Yo this is ArcsaurdeQuester (or FionordeQuester, I can't remember which) and this is my very first time posting. I plan on being a proficient writer by the time I become what I want to be (a video game designer) so I will now be posting my very first fanfiction which is a novelization of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This is because its one of my favorite games and it is a novelization i've been developing in my head for a while now because personally I see a lot of potential in this and I not only will I complete it, I intend to make it a novelization worthy of OoT no matter how time I have to spend on it (dunno if I can revise it or not). Criticism or comments would be greatly appreciated as I'm always looking for a way to make my story better. So without further ado
Prologue
The thunder and rain pounded the earth as sword and spear clashed as man and beast fought in a battle for dominance. Warriors fell to the ground bleeding and trampled, steel and tusks rending flesh and bone. On one side were the knights of Hyrule, trying to overrun their opponents, on the other were giant beasts standing 9 feet tall, and driving back the invaders with huge pikes. And caught in a tide of enemies was the commander of the beasts, doing everything he could to stay alive, his armor cracked and his fur covered with blood.
With a scream, he thrust his spear forward, ending the life of the one in front of him, twisting around to shunt aside three blades aimed towards his back. He bore into the first soldier he saw with a wild punch that sent him flying, sent his tusks into anothers chest and slammed a third into the ground with a downward swing from his spear. The beast then toppled three rows of soldiers with a shoulder ram before finding himself struggling to parry his enemies blows. The giant yowled in shock and rage as a blade raked his chest, breaking his already cracked armor. Before long he found himself on the bottom of throngs of soldiers forcing him into the ground, screaming in agony as an arrow lodged itself right above his eye and felt swords forcing themselves through his arms and legs. In a maneuver that had never failed him before, the commander let his enemies combined weight force his knees to the ground as if in surrender. Right as his life was about to be ended however, he suddenly surged upwards, sending piles of soldiers crashing down around him and stamped the life out them with his hooves.
Left with no time to recover, the beast rammed into the soldiers in front of them. He tried to stand his ground against five more charging knights but found himself staggering as arrows started hitting his flank. He felt a sword enter his back and another in his stomach, and in a cry of desperation he whirled and thrashed around, killing every soldier he could before another beast with raven black hair threw the soldiers off of him and quickly killed them with a few spear thrusts. Then the assault suddenly ended as the commander could see no more enemies and suddenly collapsed to his knees, breathing short ragged breaths.
"Commander Oakheart are you alright?" the raven colored beast asked.
"Yes of course I'm alright!" Oakheart rasped.
Groaning, Oakheart forced himself onto his knees, shutting his right eye as blood oozed down from the arrow wound above the eye. Grimacing as he saw the dead bodies of his allies around him, Oakheart scanned the groups of beasts until he was able to identify an orange bodied beast trying to reorganize the scattered forces.
"Ravenpelt, tell the troops to gather at the high rock" Oakheart ordered.
"Yes Commander" said Ravenpelt as Oakheart began trudging towards the beast he had picked out, hand placed on his gaping chest wound.
"Sandstorm status report" Oakheart said as Sandstorm whirled around to meet his gaze.
"Better than I expected sir, only 32 killed and 54 wounded" responded the she-beast Sandstorm.
"Good, now go try to find the gerudos, I can...ggghhhh...handle things from here..." Oakheart gasped.
"Commander, are you sure you'll be alright?" Sandstorm asked as worry began to enter her eyes.
"Sandstorm, I told you, I'll be alright now go find those gerudo warriors!" Oakheart said irritably.
With a heavy sigh, Oakheart trudged along towards the high rock, a sloped hill that stood out above the rest of Hyrule Field and marked the border of their territory.
"Now maybe those humans have learned their lesson!" one of the warriors yelled.
"Yeah don't mess with the tauren, we do not go down easily!"
Roars of victory suddenly sounded out as the warriors began celebrating their victory. A small glimmer of pride made itself known in a slight smile that appeared on his face as he watched his warriors celebrate their victory. These were the Tauren, giant bulky beasts standing almost nine feet tall, covered with thick, coarse hair. These were a proud tribal species who followed a code of honor, whose lives were dedicated to doing such things as caring for the old and weak, gathering herbs for the medicine tauren, and always making sure there was enough food for the entire tribe. They were a thriving and prosperous race..."until the hyruleans forced them out of their forests based on fear and baise!" Oakheart remembered as a wave of anger briefly settled in his mind. He then dispersed it as he stood directly in front of his warriors.
"Good job men, every single one of you has fought with courage and skill today" Oakheart complimented.
"And as for those who have died here today, they will always be remembered for their honor and bravery" Oakheart stopped as the warriors became slightly downcast.
"Now" Oakheart went on. Does anyone have anything to report?" All remained silent for a minute until a voice belonging to Ravenpelt called
"Commander Oakheart, we've managed to capture a few of the stragglers".
Oakheart craned his head toward Ravenpelts direction to see two soldiers, their armor ruined and their hands bound by rope.
"Bring them to me, I want to know why they went against our agreement".
Ravenpelt walked the two P.O.W's over to Oakheart as angry jeers began emerge from some of the tauren as their fur bristled in anger at the sight of the humans.
"Tell me..." Oakheart began as walked over to the soldiers. "Why did you trespass onto tauren territory, we agreed only 6 months ago that this would be our home and that no one would trespass upon our lands without good reason, did we not?" Silence fell on the tauren as they all waited for the awnser.
"Well I'd say the murder of sixteen members of nobility sounds like a pretty good reason you monsters!" one of the soldiers spat.
"Listen we did not kill your stupid nobles!" one of the tauren cried.
"We did nothing to like that!" said another.
"Why the hell do you think we would lay a hand on them when we can barely survive as it is?!" a bracken colored tauren called from the back. And soon, the whole circle filled with the sound of protest as everyone voiced their resentment and anger at being accused.
"SILENCE!!" Oakheart yelled, putting an end to the constant shouting and noise.
"Listen, you tell your king that we have done absolutely nothing of the sort because I swear by the honor of all the tauren warriors that we are not the ones to blame" Oakheart asserted.
"Yeah right like we're supposed believe you!" one of the soldiers replied.
"Yeah, and just what honor are you talking about moblin scum?!" the other spat.
At the sound of the word "moblin" the entire group of warriors became a frenzied mob, screaming screams of hatred and outrage at the cruel name they had been labeled as by the hyruleans as Oakheart barely contained his desires to wrap his hands around the second soldiers throat and squeeze the life out of him.
"Ravenpelt, take these prisoners to Redstar, he'll decide what to do with them" Oakheart ordered.
"This battle is over, you all may return home now" Oakheart shouted.
The tauren warriors started down towards the south towards their home, big clusters of tall green trees just over the horizon. Oakheart began taking up the rear when he started hearing the trot of horses from the east. Turning his head, Oakheart muscles tensed as he saw clusters of horses beating down towards his direction. As he was about to warn the others however, he became relieved as he saw who exactly was riding towards him.
The riders consisted mostly of women with thick white pants, thick coats and robes, and red ponytails with two huge swords strapped to their backs. And in front of the charge was a huge warrior covered in thick oblivion black plate mail with a cloak draped across his back. As they rode closer and closer, the riders slowed their horses to a trot as the leader approached Oakheart. Eventually, the leader climbed down from his horse to face Oakheart.
"Commander Oakheart, I see the dead bodies of hyruleans and tauren all around us, what has happened here?" the man asked.
"The hyruleans attempted to invade us, but we beat them back before too much harm could be done" Oakheart replied.
"Apparently they think we're responsible for the deaths of several important members of nobility". The man nodded with a solemn expression on his face, though inwardly he had to suppress a smile at the mention of the accusation against the tauren.
"I see" the man nodded and furrowed his brow and closed his eyes as though in deep thought. Neither said a word, aborbing this information and remaining silent, until finally the man broke the silence.
"Oakheart, it pains me to say this, but I think it's time we finally reclaimed your lands once and for all" the man stated, causing an expression of alarm to appear on a stunned Oakheart.
"Ganondorf, are you suggesting we go to war with them?!" Oakheart stuttered, mouth agape.
"Why not?! Haven't they already declared war a long time ago just by driving you from your homes based on an evaluation based entirely on lies and baise?!" Ganondorf screamed. Oakheart's body became tensed with emotion at the mention of their "evaluation" and stared into the ground in silence. Ganondorf saw the conflicting emotions inside the tauren commander and decided to explain further.
"Oakheart, please understand, I know how much you value your people and I know you already have had enough problems without a war to think about". Ganondorf paused to think for a minute as Oakheart began to look up, then spoke again.
"I still remember the day you all came to our valley, hungry and weak, and I'll admit we all had our misgivings about you and the other tribes" Ganondorf stated.
"But from the very first moment I saw how you struggled to maintain the lives of your comrades, the strong helping the weak, your leader and you desperately trying to save your race, and the bravery you showed in trespassing upon our land knowing full well what might happen to you if you were caught, I knew that you were a noble and honorable race who deserved help and support before our current ruler Ietta even saw you" Ganondorf gritted his teeth in anger and met Oakhearts eyes with a gaze full of intensity and passion.
"But those hyruleans don't see that! All they see are cruel and feral monsters who cause misery and destruction to all. Don't you see? As long as you do nothing, your people will never be truly free from their oppression. Even now, they do nothing but blame you for every death or pillaging that happen to occur in the wild, you are nothing but martyrs to them!" Oakheart, taking to heart everything Ganondorf had said, again stared at the ground. His chest began to throb with a dull pain as his eyes began to haze and fog. Seeing this, Ganondorf decided to soften the blow he had dealt.
"Oakheart, believe me, if there was any other way, if there was any way we could prove to those accursed fools the passion and honor your race posesses, I wouldn't be suggesting this. But not once in any of our dealings with them have I ever seen them even bat an eye at the thought of your persecution, and even now they have started to accuse us, the gerudo, of assisting you in plundering their riches and destroying their supplies and lands, not because we have done anything to them, not because we have shown any reasons for them to doubt us, but simply because we happen to be allied with you. So Oakheart do you see now? Do you see now how war is the only way we can ever hope to promise our young and old a happy and prosperous future? I know this is a difficult thing to ask of you, so you can take as long as you want to think about my suggestion, Queen Ietta has already given our army permission to assist you in your campaign".
Ganondorfs words hit dead on, causing Oakhearts mind to swirl as he took in everything Ganondorf had just said. Images of Brightfur, his apprentice, his friends Brackenfist, Greypelt, Longtusk, and the one he was in love with, Silverpelt, his respected leader Redstar, the elders, and his mother and father Greenleaf and Mammothtusk, all flashed in his head. He saw in every face a life he valued beyond measure and one he would die to protect. And soon he remembered the day he had been appointed Commander, standing besides Redstar on the tall rock Redstar always used to addressed his tribe, almost overwhelmed with surprise, nervousness, and responsibilty as every able warrior chanted his name. He remembered the promise he had made to himself to do everything in his power from then on to protect and serve his people.
Then anger and rage replaced his nervousness as he remembered the day the tauren and the hyruleans agreed on where the tauren would live, remembered the scorn and hatred that would appear on their races every they faced him and his people. Indeed, war did seem like the only option they had availble to them. Uncertainty again made Oakheart doubt the wisdom in war however when he remembered all the casualties and lost lives his tribe would most certainly suffer. Finally Oakheart spoke.
"Ganondorf, I'm aware of everything you just said, and I know now that they will never leave us alone for as long as we live"
"And?" Ganondorf inquired.
"But I just don't see how a war could possibly solve any of our problems. Life is hard enough as it is with food shortages and recent outbreaks of sickness without war to complicate things any further" Oakheart thought of what else to say as Ganondorfs gaze continued to bore into him.
"And anyways that's not my decision to whether we go to war or not. That right belongs only to Redstar, and I can guarantee you he will not do this without the support of the other tribal leaders" Oakheart said.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to attend to the needs of my tribe, I need to see Spottedcoat, our medicine tauren, anyways" Oakheart said turning his back to walk back to his tribe. Ganondorf seemed unsatisfied however.
"If that's the case, may I please speak to Redstar?" Ganondorf inquired.
"Yes I suppose you could" Oakheart replied, briefly wondering why Ganondorf had to discuss this so quickly.
"Nabooru, report everything that has just transpired to Ietta and tell her that I went to speak with Redstar and will be back by nightfall, the rest of you, return to the camp" Ganondorf ordered. Nodding, though slightly taken aback, Nabooru went off with the rest of the gerudo warriors back to their kingdom as Oakheart walked off toward his tribe with Ganondorf riding right behind him.
As the pair walked along, Oakheart couldn't help but lose himself to the horizon that stretched out before him. He looked on at the beautiful shade of blue that comingled with the rain soaked mountains that appeared as hazy blue spires standing as sentinels in the distance. Oakheart then looked up, admiring the awesome dark-grey clouds sending their blessings to all of the wet earth and sending shadow and darkness to cover and blanket all living beings, as well as the way the trees moved and swayed with the wind. A faint wistfulness came to Oakhearts eyes as he remembered his days inside his old home, a giant forest filled with tall canopy tries that blotted out most of the light, filled with soft fertile soil and dense ferns and plants that always gave the hunters plently of cover, a place he had spent the first fours years of his life in. Memories of hunting and patrolling with his friends, being scolded by the elders, training under his mentor Thorntusk, and finally becoming a warrior alongside his friends after their 1st year flooded through Oakhearts mind.
"My name was once Oakfur then" Oakheart thought, remembering with a chuckle how every apprentice would have fur at the end of his or her name. His eyes dropped again.
"If any of you in the Pridelands can hear me right now, please don't let it come to war" Oakheart silently pleaded them.
End of Prolouge