A/N: Pleeeeeaaaasee review. Oh, and read this. And….oh, forget it, just read, review, and (hopefully) enjoy.
Rage had welled up inside of him like a trickle of water leaking through a hole in the surface of a dam. There are two ways in which such a dam may be destroyed. Most common is the more spectacular occurrence. The structure will, under the immense pressure, literally burst, shattering into many pieces, causing an aftermath of destruction in the areas close to the dam. At the opposite end of this range of destruction, the small trickle will slowly erode the rest of the structure, until it collapses into unrecognizable and irreparable wreckage. Both of these are ways in which a man may lose his sanity. In this case, the latter has occurred. Slowly, he has fallen into madness. Should he fall too far, climbing out of the pit of his own madness would be nearly impossible.
'A doctors report on the mental wellbeing of a patient.'
A train of three wagons gradually made their way across the dunes, each emblazoned with the phoenix sigil of the royal family. They made an impressive sight, one that was only made greater by the armoured guards marching beside the caravan. Half a dozen soldiers, outfitted in the light armour of the palace guards made the honour guard for Magur Hedal, a physician of considerable renown. Both men and women formed the army of Hyrule, as the histories say it was over two centuries ago, before the country had abandoned its armed forces.
Since coming out of her prolonged seclusion, the Princess Zelda had put a great deal of time and money into remaking Hyrule in the image of the many prosperous ages long past. To combat the threat of bandits and monsters roaming the land, the Princess had decreed the reformation of the army of Hyrule or, to give it its true name, in the ancient tongue, Do Shaine Erriane, which translates literally as 'The Golden Shield ', or 'Shield of the Golden Ones'. The Golden Ones or the Shaine were both names given to the trio of goddesses worshipped by Hylians. Almost all Hylians worshipped the Shaine. This religion had no name. It wasn't truly a religion, but rather a common set of beliefs. Conflicts never arose between members of different religious groups, as heathens were an extreme rarity in Hyrule, meaning that a cause for aggression almost never came about.
"Ashei!" The rough bark of the guard sergeant cut through the dusty air, not unlike the howls that had permeated the silence of every night since they had set foot upon the plains of Direm.
"Hai, Sergeant?" The woman answered in a travel weary tone..
"Just checking you were still with us. You mountain folks fall to the sun fever long 'afore us city men." There was a hint of a sneer in his voice, though whether for the fair skinned mountainous people or Ashei herself, she could not tell. He certainly did have an inbred disdain for what he called 'country folk', or, indeed, all life outside the nation's capital city. Despite this, he was a lot friendlier and polite than the other four city louts that made up the honour guard. Although women were admitted to the army, very few chose that lifestyle, so Ashei was one of a very small group. She had been volunteered for this expedition after her involvement in a tavern brawl. Drunks never saw the armour of a soldier, or the spear resting against the wall, just another woman drinking alone.
She shifted uncomfortably under the relentless gaze of the sun. With that small movement, she woke from the stupor brought on by endless hours marching across low, sparsely vegetated hills, each identical to the last. Rising from the dry ground, less than a league away, were a cluster of tents pitched beside a small river.
"At last" she hissed under her breath. The driver of the last wagon, the one closest to her, turned to give her a sour look. He was one of those who believed women had no right to wear armour.
"Now we 'ave ter get all ther way back, after bringin' sum brat back ter life. Bloody fool idea, sending us out here." The glares he continued to throw at her showed who he placed the blame on for his own discomfort. Before she could have replied, he opened his mouth again and bellowed "Racha! Racha, you piece of filth, can't you control this girl? Come over here and deal with your own scum." At this, Racha, the guard sergeant, marched over carrying a disapproving frown. Without even bothering to ask what had happened, he ordered her to replace one of the other soldiers at the head of the train, marching almost a quarter mile closer to the Dermine village. The contempt in his voice was now as clear as the smug satisfaction in the wagon driver's leer.
Eventually, Ashei caught up with the leading caravan, only minutes before it entered the village. The trek out to this distant province of Hyrule had taken almost two months. It had been ordered by the Princess, however, in an attempt to bind these far off parts of Hyrule to her with more than lines on a map. She had received word of a Dermine boy, Skrae, the son of the village shaman. She had ordered Magur Hedal, an expert in exotic diseases to journey to the Direm wastes and do all he could to save the boy. The shaman had said, in her message, that she was collecting the rare herbs she knew were used in the treatment. After her expansive list, there was little that the doctor himself needed to bring. To make sure he reached his destination safely, the Princess had given him six guards. Ashei was one of them, Racha another. The other four were unlucky new recruits that had been pointed out by higher ranking soldiers. Although she herself was new to the army, she was an experienced fighter, having grown up in the mountains.
Her father had raised her almost like a son, teaching her the ways of battle and survival in the wilderness. Spending so much time virtually alone, she was always quiet among other people, and avoided spending large amounts of time with any single group of people. She had, despite her avoidance of socialising, become involved in a group calling themselves the Resistance. They attempted to fight a supposed threat that had taken control of the castle, and was slowly corrupting Hyrule. With the aid of a strange boy in the throes of adulthood from Ordon Village in the far south, in the Ordona province, they had succeeded. He was the most popular rumour at the moment. To listen to gossip in a tavern would bring a dozen tales of his heroics. Some claimed he was the ancient hero reborn, others that he was a rebel or a bandit turned hero. Others still, the ones who had seen his eyes, claimed he was a demon tamed by the Princess.
Despite the overbearing heat, Ashei shivered at the memory of those eyes. She had seen them before, on her father, the day he died. He had worshipped a semi-deity, the spirit of an Ice Jackal living on the snowy wastes beyond the mountains. All her life, she had learnt the customs of this obscure cult, called the Icaen. Now she alone followed the way of the Icaen. Knowing that sickness would take him, her father had called down the spirit of the Jackal God into his body. It was how all Icaen died, unless steel or poison stole their souls prematurely. For a time, they became one with the beast lying within them. For a time, they knew what it truly meant to live. It was how she was going to die. There was no escaping destiny. From that day, she remembered nothing but her father's eyes, the green-clothed hero's eyes, the eyes of a wild beast.
"Did ye see tha beast as ye crossed tha plains?" The excitable voice of a small child pulled her from her memories. "My brother saw it las' week. He said it looked like a man, but it acted like a beast! Shaman says he was once a man, but 'e changed. My brother thinks it's possessed by a demon! The men are goin' ta hunt it in tha night. Are ye a soldier, miss? Are ye goin' wi' them?" The child's voice, thickly accented as it was, was still recognizable enough to stir an icy chill deep within her.
'Is it possible that it's him?' Ashei thought in horror. 'It can't be…I must go with these hunters. If he really was taken by a beast, then only Icaen can bring back the man.'
A/N: That should keep you happy for a while, heh, I almost forgot to upload this. For those of you who don't remember, Ashei is the armoured girl, part of the resistance, who stands in the entrance to Snowpeak, near the Zora's domain. In this little tale, she has joined the army. Hyrule IS full of sexism. Sorry, but that's life. Seriously, how many of the castle guards have you seen that are women? None.