Chapter 18
Link is almost bowled over when a horse, white as snow, bursts through the castle gates.
Astride it is a dark-skinned woman with panicked eyes and the body of a girl flung lifelessly over the saddle. The woman pays him no mind and seconds later are swallowed by the mist as they gallop further off into the distance. His attention is jerked back to the gates when another horse comes through – astride it a green-skinned man. The man cruelly pulls his horse to an abrupt halt.
‘You. Over there. You must have seen a white horse gallop by just now.’ The voice is oddly dull and flat. Almost uninterested, like the man is chasing them because he must, not because he wants to.
Ganon. Link knows the name instinctively. He knows the voice. For a blessing, there’s absolutely no recognition in the other man’s face.
And yet, unlike Link, Ganon shows the wear and tear of living to many years to count. He even looks like he’s grown wiser. It’s a baffling realisation for the boy.
Oddly, though there’s no recognition of an old arch nemesis, when Link looks into those eyes he sees a weary peripheral knowledge. Why am I doing this, when I know what the result will be? It’s always, always the same outcome.
If Link is beginning to grow tired of being the hero, Ganon is equally sick of being a villain.