This story is a collaboration between a friend and I and we hope you really enjoy it! :D Also, we do not own Legend of Zelda. :3
-C.H.
The island was heavy with action that morning, before the sun even came up and before anyone was even awake. A ship docked, clanging a loud cymbal and notifying the island that they were there. Aryll was always quick to fly out of bed when she heard that sound because often times it meant Link and Tetra were home from their long journeys. She flew out of bed and wrapped a shawl around her shoulders, it would be chilly outside she was certain. Her heart raced, eager to see her older brother and Tetra, who had married last year. She always loved to imagine the dance they had against the firelight and their kiss that went with the vows. They'd looked beyond happy at that very moment, and looking at each other... well she couldn't quite describe the emotions. Both of them had looked simply taken and it wasn't likely, that night, that they would come back.
But her precious memories quickly faded into the back of her mind when she saw a black ship docked. She stood out on the long front porch of her grandmothers house and watched as a lady of medium height and several soldiers climbed off onto the dock. Her mind was racing as to what she should do and finally she dashed back into the house to wake up her grandmother. She was overwhelmed by a feeling of fear and disappointment.
"What a wimpy little island." Markada said, adding an audible humph at the end of her sentence. She was already acting as if the very dirt were burning her feet, clad in knee high boots with thick, iron shin guards on them. "But it'll have to do."
"Shall I sound the horn?" Tyran asked, about a foot taller than Markada. He was also clad in dark armor with an unknown and odd shaped crest engraved in the shoulders. He was holding a long horn with the same crest engraved.
Markada huffed again, hands on her hips. "If you must. The people should submit without issue so it's probably easier to send soldiers banging on their doors, don't you think, Tyran?" She then scanned the island, small and only had a few little houses. The rest seemed to be a mountain with a summit on top, just from what she could see. And old, rickety bridge of decent length hung in the middle while another dock like bridge was connecting each side of the island. It was worthless, she thought.
"Then I shall call the soldiers. We'll only need a few." He said. He turned away from her and went to talk to some of the soldiers who all responded with a loud salute. They each stalked off in a different directions. Aryll and her grandmother watched anxiously from the window as a dark clad soldier headed their direction.
"Grandma, stay inside." Aryll whispered, hands on the small woman's shoulders. Her eyes barely held fear as they had earlier. She looked more confident and determined, like Link. Her grandmother smiled and nodded, heading off to the back room in the little house. The puttering sound of her grandmothers small feet disappeared and was replaced by three bangs upon the door. Silently, Aryll fixed the shawl around her shoulders and smoothed her skirt. Her long blond hair swooped over her shoulders. Taking a deep breath she held her head high and opened the door, it creaked ominously. She should have been used to that but it seemed horrible at this hour.
"May I help you?" Her voice came a bit louder than intended, head tilted a slight to look up at him. She could only see his eyes which were narrowed in a serious expression.
"Yes," the soldier said bluntly, "I am here to inform you that this island is under new management. You can either surrender peacefully or resist." The solder then glared at the young woman and snarled, "Though I recommend you do the former or else."
"Or else what?" Aryll asked as she tried her best to hide her fear. She could sense that man had less than pleasant intentions for her, not to mention her grandmother. She nervously stepped side to side as she awaited his reply.
"Let's just say there will be dire consequences for you and the people who live on this island as well," the soldier answered, his gaze fixed on Aryll's eyes. There was a sudden commotion at the tall house Orca and Stergeon had shared as shouts and sounds of pottery being broken rang out. "Ah, it looks like one of the islanders has some fight in them," the soldier said, focusing his attention to the scene, "Too bad we'll have to make an example." Aryll watched in horror as more and more soldiers poured in, attempting to subdue the occupant within. In a few moments, several soldiers came out as they dragged out a bloody and beaten Orca.
"I hope you see things our way," the soldier said as he left a horrified Aryll behind. He walked up to the old warrior, who was restrained by two of the soldiers. "So, are you willing to submit or do we have to use force?" he asked, staring straight into Orca's eyes. The soldier tapped his foot as he waited for his answer.
He didn't have to wait long as Orca spat at him. "Never!" the old warrior snarled, "I would rather die than let you take over our island!"
"I thought as much," the soldier muttered before he suddenly kicked Orca in the stomach, causing the old warrior to double over in pain as he cried out. He then motioned to the soldiers holding their captive and shouted, "Take him away and see to it that he learns his place!" The soldiers complied without hesitation and Orca was dragged off to the ship.
Aryll had watched the scene in horror. "What are you going to do to him?" she asked, not realizing the answer could just be bad as, or even worse, than not knowing.
The soldier turned around, smiling as he got ready to give his answer. "We'll simply educate him," he said as if he were engaging in a normal conversation, "You see, we have to keep order around here and people like him tend to disrupt things. But don't worry, you'll see him again once we're done." And with that, he went to join the few still on the ship while other soldiers continued to scout the island.
Aryll couldn't believe this was happening. She knew Outset Island had been invaded before, but those invaders were monsters who did nothing but terrorise the locals. These were people, coming to island and taking it over for a reason or a purpose she didn't know or understand. She fell to her knees as the chaos continued behind her, with only one thing in her mind.
Link, Tetra, please come back quickly...
...
The island was still a good distance but the two of them were on their way, even if they hadn't heard the silent prayers of Aryll moments earlier. Link and Tetra were sitting together up in the crow's nest. Link's arm was around Tetra's shoulders and Tetra had her head leaned against his broad one. They were smiling, laughing as they were still unknowing of the terror being brought upon their home island.
"Are you sure you like it?" Link asked for the umpteenth time, his eyes were on a necklace that hung from Tetra's neck, almost gracefully. The chain was a rusted silver and at the end was a small wing with a sapphire in the center. The wing really didn't resemble that of a bird's, but the intricate designs seemed to resemble that of a fairy's wing.
"Yes, I'm certain." Tetra finally replied to him after giving it another long gaze. She turned to meet his eyes and gave him a smile that said she was being honest, her dainty fingers touched it fondly.
"That's good," Link said, relieved, "I didn't know if I had picked the right one or not. I had trouble deciding if you wanted this or a broach." He winced as he recalled the frantic, last minute shopping for a birthday gift for his wife. Link knew he had got a wonderful gift, but he wanted to make sure.
"Link, it's alright," Tetra said reassuringly, "I don't think you'd pick something very tacky." She was never the sort of person one would give such a gift to. More often than not, the gift was returned to the sender... with great force. Needless to say, her crew had learned it the hard way.
Tetra looked at her necklace admiringly, thinking of the adventures she and Link had. "And not only that, but you managed to remember my birthday this year," she said as she fingered the wing gently.
Link grinned, knowing how lucky he was. The numerous times he forgot were due to either monster attacks or getting sidetracked to a random quest. This year, however, there were none of the sort and he was able to deliver on his promise. When he looked back however he saw something surprising. Tetra had her hands over her stomach and a slightly disturbed look in her eyes. Her hands seemed to fumble a bit at a new feeling, uncomfortable apparently.
"Tetra what-" But the sound of shouting stabbed his ears loud enough to make him shoot up and look over the rail of the crows nest. They were closer to Outset Island and Link could see a different ship. He was confused.
"Ooog," Tetra moaned, feeling woozy, "What's all the racket?" She tried to stand up, only to get dizzy and feel even more nauseous. She plopped back down, feeling her stomach flip-flop and roll as she fought hard not to throw up.
"Tetra, are you okay?" Link asked, his attention turned to her instantly, "You don't look so good." He was very worried at the moment, wondering what was going on.
Tetra wanted to answer, but she knew if she did, she'd get violently ill. She didn't know what to do and it was driving her crazy, not to mention she'd never been seasick before. She could only weakly shake her head as to not make it worse.
"Can you still get down from the crow's nest?" Link asked, worried. He'd never seen Tetra like this, even in her worst sick days, which were quite rare. Whatever it was, he hoped it wasn't too serious.
"I don't know," Tetra managed to say, "I'll just wait until I feel better before coming down." She wanted the sick feeling to just go away and leave her alone. But it seemed persistent, like it had decided to make itself at home in her stomach. Please go away... She thought to herself as she tried to will away the nausea. But it was all in vain when she was overwhelmed and threw up all over the crow's nest.
"You're really sick aren't you?" Link shouted as he stepped away from the mess, "I think you need to see the doctor after this." Now he was really worried about her.
"I'm fine," Tetra said weakly as she struggled to get up, "I'll get Niko to clean this.." She felt rather frustrated about the whole thing. She felt his arms around her body as Link helped her up. "Thanks," she said with a faint smile.
"You're welcome," Link replied as he supported her, "Since when do you get sick like this?"
"Never," Tetra said, rubbing her head, "I'm sure it's nothing."
"I'll keep my eyes open though," Link said, wrinkling his nose, "Want me to get down and get Niko to clean it up?"
"That would be nice," Tetra said as she slipped from his arms. She was feeling a little better and felt like standing on her own. "I'll be going down with you, if you don't mind."
"I don't mind," Link said as he climbed down the ladder. There were troubling questions on his mind as he went down to the deck. What is wrong with Tetra? Link thought, And what is happening on Outset? He wished he knew so he wouldn't worry so much.
In minutes, Link was below deck and had found Niko. "What do you want?" Niko asked impatiently, "I haven't got all day, you know!" He was busily working on a new obstacle course all month and was in the process of finishing up.
"Well," Link said, shuffling his feet from side to side, "We have a job for you to do."
"Can't it wait until I'm done?" Niko said, rather annoyed with the situation, "I'm puttin' the final touches on my next project."
"I'm sure it will wait for a little bit longer," Link said, "We just want you to clean the crow's nest."
"Why is the crow's nest needing to be cleaned?" Niko asked, frustrated and confused.
"Well..." Link said, trying to think up of answer, "You might want to see for yourself."
"Fine," Niko grumbled as he stormed off, going above deck and climbed up the crow's nest. There was a few seconds of silence before the air was filled with the swabbie's cursing.
The ship docked, careful not to hit the enormous one that had taken their spot. Link walked beside Tetra who claimed to be feeling a little bit better but still favored her stomach without a word. The army was trekking the island, people no longer in their houses. Aryll was on the beach with their grandmother.
"What is this?" Tetra whispered, looking around. So much action. But the fear in the people's eyes was all too apparent.
"I don't know." Link scanned the island and spotted his little sister, who seemed to catch spot him at the same time.
"Brother!" She cried, leaving her grandmother's side and dashing to him, only to be stopped by a soldier. That only set Link off, he let go of Tetra's arm and ran towards her, shoving the soldier aside with force only he could possess.
"Get your dirty hands off of her!" He barked. Tetra was already staggering through the beach's sand to get to him but she stopped when she saw a soldier back hand him across his face. He fell back and a sword was put to his neck.
"What is all this pointless racket?"
All heads turned except Link's. He was focused on not getting his throat slit open. Tetra and Aryll both watched as the woman clad in thick black, boots with iron shin guards and light weight armor came forward. She removed her dark, black and silver helmet revealing a very elegant face. Her eyes were green in color and her hair was a deep, almost blood red. Her expression was completely stern, agitated. Tyran's helmet had been removed long ago, his hair was black and he had a slight mustache, he preferred to stand next to Markada.
"My Lady." A soldier bowed, "This girl was trying to escape and this man..." The soldier who currently had Link unmoved glanced at his new captive. "caused ruckus."
Markada huffed, "I see." She came close and made a motion with her arm for the other soldier to step away and Link was able to move his head freely, before the woman pulled him up by his arm.
"You look awfully familiar. Oh now I remember." She pushed him away and laughed loudly, "The hero from that story. I suppose you would make a nice recruit, since this island is under new rule."
"And why would I?" Link asked, rubbing his arm. He could tell the woman had less-then benevolent purposes in mind for her "visit". Tetra knew it too, judging from the glare she gave her.
"Your swordsmanship and fighting skills would make a great asset to my army," Markada said as she smirked, "We are establishing order on the Great Sea and to do that, we go to the islands and give them a choice of surrendering peacefully or resisting. Many have complied, but there were a few rowdy ones who need to be... disciplined. Everyone got with the program, eventually." She looked into Link's eyes as if she were staring into his soul. "If you join us, you'll not only be respected, but you'll be richly rewarded once the Great Sea is under our control," she said smoothly, "We'll even let you rule an island of your choice. All you have to do is say yes."
"And if I refuse?" Link said, having a feeling he should not trust this woman.
"It's your choice," Markada said as she shrugged, "But I'd think about the fate of the people of Outset if I were you."
Link gritted his teeth as he realized he had a dilemma on his hands. He could join the army to protect his people, but who knows what might that lead to. He could refuse, but then what would happen to Aryll, their grandmother, and the others? Then Tetra came to mind. He looked back at her and she seemed to be waiting for his decision, it looked like she was holding her breath.
For the first time in a long time, Link didn't know what to do.