Chapter 6: The First of Many
Zelda and Impa forgot to tell The King and Mayor Dotour, and his men, about the rebellion.
"Damnit! How could I have possibly forgotten that?" Zelda mentally screamed.
Suddenly, Zelda saw six more knights heading her way. Zelda brought her sword in front of her in preparation for the inevitable fight, while Zamradzo crouched low to the ground, snarling again, with his fur bristling and his eyes flashing wildly. Zelda brought one hand behind herself and began gathering energy into her palm, small flickers of ember escaping every now and then. With a loud howl, Zamradzo sprinted toward the incoming knights, who were slightly surprised at seeing a wolf near the princess but recovered quickly enough to get ready for battle. Before either Zamradzo or the knights could reach each other, Zelda threw the magical energy she gathered towards the knights until the glowing red sphere made it to generally in the middle of the group, before releasing her control of the spell, resulting in a small yet powerful explosion, knocking four of the knights against the walls, where they remained limp and unconscious, and the other two knights towards the charging Zamradzo, lying on their stomachs, trying to regain their footing in time.
Too late.
Zamradzo had reached the knight closest, grabbed his head with his powerful jaw and fangs, and spun around the knight, resulting in said knights neck being snapped. After that, Zamradzo jumped over to the other knight, his eyes glowing again, and released another stream of fire, practically two feet away from his face, killing the man in a matter of seconds.
"Zamradzo!" Zelda called. Zamradzo released the spell and quickly made his way back to Zelda. "We need to find Mayor Dotour and his men. Then, we need to reach my father, and escort all of them to the safe room. Understand?"
Zamradzo nodded.
"Good boy, now lets go," Zelda then started making her way down the hall, with Zamradzo half of pace behind behind.
Zelda remembered that her room was further to the back on the west side of the castle, her father's room was in the further still, while Dotour's guest room was on the east side closer to the front door.
More than likely, Dotour and his men were in the middle of the of the storm.
With this thought, Zelda pushed her body faster to Dotour's aid.
-o-
"Push them back!"
Impa's voice could be heard over the roar of the small battle outside, on the castle fields. Everything had happened too fast.
Impa was making her nightly route through the castle, in case of anything peculiar, even more vigilantly than usual with the news of the rebellion. She had just awoken from her light sleep, prepared herself, and started making her way to Zelda's room to make sure the princess was still sleeping peacefully. That was when she came into contact with a flustered soldier.
"Mistress Impa!" he cried, "We have intruders at the front gate! We're under attack!"
Shock spread across the face of the shiekan warrior. "Where are the soldiers located now?" she asked.
"At the front gate holding them off now. I was sent as a messenger to tell you and the captain of the guard."
Impa was about to run off to the battle when the thought of the king, Zelda, and Dotour crossed her mind. "Who did reach first?"
"You ma'am."
"Good. When you find the captain I want you to tell him to send three squads to Princess Zelda, His Majesty, and to Dotour's guest quarters. Let them know what's happening and protect them at all costs!"
"Yes ma'am!" With that, the soldier sped down the hall, as fast as his legs could carry him.
Impa however, started sprinting down the hall toward the front gate, which is where she is now.
The enemy was all over the castle fields, many were locked in one on one combat with the guards, some were taking on a good few, and vice versa. A few enemy soldiers made their way up the castle steps, but were topped short by Impa and the power and skil she commanded.
"Damnit! Why did they attack now?" Impa wondered out loud, "They couldn't have known that we had received knowledge about the rebellion. So why are they attacking?"
"Perhaps I can be of assistance."
Impa spun around to the owner of the voice who spoke. Her expression gradually went from focused to shocked. His blue eyes were the first thing she noticed. "You..."
-o-
"We have to hurry," Zelda whispered urgently, more to herself than to her pet wolf, who was sniffing and looking around the corner for anyone hostile.
At the moment, Zelda and Zamradzo were halfway between Mayor Dotour's guest room.
They had gotten lucky so far, without running into any other enemy soldiers. Not that they were taking many chances. If they heard any heavy footfalls they would retreat into the nearest room and remain still until the danger would pass. However, Zelda could still the sounds of battle, and they only increased in volume the closer she got to Dotour, and her fear that the rebels may have already reached him rose with it. Plus, the thought that the soldiers she dodged pass were making their way to either her room, or worse, her father's room. With these thoughts, she urged herself and Zamradzo to quicken their pace.
"We're almost there, just a few more doors."
Five doors.
Four Doors.
Three doors.
They were so close.
Two doors.
Just a few more steps.
One door.
Zelda stopped as quickly as she could, causing herself to stumble forward slightly. She locked her palm around the doorknob, twisted the mechanism, and threw the door open with all the strength she could muster. Inside, Zelda saw the mayor surrounded by his personal guard, all dressed in their armor; grey based chain-mail with golden etchings and engravings of Termina's seal. There were five men in total, all in a half-circle defensive position around the mayor. The middle man had a pole-arm in his right hand and a tower shield in the other. The man second to the left had a one-handed axe in his left hand and a small wooden shield in his right. The man on the farthest right had a two-handed war-hammer, and held it like he was about to attack. The last two men inside, other than the mayor, each had a tall kite shield in their hands with a longsword to accompany them.
When Zelda had entered the room so suddenly, every guard poised their weapons at the ready, but Mayor Dotour intervined.
"Princess Zelda! Lower your weapons men! At once!" The guards slowly complied with the mayor, but were still wary around Zamradzo, at Zelda's heel. "Princess Zelda, what is going on? My lieutenant here woke me abrubtly shouting about an attack. Is this true?" The mayor asked.
"Unfornately it is, Mayor Dotour. And I must ask your forgiveness in this matter, for I had just recieved news of a rebellion just today. I had meant to tell you tomorrow - well today actually about it to give you and your men fair warning and protection. I didn't think they would attack the castle so soon. I'm so sorry." Zelda had lowered her head slightly in shame at the end of her short rant.
The mayor was silent for a while pondering, about when she had received such information. Then he thought back to the dinner and remembered the two nobles showing up unexpectedly, remembering that he said he would retire for the night. He came to the conclusion that the two lords had brought her the news about the rebellion.
"I understand Princess, I hold no malice or anger towards you for these...unfortunate events. I and my men are fine."
At this, Zelda looked confused for a second or two before she shook her head and replied. "Thank you Mayor Dotour. Now, I know this is all sudden, but this castle has an escape tunnel that leads to a safe room. Zamradzo and I will escort you and your men to the tunnel, before I join you however I must check on my father."
Mayor Dotour nodded, "Lead the way Princess."
-0-
"Tell me what is going on right now?"
"Your Majesty! The castle is under attack! I don't know the full details, but Mistress Impa has given us orders to keep you and the princess safe. Another squad of soldiers has already been sent to her."
Daphnes lifted his hand to his chin and began to rub it roughly in aggravation. He hated the idea that his daughter might be in danger and that he was stuck where he was.
But he knew that was how things like this went.
He knew war.
Sorry for the really late update. I had both school and writers block throughout this whole chapter. But now it's finished and I'll get started on the next chapter. Read, Enjoy, and review.
