Daughter of Courage and Spirit
Chapter 1
The girl pushed a strand of blonde hair out of her face and stepped into the Kokiri village. The villagers saw a travel worn child of maybe sixteen with a pale blue tunic and the demeanor of a princess, for she was. The daughter of Queen Zelda and a messanger by choice.
"Her majesty wishes an audience with the Kokiri Saria," she said, releasing her grip on the dagger in her sleeve. A nervous habit, she assured herself. I have nothing to fear from the Kokiri.
"And what do you wish?" asked the Kokiri leader, who carried an air of well deserved power. Majare gave a slight bow in the presence of one who had seen many more years then her.
"If I may, to spend some time in the Forest Temple," she said. "My dreams trouble me as much as my nightmares, especially of late." Saria nodded and Majare started to climb the ivy wall. A well worn path lead the way to the temple, leading past the entrances of Goran City and the land of Zora. Both showed signs of the coming darkness from her dream. And at the temple, a man waited for her. He wasn't Hylian or Kokiri, by dress or look.
"You have foretold something," he said. "For this world and another."
"What are you talking about?" she said hesitantly, taking a step backward. He caught her wrist and two things happened. A symbol of the Triforce appeared on her hand, one triangle brighter then the other two, and another symbol appeared on her forehead.
Courage said a voice in the back of her mind.
"Who are you?" she ask, taking her arm back carefully. "What do you want from me?"
"You're the only one that can help. You have been chosen as the carrier of the Triforce of Courage. Your mother bears the Triforce of Wisdom and the demon overlord, Talpa, has the Triforce of Power." She opened her mouth to respond, but an explosion sent tremors through the ground.
"That came from the castle!" she yelled. "I'm sorry! I'll have to speak to you some other time!" She took the quickest possible route out of the Lost Woods. The Kokiri were upset and panicked by the noise and black clouds in the sky.
"Be careful, princess!" yelled Saria after her. Majare's horse, a white mare she had named Ice Flame, danced around until she calmed her down.
"Back to the castle!" she said, kneeing the beast into a fast gallop.
At the village, everything was in a state of total disarray. Men with metal attached to their bodies attacked the people and ravaged the buildings. Majare withdrew her sword and sliced through one of them, then picked up the child by his shirt and sat him in the saddle in front of her. She didn't really notice or care that his clothes were different from a Hylian child. Suddenly, something hit her square in the chest and knocked her from the horse. She slammed her head into the square's fountain before climbing quickly to her feet. Blood flowed from a gash above her eye and another unseen one on the back of her skull.
"Ice Flame!" she shouted. The horse slowed its terrifed running and trotted back through the fighting to her. "Are you alright?" she asked the boy. He nodded as she loosed a dagger into an approaching armor. Black smoke, not blood, poured from it and he collapsed. "What are these things?"
"Dynasty soldiers," said the kid. She only glanced him.
"Who are you? How do you know this?"
"The soldiers brought me here and my name is Yuli. I hope the guys were able to come."
"The guys?" she asked.
"Yuli!" Another armored person, this one in a green armor, dissected a line of soldiers and faced her with a long battle sword raised.
"He is under my protection," she said coolly. "And therefore the protection of the kingdom of Hyrule."
"Hyrule?" he asked.
"It's okay," said the kid. He started to get down, but Ice Flame moved so he couldn't. "He's a friend." Majare patted her horse's nose gently and helped him down, then climbed back into the saddle. A dull pain shot through her as she shifted around to avoid pain from her ribs. Four others finished off the last of the soldiers and came over.
"I have to see if my mother is alright," she said. She rode in between them and to the castle. The gates had been torn from their hinges and shadows danced merrily along the marble halls. "Mother?" she asked softly, pushing open the doors to the throne room. A chilled wind blew through a broken window and outside, moved the smoke of the burning courtyard to allow sunlight on. Something glittered off the wall. Majare pulled the out the spear and turned the crown over in her hands. "I know you're not dead," she whispered. "You're still alive, only trapped in the world of shadows that has destroyed our home. I refuse to ascend to the throne of Hyrule until my time. Mother, I must learn what you know before then." She laid the crown carefully on the remarkably unharmed throne and swallowed tears.
"Now you have no choice but to fight to free her," said the voice from the temple. Majare whirled around, only to face the guy who had been in the green armor instead of the voice. She circled him slowly, one hand on her sword, the other on her hip. There was no effort to hide the fact she was sizing him up.
"You fought against the soldiers," she said, thoughtfully stroking the hilt. "And you were ready to fight for the child Yuli. That means that you are not an enemy of Hyrule." Her sword flashed in the light and stopped inches from his throat. "But that doesn't make you a friend of mine." He didn't flinch, so she replaced the blade and sat calmly on the edge of the throne. "Who are you and why have you come to this land?"
"My name is Sage Date and I have no idea why I'm here, or where I am for that matter." She sighed because she knew he was telling the truth. The other five burst in.
"Sage!" yelled one with black hair. He never turned to greet them, only kept his eyes on her. She was somehow someone he knew... maybe from one of his dreams.
"I'm okay, Ryo," he said. "Guys, this is..."
"Majare," she answered. "Considering the current state of my mother's kingdom, just Majare. Maybe later, when she returns, you will have to call me more."
"Wonderful," said Ryo. "Are you sure you're okay, Sage?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Majare, these are my friends, Ryo, Kento, Rowen, and Cye." She only nodded hello. A weakness had started in her legs and was working its way through her. For the first time, she was aware of the blood on her face and still trickling down the back of her neck. Her fingers loosened on her weapon and she fell to the floor, unconscious.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Majare... Majare... Majare stood along in the middle of shallow water, the Triforce visible beneath her feet. She took a step forward, but two of the parts erupted into flames. One dark black and the other white, but both were too hot for her to cross through. Instead, she passed over the third part, the section etched onto her hand. Immediately, the water drained and the flames spread, blocking her from going anyway but the one she was already heading in.
Majare... Majare...
Who are you? she asked. What do you want?
Majare... it sounded familar, a voice she recognized from her childhood.
Link? she said. Is that you? Why have you brought me here? Do you know where my mother is?
The sword, Majare. It's what you need. The sword.
The sword? The *Master* Sword? I can't. Ganondorf will be released.
Compared to Talpa, Ganondorf is still just a child playing with fire. He will destroy our world and the world of the Ronins as well.
The Ronins... those boys from the village? Is Talpa the leader of this Dynasty the soldiers came from?
He is much more then that... Majare, you must remember. The sword is the only way.
Only the Hero of Time can take the sword! That's you! I could never be able to pull it from the stone.
The only way… Her eyes fluttered and she sat up carefully. Pain tore through her head and she touched the two spots gingerly. That only made the pain worse. Where was she? In her bedroom. But how? She remembered passing out from loss of blood in the throne room, but now she was on the other side of the castle and someone had bandaged her wounds.
Slowly, she made her way into the hallway, rebuckling her sword around her waist along the way. There wasn't a sound anywhere in the entire castle, so she forced her other senses to work. Smells wafted through the halls, meaning there was at least someone in the kitchens.
Footsteps behind her made her move into a crevice between pillars. Three years of learning from fellow messengers the tricks of getting into a castle unnoticed were always a pay off. The black haired guy, Ryo, looked in her room, muttered something then took off in the direction he had come from. She smiled and shook her head. Some people could be fools.
Down the stairs to the kitchen was a trial for her weak legs and pounding head, but she did it anyway. She couldn't show weakness, not when she had no idea what she was up against.
"Who are you?" she asked, taking out her sword. The guy turned quickly and found himself face to face with the point of her blade.
"Really, Majare, you should be resting," he said, lifting his hand. She moved the tip closer to his face. "Majare..."
"Tell me who you are." Sage appeared in the door and carefully touched her arm. She lowered her sword and looked at him. "What am I doing?" she whispered to no one.
"I have no idea, but you're gonna scare someone," he said. "Why aren't you in you're bed?"
"I had to see if... it was only a dream." She sat down on a stool and resheathed her sword. "So you are the Ronins."
"Yeah," said Sage, sitting next to her. "Sage of the Halo."
"Cye of the Torrent."
"I saw your friend... Ryo before I came down here. He didn't see me." Yuli came in, followed by a blue haired boy. She made note of the fact they were all about her age, other then Yuli.
"Hi," said Yuli brightly, sitting on the other side of her. She grinned at him, then turned her attention towards the newcomer.
"And you are..."
"Rowen of the Strata armor," he answered. "Why aren't you in bed? You're still hurt?"
"Stop asking that," she said firmly. "I'm not as badly hurt as you may think. I've had worse. Try falling off a horse, into a moat, and being swept into metal gate. That hurts."
"Are you really a princess?" asked Yuli. She nodded.
"But that may change if I don't find my mother before war breaks out all over the kingdom. Whoever did this wants there to be a lot of hatred between the six parts of this land."
"Six parts?" asked Cye.
"The Gorans, the Kokiri, the Zora, the Gerudo, the Hylian and the spirits of the temples and forests."
"You count spirits as part of your kingdom?" said Rowen.
"Sure. Everybody does, do they not? "
"We don't really have kingdoms where we come from. A lot of different governments, but no kingdom," said Sage. She raised an eyebrow.
"Then who do you follow? Who leads your lands?"
"Pretty much everyone runs themselves," said Cye. "It gets a little hectic occasionally, but it usually works." She frowned, then shook her head.
"I don't think I understand, but it will have to wait. Have there been anymore attacks?"
"Not since the day we met you," said Rowen. "We think they were looking for something either here, or in the village."
"They got what they needed here," she said. "My mother is the bearer of part of a sacred object of our land, the Triforce. Without it whole and in the Sacred Realm, the entire land is on the verge of destruction. I carry one part and another is held by a being called Talpa, the leader of the Dynasty that attacked the village. They could've been using the village as a way to get to the castle, but... oh-no!" she cried, jumping to her feet. "The Master Sword!" She ran from the room and outside. "Ice Flame!" Her horse came and she jumped onto it's back. Deciding against the long way through the gate, she ran straight off the edge of the sheer drop to the ground and into the village. Some of the people had come back to salvage what they could, but none of them were there. Ice Flame skidded on the rain slicked ground, but regained his footing and kept a gallop until the Temple of Time. As Majare had feared, only a part of it was left standing, but thankfully, it was the door to the Sacred Realm. By the burned armors and empty shells, they had tried to through, but failed. Majare pulled out her ocarina and played the only song she had committed to heart: the Song of Time. Slowly, the door opened and the Master Sword glinted in the sunlight. "Oh, thank Naryu," she muttered. The guys came running up behind her, just now catching up to her.
"What's going on?" asked Ryo.
"This is the entrance to the Sacred Realm," she said. "My family has guarded the only way in for centuries. When you suggested they had an alternative reason for attacking the village, I feared they had gained access to the Master Sword. It is the key to Ganondorf's prison. He is the worst villain this land has ever seen, but according to Link, he doesn't hold a candle to your Talpa." She stepped inside the undesicrated room and heard the door slid shut behind her. "What the-"
"Majare!" shouted Ryo. His voice was muffled by the solid stone wall, but a darker laugh came to her ears as clear as a bell.
"You wish to save your world," said a voice. "Then pull the sword. Release him back to this world so he may make me stronger. I will become unstoppable..."
"Never!" she shouted. She backed up as soldiers came into the room. All she could find was stone wall behind her, so she drew her sword. "I've defeated you before, I can defeat you again," she said coldly.
"You are weak now. You're still uncertain of what you must do. Save your world or save your mother. She is with me, and well. You could join her, of course, and all you have to do is take the Master Sword..." Her sword was knocked free of her hand and went sliding into the black portal the soldiers had come from. "You're only hope now is to take it and fight my army. You'll die if you don't."
"I'd rather die then give you power," she said. A warm breeze started. She looked around for the source, knowing the only wind of late was cold to signal the coming winter. One of the soldiers yelled in pain and collapsed. "The spirits..."
Take the sword...
*Save our world...
"If I take the sword, I'll damn the world, not save it," she said, but still, she stepped up the stone stairs carefully to the platform. Her hands closed around the hilt of the sword and she pulled. It came free easily, to the jarring laughter's delight. But then, there was nothing, only a growing sense of power in her body.
We will keep Ganondorf at bay as long as we can... take the sword and defeat the Dynasty... She nodded as the wind picked up. It lifted the empty armors into the air and blew a hole into the roof to escape. All the Ronins saw was an explosion before rock rained down. Ryo shielded Yuli from the assault and then the door opened. Majare came out, only slightly more beaten then before and carrying a different sword. Raising it above her head, she called out to the sages.
"Raruru, Saria, Impa, Ruto, Nabooru, Darunia, rebuild your temple that has been ruined by the powers of darkness." The walls glowed and grew higher until the Temple of Time was back to it's original state. The others stood in awe for a moment, then Yuli ran to Majare and she picked him up with her free arm.
"What is going on?!" asked Ryo. She gave a small smile.
"Welcome to Hyrule, Ryo. A land of magic, spirits, and demons. Even now that Talpa's here, much is still the same," she said.
"That's helpful," said Kento. "But what just happened?"
"The temple guardians rebuilt their temple," she said simply. "Before, if I pulled the Master Sword, a different evil would have been unleashed and we would've had two problems. Now we have one, since the spirits are keeping him in the Sacred Realm. But I have only a limited amount of time before they fail and in that time, I have to replace the sword."
"But what happened?" repeated Sage. "Inside, I mean."
"Talpa wanted to gain power from Ganondorf's release, which could only happen if I pulled the Master Sword. No, it's the same Talpa, only he'll get stronger from the hatred of nations here in Hyrule." She sheathed the sword and walked to the alter. "Which one, Yuli?" she said, indicating the jewels. He pointed to a green one and she carefully wrapped her fingers around it and pulled her hand back. The other two vanished and the door to the Sacred Realm closed. "Until all three are rejoined and the Song of Time is played again, the door will stay closed. I hope that's some minor way of helping the spirits keep Ganondorf trapped." They emerged into bright sunlight and a slightly beaten guard rushed up to meet them.
"Princess Majare. We've looked everywhere, but we can't find her majesty, Queen Zelda, anywhere in the castle or on the surrounding grounds," he said breathlessly. She set Yuli back on the ground and concealed the Kokiri Emerald in the palm of her hand.
"Guardsman Lieutenant Darnai, my mother has been captured by a new enemy to the kingdom. From now until she returns, I want four guards outside this temple at all times. Don't ask questions, just take my orders as if they come from her tongue and not mine."
"If your mother is gone..." He bowed deeply. "My queen." A dagger glinted in the light and stopped only a centimeter from his throat.
"I will never have as much knowledge as my mother," she said firmly. "Nor will I take the throne until she is laying on her deathbed." The dagger vanished as quickly as it had appeared and he straightened. "Take a message to the leader of the Gerudo, the Zora, the Goran, and the Kokiri. It will take all of our efforts to return peace to this land... and the lands of other worlds as well," she added, turning back to the Ronins. "I will find a way to return you to your home."
"We're not leaving as long as the Dynasty's here," said Ryo firmly. "We're Ronin Warriors. It's our job to fight the Dynasty." She nodded, her head, then grinned.
"Thank you. Believe me, this will be interesting. Go!" she said to the Lieutenant. He ran off and a few seconds later, a girl appeared, pulling Ice Flame by her bridle.
"Here, your highness. She was eating what's left of the flowers in the square." Majare laughed.
"Thank you, Niamea," she said. Then she glanced down at Yuli. "Yuli. How would you like to help her round up the other horses?"
"Really?" he asked. "Can I, Ryo?"
"Sure."
"Niamea, see what other children you can find in the town to help you. Then all of you can come to the castle."
"Oh, thank you, your highness," said the girl with a gracious bow.
"Please, call me Majare. I never liked being called 'your highness'. It gets on your nerves after awhile." Niamea grabbed Yuli's arm and pulled him into the village. A few minutes later, they were running around, yelling as they found this and that among the rubble. Soon, all of the children from the village were helping. Ryo laid his hand on Majare's shoulder and grinned. "I plan on giving the people back their lives, sooner or later," she said quietly. "I can't replace the wisdom or kindness my mother has, but I won't let despair give Talpa access to their souls."
"He lives off hatred and despair," said Sage. "Right now, keeping their hopes up is the best thing you can do."
"Really?" she wondered. A villager ran up to her, wearing the garb of a prosperous merchant woman.
"Princess Majare, more soldiers, in Kakariko!" she said excitedly.
"Are you sure?" said Cye.
"Yes. They attacked only a few moments ago."
"We had better check it out," said Kento. "Majare-"
"I'm coming with you," she said. "If I'm going to fight Talpa, I have to learn how to fight the Dynasty. Soldiers included."
"You might get hurt," said Cye. "You're already injured. If you get hurt further..."
"Cye, I do not need a father- fathers- right now. I need warriors who wish to fight the Dynasty as much as I do and I need teachers on how to fight as well. Don't try and protect me from my destiny."
"As long as your destiny's not to die," said Rowen. She shrugged.
"It's happened. Now let's go. They might go after the Gorans next. And that's definitely another thing I can't let happen."
The End
A/N: Yet again, give me time with the second one. GRRRR! I don't love my 'puter so much~sniffle~