Kingdom of Power, of Courage, and of Wisdom

Zant's War - Zant's Awakening

However there was a saying: There was no place a shadow could not reach, for where there is light, there is shadow illuminated. Zant was a Sheikah. There was no place he could not reach.

Zant entered as smoothly as a shadow into Ryo's tent. Chancellor Ryo had his back turned sitting in a chair reading scrolls, checking maps, and writing. Zant didn't make a sound as he pulled out his twin scimitars and approached the chancellor.

"Who sent you?" Ryo suddenly asked.

Zant did not stumble or be startled, but he did hesitate. Ryo continued writing as if there wasn't an assassin behind him.

"It would appear I have lost. I concede." Ryo said. "You are here to take my life, and if there was anything I respect it is a working man. So I will not stop you. Only... I cannot help but wonder who sent you. You see, I am a man of many doubts. I'm a bit of a cynic like that. Was it Chancellor Ketsu? No... the man acts too desperate to have sent an assassin. And if Ketsu didn't do it... then that rules out Prince Kyou."

Zant approached Ryo and placed his two blades in a circle around Ryo's neck. The Chancellor flinched at the sudden appearance of two very large curved blades, but to his credit he did not beg. "I act on the throne's behalf." Zant whispered.

Ryo chuckled. Zant narrowed his eyes down at him. Ryo said, "Then clearly you are missing a detail. The throne is whoever sits on it and if you think killing me will establish Kyou's rule, then you are ignorant." Ryo turned in his seat to look Zant in the eye. Zant did not move his blades. "I could relate to you Ketsu's pure incompetence or how Kyou would pick me over Ketsu if I defeat him smoothly... and the fact that you have yet to kill me tells me you really are not acting under Kyou's direct orders. I know of the Sheikah mask... the inability to act without direct authority."

Ryo looked Zant in the eye. "Have you broken the mask? Are you capable of acting as a free man? Or are you acting on another's orders?... Namely to one who lost her mask? So... are you killing me on Impa's orders?" Seeing Zant's confusion, Ryo said, "Seems you don't know. More's the pity."

Ryo turned back around to face his small desk with the papers on it. "You really think it is a coincidence we are at war right now? I do not. This war has been one in the making for a long time. Is it not odd that Impa goes to Zhao and returns with some girl? Is it not odd that rather than go through proper channels to certify her lineage, it is the priests? The rule is to check the birth records, the conception records, the sexual records to prove the girl is conceived by the king. Is it not odd that this... girl of Zhao is the declared heir? Is it not odd that in the girl's unfortunate death that Impa continues to fight the throne? These are the things I question. Face it, Sheikah... or whatever you are now... I'm not the real enemy. So allow me to rephrase my question: Under what authority do you act?"

Zant's scimitar's swords shook in his hands. He tried to kill the man, he wanted to. He wanted to serve Kyou and prove himself, but he couldn't. His hands would not move. He had killed so many, but it was the mask. The mask took the guilt, the death, the darkness and kept it away. It was the mask that killed.

Zant had not been able to wield the mask since this started.

Suddenly unsure of himself, Zant felt he would lose his mind. Who was to blame? Who should he kill?

"If there is any doubt to what I say..." Ryo pulled a scroll out from his robes and extended it to Zant. The scroll bore the seal of the king. Startled, Zant took a step back. "Read. You will understand... after all, you know who the queen mother is."

Zant felt himself trapped. Trapped by the circumstance, trapped by Ryo's words. Perhaps he was a snake under the control of the charmer. Perhaps he was just a man seeking answers or an escape from his guilt. Regardless of his reason he took the scroll, broke the seal, and opened it.