The Hero of War:
A Legend of Zelda Fanfiction
Written by:
Jozepi4
Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda series, it is a product of Nintendo. I am just a fan who thought people might like my story based on it.
Author's Note: This story will be updated at irregular intervals so please bear with me. I hope you all enjoy my story, second chapter is coming soon.
Deep in the Kokiri woods, in a small hut built from the debris of a hundred fallen trees, a cry rings out, the first sign of new life being born. A woman lies in her bed breathing heavily as several childlike creatures scanter back and forth with hot towels and boiling water. Finally the woman collapses back on her bed, sweat running down her face and her hair matted to her skull, her breath coming in short ragged gasps.
One of the Kokiri carries a towel wrapped bundle to her and she takes it into her arms, smiling and stroking the face of her newborn baby boy. She begins nursing the small child as his cries die down, his eyes fluttering shut as he quietly suckles.
Another Kokiri runs in the door as a light rain begins to fall, her breathing frantic and her eyes open wide in shock. She runs over to the woman and leans toward her, whispering, "The Great Deku Tree says that your son is the start of the prophecy and that we need to bring his father home as soon as possible. I sent a runner but it may take several days before he is reached".
The mother nods and lays her head back, cradling her son and whispering to the frantic child, "If that's the case, then his name shall be Link, as the Great Deku Tree said..."
Meanwhile on the other side of Hyrule, on the plains to the east of Hyrule Castle a battle of epic proportions was winding down, the army of Hyrule raises a cry of triumph as the last of their enemies fall. Near the front of the army, a small group lift their wounded captain onto their shoulders, rushing him towards the small medical tent being erected at the center of the battlefield.
Under the tent the Princess' tutors, the sages of Hyrule, lead a group of mages in healing the wounded, and direct a team of surgeons and medics in treating the wounds the mages cannot heal.
When the wounded captain was laid on the last empty table several Sages broke away from the mass of people and treat him personally. After several hours they step back to wipe their foreheads and examine their results.
The captain lay on recently changed blankets, his right arm in a sling, and his left leg wrapped in bandages, splints holding the bones straight. His left arm had to be amputated just below the elbow, his right leg as well, just under the knee. His chest was a mass of cuts and stab wounds, cleaned and bandaged to prevent further bleeding, stitches running across the side of his stomach where the sages sealed a large gash from an axe blow near the end of the battle. His face was wrapped so that only one eye could be seen gleaming from between the white cotton.
His squad gathered around him, tears running down their faces as those who were lucky enough to not be seriously wounded held up those who weren't so lucky. Slowly smiles began to erupt through the small group as they all laughed victoriously and laid their hands on the captain's battered body.
One of the Sages stepped up and whispered to the captain, "Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt, but a message has arrived from your village via the Great Deku Tree...your wife went into labor early last night, your child was born minutes before the battle ended...it's a boy, congratulations".
The captain's eye twinkled happily from underneath his bandage as his squad broke into cries of celebration and a few went off to procure a few bottles of wine to celebrate properly. When the soldier's return with food and wine, they pour out several goblets of wine and raise them in honor of their captain's new son.
"Sir, do you know what his name will be?" One soldier asks, pouring some wine into the captain's mouth.
The captain closes his eyes, whispering, "Link...his name shall be Link..."
"Sir, I've just informed the Captain of the birth of his son. He reacted quite happily, he is currently celebrating with his squad". The Sage that had just vacated the captain's bedside was now bent over a large bowl filled with a glowing blue liquid. Reflected in the liquid was not the face of the Sage, but a face seemingly growing out of the trunk of a large tree.
"Good, good...did you tell him of the prophecy?" The Great Deku tree asked, a note of worry in his voice.
"No Great Deku Tree, he is unaware. Should I have told him?" Asked the Sage his misty eyes staring into the wooden eyes reflected in his scrying bowl. "I can return to tell him, his squad will surely give me a few moments alone with him".
"No no, it is better this way. He does not need to know that his bloodline is the same as that of the ancient heroes and that his child will be the next reincarnation of the Hero of Time".
The Sage nods and turns toward the small group gathered around the bed at the end of the row, "So it is true, the boy will be like the heroes in the stories? The Hero of Wind, and of Twilight, and the others?"
The Great Deku Tree nods, his branches swaying in a non-existent breeze. With a wave of his hand the Sage turns the liquid in the bowl opaque, walking towards his fellow Sages and gathering together in discussion.
While all this was happening, the captain and his squad were finishing off the last of their food and wine. The captain closes his eyes, wondering how he will raise a son in this age of war, why the Gerudo chose now to come back into the land of Hyrule, and more than anything else, if the old stories were true and a hero of old would be reborn to save them.
10 Years Later
"Father, tell me again how you won the battle against those Gerudo Raiders. Please Father." Young Link, 10 years old and already showing strength and courage beyond his years. He sits next to his Father's chair, a fire giving off a warm glow to fight off the winter chill.
The old Captain smiles at his son and ruffles his hair, propping himself up and closing his eyes, the memories playing through his mind.
"Well we spent the first night on the battlefield digging trenches. Unlike the rest of the officers I was out with my squad digging the first line of trenches. When we finished we dug in and sent a runner back to bring us arrows for the archers." Link hung on his Father's every word, staring at his face with his mouth hanging slightly open in awe.
"What happened next Father?" Link asked, already knowing what his Father would say next, having heard this story dozens of times.
"We stayed in our trench until sunrise. That was when we heard the first sounds from the Gerudo Raiders..."
The Captain sits back against the wall of the recently dug trench, his eyes closed, his breathing slow, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword at his side. As the sun rises, so does the temperature, the heat bearing down on him and his men. Not one complains, they all sit in similar positions to their Captain, some with their weapons across their laps.
With no real sign or signal the Captain and his squad, in unison, mutter words of prayer under their breath.
"Nayru, Goddess of Wisdom, protect us so that we may return to our family. Din, Goddess of Power, give us the strength to defeat our enemies on the field of battle. Fiore, Goddess of Courage, let us battle alongside our brothers as one. Goddesses of Wisdom, Power, and Courage, watch over us."
The Captain looks down the line of his men, closing his eyes and taking one more deep breath before standing tall and drawing his sword, his order ringing out with the power of a fierce leader.
"Archers! Ready your bows! Pikes to the ready! Ready your weapons men, we will give these warriors our best, because they damn sure will do the same!" His men let loose cries of battle, the Archers nocking their arrows and drawing them back. Along the line the Pikemen readied their weapons against the edge of the trench, the tips of all the weapons glinting in the rising sun.
Speaking in a much lower tone, walking down the line of his men and patting each and every one of them on the back, "Be ready, do not hesitate, they may be women, but they are as able in combat as any of us, you must be ready to kill."
When he reaches the end of the line he turns back and raises his sword. "Archers at the ready! Steady...steady...RELEASE!" With a chorus of twangs the arrows from his squad and all the rest shoot into the air, arcing high over the battlefield, the other army doing the same, two identical shadows crossing the distance between them as the arrows reach their targets.
"Shields up!" The same order echoes across the Hylian line, the Shieldmen lifting up their massive shields, the Archers sending volley after volley of arrows through the gaps in the shields.
When the arrows finally stop flying a foreign cry is heard as the Gerudo charge from the treeline.
"Pikes and Shields, move up!" The Captain climbs the wall of the trench, his men climbing after him, the Shieldmen forming a wall of steel which the Pikemen stand behind, their long weapons resting in the curves of the shields.
"And FORWARD!" The Captain's squad slowly moves forward, the rest of the Hylian army doing the same across the field.
At the front of the Gerudo line, a group of men lead the charge, unarmored and carrying only simple clubs and wooden shields. Strong and disposable, they slam straight into the first line of Hylian soldiers, impaling themselves on the pikes, blood and intestines spilling to the ground from their wounds. The Shieldmen pushing forward, each shield supported by two soldiers who stab the bodies of each dead man they push past.
"HOLD!" The Captain's order rings out and his squad crouch low, holding smaller shields over their heads. With a clanging of armor on armor, the men hunker down behind their shields, the other squads that moved forward doing the same.
The Gerudo lines slow to a steady march, war cries and taunts echoing across the field between the two forces. When they move within range the shields part and one last volley of arrows shoots from the gap in the phalanx formation. When the arrows find their marks in the throats of the Gerudo soldiers the Shieldmen suddenly charge forward, slamming their shields into the soldiers, the Pikemen charging with them and driving their weapons into the bodies of the Gerudos.
When the first line of Gerudo fall the Shieldmen drop the weighty shields and heft smaller personal shields, stabbing their swords down into the necks of the women trapped underneath the shields. The Pikemen make long lunging stabs into the Gerudo lines, the tips on their pikes driving into the soldiers and the blades pulling back through the ones closer to them.
The Captain's men break formation and jump into combat with the Gerudo women. The women swing heavy axes, bringing them down on the shields of the Hylian soldiers, knocking some to their knees where they are quickly dispatched, the heavy blades smashing through their armor.
The Captain sees one of his men about to be slain in this manner and he jumps forward, bringing the blade of his sword down on the neck of the woman holding the ax. As the blood gushes from her decapitated neck he grabs the ax, hefting it in his shielded left hand. He turns toward another Gerudo, throwing the ax with deadly precision, the blade embedding itself in the she-warrior's forehead.
As the minutes drag on into hours, dozens of Gerudo fall to the Captain's blade. Even so, the Gerudo outnumber the Hylian's ten to one, and as the battle drags on, morale drops. Right when all seems hopeless, the Captain and his squad reach the center of the battle, where a monster of a woman is fighting a dozen Hylian soldiers at once, a massive spear in one hand, a sword of monstrous proportions in the other. Dozens of dead soldiers already lay around her, and the dead increase by the minute.
"Leave her, she is just thinning our numbers more and more! I'll take it from here." The captain barks his orders to the men, throwing his shield to the ground and pulling a second sword from a sheathe on his back.
Wrenching his helmet from his head he charges at the woman as the other soldier's turn and flee. With a roar of fury the monstrous Gerudo lunges with her spear, missing the Captain by a hair when he dodges to the side, slashing expertly at her wrist in an attempt to make her drop the spear, to no avail.
With a mighty laugh she swats the Captain aside with her sword and straightens up, "You are a different class of warrior than I have killed so far, I hope you manage to be more entertaining than them as well."
With a mighty flexing of her arm she flings the spear in her hand at the captain. The Captain dodges the attack with ease but as he moves to steady himself for a charge he steps on a fallen soldier, slipping on the slick surface of his armor. The she-warrior hefts her sword in both hands and leaps forward, bringing the blade down on the Captain, who raises both of his swords in an X and takes the full force of the impact on the blades, his body sinking slightly in the muddy earth.
The Captain kicks up at the woman, catching her in the shoulders and he rolls back away from her, steadying himself and raising his swords. The Gerudo grins, wrenching an ax out of the back of a fallen Hylian and hefting both of her weapons, charging at the Captain with a horrendous battle cry.
The Captain dives to the side, jumping forward to cut her off, slashing her leg and stomach, gutting her and cutting her leg out from under her. As he jumps backward she swings the ax around, catching him in the stomach, burying the heavy blade in his abdomen. Before the pain can set in the Captain staggers forward, dropping his short sword and stabbing the Gerudo woman in the chest, driving his sword clear through her back with both hands.
When she falls dead to the floor he stumbles back, finally collapsing under the weight of his injuries, blood running down his arm from a gash, his leg already starting to swell from his hard landing before.
"After that, I don't know how long I lay in the bloody mud. I sank in and out of consciousness. The only thing that stopped me from fulling passing out was the thought of your mother here, pregnant with you, and how you both needed me to come home safely." The Captain smiles and leans forward, kissing young Link on his forehead, ruffling his hair with his remaining arm.
"Wow Father, you really fought that woman? And she really wielded an axe AND a claymore?" Link's look of amazement makes the old Captain chuckle and pull the boy up onto his lap.
"Yes son, she really did, and she gave me the scar on my stomach as well, it nearly killed me." The Captain lifts the front of his shirt, several scars crisscrossing his chest, but the one on his stomach glows white in the dim firelight.
"Dear, do you really need to show our son that old thing?" Both father and son look up to see Link's mother leaning against the door frame, a thick green coat around her, and a smile on her face.
Link jumps down and runs to his mother, hugging her legs. "Mother! Father has just finished telling me the story about the Gerudo raiders and how he killed the Monster woman who killed a hundred soldiers without a taking a single blow or injury! Father was an amazing soldier, wasn't he mother?"
The Captain smiles and grabs his crutch, levering himself out of the chair and slowly making his way toward his wife and son, kissing her cheek and resting his hand on Link's head.
"Yes Link, your father was an amazing soldier indeed, but he is an even better father, did he tell that your first sword just came from the Hylian armory?" Link's mother smiles at her husband, stroking young Link's hair.
The Captain smiles down at his son's ecstatic expression, walking to the closet under the stairs and speaking over his shoulder. "I was going to surprise you with it in the morning, but I suppose you can have it now."
Link runs over to his father as he pulls a wrapped bundle out of the closet. After unwrapping it he hands the sword to his son. When Link takes the sword out he simply stares at the blade, noting how the small sword feels like an extension of his arm.
After sheathing the weapon he hugs his father and smiles up at him. "Thank you Father, does this mean you're finally going to teach me how to fight?"
Looking at his Link's mother, he nods and smiles down at his son. "Yes Link, tomorrow I will start teaching you how to fight."
Well, there we have it, the first chapter. Second chapter was already completed when i posted this, just waiting to see how it goes over:3 should be up by friday. be happy people:D