Protection Of The Enemy Part 2

Part Two - Trust

A few years had passed, Ganondorf had taken good care of his little brother, like he, their mother had just forgotten about them, more Link than him though. He often found the tiny toddler sitting in the same place where he had left him blindly following instructions like the women of his tribe. He had also been slow to talk too; there were so many traits of Hylian in him, his pale skin being one of them, no matter who the father, male and female Gerudo’s all had tanned or at extremes olive skin. Link was different. Ganondorf knew that his little brother only blindly followed orders because he was young, but couldn’t wait for the days when he would find his own way.

It was an exceptionally hot day of summer when he disappeared for the first time, quite suddenly in fact. He and Link had been fetching water from the cool well, heaving the full bucket up was too heavy for a three year old. A few drops of water landed on Link’s sandals, Ganondorf had often scolded him for going out in bare feet, he could burn himself.

“Almost there, Link!” Ganondorf chuckled helping him wind the lever around. Link’s hair covered his eyes and his tiny hands were almost red from pulling and pushing.

“There!” Link pointed pulling on Ganondorf’s cloak with his sleeve as his shirt was one of Ganondorf’s old ones and was much too big for him. The bucket came in sight filled to the brim with water, Ganondorf secured the rope and pulled the bucket out of the well, transferring some of the water to a smaller bucket Link offered him. Link rested his long ears on the stone of the well, watching the water pour “Ganny?”

“Yes?” he replied smiling at that name, it seemed much more relaxed and friendly than Ganondorf.

“Where does the well water come from?” Link asked as Ganondorf lowered the bucket for Link to carry

“It comes from a green land named Hyrule, there are loads of rivers there and even a place where there are waterfalls.” he informed taking the ¾ full bucket off the rope and carried it with Link home

“Why can’t we live there? It’s so hot here.” the boy complained rubbing his brow

Ganondorf thought for a moment “Because I am king of this land, this land is ours and we can do anything we want with it.”

Something clicked his brother’s tiny mind “Can we make this green? I have some paint left.”

“You can’t paint green, Link.” Ganondorf laughed pushing the door of his house open “I meant it’s covered in grass.”

“Oh.” Link mumbled placing his bucket on the kitchen bench with thanks to a stool. “Can’t we grow grass?”

Ganondorf rubbed the back of his neck “W-We don’t have any grass seeds. We can’t grow it here, it would die.”

Link looked a little disappointed “Okay, Ganny. I wouldn’t want the pretty grass to die.”

Ganondorf sighed as his brother moved the stool to the corner of the room to reach for a cupboard, opening it to show a small cookie jar. He brought it down and put it on the floor, opening it and offering one of the sugary treats to Ganondorf. He politely refused, but allowed Link to have one. Just as their mother walked in.

“Get out of the cookie jar! I told you, you’re not allowed them!” Jaylas screamed, seizing his arm before he could take a bite

“Mother! Enough!” Ganondorf barked locking gaze with her. Link leaned his head forward and took a sneaky bite. “I said he could have one!”

“My Lord, how do you expect him to be a follower if you treat him like a leader?” the woman snapped releasing Link’s arm, which was starting to bruise slightly

“Because he isn’t blind like the women out there! He’s inquisitive!” Ganondorf argued “He’s my baby brother and he will rule the desert with me!”

“Out of the question!” Jaylas roared slapping the cookie out of Link’s hand and carrying him by his collar to the door.

“Mother! Leave him alone!” Ganondorf yelled grabbing his mother’s free arm, she threw her son off and dumped Link outside

“Go play somewhere and leave your brother to his studies.” she ordered slamming the door on him. Ganondorf sat up from his place on the floor, glaring at his mother

“That was uncalled for, he was doing nothing wrong.” Ganondorf seethed getting to his feet and looked out of the window, Link was used to be thrown out, he had been for about a year, ever since he had begun to talk back, the women had no time for him. He watched him go for the shade where the well was and began to draw in the sand and dust with a dried up stick.

“He is not a member of our tribe. He has more Hylian in him than Gerudo and I will not stand for it, My Lord. Please reconsider your choice and let us kill him so we can focus on you.” Jaylas grumbled putting the jar back and kicking Link’s little stool over

“No. I won’t.” Ganondorf snarled sitting in a chair “He is no threat to me. He keeps me sane being surrounded by women.”

“You should at least make him bow to you!” Jaylas moaned stomping upstairs leaving Ganondorf alone, he would never ever make Link bow to him. Link was too innocent right now to understand what it was to be king and how much friction there was between him and the rest of the tribe. So much so Ganondorf often feared for Link’s life.



When the sun came down, he heard his mother unlock the door and call for ‘the boy’ to come in, she never called him by his name, hardly anyone did, even those that acknowledged him; they were so focused on the matter of their next king that they did not see that they were neglecting a small child. No matter how much Ganondorf pushed to try and get Link attention, it would always backfire and mean he was even worse off, that’s why the boys were often together, for Link’s safety and Ganondorf’s sanity.

When Link did not respond with a usual: ‘Okay, Mother!' Ganondorf drifted from the book he was reading, it was freezing at night in the desert, Link knew this and would come inside as soon as he was able, that was if he didn’t get heat stroke first; Ganondorf made sure that Link’s canister was always full of water to be on the safe side.

Ganondorf heard his mother shut the door with a contented sigh

“Aren’t you going to shout again?” he hissed, his voice low and warning to the woman behind him, he heard her grumble as the door opened again

“Boy! Come here! Now!” she shouted, embarrassed to shout again, but still Link did not emerge from the shadows. Ganondorf closed the book with a sigh and took Link’s excuse for a cape off the hook that the boys shared before picking his own up and tying it around his neck. “Oh, no, you aren’t going anywhere, My Lord.”

“I think you’ll find I am.” Ganondorf snorted, a funny feeling tingling in his fingers. His face felt like it was being pushed out from behind his eyelids, his voice became raspy and filled with grunts “I-I am going to f-find my brother. S-Step aside.” he ordered

His mother moved away from blocking the door slowly as if she was afraid. Ganondorf pulled the hood of his cloak up and dashed outside, his face shadowed by it; that feeling made him off colour a little. Best he find his sibling fast.



“Link!” he called into the night, taking a little lantern off the wall “Link! It’s time to come inside!”

No reply.

Ganondorf shivered, bringing the lantern close to his chest as he made his way through the houses to the well where he had last seen him. There were his dusty footprints around the well, meaning he had been there for some time, there were even some backside prints where he had sat but no matter where the prints led, none of his led away from the well.

“Link!” Ganondorf screamed down the well, only getting his eleven year old voice thrown back at him. He noticed that the bucket was at the bottom, he could hear it catching on the sides of the stone inside but the rope holding onto it had snapped, Link was not strong enough to let the bucket down on his own, but perhaps his weight was.

Like he had witnessed it himself; a clouded vision appeared in his head, he saw Link trying to get more water out of his empty canister and no matter who came to the well, would not help him get a drop or even fill his bottle for him when they got water for themselves, so the boy had tried on his own. At first, trying to push the secured lever, but he could not untie the knots, nor could he make the lever budge, so he tried grabbing the bucket; finding no water inside, he tried to tug it on its rope, grunting a little with urgency and frustration, but then something happened, he lost his balance on the stone, left hanging on the bucket with nothing but his arms.

“Ganny! Help!” he cried as the bucket swung, his weight and struggling making the bucket jerk on its rope. It only took one wrong movement and the bucket fell into darkness with him clinging onto it. Both of them landing with a splash at the bottom.

Ganondorf let out an involuntary scream and glanced back in the darkened well. Could Link swim? Surely he would not have the stamina to keep going if he fell in before the sun set. Without thinking, Ganondorf untied the string from the lever and clambered on top of the stone
“I’m coming, Link! Hang on!” he shouted jumping for the rope, the weight of him making the lever spin around till he landed with a splash in the well.



He must have been knocked out with the force of hitting the water, or thrashing around in the dark for too long because the next thing he knew, was that he was waking up staring at the wall of a dark tunnel, he was close to the currents edge, but was lying on his side in a shallow pool of water. He could hear sobbing nearby. Ganondorf turned over, quite painfully to see his little brother quietly crying, his back leaning against the wall, his clothes completely dry.

“Link!” Ganondorf squeaked sitting up

Link shot up and dived into his brother’s soaked arms “Ganny!” he shrieked his cheeks damp from crying “I shouted and shouted but nobody came! I lost the bucket, I’m sorry!”

“Shh, shh, it’s alright, Link. We can replace a bucket, but we can’t replace you.” Ganondorf sighed wrapping his arms around his shaking brother, obviously terrified “Did you pull me out of the water?”

“I did.” Link spoke, his voice shaking “I saw you floating by, I shouted your name but you couldn’t hear me. You were sleeping.”

“I’m sorry if I scared you. Everything’s alright now, I’m here. We can go back now.” Ganondorf soothed rubbing Link’s back, he had given him quite a scare.