

After dinner, Zelda entered her room, closed the door and slumped against it for a moment sighing softly to herself.