Chapter 3: A bottle of moomoo milk goes a long way
The Rocky crag was always a problem for the Ordona province when it came to transporting resources from the town of Newloft to Howshire, going around the Rocky Crag was troublesome and a horribly long and costly journey, taking a whole month to get to Howshire and a whole month back to Newloft.
Going through the Rocky Crag would make a whole trip a third of time going around it, the crag was treacherous and mighty, the stone being loose and easy to break off, leading to rock slides and land spouts, the chasms were filled with sharped and jagged stone and the gaps within the path was deadly and dangerous, The Rocky Crag was also home to bandits, Hyrulian deserters were a common occurrence during these trips, ambushing trade caravans as an attempt to rob them of their rupees and resources.
At first, they were usually slain without much effort, their armor was Hyrulian-craft of course but it was heavily worn-down due to lack of upkeep and the terrible environment they reside in.
But each passing trade caravan session, more and more bandits would ambush, in higher frequencies and in higher numbers, just last session, the caravans of the Newloft were attacked by Hyrulian Deserters five times, each of them having more and more bandits to throw at the Caravan, they even had connections to some Keaton Bandits, the clever bidpedal foxes would never confront a caravan guard head on and instead just go for stealing supplies.
Howshire was a necessity for the Ordona Province, they were the closest town near the natural breeding lands for their mounts, the horners, without the town and their easy access to their cavalry mounts, the Province will be heavily hindered against the attacks and assaults of their neighboring enemies, the Stalfos and the Moblins.
The leader of the Newloft caravan was named Emeya, she was a little to young to be manning a caravan, she hasn't traversed into a full, true lady yet but her willingness and the general lack of caravan leader volunteers made her take the mantle.
Her regular farming clothes were covered by a thin chainmail shirt, enough to stop a blade from gutting her, but hopeless against a hammer or a mace, her hair was as red as embers and tied to a ponytail.
She had a sword sheathed and her shield tied to her back, the rest of the caravan was following her as she rode on her trusty horse, it was dead silent as most of the caravan drivers and guards were keeping to themselves, trying to stay calm within the bandit-ridden Rocky Crevice.
While on their travels, the caravan came across an elderly cloaked man, quietly resting on a smooth stone, resting his old and brittle bones as his large and thick walking stick was subsiding on the ground, Emeya raised an eyebrow from such an occurrence, she would never expect someone, someone old even, attempting to go through the Rocky Crag, alone at that.
The Elderly robed figure turned its shadowed head to Emeya in particular and waved silently to the young Caravan leader, he spoke in a weak and raspy voice.
"Hello...I never expect someone as youthful as you to leading a Caravan..." He said as he attempted to get up from his resting place, groaning lightly from the pain as his sore and old bones cracked and popped.
"I must lead this caravan, Its for a good cause, Howshire is a town filled with simple citizens and farmers, the Stalfos don't care about that fact." Emeya stated as she noticed that several caravan guards were resting their hands on the hilt of their swords.
Emeya motioned them to calm down but they didn't budge as the Elderly man slowly walk towards Emeya, using his walking stick to support him, he stuck out his hand and asked in a humble tone.
"Can you spare a drink for an old hermit like me? I forgot to bring my water canteen...And I will eventually perish if I don't have a drink..." The Old man pleaded, the Caravan leader was silent, but one of the fellow guards spoke up.
"We're not giving you anything! You're probably with the Keaton and Deserter bandits! Emeya! Slew him now and lets continue onward!" Emeya was completely shocked to hear the guards words, completely apalled from such a violent and cruel suggestion.
"Hand me a Bottle of moomoo milk..." Was all Emeya said, at first, none of the guards moved from their spot, Emeya then gave her fellow Caravan protectors a harsh and fear-inducing glare, this caused one of the guards to go into one of the caravans, picking out a large bottle of Moomoo milk and handed it to Emeya.
"Here, remember, after you drink all of it, you can store it for water..." Emeya handed the bottle to the old man, the old man was heavily gracious for such a gift as he took the gift with cloth-covered hands as he began to walk away from Emeya and the caravan.
"Thank you, young woman...Your kindness will not be forgotten." The old hermit said with a thankful voice before parting ways with the Caravan and its young leader.
"Were you sure about that Emeya? Moomoo milk fetches a high price these days..." One of the guards chimed in, questioning the young girl's decisions, she scoffed as a response.
"No matter...How bad this world can be, there's always room for good..." She recited as if she was reading a poem, the caravan guards blinked and looked at Emeya with several looks of bewilderment.
The Caravan then resumed their travel, the weather was clear and almost cloudless as the Caravan leader Emeya noticed that the sun was setting and nighttime was going to set in.
"We should set up camp before nighttime, we all need a well-needed rest anyway." Emeya commanded the caravans, they all eventually stopped as the various caravan guards and traders and villagers started to set up small camps near the side ends of the Rocky Crag path, the whole road seemed like it was illuminated by the many camp fires of the caravan people.
Emeya decided to rest nearby one of the closest campfires there was, which was littered with the fully-armored caravan guards, they all gave the young caravan leader a stare as she sat down with him.
"Can't believe you gave that old man some milk, seriously, he'll die before he even gets to his destination from old age!" The Caravan guard argued, still frustrated by Emeya's kindness, the other guards began to laugh with him as Emeya remained silent.
"What a fool you are! You do realize that a single bottle of Moomoo milk is worth over 200 rupees nowadays to anyone that isn't Ordona province?!" The guard continued to taunt Emeya who was still focused and patient, the guard threw off his helmet as an attempt to get under Emeya's skin, showing off his slightly scarred.
"And I should be the leader of this caravan! I see more battle in a week than you have in your entire life!" The caravan guard accused, the rest of his friends were silent, not wanting to take it to far.
All the laughing completely stopped when the insulting Caravan guard was shot through the head with an arrow, shocking the surrounding guards and even causing Emeya to yelp from such a sudden death.
"BANDIT ATTACK!" One particular Caravan guard said before he was skewered in the back by three more arrows, immediately the guards and Emeya scrambled to get into battle positions, Emeya could see from uphill an entire of the fox-faced Keaton highwayman, all of them were wielding bows as they fired arrow after arrow, while killing a stationary was a piece for the Keaton, against a ready foe was a bit harder to struck down.
"Get the Caravaneers to their caravans so its safe, equip them with the caravan bows so they can shoot back!" Emeya ordered several guards, her strong stance and battle-ready tone caused the guards to nodded obediently, quickly scrambling so they can safely escort the villagers and non-guards to safety.
"Hyrulian Deserters coming in from the north!, remaining Guardsmen, form a line!" Emeya ordered as the rest of the non-escorting listen to the leaders words, they saw a unorganized platoon of non-affiliated Hyrulians charging towards them, their blades were rusty but sharp and their adrenaline was nerve-wrecking for the Caravan Guards.
Their numbers were excessively high, maybe over a hundred Deserters compared to the measly twenty Caravan guards...Emeya knew for sure that despite their better weapon and armor quality, they will surely lose this battle.
"Hold the line..." Emeya ordered as the Caravan guards pointed their spears against the charging bandits, the Keatons were being pelted by a barrage of arrows from the defending caravan people, using the rocks as a form of makeshift cover as they avoided the arrows.
"Hold the line..." Emeya said once again as the guards attempted to remain calm and high in morale as they heard the screams of caravan people behind them as they protected the fullfront of the long line of caravans.
"Now! Charge!" Emeya ordered as she started to run towards the bandits, without the second thought, the caravan guards roared out a battle cry as they charged into the platoon of bandits wanting to fight alongside their leader, their spears adorned and ready to kill whatever they find themselves in.
But...As the guards charged, they began to notice that they had reinforcements that quickly joined their side.
"WAAAGH!" The Moblins roared as they charged along with the Caravan guards, they were about thirty of them with their clubs of spikes and stone over their heads as their blood curdling roars caused the Bandits to be easily intimidated and even demoralized, breaking their reckless charge and turning it into a stunned stand still as the caravan guards alongside the arrived mob of Moblins clashed against the bandits.
"Kill them! Bash them! Stomp them! Let none of these puny soft-skins reach the wagons!" A chieftain of the Moblins roared as he smashed his war-axe against a helmless head of a Hyrulian desserter, both crushing and slicing the poor bandit's skull
The Moblins roared in agreement as they fought alongside the Caravan guards, despite their lack of metal armor and well-made weapons, their general bigger size and strength compared to the average Hyrulian bandit and the Ordona Caravan guard was easily the deciding factor in their chance in victory.
Emeya was confused to say the least...Moblins were always a looming threat for Province of Ordona...But now they're fighting alongside them...
Emeya's train of thought was interrupted by her thigh getting shank by a Keaton bandit, Emeya screamed in pain as she tried to kill off the fox-man with a slash of her sword only for the Keaton to easily dodge the attack, blood trickled down her pant-covered thigh as the Keaton tried to stab her again, she blocked the shiv with her sword and then slashed the keaton in the stomach, easily slewing the bandit.
Then, Emeya had to face two Hyrulian Desserters, one of them weld a rusty-looking spear and the other one held a shortsword and a wooden shield.
Before the Desserter with the spear could even make his first move, he was quickly slammed down to the ground by the mace of a nearby Moblin, the Moblin roared loudly, showing its set of sharp fanged teeth to the downed Deserter before smashing the Bandit's face into a red meaty paste with several slams of his mace.
"Brother! nooo!" the sword and shield bandit said as he stabbed his shortsword right into the Moblin's unarmored back, the Moblin screeched in pain as blood oozed from his newly-acquired wound, Emeya knew what she had to do.
With a quick lunge of her sword, she quickly killed the attacking bandit as her steel sword gutted the Bandit, the bandit crumpled to the ground as the Moblin pulled the sword off of his back.
"Thank you, Ordona Woman..." The Moblin thanked Emeya before he resumed fighting, bashing another Bandit in the face with his club and knocking his helmet clean off, Emeya noticed that the Keaton were being slewed by a small group of Moblins that rushed up to where the fox-faced bandits were shooting at, she had no idea how and where the Moblins came from, were they spying them and waiting for a perfect raid on the caravan? If so, why aren't they killing the caravans and taking the resources they want?
Emeya quickly dodged by a spear lunge from one of the Bandits before she shield bashed the bandit away from her, the bandit fell to the ground where a nearby caravan guard finished the bandit off with a downward stab of his spear.
"This is hopeless! Retreat!" One of the bandits yelled in fear and terror, the non-injured and wounded bandits desperately tried to retreat from the forces of the Caravan and the Moblin Mob, leaving their dying and dead comrades behind.
Emeya gripped her bloodied thigh as she looked over the aftermath of the battle, her caravan guards were heavily injured but none dead as they mercy killed the dying Bandits, the Moblins were doing a similar act, but with more brutality, ripping out the throats of bandits or smashing them until they're nothing but broken dead bodies, only some of the Moblins were doing this, the rest of them were peacefully lording over the dead bodies, looking if their was anything valuable on the bandits.
Emeya dropped to the ground as an attempt to make herself comfortable, the wound in her thigh bleeding profusely, she looked like she was about to cry but remained strong.
"Ordona Woman..." Emeya heard, a moblin was walking up to her with a small roll of bandages in his hand, it looked dirty but serviceable, the blue-furred Moblin kneeled down to the ground to get to Emeya's level, with careful and surprisingly...Gentle hands, the Moblin wrapped up Emeya's wound, she bit her lip as it stung worse than the actual dagger that strike her but she didn't let out a single sound as the Moblin was finished.
"Our Leader would like to speak with you..." The Moblin said as Emeya raised an eyebrow, as did the other recovering Caravan guards
Being accompanied by five Moblins armored to the toe with black fierce-looking plate armor was the same cloaked old man that Emeya helped early on their journey, the Warleader of the moblins took off his hood, revealing to be an old and scraggly moblin, despite the tusks he has and the beard, he still smiled at the Ordona Caravan Leader.
"Thank you for saving my life..." He handed Emeya the empty milk bottle with his aged, bony and blue hands, Emeya accepted the gift graciously.
"...Who are you?" Emeya asked as she stared at the old hunched over Moblin, one of his masked elite guards answered Emeya.
"He is Dabongah, Sage of the Moblins, King Ganon's personal Adviser and the Spirit Leader of our kind, We suggest to give him respect." The elite guard said as he pointed at the girl, his voice being deep and muffled due to the heavily-concealing helmet he was wearing.
Dabongah frowned as he smacked the Elite's hand away in a disapproving manner.
"It is not kind, to treat this Ordona Maiden with disrespect, she was one that saved my life after all." Dabongah lectured, the Elite guard looked down in shame before bowing to Emeya as a way of respect, causing the Ordona Caravan leader to be taken aback from this newfound politeness that she never expected Moblins to have.
"I am sorry, for showing Dishonor, milady..." The elite said in a guilty tone.
"You were right with what you said earlier...This world can be a terrible force, but theirs always room to have some good..." Dabongah recited in warming tone, causing Emeya to smile.
"But I thought all Moblins were enemies of the Ordona Province." Emeya said suddenly, just realizing that fact just now, Dabongah lowered his head as he rested his walking staff on his shoulder.
"We Moblins are divided by differing clans, with each general of Ganon serving as the Clan leaders, we keep to ourselves mostly, and...It only takes a little shove..." Dabongah poked the empty milk bottle.
"To cause an avalanche." Dabongah finished, flashing a toothless smile on his wrinkled face, Emeya smiled once again, she wasn't used to such a friendly moblin before.
"Do you want us to escort your caravan to your destination...What is your name?" Dabongah asked as Emeya noticed from the corner of her eyes that a Moblin was tending a injured Caravan guard.
"Its Emeya, and with all due respect, no thank you...Sage Dabongah...We believe we can handle ourselves...But..." Emeya placed a finger on her chin before she finished her sentence.
"Perhaps do you want stay with us for the night? You and your forces must be famished!" Dabongah face lit up from the sound of a meal.
"We will highly like that...Thank you, Ordona Leader; Emeya..." Dabongah said as he snapped his fingers, causing his elite guards to be at ease, tired of standing up straight and acting like lifeless moving statues for the Spirit leader of the Moblins.
"Thank you for coming in our time of need..." Emeya said with a thankful smile on her face.
"Thank you, for doing the same." Dabongah replied as he began to walk to the nearest campfire, no matter if it was surrounded by Ordonians or Moblins, and sat down.
The night was spent with the Visiting Moblins eating a foraged dinner with Emeya and her caravans, they were songs of the two races, Ordona flavored songs played by the flute and lute, Moblin-like songs played with roars and goat-skin pipes.
Their was laughter, food and a sense of mutual respect for both races, all surrounded the many warming camp fires.