Chapter Eight
Ashei was a strong fighter. She had been trained like a boy would be by her father. She had been his only child, and he wanted to pass on his skills as a warrior. Ashei hadn't minded. She enjoyed the fact that she was different from other girls. She prided herself on the fact that she had been crucial in the resistance against Ganondorf and Zant back during the Time of Twilight, unlike the soldiers at the time.

And now she was the only female knight in all of the soldiers of Hyrule. And she knew her father would have been proud if he had been here to see her. But in all her time fighting for a noble cause, she never knew what else drove Link to make him fight as hard as he did, to be like a one man army against the evil of evils. She knew he had a duty as the Hero, but, until he told her that he was fighting for those he loved, she had suspected nothing else.

Now, as she blocked a strike from Dredloc, she truly realized what it meant to fight for loved ones. Sure, she had been involved in the resistance, but she hadn't had any family to speak of who were alive, and she and Shad hadn't even begun to like each other more than friends.

But now she fought for the ones she loved: she fought as a mother and as a wife. She fought to keep her two children safe, to let her husband continue reading those books he so dearly treasured.

Dredloc kicked her legs out from under her and she went down in the snow, her face hitting the soft, powdery fluff. She rolled away from the fight and got to her feet, trying to catch her breath, watching the fight. Matthew and Colin fought with skill, but none of them matched Link's ferocious attacks. The Hero fought like the feral beast he turned into.

Ashei realized now that Link, and only Link, was a proper match for the Twili they fought. At least sword-wise. Dredloc reminded her that he possessed magic as the Twili blasted Colin back. The young man landed in a snow bank next to Ashei, who helped him to his feet.

"This is one tough guy," Colin said breathlessly.

"Indeed," Ashei replied. "But we'll beat him."

Colin gave a nod and dashed back into the fray. Ashei followed him. She swung at Dredloc, but the Twili blocked while aiming a kick at Matthew and ducking a swing from both Link and Colin. Matthew was caught off guard, the kick landing at his stomach. The wind was knocked out of him and he fell to his knees, trying to get his breath back. Dredloc went it for the kill, dodging and blocking strikes from his other opponents.

Ashei's world seemed to slow when she saw what Dredloc was planning on doing. She ran forward, pushing herself to the limit and attempting to block the deadly weapon from her King.

Then things sped back up as she felt the bite of the sword in her side. Snow turned red with her blood. Link and Colin's attacks doubled, and Dredloc was occupied once more.

Matthew got Ashei out of the way of the fight. "Thank you," he said.

"That's the knight's job, yeah? Defending her King."

Matthew nodded but didn't say much as he tore a strip of cloth from his cloak to help bandage Ashei's wound. "We need to get you some real help before you lose too much blood," the King said.

Ashei sighed. "And how are we going to that?" she asked through clenched teeth.

Matthew thought for a brief moment, watching Link and Dredloc go into a contest of strength, their swords locked together and each pushing against the other.

"Link could warp you," he said after a moment. "He did so with Malo."

Ashei nodded, but didn't say anything. Matthew stood, picking up his sword, and went back to the fight, which had gone back to Link and Colin waiting Dredloc's next move. It was as if they were taking a small break to get their breaths back. Matthew stood next to Link. "We need to get her out of here," he said in a quiet voice as he raised his sword, his eyes never leaving Dredloc. Link nodded and took a few steps back, also keeping an eye on the Twili in front of him.

With a quick glance back at Ashei and a call to the magic, Link warped Ashei to Hyrule Castle courtyard, hoping that she would get help right away.

With a wordless shout, Dredloc sprung forward and the fight resumed.


Midna sat in a chair by her son's bedside. Andrew was sound asleep, but Midna was hopeful. His fever had gone down in the past hour. Perhaps he would be recovering soon.

Footsteps echoed down the hall, and there was a soft tap on the door. Zelda stood at the doorway.

"I have some news," she said softly. Midna nodded and stood. She glanced one last time at her son before following Zelda out of the room. The Queen of Hyrule quickly explained what was going on as the two of the walked along the hallway.

"So we've finally managed to capture Malo," Midna said. "Good."

"That's what I thought," Zelda replied. "Now we just need to take care of Dredloc and we'll have peace."

Peace. That's what everyone needed.

Their feet led them together to the entrance hall of the castle, and Midna looked around like she always did, remembering when she and Link first went through this room, Link swinging from chandelier to chandelier with his clawshots while Midna fretted from his shadow that he would fall and bring the light fixture down with him. Zelda noticed Midna looking around and waited for a moment.

Suddenly, the doors to the throne burst open. A soldier ran into the room. "Your Majesty!" he exclaimed. "Come quickly!"

Zelda didn't wait for an explanation. She and Midna followed the soldier out into the courtyard, and were surprised to see Ashei kneeling on the green grass, her hands pressed to her side.

"We've just sent for the doctor," the knight said as they came nearer.

Zelda nodded. "Send for the historian Shad, as well," she said as Midna knelt down next to Ashei. The knight nodded and hurried off.

"They're all ok," Ashei said, looking up. "But Dredloc's a tough opponent, yeah?" her voice shook, giving away the pain she tried so hard to hide.

"Thank goddesses," Midna muttered. She looked up toward the gate leading out to town, where she saw two guards, the doctor, and Shad hurrying toward them.

Relieved that help had come, Midna looked up at the blue sky. Somewhere, under the same sky, the same sun, was Link. She just hoped he come back soon.


Clouds rolled over the sky over Snowpeak Mountain, but none of the four combatants noticed, they were so focused on their fight. Link, with a feral look in his blue eyes, dashed at Dredloc, but failed to catch him off guard. Dredloc's black-and-orange sword arched through the air toward Link, and the Hero had to stop his attack in order to block the Twili's.

The two traded blows for a few minutes, while Dredloc attempted and succeeded in blocking Colin's and Matthew's swords. Overwhelmed, Dredloc shouted, and a shock wave of Twili magic went straight for the villain's opponents. Link ducked under it, but Colin and Matthew weren't so lucky. They were hit by the magic and were sent flying onto a snow bank unmoving.

"Now it's just you and me, Hero," Dredloc growled.

"Not for long," Link replied in a low voice. "You're going to pay for all you've done to Hyrule and to the Twilight Realm."

Dredloc gave a low bark of laughter. "Make me!" he shouted. He and Link charged at each other. Their swords locked at the hilt once more.

"With pleasure," Link replied with a growl. He overpowered the Twili and shoved him to the ground, following with an Ending Blow. Dredloc rolled out of the way just in time toward the edge of the cliff that was just a few yards away from the dungeon. He staggered to his feet, breathing heavily. "You can't get rid of me that easily, Link."

Link bared his teeth in a very wolfish fashion in response and charged forward again. He and Dredloc continued to exchange blow after blow, moving closer to the dangerous cliff-side. After several more minutes, Dredloc, now fully enraged, pushed Link to the edge of the cliff, knocking his weapon out of his hands. The glittering sword flew end over end over the cliff and down, banging off exposed rock with a clang.

Link was weaponless. Dredloc taking full advantage of this fact, stabbed forward, a triumphant look on his face.

Link sidestepped just in time, and wrenched the sword from Dredloc's hands, reversing the direction and stabbing Dredloc. The Twili's expression filled with surprised and he took a step backwards.

"It's over, now, Dredloc," Link said blandly.

Dredloc once more gave that nasty triumphant grin. "It ain't over until the fat Twili sings!" he shouted, and shoved Link backwards.

The Hero lost his footing and followed his sword over the edge of the cliff. Dredloc sneered and collapsed, dead. His crimson blood stained the once white snow.

Utter silence covered the area in front of the dungeon. Not even the wind whistled. Then Matthew, who had seen the last bit of the fight, struggled to his feet. He staggered to the edge of the cliff, looking for Link. What if he warped away to save himself? the King wondered. But no, that hadn't been the case, for he spotted the Hero on a snowy ledge twenty feet below, unmoving.

"What happened?" Matthew turned to see Colin getting slowly to his feet. The young knight looked around. "Where's Link?"

"Down there," Matthew replied. Clin joined his King at the cliff-side, giving a startled glance at Dredloc's body.

"We have to get to him," Colin said once he spotted Link.

"But how? There's no ledge or path that goes down there."

"Maybe there's something in the dungeon." Colin hurried off into the snow-covered stone building. It took him only a few minutes before he came back out, carrying a large coil of rope. He tied one end securely to the bars of one of the dungeon windows and then went over to the edge, tossing the free end down. "I'll climb," he said. Matthew nodded mutely and watched the young knight begin carefully scaling the edge of the cliff. It began to snow heavily, blurring Matthew's sight of Colin and Link.

It took Colin ten minutes to reach the ledge Link was on. He knelt down next to Link and shook him. After a few seconds, Link stirred, pushing himself up into a sitting position, slightly dazed. "Is Dredloc..." he began.

"He's dead," Colin finished.

"Where's Matthew?"

Colin pointed upwards. Link looked up and sighed, remembering that he had fallen. He gestured for Matthew to join them. The Hylian King began the long decent downwards.

As soon as he joined Colin and Link on the ledge, Link called upon both his strength and his magic and warped all three of them away.


Author's note: TADA! Another chapter! And I've got good news. I have FINISHED writing this story. The bad news? It's scribbled down in my notebook, not typed up. So, I won't be posting the final two chapters until I get them typed up. So for now, enjoy this chapter and, if your curious, the newest chapter of my other fanfiction Hero of the Ocarina.

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