Legacy of a Deserter

The Rise and Fall of King Igos du Ikana

Chapter 2: Escape

Hyrule field used to be the brightest shade of green Igos had ever known. Its radiance was more wondrous than the daytime sky and more dazzling than the stars at night. In his youth he would run through the grass and sit under the trees. He'd take off his shoes and let the soft emerald blades run through his toes and tickle his feet. Igos would never see that shade of green ever again. The fields were now darker and no longer that youthful shade. The emerald hew had been tainted by the blood spilt upon it. Blood of both Hylian and Gerudo. That crimson poison had sunk into the ground and the grass drank of it. Died of it.

Igos mourned the color of the grass as he was escorted by five guards. Four of the guards held bright red poles attached to a tight metal collar around Igos' neck. They wore the standard issue royal guardsmen outfit but elected to be without their helmets. The last guard was lieutenant Lor who had volunteered for the position. Lor was a survivor of the eastern front of the war. Without Igos' western defensive to hold off the Gerudo, it was only a matter of time before the east was overrun with the overflow of enemies. Lor, understandably, blamed Igos for the fall of the defensive and, thus, the war. He was mounted up on an armored horse and carried a long spear at his side as he led the group.

They were only ten paces north from the castle gates and Igos already felt the urge to break away. He looked around but only saw the stony faces of the guards around him. Igos started to panic when they reached Lon-Lon ranch and continued eastward.

"Lieutenant." Igos tried to get Lor's attention yet he continued to ride his horse.

"Lieutenant!" Igos tried louder but the man continued to ignore him.

"For goddesses' sake, Lor!"

"Quiet!" one of the guards yelled back and jolted their pole up. Igos' collar jammed itself into his jaw and he staggered to one side. The sudden disciplinary action caused the other guards to stagger but they quickly recovered and added to the discomfort.

"Let him speak." the lieutenant said after a long pause. The guards then relaxed as they stood Igos up again and continued their walk.

"Where are you taking me?" Igos questioned as he rubbed his jaw with shackled hands.

"We are taking you to your death. Your execution."

"Yes, I know that, I was at the trial. But if you haven't noticed this isn't the town square and you're not the executioner. So I ask again, where are you taking me?"

"Executions are no longer done in town, it is a recent decree. Since King Johannes has been in power, executions are carried out in Kakariko." Lor hesitated, "You will be executed by the creature of the tomb."

Igos' eyes went wide and he stopped moving.

"You can't be serious. You… you can't… you wouldn't give me to that evil creature!"

Lor turned his horse around to face the large man struggling, and succeeding in keeping the four guards from guiding him closer to the mountain village.

"You have been found guilty of desertion and treason, Igos. History will remember you as the most evil person to prostrate themselves before the throne. I think your punishment is much too lenient but the king has chosen your fate. You are to be executed by the demon of Kakariko, Bongo-Bongo!"

"No! Please!" Igos screamed as he fell to his knees.

Lor hopped off his horse but kept his distance from Igos, "It is what you deserve after abandoning your men, leaving them to die."

"Please Lor! I know you and Tai were close but you can't blame me for his death!"

Lor's face, at the mention of Tai, went dark and his eyes burned around the image of the kneeling Igos. He threw down his spear, it landing just out of Igos' reach, and placed a hand on his sword at his side. Tai was part of the north-eastern front of the defensive and the second front to retreat after Lor's western line had. The Gerudo who would've been fighting Igos' men supported the rest of their attacking groups and quickly overwhelmed the defenders. Tai was not among the survivors.

"Don't you dare say his name." Lor growled.

"It wasn't my fault!" Igos began struggling with the guards to keep them from talking sense into their lieutenant, "You weren't there, you don't know the skill and precision we were up against!"

"Don't try to justify your cowardice!" Igos noticed Lor's knuckles turning white as he gripped his sword tighter.

"It wasn't my cowardice that killed Tai, it was the Gerudo!"

"If you had kept the eastern front he'd still be alive!"

"He didn't have the skill to take on a Gerudo. Even if I did he'd still be a casualty!"

Lor unsheathed his sword, "Shut your mouth or you'll wish we brought you to Kakariko!"

"I wish Tai was a better soldier! Maybe then he wouldn't have died!"

Lor let loose an earth-shattering war cry as he launched into a full spring towards Igos with his sword held above his head with both hands.

"Lieutenant, NO!" a guard called out but it was too late. Lor brought his sword down with all his might and Igos brought a hand up to deflect the blow. Lor's sword slammed into Igos' shackle right onto the locking mechanism, the steel gouging a deep fissure at a crucial point. The impact emitted a shower of sparks and made the lieutenant recoil from the blunt hit. Before he could ready another attack, Igos thrust his hands apart and the lock on his right shackle fell apart. The hinge opened and Igos freed his shattered right wrist.

Giving him little time to revel in his little victory, Lor came at Igos with another swing of his sword. This time Igos deflected it with the chain of his shackles and got close enough to kick the lieutenant away. Then Igos' collar began to sporadically toss him in several directions. Igos had had enough of this control they had on him, so he grabbed two poles out of their hands and swung them around making three of the guards jump back. The fourth guard ducked and rushed Igos with a dagger. The prisoner grabbed the blade and back-handed the guard holding it while ripping it from his grasp.

Igos wasted no time in bringing the dagger up to his own neck. He stuck the blade into a keyhole in the collar and began working the blade around trying to find the release pin. The rushing adrenaline coupled with the guards rushing back at him made this an extremely difficult task. Then the guards picked up their poles again and the collar resumed its random thrashing. A quick jerk to the right caused Igos' hand to slip and he gouged a small but deep cut into his thumb. The wound didn't even have time to bleed before Igos went back to picking the lock. Lor, with a large muddy shoeprint smudging his polished steel chest piece, had finally caught his breath and walked towards Igos dragging his sword on the ground menacingly. The fourth guard had also rejoined the fray, adding to the effort to keep Igos from unlocking the collars lock.

Then he felt it. For a split second there was a pressure on the blade's tip but the thrashing moved his hand before he could push it down. Igos tried frantically to get the blade back into position feeling as if he was digging into his own flesh. Lor stood up straight and brought his sword up to his shoulder.

"General Igos Ikana! You are hereby executed in the name of the King!"

Lor swung his sword in a horizontal arc, aiming for Igos' neck. But then…

Click.

Lor's sword sailed through the air above the now vacant and open collar moments before Igos' muscular shoulder slammed into him at full force. The guards quickly discarded the now useless collar and surrounded Igos just as fast.

"He's broken free!" one of the guards yelled and they all drew their swords in unison. Igos held his dagger to the side and took a defensive stance, waiting for the first guard to rush him. They didn't offer him that luxury as they all attacked at once. Igos deflected one attack and dodged the other three. He quickly spun around the guard he had deflected and brought his knife to the man's throat. Igos knew this man as Davick and he remembered the man when he was a boy in the army. Igos was in charge of many young and inexperienced privates in his time as general but Davick had become the greatest negotiator he'd known. He even had recommended him for a position in foreign relations before the war. But he wasn't able to get the position before the Gerudo attacked and had since then he believed he had been stuck in the royal ranks of the guard. Igos regretted not being there for his pupil and wished he hadn't been chosen for this assignment.

Igos' dagger cut across the guard's neck and the man fell to the floor. He sputtered as he fell, his blood staining the already sullen grass. The man had barely finished dying before the other guards were upon Igos. They attacked again and again putting everything behind each swing and yet Igos bested them all. The first guard fell when the former general around and plunged his blade into the man's right temple. Igos knew him as Rizzo Fae but everyone called him Dizzy. It was his general clumsiness that added to the charm of his character. A part of Igos believed that he was faking the clumsiness, putting it on as an act for the soldiers who clearly needed the comedy. In battle, training or not, Dizzy was a master tactician with a soft spot for all his comrades. Any time he was in charge of any amount of men he may have finished the mission slower than a turtle, but he never lost a man. Dizzy just cared too much and it prevented him from ascending the ranks.

The second guard fell when Igos exploited a lesser known defect in Hylian armor. In the back where the front and back chest piece meet near the kidneys, there is a small gap just large enough for a small blade to enter. It wounded him and allowed Igos to finish by separating his spine at the base of the skull. To the army, Chrom Sion was a front line soldier and a perfect candidate for the first battalion. To Igos, he was a fool. Chrom was much like Dizzy where he cared about his fellow soldiers far too much. But where Dizzy would lead them from harm, Chrom would put himself between the blade and a friend. Chrom never viewed his life as valuable and was vocal about it as well. His friends and comrades tried to talk him out of this depressed state but Chrom didn't listen. He wasn't depressed in his mind, just insignificant. Igos at one point confronted the man but no matter what Igos said, Chrom was adamant that his life didn't matter and it was better used in the protection of others. Chrom's life was tough but he didn't deserve that.

As the dead guard fell to the ground, the final guard came rushing behind Igos ready to attack. Igos spun around and threw his dagger with all his might. There was a soft thump and the guard fell to the ground with Igos' dagger embedded into his forehead right above the break in his eyebrows. This man's name was Milton Banner and he was an expert archer. Of course the man was proficient in some way with a sword but his accuracy with a bow was unmatched. He was also very proud of himself to a fault. Every day Milton would have another story about how he had saved the royal family, hunted a fearsome beast with one arrow, or even prevented the destruction of Hyrule by simply yelling. His stories were never taken seriously but the men appreciated his imagination as they made great stories that kept morale from dying with their spirits. In a way, Milton knew this but he still told his stories. His philosophy was, "If they don't remember me for splitting an arrow at 500 feet, they'll remember me for my lying mouth." Igos loved his fanciful stories and missed them when he left the army.

Igos stood up straight amongst the guards' bodies. Flashbacks of the barracks and the war forced him to close his eyes and try to rid himself of the intruding thoughts.

"I'm sorry my brothers," he silently spoke, as if in prayer, "I had no choice. My actions are-"

Igos was cut off by the sound of roaring hoofs behind him and he quickly dove to the left. Lor's horse and blade narrowly missed Igos by inches. Though Igos stopped and turned to face Lor, the lieutenant spurred his horse onward towards Hyrule castle. The former general panicked and looked around frantically for a throwable weapon. He spotted Lor's spear and rushed to pick it up. He hefted it in his left hand and took aim at the fleeing lieutenant. After taking speed and angle into consideration, he aimed it up and, with every ounce of strength he had left, threw the spear into a wide arc. The spear was thrown at such a high speed that it pierced the lieutenant's armor just below the right shoulder blade causing him to slump in his saddle.

But the horse kept running.

In fact, it seemed to be running straight for Hyrule's gate despite its rider being gravelly wounded.

"Damn!" Igos cursed the spear that hadn't gone through the man and into the horse. He couldn't do anything now so he turned in the opposite direction and ran.

Igos weighed his options on places to go. He was a fugitive now and had no desire to be captured again. Igos ran straight past the mountain pass to Kakariko, as only execution waited there. No doubt the royal family's lap-dog Impa was there waiting for his arrival. He would be able to fool the Gorons on the mountain but Darunia had a pact with the king and would give Igos away in a heartbeat. Lake Hylia was an option as he was sure the old scientist there would serve as a useful cover but it was much too far away and the guard would be upon him before he even saw its shores. The Zoras were useless as no Zora could keep a secret. Their loose lips were the bane of the army during the war and would undoubtedly be his undoing as well. Finally, the desert was not even an option as the Gerudo would never allow him to live. After losing the war against the crown, he was sure that Hylians were not welcomed on their sands. So there was really only one option left.

As Igos ran past the river that came from the Zoras' waterfall, horns blared from the castle and galloping horses echoed from behind him. This only spurred him on faster towards a break in the trees and brush that separated the lost woods from Hyrule field. Igos dived in and ran straight through a tunnel made into a hollowed-out log, the noises of the hunt for him growing distant.