The Hero of War:
A Legend of Zelda Fanfiction
Written by:
Jozepi4
Chapter 2
Day after day young Link trains with his father, the air hissing with each swing of his sword. After a few hours of vigorous warmup exercises with his father he finally settles down under a tree to meditate and center himself.
"Feel the flow of nature around you, the wind moving effortlessly through the trees and grass and around your limbs. The solidity of the ground beneath your feet. The cold of the snow around you." Link's father leans on his crutch, smiling at his son.
Link breathes slowly, his eyes gently closed and his whole body relaxed, his sword propped against him.
"Good...good...now stand and ready yourself. Today we move on from practice dummies."
Link opens his eyes and looks at his father curiously, standing up and drawing his sword from it's sheathe. "What do you mean father?"
The old Captain just smiles and steps aside, revealing one of the Kokiri villagers, the hilt of a small sword visible over the small creature's shoulder.
"A Kokiri?" Link tilts his head bemusedly. "But Father, the Kokiri are peaceful, they do not know how to-"
Link is cut off as the small childlike creature leaps forward, drawing and slashing the small sword from his back faster than Link could blink. It was all Link could do to raise his sword, the impact knocking him backwards.
"They may be peaceful, but they do know the ways of war my son." The old Captain laughs softly, lowering himself down to a sitting position under a tree. "This is Domoria, keeper of the Kokiri-Sword and a great warrior amongst his people. He will teach you some of the finer points of swordsmanship."
Link nods at his father and takes a defensive stance, his eyes locked onto Domoria's as he smiles back at Link. Link lets his sword arm hang freely, ready to swing his sword should the Kokiri come any closer.
"You have a good stance Youngling, but you don't know where to hold your sword." Domoria darts forward, lunging with his small sword. Link jumps to the side and retaliates, swinging his own weapon down at the blade of his opponents.
His sword makes contact with nothing but air, nearly embedding it in the ground. Link stumbles a bit with the force of his swing and he falls to his knee, feeling the coldness of a steel edge on the back of his neck.
"You would be dead if I was fighting to kill, Youngling, if you had been holding your sword in a more ready position you could have deflected my attack instead of dodging it, giving me time to change my footing and get behind you."
Link gets to his feet slowly, his head drooping and his sword hanging loose in his grip. He nods slowly and looks up at Domoria, an angry look in his eye as he tightens the grip on his sword.
Domoria nods and raises his sword, getting into a ready stance. "This stance would be better for you, your arms are not strong, but that will change. This stance will be better until then, allowing you to use your opponents strength to fortify your own."
Link nods, adopting the stance indicated by Domoria, his sword held loosely in his fingers. Domoria lowers his own sword, adjusting Link's stance slightly and then steps back with a grin.
"That should do it Youngling, I think that will do."
The Captain watches all of this with a smile, laughing at the defiant look in his son's eye and nodding happily at how fast Link gets into the proper stance. He silently watches as the Kokiri instructs Link on each movement, showing him how to deflect a blow and then follow through, where to aim his strikes, and where to cover himself. Domoria glances over at the old Captain and he nods approvingly, indicating that he would like Domoria to spar with Link.
"Okay Youngling, I think you are ready to try sparring with me. Just remember, flow from one movement into the next, and keep a level head." Domoria smiles reassuringly at Link and raises his sword, gripping it lightly in one hand. Link nods and taps the tip of his blade against Domoria's, settling into a slightly different stance than the one they had practiced. "Youngling, your stance is wrong, you are holding your legs to close together."
"My stance is fine Domoria, this is just more comfortable for me." Link sidles to the side, his eyes locked on Domoria's. Link smiles and straightens up, lowering his sword. "Domoria, if I win this match I want you to tell me how you obtained your sword, my mother told me it was lost decades ago."
Domoria smiles softly and nods, lowering his stance slightly. "As you wish Youngling, though you will not win. You have only had one short lesson, this is to test your ability to retain that knowledge."
Link grins and settles into his stance again, his sword held in front of him with one hand resting on the flat of the blade. "Then test me Kokiri."
Link lunges forward, ducking to the side when Domoria does, knocking his blade aside and sweeping his legs from under him. Domoria quickly recovers, rolling to the side and swinging the flat of his blade at Link's legs. Link jumps over the swing and backpedals away from Domoria's reach, using the reach of his longer sword to his advantage to lunge and swipe at his arms from outside of his opponents range.
Domoria counters this with his superior speed, ducking and weaving around Link's attacks, rarely making one of his own. When Link finally stops his barrage of attacks they circle each other slowly, eyes locked and panting slightly.
"You have learned well Youngling, I am pleasantly surprised at your skill."
Link smiles and shrugs, letting his guard down for a moment. "Mother and Father always say I am a swift learner, I guess this is no diff-"
Domoria suddenly leaps forward, swinging his sword around to smack Link's sword from his hand. Instead of hearing the ringing impact of steel on flesh, he hears steel on steel as Link quickly deflects the attack, sending Domoria's weapon spinning through the air as he sweeps his legs from under him with a quick kick, resting the edge of his sword on the Kokiri's neck.
"I believe this makes me the victor Domoria, or am I mistaken?" Link grins widely, helping the dumbstruck Kokiri to his feet.
"Yes...yes it does...how did you manage to do that?" Domoria retrieves his weapon and returns it to it's scabbard with a curious look at Link.
"Like I said, I am a fast learner." Link shrugs and sheathes his own weapon, clasping his hands behind his back. "I believe we had a deal though Domoria, if I won you have to tell me how you found your sword."
Domoria smiles and nods, sitting down and gesturing for Link to do the same. "You are right Youngling, I did promise."
Link's father watches the sparring match quietly, nodding occasionally and clapping his hands and giving a cheer when Link disarms the Kokiri. Getting to his feet and hobbling over towards them on his crutch.
Domoria looks up at the old Captain but continues his story uninterrupted. "After I asked the Great Deku tree about the Kokiri-Sword, he told me how the first Hero of Legends, the Hero of Time grew up in the old Kokiri village and obtained the sword and used it to save Hyrule. He also told me that when the Hero left Hyrule he took it with him to the land of Termina. After that the sword vanishes from history with the Hero, or so we thought. It turns out that the Great Deku Tree somehow obtained the sword after the Hero's death, and it resided deep within him. With the Great Deku Tree's permission I ventured inside him and found it, using it to fight my way back out, because when I took it from it's resting place strange creatures appeared, Deku Babas and other such plant like animals."
Link looks up as his father sits next to him and then he looks back at Domoria, stopping him for a moment. "There were no monsters until you picked up the sword? That seems rather strange."
"It is not unheard of though my son." Link's father crosses his arms and nods slightly. "It must have been the Great Deku Tree's way of testing Domoria to see if he was worth of carrying this ancient weapon."
Domoria smiles and nods eagerly, rocking back and forth a bit like a child. "That is what the Great Deku Tree told me when I emerged with the sword in hand. He also gave me the scabbard and the sword belt, I know not from where they came, but they are not of Hylian make."
He removes the sword belt from his torso and passes it across to the old Captain, who holds it up in his hand to examine it in the bright winter sunlight. He turns it over a few times, rubbing his thumb across the engravings and the embossed Kokiri emblem on the belt.
"Hmm...the leather is very finely made, definitely not Hylian, but it seems more Kokiri in origin."
Domoria nods at this and gestures at the scabbard itself. "but the blade and scabbard are metal, and the Kokiri do not have any skill in this area, we are simple wood folk."
The old Captain lays the Kokiri-Sword across his lap, staring in silence at the scabbard and drawing the sword from it, holding it up to the light, the blade more like a dagger or short sword for his adult arm.
"This is definitely not Hylian steel, but it is from Hyrule. I have seen it's like before, it is similar to the weapons made by the Goron's for the Royal Family's guard and for the shiekah. The scabbard on the other hand more closely resembles the workmanship of the Zora people, they are renowned for their armor. It would seem that he who carries this sword would carry a gift from each of the three non-human people of Hyrule, the Kokiri elves of the wood, the Goron rock-men of the mountain, and the Zora fish-people of the lake."
Link watches his father quietly as he examines the Kokiri-Sword, his mouth hanging open at the revelations he has of it's origins. "Father do you really think that the sword is a gift from all three of the non-human races?"
The old Captain nods at his son, passing the sheathed weapon back to Domoria who holds it in his hands.
"That is the legend that is passed down among the Kokiri as well Captain, that the Kokiri-Sword is a gift from all of the races to the Hylian's who rule and protect this sacred land." Domoria turns to Link and smiles, holding the sword out to him. "And now I pass it on to the next Hylian to earn it."
The old Captain and Link both freeze in their surprise, their eyes staring at Domoria as if he has played a bad joke on them.
"Domoria, you must be kidding. You can't give Link such an old and unique gift." The old Captain shakes his head almost angrily, his eyes boring into the Kokiri's small happy ones.
"My Father is right Domoria, I can't accept the Kokiri-Sword."
The Kokiri laughs in an amused sort of way, getting up and walking over to Link, placing the Kokiri-Sword in his hands. "You can and you will accept it Youngling. Or Link as I must now call you. By besting me in battle, you have proved that you are the rightful owner of this weapon and have proved that I have nothing more to teach you. You are no longer a Youngling, you are now an Adult in the eyes of the Kokiri people."
Link takes the Kokiri-Sword silently, drawing it from it's scabbard and letting his eyes wander up and down the blade. He returns it to it's scabbard and looks up at his father to see his reaction.
The old Captain continues to eye Domoria with a strange expression on his face. "I suppose if it cannot be avoided, then we must thank you for this wonderful gift Domoria."
The Kokiri laughs in his sweet way and shakes his head. "It is my duty as holder of the sword, though your thanks is appreciated sir."
Domoria helps Link to his feet and they both help the old Captain up, link holding the Kokiri-Sword in his hand, his own sword hanging on his back. Domoria takes the sword from Link and helps him into the sword belt, the two swords resting alongside each other on Link's back.
"Thank you Domoria, I hope we will get to spar again." Link smiles and shakes the Kokiri's hand, smiling up at his father as he does the same.
"Yes, thank you for your assistance today Domoria."
The Kokiri just smiles and walks into the woods, whistling a happy tune and dancing through the trees. The two humans watch him and then head back toward their home.
The old Captain pats his son on the head and smiles down at him. "You have quite the natural talent for sword fighting my son, maybe now we can try our luck with shields and secondary weapons..."
Over the next few months, Link progressed quickly in every skill his father faced him with. He learned to fight with a shield, using it to block blows and to stun his opponent with a shield bash, using the Kokiri-Sword to practice dual-wielding, archery and even unarmed combat. He mastered them all in a matter of days worth of practice. By the time his thirteenth birthday came to pass he had grown from a child with his first sword to a strapping young lad, his small frame already showing the physique of a warrior. On the final day of his training with his father he arrived ready for anything his father would test him on. His newest sword hung across his back, along with a large wooden shield given to him by the Kokiri and cut from the bark of the Great Deku Tree, the Kokiri-Sword hung at his side and his bow was in his quiver on his back, fifty recently fletched arrows ready to be fired.
Link sits down under his usual tree to meditate, not noticing when his father finally walks up.
"Well son, it is your thirteenth birthday and the last day of your training with me. I have taught you all that I can, and you are a better warrior than I could have dreamed you would be. You are ready for your final tests."
Link looks up in surprise, his surprise growing when his eyes find his father in the early morning gloom. His left arm, usually a stump below the elbow, has a harness running up the upper arm and around his shoulders and neck, holding a strange device over the stump. His crutch was nowhere to be seen, instead he was standing on a strange metallic leg, held in place by another harness running up his side and around his shoulders and waist. In his hand is a case that jingles with internal movement whenever the old Captain shifts his weight. On his back is his sword, freshly polished, the sword belt gleaming like new leather. A leather jerkin adorns his breast, plates of metal riveted along it's surface, forming a flexible but strong suit of armor, with matching leggings and a helmet with the Hylian seal on his head.
"Father...? Your crutch is gone! And that leg! What is going on?" Link climbs to his feet, his green leather jerkin swaying in the breeze.
"These are gifts from the Sages, the very latest equipment for disabled soldiers apparently, a miracle of metal working. Prototypes specially crafted just for me, a gift to thank me for my efforts in the early years of the war." The old Captain puts down the case in his hand, opening it and taking out a curved sword with no handle, just a peg. He slides this peg into a slot in the device over the stump of his arm, locking it into place and raising and lowering the weapon.
"What does this have to do with my final tests Father?" Link asks his father confusedly, eyeing the curved sword and the leg and the armor.
"Well I would think it would be obvious my son, you have to fight me. That is your first test." The old Captain laughs, drawing his sword and swinging it, the blade hissing through the air and streaking like quicksilver. "If you can defeat me then we'll discuss the remainder of your tests."
