Ch.3 Ambush

A dark figure stood over boiling pits of clay and blood inspecting the moving creatures that sprawled and writhed in agony as they took form. The figures climbed out of the pits in a frenzy screeching and wailing in pain as the boiling mixture left their skin. When the creatures fully exited their pits of origin they stood up straight for their master as he walked past each of them and inspected their forms for any imperfection that might hinder them in battle. When the dark form finished viewing his creations he spoke to them with a commanding presence, "You are all perfect and shall serve your purpose well. Your role on this earth is to destroy all in your path, you will taste Hylian flesh you will slaughter thousands all in the name of our Lord!" The monstrosities shrieked in response to their master as they agreed to the purpose given to them.

Behind the figure was a large forge filled with all manner of hellish machines and minions creating weapons of destruction and unholy armor. The forge stretched far in the deep catacombs beneath the earth in the volcanic regions of the Dead Lands. The Dead lands were the staging point for the invasion of Hyrule and the creation of a new army of creatures that had never been seen by any before. The dark figure looked out at the large forge and laughed knowing that Hyrule's end was close at hand.

The Dead Lands had long been the homes of outcast moblins and minor monsters who were driven out of Hyrule long ago. While their were monsters in the Hyrule midlands none of them were truly native to the kingdom, they were merely raiders who attacked anything worth their time. The Dead Lands were uninhabitable by any who were true beings of light, which made it the ideal place for creatures of darkness to call it home.

Many of the Hylian Chronicles tell tales that the Dead Lands were once a paradise that held life. Some say it is where the first civilization of Hylians lived without the fear of sickness, old age, or death. All of this changed when a horde of monsters attacked the kingdom bringing death and destruction along with them. It was the power of the Goddesses alone that saved the Hylian people from complete annihilation at the hands of evil. The capital city was raised to the heavens to save them and protect the those that would save the land below long before they were ever born. As the centuries passed the Hylians were brought down from the floating city and settled in new lands far from the the dark beings that tainted their old home.

The caravan of refugees marched along the rough terrain of the rocky hills and steep slopes. There where very few accidents that occurred along the way, broken wheels, mules and horses injured, all of these incidents could be easily taken care of and didn't slow the march. Link walked next to Epona thinking about the arrival at Steel Wall Keep. "It would do these people good to relax and know that they are are safe from attack" He told Epona as he patted her neck. "You'd also get some nice fresh carrots as well" he said with a smile which caused her to snort, with approval, in response. Link chuckled "Mention the word carrots and she will come running" he told himself as he walked the rocky path.

"We have two more days before we arrive at Steel Wall keep at the current pace we are going and as long as no more incidents with our carts and wagons then we may arrive around mid to late afternoon" Shad said as he look at the map and a piece of paper that had the distance the caravan had traveled. "That's good to know, the sooner we get to the keep the sooner we can relax" replied Ashei as she stretched lazily on the ground, imagining a warm soft mattress to lay on.

"The first thing I'm going to do when we get there is sit down in the tavern and order a great big juicy steak with a large glass of milk on the side" Talo added with a grin on his face.

"Don't forget the beautiful bar maidens that will serve themselves to you along side a nice tall glass of ale" said Auru with a perverted smirk on his face as he thought of the imagery.

"Yes we'll get to do all that and more when we finish the journey, until then we need to stay on guard" Link told them as he returned tired and eager. "We need to continue our patrol of the camp site be fore we go to bed" Link smirked as everyone groaned getting to their feet. "Do we have to Link" whined Talo as he picked up his sword and shield. "Come on Talo we have to do as Link says no matter what" Colin said with enthusiasm.

The evening patrol went without a hitch yet Link still felt uneasy, as if someone or something was watching them. He kept his eyes on the horizon that he might see anything that looked suspicious. 'I'm getting paranoid' Link thought to himself as he turned his back to the mountains and walked back to the campsite to get some shut eye.

Seven Miles Away...

"What is it? What do you smell?" asked a large moblin to his tracker that picked up the scent of something delicious. "Hylian Flesh!" the tracker squealed with blood lust knowing that the large band was not far from the bands current location.

"We could catch up to them tomorrow if we rode at first light" the scrawny moblin told the leader of the band hoping he would soon satisfy his blood lust. As soon as the leader heard this he let out a roar alerting the other Boar Riders of their find.

It hand been far to long for the raiding party to remember the last time Hylian was on the menu. They had complained about the maggot filled bread they were forced to eat after they set out from the Dead Lands, and now because of their patience they would soon feast to their hearts content when the sun rose. "MEAT WILL BE ON THE MENU TOMORROW BOYS!" the Raid leader shouted to his riders causing them to howl with blood lust.

Link was the first to awaken before the sun rose and quickly awoke the guards and his fellow knights that they may get the caravan moving. The trip to Steel Wall was almost over as a days journey was the only thing standing in the way if they put in the effort they probably would only have half a day's worth of march tomorrow Link thought to himself as he readied his saddle.

There were some mumbles and groans from people getting ready after a short period of time. Many of the people who were complaining didn't live on the frontier of Hyrule instead they lived further in land with no reason to fear attacks from the monsters every day. Link was angered by this, they didn't see what he saw; bodies half eaten, ripped apart, skinned, and burned. He wanted to show them why they were marching that they may know the horror he felt when he arrived at the village.

"LINK!" who snapped from his train of thought by Illia. "Are you OK you were looking off into the distance" Illia asked her voice full of concern. "Oh? sorry" Link answered her with and unsettled voice as Illia tried to figure what was on his mind. 'Link has been acting strange for the past few days, its as if his spirit was injured, did he see something in the first village that made him this way?' she thought to herself as she looked to the man she had grown up with and fallen in love with.

Illia knew that Link was in love with the princess despite the chances of him those affections being accepted by society were very slim. Link was in love with a woman who couldn't love him because of her status as the Princess of Hyrule. Yet she was a knight as Link and could return his affections without any repercussions in societies eyes. Link was the perfect man in Illia's eyes, he was kind, compassionate, loyal and yet he could not look at her the same way he looked at Zelda. She would never be Zelda, she would never be as beautiful as her nor as graceful, she knew this, yet she would not give up her affections to the only man she loved.

Four hours of constant marching had led the caravan to the clearing that would make the journey easier for the entire caravan to travel and reach the fortress with less than a day and a half journey to go. All seemed well the peasants were in a better mood than they had been in days, the knights were all in high spirits as they knew the Keep would have all the pleasantries they could ask for.

Yet the one thing going through his mind was the last time Link had spoken to Zelda before he left for the frontier...

Flashback...

Link walked through the castle gardens admiring the beauty around him, yet none of it could compare to the beautiful woman he was walking with right then and there. "Link what are you staring at?" said an Angelic voice that always put him under her spell. "I'm staring at you my lady your beauty out shines the garden" he said giving Zelda a slight blush.

He truly loved her, he loved everything about her, he thought about her every moment weather he was happy or sad. He loved her and he wanted to show her his affection. He slowly move his lips towards hers, determined to show her his love physically, even if it was just a simple kiss. Their lips connected softly as they embraced, at first it was a soft and gentle kiss, yet after a few moments they began kissing more passionately.

Then Link felt Zelda push him away trying to end the kiss that they were sharing. Zelda broke the kiss and he didn't know why. "What's wrong was I too rough or.." he began until Zelda stopped him. "No. It was perfect yet we can't do this Link" Zelda said with a regretful voice. "Why can't we? There is no one here and even if their were what would it matter?" "Link you know full well why? You are a knight, and I am royalty, we could never be happy together no matter what we feel." Zelda said with tears forming on the sides of her eyes.

"I don't care! I'd face the hordes of Gannon every day for the rest of my life if it meant you would be mine. I wont let our different classes dictate weather we can love one another." Link told her. She could see that he wasn't lying, that he truly meant every word, yet this made her next words even harder to say without falling to the ground crying. "Link please if you love me..." She started as tears threatened to flow from her eyes "...you will leave me and never return as a lover. You will find a woman who will love you and spend the rest of your days together." "How can you say that with a straight face after all that we've been through?!" Link demanded as he felt the feelings of sorrow and anger flowing out of him uncontrollably.

"Link Go! Please" Zelda said one last time before looking away. With that Link left without a second glance. Yet if he looked back he would have seen a crying princess in the garden as the pink petals of the blossoming tree fell.

End Flashback...

He felt a tightness in his chest as he thought about that tragic moment that he wish could never have existed in time.

Two hours later...

"Why do we have to be in the back?" whined one of the knights as they rode behind the caravan. "It's because we are the rear guard, that means we have to protect the caravan from any attacks that come from behind" responded his companion who took the duty as a great honor. "Yeah well what about when we get attacked from the front huh? We get stuck here while the others get all the action" the first rider retorted having a sour look on his face.

"Well just suck it up alright we are bound to get into a batt- URK!" the second knight said as an arrow lodged itself in the back of his neck. His companion didn't have enough time to respond to the shock as his head was sliced off by a cleaver in the hands of a moblin rider.

The Moblin saw that he had a straight shot to the rest of the caravan without any resistance. He took the horn he had on the side of his saddle an blew into it signaling the rest of the raid party to attack.

(Play King Arthur Hans Zimmer then play Battle of The Mounds)

Link, who was ridding in the middle of the caravan, heard a horn being blown from the rear. It defiantly wasn't a Hylian horn but it sounded very similar to a...

"ALL RIDERS HEAD TO THE REAR!"Link shouted realizing they were under attack. He turned Epona around quickly riding as fast as he could towards the rear of the column. Several Knights began following him having heard his orders ridding as fast as their steeds could go down the narrow path.

Link was further ahead than any of the other Knights that he saw three moblin riders at the top of the Hill before him. He drew his sword in one swift motion as he charged towards the three raiders. One rider lead the charge towards Link, blood lust clouding his judgement. Link slashed diagonally slicing across the moblins torso killing him instantly as he continued up the hill he slashed his sword across the waist of the second rider who shared the same fate as his companion. The final moblin tried turning his boar around half way down the hill which caused his steed to spin fast causing him to fly onto Link's waiting sword.

After pulling his sword free from the moblin corpse he made it to the top and saw a sight that sent a chill down his spine. In the distance there was a large moblin raiding party which may have numbered about two hundred and fifty and the very least. The open field allowed the raiders to spread their forces to gain more control of the battle field having a more devastating affect on the defending army.

Link knew that the odds were against the knights two to one at the very best, at the very least they would be three to one. Staying at the top of the hill Link surveyed the area seeing that the best way for his knights to win was a tight wedge formation. It would allow them to break through the moblin rider line with ease being the best option for victory. The only flaw with the plan is that it would restrict the knights mobility and allow archers to have easy pickings at the knights. 'It's a risk I'll have to take' Link thought to himself as the Hylian knights rode up to meet him.

"Wedge Formation" Link yelled at the top of his lungs waving his sword to his oncoming allies. When all of the Knights were in formation they began riding forward, slowly at first then their pace quickened until they were in a full on charge towards the unorganized moblin lines.

The mounted moblin archers fired a volley of arrows at the Hylian Knights killing a few yet not enough to stop the charge nor lower the morale of the Knights. The Moblins were startled at first yet they kept riding forward, the Knights kept riding at their pace ready to collide with the Moblin raiders lowering their lances and drawing their swords. The gap between the two opposing forces quickly became smaller and smaller until their was but a good five meters between the two enemies.

They clashed with one another with a force that was devastating some riders went at the same speed as those they were attacking others where trampled under cloven foot and hoof alike until the Knights were through the moblin lines. Without stopping Link immediately spun around lead the charge into the Moblin raiders once again with similar results.

Link was ready to break through the Moblin lines once more hoping to break their spirit and drive them back. Yet the Moblins were ready for him, the Knights were being surrounded as they attempted to break through a third time. The fighting went from simple charges to chaotic fighting on horse back and foot. several knights were knocked from their horses and many moblins fell from their boars.

The Hylians tried to fight the Boar riders with their spears to little affect with the shafts being splintered only annoying the boars instead of killing them. The moblins tried killing the knights on horse back yet were either trampled or skewered by their lances. Link tried to keep the knights together and have the line reformed yet with all the chaos the he could barely keep more than ten knights together at a time.

Spears were splintered shields were shattered and swords were fragmented across the battle field as both Hylian and Moblin continued fighting. Less than an hour had passed since the two sides began fighting. Link was doing everything in his power to keep the Moblins at bay hacking at anything that had dark green skin and was trying to kill him.

Then when Link least expected it he was knocked from Epona's saddle by a enraged riderless boar. Link fell to the ground yet was able to somersault to the side preventing any major injuries from the fall. Link quickly got to his feet and started attacking the Moblins on foot. As soon as he got his bearing he spotted a boar rider heading towards Talo who was fending off the attacks of another Moblin. Link acted as quickly as possible and ran towards the rider jumping onto the saddle right behind the Moblin.

Link's action was able to steer the boar away from Talo by a foot and a half, while fighting the rider for control. Link couldn't draw his sword to fight the moblin and control the beast which left him at a disadvantage. Link tried headbutting the moblin to no avail and received an elbow to the nose causing him to fall off the saddle once again. Instead of falling to the ground Link's left arm was caught on the boar's leg strap, leaving Link to be dragged across the field and dislocating his shoulder in the process.

The moblin rider tried to club Link yet failed to hit anything vital and kept hitting Link's left arm. Link tried to retaliate against the moblin throwing punches that glanced off the moblin raider merely annoying his foe. Link then spotted a dagger on the moblin's belt and reached for it took hold of the weapon and stabbed at the moblin. Link's strike landed on the moblins torso knocking him off the saddle yet it caused the boar the veer to the left heading towards a cliff side.

Link tugged at the leg strap, with his good arm, trying to get his arm free. He pulled his arm as hard as he could getting closer and closer to freeing himself from the strap with each tug. With one final pull Link freed himself and rolled multiple time until he came to a stop just at the edge of the cliff, unfortunately for the boar it kept running until it jumped off the cliff side squealing.

Link rolled on his back and to a deep breath laughing at his brush with death for the upteenth time. 'I'm going to run out of luck if I keep this up' he thought as he just laid there contemplating his next move. What Link didn't notice until it was to late was as loud crack beneath him. By the time he got the chance to react the fragile cliff side crumbled and he fell.

Hey guys this was a long chapter. Sorry it took so long I've had to deal with allot of personal things in life like family school and work. I'll try to update the next chapter as soon as I can please review and give me pointers on my writing style.