Chapter 4 – Night to Remember
"… What the hell?" Ashei said as she peered through the darkened windows of the bar. She'd never known Telma to shut the doors for the night, short of an emergency that would be in the same vein as the moon crashing into the town. Even then, she imagined that this place would still draw quite the crowd.
"If you could grant me a moment," Shad assured, digging into one of the pockets of his purple coat. "I have a spare key. Surely Telma has left us a note inside, explaining the situation."
The warrior sniffed loudly in amusement. "You have your own key to get in? I bet that'd come in handy when you're running low on booze."
"Yes, yes… Don't mind the fact that it specifically comes in handy for moments like these. If you keep that up, I may choose to leave you outside." The scholar replied, holding back a rather undignified eye-roll.
Shad fiddled with the lock longer than he would've liked, though he were glad to be in the company of those who couldn't have mistaken him for a thief. With a final click, he then slowly opened the door into the silent void. The bar was nothing short of eerie without its familiar hostess and perpetual warmth to greet them. Nobody in recent memory would have seen it so quiet, but for the hours before dawn. The chandelier above the entrance swung silently in the light draft that wafted in from the street.
"Pardon us, is there anybody home?" The scholar asked, stepping forward. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Louise ran at his ankles, purring loudly.
Ashei immediately dislodged one of the unlit candles beside the doorway and handed it to Auru, digging around in her own leather bag for flint.
"I wonder what could've caused our bar maiden to abandon her post?" The wiser man of the three contemplated.
Immediately, the other two were struck by the same realisation.
The girl.
"Liza…! Oh heavens, no, I hope nothing bad has happened to them…" Shad sighed, feeling around the room for the nearest table.
"Who is this Liza? A new face in town?" Auru enquired.
"She is… well, she's a new employee at the bar," he explained in an effort to omit any suspicion from the charming girl. "She started yesterday and she's been doing an admirable job, so far."
"Is that so?"
"… We don't actually know anything about her, you know," Ashei said obtrusively, striking her flint over the candle. "She could have a dangerous history. Someone terrible could've followed her into town." Though her visibility was low, she could now feel Shad glaring at her from across the darkened tavern.
"And what exactly should we have done then, Ashei? Thrown her out? Let the inept fools who guard this city take her under their broken wing?"
"Shad –"
"We have given her the best chance at a normal life, here! I don't suppose you saw fit to share any of these concerns with Telma, did you?"
The warrior paused for a moment in a clumsy attempt to avoid further conflict. It seemed to her as though they were hell-bent on arguing all week.
"What I meant to say, Shad… was that there's a lot going on at the moment," she replied patiently. "That girl, Liza or whoever she really is, she's not the only refugee in this crisis. People all over Hyrule are being displaced and sooner or later, these problems are going to take hold of this town, too. These incidents are all connected… somehow."
"It looks like I have a lot to catch up on in our meeting," Auru said pointedly as he lit the other candles in the room.
"If it sounds like I'm blaming her, I'm not, you know." Ashei defended. "But for Telma to suddenly close out of the blue? Don't tell me that's not suspicious."
Shad angrily turned his attention to the main bar, finding a hand-written note from the proprietress herself. "… Sorry to leave on short notice," he read aloud, angling the page into the light. "Liza and I have gone to Kakariko to save a Zora boy who collapsed outside. We are in the care of a swordsman in green, named Link. Please wait for us here… kisses and hugs, signed by Telma."
"The plains surrounding Kakariko Village are full of monsters at the moment. One of their generals was seen there recently, gathering an army." Auru informed darkly. "I hope that this 'Link' is as capable as they seem to believe."
The scholar lay the letter to rest on the bench once again and pulled up a chair to collect his thoughts. "This is truly awful news, indeed. The three of them are in terrible danger," he said quietly, now scratching a very eager cat behind her ears.
With things the way that they were at the present, he questioned the sanity of leaving Hyrule Castle Town in his wild search for the truth. Still, if the world were indeed coming to an end, wouldn't it be the ideal and perhaps the only time to leave?
"… A Zora made it all the way out here?" Ashei faltered, a rare occurrence which caught everyone off-guard. "… I wish I'd known. I'd have helped him myself."
Shad and Auru looked up at her in unison.
"What happened on your travels, Ashei? Do you know something about the Zoras?" Auru asked perceptively.
The warrior let out a tired exhale, overcome with a strange mixture of guilt and apprehension. She knew that there was no point in waiting, as ineffectual as their position might seem. "I wanted to put off telling either of you until Rusl arrived, but… yeah. I noticed some strange weather patterns at Lake Hylia and went further up the river to check it out. It only got worse from there…" she said, shaking her head.
"The weather was… cold. Freezing cold."
"At Zora's River? But it normally has such a warm climate," the scholar interjected.
"That's exactly why it felt wrong. It began to snow and the Hylians who lived there said they hadn't seen any Zoras around. So I followed the trail to their Domain. By the time I got there, whoever had done it was long gone. Queen Rutela was there… slain… and all the Zoras were frozen in the ice beneath her."
"Oh… Ashei, that's… horrible."
"I couldn't do anything – not alone. The best I could manage was to come here, where even our Princess Zelda is powerless to help."
Shad wondered if this was behind some of the recent cracks in his friend's otherwise indifferent exterior. He couldn't recall a time in which they'd clashed so glaringly.
"I think this place is next. They've hit all the other towns now, haven't they?" She asked, looking at the older gentleman in their midst.
"I can only confirm Lake Hylia, Kakariko and Ordon Village, in addition to Zora's Domain." Auru listed.
"But, yes… I would agree that Hyrule Castle Town is likely to be their next target."
"Couldn't the issues at the castle already be proof of this interference?" Shad contemplated.
The sullen warrior made her way behind the bar, pouring herself a healthy amount of spirits. "I mean, yeah – it's highly likely that they're related – but whoever is behind it all loves to make a show of things. We're in for something else. Something worse than our guards and Princess going quiet."
What was going to happen to this city?
And who would be left to defend it after the guards were stripped bare by the problems at the castle?
The ghastly image of the Zora queen in that throne room and her citizens trapped beneath her in the ice wasn't going to disappear in a hurry.
"Anyone else?" Ashei offered with a shake of the bottle. Though she had only recently come of age, she certainly had the airs of a veteran when it came to liquor, and could more than hold her own.
"I certainly wouldn't mind one, considering everything that's happened," came a new voice from the doorway. "Nice to see you've started the meeting without me!"
"Rusl!" Shad beckoned warmly.
A middle-aged helmeted swordsman stepped into the now generously lit bar, hanging his cloak onto the rack next to the door. "Forgive my lateness, I wasn't able to join you earlier on account of my wife and son…" he explained, with obvious fatigue etched into his face.
"What ever happened to them? Are they safe?" the scholar gasped. The atmosphere in the room had grown tense, given the fact that Rusl and his wife Uli were also expecting a baby.
"Both are out of harm's way, for the time being. It appears I have my apprentice to thank for that."
"… You have an apprentice?" The warrior over the bar smirked, pouring Rusl a drink. "Maybe you should send them my way when they're ready for some real survival training, yeah?"
"He's a resourceful lad," Rusl warned. "I wonder if even I have underestimated his abilities."
"Link!"
The young swordsman looked to his side and saw Ilia at the reigns of Telma's carriage horse, thundering dangerously fast across Hyrule Field.
"How are you doing that?!" he called out as she matched the speed of their own horse, Epona. It disheartened him to see that Ilia hadn't batted an eyelid when the ordinarily distant mare approached her of her own accord.
"I don't know!" Liza shouted, almost cheerful in her surprise. "But… I've got this! We're losing them!"
Link looked behind his shoulder and noticed that the hoard had dwindled into a sparse group of three or four Bulblins. Their red eyes and sickly green skin was seemingly luminous in the light of the moon – their wild boar mounts more powerful than they were fast. "Keep going! I'll take care of the stragglers!"
Link pulled on the reigns and held back, swinging his sword to catch the attention of their foes.
In return, Liza gripped tighter to the leather in her hands and powered forward, doing her best to dampen the apprehension she felt for Link's safety.
Why would a normal stranger go to such lengths to assist her and the boy? She wondered. And the strange manner in which he regarded her – it was like a mixture of sadness and relief – held back by some unspoken discipline.
'What an odd thought…'
'Why would he be sad to see me?'
'Did I… do something… before?'
"The road!" Liza gasped, snapping back to the chaos at hand. She could feel their horse beginning to struggle under the weight and stress of the chase, taking the opportunity the swordsman gave them to ease up on their speed.
"Telma, which road do we take?"
"Steer right and we'll take the shortcut through that gate," the bar owner instructed, gripping the younger girl's shoulder. "I have to say darling, you've certainly got your talents about you. Did I happen to pick up the best horse racer in Hyrule?"
Liza threw a tentative look over her shoulder and scanned the field for the swordsman.
The sound of distant hooves reverberated across the plain, followed by the discord of the monsters' reptilian cries. She heard a loud thud as one of them hit the gravel. With a flash of silver it began to bleed profusely from its back, snarling at the others of its kind.
A barrage of fire arrows then flew into the sky with one of them breaking form as it bounced off the swordsman's blade. Link's attention flickered continuously between the carriage, Epona and the dwindling onslaught, which erupted sporadically from his left, right, and once more from behind.
One of the monsters called to the night, omitting a pattern of unpleasant growls.
'That sound… No, not that sound… please…'
"T-Telma… I… can't…" Liza felt herself begin to lose control, struggling to maintain a shaky grip on the reigns.
'I have to get out of here.'
Her face grew pale, awash with horror.
"I can't do this! They can't catch us again...!"
She tried holding her breath to drown the wave of rapid breaths, her body suddenly wracked with an unfounded fear of a lack of oxygen.
"You're doing so well," Telma assured, taking over in one smooth motion. "But I can handle it from here. You should wait in the back and keep the boy company. Keep your eyes on him, he needs you."
Liza pried herself mechanically from the front of the carriage and crawled next to the makeshift bed for the Zora. She couldn't bring herself to look at him any longer than necessary, fearing the mistake it might have been to ride him all the way out here.
"… M-Mother… I…" he gasped.
The screeching cries of the two Kargaroks circling them from above were cut short by the whistling of arrows, swiftly felling them to the earth.
At once, Link and Epona pulled up next to the bar proprietress who halted for the gates.
"Is everyone alright?" he asked in between pants of breath.
"We're fine honey, you're doing commendably well so far. Can you get the lock?"
She watched as the young man dismounted in haste and dislodged the chains on the fence. His intense expression hardened further upon searching the horizon that lay behind them. "Get out of here, quickly! There's more!" He cried.
With a sharp strike, Telma's horse bolted forward and Link fell behind once more to buy them time.
'There's still so many… Are there reinforcements in the hills? Didn't I take care of their general?'
His thoughts lingered momentarily before they were then, abruptly, cast aside.
The young hero felt his mind and body click into gear once again – one that seemed to take over when he had been thrust into danger. He'd come to informally recognise it as a ravager mode. He knew what needed to be done and used every weapon at his disposal to destroy, without mercy. The chaos only spurned Link forward, to feed his resolve, and with a mere twitch of his sword-arm, he set forth to cripple the enemy ranks.
"How are you both doing back there?" Telma enquired, keeping her voice audible but calm.
"I… I'm alright…" Liza replied, swallowing her breaths. "And so is he… he's still talking…"
"We're over halfway there, just a bit longer!"
Liza closed her eyes and counted the sounds in an effort to ground herself once more. She heard the faint roar of battle, the crack of reigns and the Zora boy's stirring words. But then, all was interrupted when a loud explosion tore through the room, followed by the ignition of flames upon the canvas walls.
"Protect the boy! He won't be able to handle the flames!" Telma's warning rang out into the distance. In response, the lost girl threw herself over the prince, shielding him from the smoke and heat.
'I have to get him out of here… I won't let them have him.'
She saw the eyes of four younger children – vulnerable and terrified – looking to her for protection. "Ilia, I'm so scared. Where's Link?"
Meanwhile, the flames were spreading ravenously to the roof of the carriage.
She then remembered a boy strapped to the general's war mount – tusks protruding from the hulking metal armour.
"I know he won't give up until he finds us!"
The horse was in a panic and the room began to quake.
She watched as her own hands released the chains and the children fled beyond the camp, into the night.
"Go now…! To Kakariko Village!"
The thundering hooves grew louder and louder.
She saw Link…
Face-down… in the spring… and blood everywhere, soaked through his clothes, unraveling in the waters.
His left arm had been brutally dismembered… she'd watched the blade come down in full, visceral horror… and he was no longer moving. She'd watched him die.
Link.
'Please, no. Not like this. SPIRIT OF ORDONA, PLEASE…'
'YOU HAVE TO SAVE HIM!'
"LINK!" she screamed.
And then, the world around her exploded at once.
A vicious gale tore into the carriage and the smoke fell down through the floor. The sound of the hooves crashed into an empty silence. Everything had stopped moving. Ilia – deaf to the world and frozen in fear – gripped tightly onto her face, her eyes wide in shock.
What was real? Her memories were all so… fragmented. But the haunting logic in her mind knew that if some of it was, then all of it had to be.
It all had to be real…
'My name. What was my name?'
She woke to the vague feeling of hands on her shoulders and the sensation of being shaken.
"Ilia… ILIA!"
The blue-eyed swordsman had a look of utter despair on his face. She saw that he was crying, no longer able to contain the fear that was holding him back at the bar.
"Please, tell me you're alright! I'm sorry I couldn't get to you faster! I'm sorry…"
Telma watched as the scene unfolded before her from the drivers' rest, the room around them at a complete standstill. The Zora boy lay peacefully upon the wooden floor, untouched by the flames.
"… Link."
At once, the young man felt crushed by the weight of his relief. "Il – I mean Liza – I'm so sorry… I didn't mean to endanger you all."
The girl exhaled slowly and regarded the swordsman with a newfound calm.
"I'm so glad you're okay," he breathed. "It's over now."
Ilia looked beyond the burned husk of the carriage and saw the ghastly remains of several monsters strewn across the field, mixed within the footprints of their mounts. A strange emotion washed over her at once, as though she had blinked and found herself in the grip of some wild, improbable future.
So much had changed. But more importantly, the four of them were alive.
"Link…? Link, it's… me," she said hoarsely.
The swordsman regarded her with a look of total bewilderment, unsure of whether to believe.
"It's Ilia. I didn't mean to worry anyone…"
She felt Link's arms embrace her once again and leaned into their touch. The sensation of his tears soaking into her shoulder pulled her head-first into the present.
