The Princess and the Wolf

Chapter Four: Lord Daltos

The next morning Link sleepily stumbled onto the training grounds for the Knights of Hyrule. The training grounds were on Hyrule Castle's grounds, and was full of Hylian knights adorned with armor and the Royal Family's crest of arms; a golden phoenix underneath the Triforce.

As Link walked into the sun filled courtyard, his trainees started get into formation. When they were all in place Link started pace up and down the courtyard, inspecting each and every one of the soldiers.

"Good morning," Link addressed the soldiers, who in reply said nothing but saluted their commander. Over the last twelve months Link finally earned the respect of these men, as well as Link respected them. From nothing, Link built the army of Hyrule to a well trained and experienced group of men. To say the least: Link was proud of them.

At once they all set to work for the day. Link sent of off a good portion of his men to posts around Hyrule Castle and Castle Town. They all knew the drill: every hour they'd trade posts. With his remaining men Link led them in their daily training. Just like any other day.
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Zelda got up at the crack of dawn, preparing for her monthly meeting with her council of advisors. Today was the day she planned to present the idea of her coronation. Ever since she was fourteen years of age she dreamed of being Queen, but it wouldn't be that easy.

A good number of her advisors wanted her to marry before she became Queen of Hyrule. But she had a plan to counter that, she was sure it would work. Using her words is what she did best.

Zelda was dressed in her signature white dress with a lavender overcoat, golden armor, sash, and golden tiara. The remainder of the morning she used for preparing a "speech" of how she could be independent and was capable of the title of Queen.

At high noon she headed down the long halls of Hyrule Castle to a large room full of chairs and tables full of older men in expensive clothing. All eyes were on Zelda as she walked to the end of the room towards the seat specifically for her. "Good day, Gentlemen," Zelda smiled warmly at her advisors.

They smiled back and nodded, and soon their meeting was underway. First came the stats of matters such as the rate of criminal activity and how many crops grown that month, which were dealt with quickly. Next were foreign relations with the Zoras, Gorons, and Bulbins. The Bulbins had been peaceful ever since the Twilight Invasion had been ended by Link, who earned the respect of King Bulbin. But lately the monsters were causing a little bit of mischief. Zelda came up with solution of sending more guards to the Provinces and areas that were being attacked.

Finally it was time for the other matters. Zelda listened to all of her advisors babble on about simple subjects of business, which Zelda always seemed to have a solution to. The Triforce of Wisdom had its perks if you were running a kingdom single handedly.

Once that was taken care of everyone was ready to conclude the meeting, everyone except Zelda. She cleared her voice, stood up and started to speak, "Excuse me, Gentlemen."

Zelda paused as all eyes turned to her. She continued, "I'm fully aware that you are tired and are ready to go home, but I have one more subject I wish to go over. I know I'm ready for this, and I know some of you will not agree with me."

The men had puzzled looks on their faces as she said this, but without refrain the Princess of Hyrule kept speaking. "I'm ready to take my place as Queen of Hyrule."

For a few moments a awkward silence graced the room, that is until one of the men spoke up. He was the youngest of Zelda's advisors around the age of 24, two years older than Zelda herself. His name was Daltos, Lord Daltos, like all of Zelda's advisors he was a noble men. Daltos had black hair and sharp grey eyes. And let's just say he wasn't Zelda's favorite advisor, with his conceited personality and tense glare.

"In the highest respect, Your Grace," Daltos started. "Wouldn't running a kingdom be a little hard for you."

Zelda glared at him, "What do you mean?"

Daltos looked at his fingernails as if this conversation bored him, "Oh, you know your "little" incident about a year ago. What did we call that again? Ah, yes... the Twilight Invasion. I believe that it's best if you had a man by your side if you want to rule this blessed kingdom, Princess."

Zelda blushed with fury, but Auru her old teacher and who was one her father's old advisors came to her aid. "I beg your pardon, Daltos, but that is not the way you address the ruling Monarch of your country! I see no problem with having our beloved princess become queen without a husband. She's ruling Hyrule just fine right now, I say we make her the official ruler of our fair country. And that deal about the Twilight Invasion: if Princess Zelda refused to surrender, we'd all be dead!"

"I agree with Auru," Another of the advisors spoke. "Princess Zelda holds one of the three pieces of the Triforce: the Triforce of Wisdom. I think she's fit to be queen, not to mention she's the reincarnation of the goddess Hylia."

A roar of approval erupted in the room. Daltos tried to argue with his fellow advisors, but it was futile. They held a vote with the result of approval for the coronation of Princess Zelda.

The room started to empty out after they said their goodbyes and best wishes until they saw each other next month. Zelda walked out of the room with a smile on her face, although it didn't last long.

"Your Grace," Datos addressed her as she walked down the halls of Hyrule Castle. Zelda stopped and faced Daltos, "Yes?"

"I wanted to congratulate you on your big win today," Lord Daltos lied through a forced smile. "But you do know that you do need to marry, since you are the only one left of the Royal Family."

"I do know that, but I'm not ready to get into that. And I refuse to be pushed into it. I'll marry when I find the right person," Zelda replied curtly.

Daltos' smile melted into a scowl, "Maybe you have to be pushed. And I hope you know that you cannot marry a peasant. Like that general of yours."

"I can do as I please. Anyways I don't see any problem with marrying a Hero, or peasant as you like to call him. He is wiser than you can ever be," Zelda lashed out.

"Excuse me?" Daltos said with a shocked look on his face.

Venom dripped from Zelda's words, "You're excused."

"That's not what I ment!"

"Well, that's what it sounded like!"

With that Zelda raged down the hallway with Daltos calling after her, "Where do you think you're going?!"

Zelda stopped and clenched her fists. That's when she thought it would fitting to joke with him to blow some of her steam off, "I'm going to be blackmailing you with a wolf."

Daltos just stood there and watched the Princess walk down the hallway. Apparently she was going to blackmail him with a wolf. She's lost it, Daltos thought.