Heart of a Heroine Ch12
Ilia watched the young boy, helping to herd the Goats at the Ordon Ranch in the cold Winter day. He was an expert at it, he did not even utter a single word as he masterfully coaxed the Goats into the barn. He was not affected by the deep cold. Ilia was shivering despite the fact that she was wearing a thick coat, a warm woolen scarf, a cozy hat, and a pair of earmuff's, and he wore only wore a thin jacket.
Ilia rubbed the mane of her new foal, Epona. The horse had come with her to watch the boy herd the Goats. Ilia was glad that her mother had bought the young horse, but she was a slight burden, as the horse went into a frenzy with anyone besides Ilia.
Regardless, Ilia still looked in awe as the young boy gently did what he did. Still, he uttered not a single sound.
'Why is he so different?' Ilia wondered.'He never says anything. Even though I helped him with those snotty trader kids, he still hasn't said anything to me. I don't think I've ever heard him say anything, ever.'
Ilia watched the boy finish herding the Goats, breathing hard, his breath misting in front of his face.
The grown-up that had helped him, rubbed his head, and gave him some money for his work. The boy turned to the fence, and saw Ilia for the first time standing by the fence. For some reason he just froze there, unsure what do to.
"Hey kid!" Ilia said, waving her arm enthusiastically.
The boy just waved his hand a little, shyly.
"Do you want to talk?" She asked.
The boy looked behind him, as if there were someone around besides him. He then turned back to Ilia, and pointed to himself, as if to make sure he was talking to her.
"Come on!" She yelled.
The boy walked slowly toward her. Ilia decided to hop the fence and close the distance between them.
"Hey, do you think you could open the fence?" She asked him.
The boy didn't really look her in the face, but did as she asked, opening the fence, letting Epona run into the Ranch, Ilia chasing after her.
"Come on, she wants to play!" Ilia said, trying to get the boy involved.
After some enticing, the boy began to play with them, chasing after the young foal, kicking up snow going round in circles, and many other things. Ilia soon tired out, and collapsed on the snow covered ground, breathing heavily. Epona trotted up beside her, and dropped to her knees.
Ilia got up and looked at the boy, who looked like he hadn't tired in the least, and looked at her as if he had no idea what to do.
"Come on, I want to talk to you." Ilia said, patting the ground beside her.
The boy got the message, and sat down beside her, staring into space.
"So why were those trader kids picking on you yesterday?" She asked.
The boy just stared into the ground when she asked this. Ilia just stared at him until he said something, but he seemed to act as though he was the only person in the world.
"Come on, say something!" Ilia said.
The boy didn't move his gaze, or open his mouth.
"Do you not like me or something?" She hotly said. "Come on, I get picked on too."
The boy continued to stare at the ground, not responding to what Ilia was saying at all.
"Come on! Say something!" Ilia yelled,
Ilia resumed staring at him again, trying to get him to say something. After a few minutes of staring, a baby goat, cutest thing you could ever see, came up to the young boy, and looked at him.
The young boy noticed the young baby goat, and rubbed it's fur. "Hey, what are you doing here?" He asked the the young goat. "It's too cold here, go back to your mommy and daddy." His voice was rather soft and gentle, but also somewhat rough, as if he hardly ever spoke.
"Oh, so you'll talk to a goat but not me?"Ilia grabbed onto the boy, and putting him in a headlock, just like seen her father done one time to one of his friends late into a party.
"Say something, or else!" She said, tightening her grip on the boy.
"Please get off me!" The boy pleaded.
"Was that so hard?" She asked, letting go of him.
The boy didn't look at her, just checked himself to make sure Ilia hadn't broken anything.
"So why were those kids picking on you?" Ilia asked for a second time.
"... They... were... I... "The young boy mumbled.
"I guess you don't have to answer if you don't want to." She said, finally deciding to give up. "I guess that wasn't nice of me trying to choke you like that. You know what, my Daddy told me when you want to be someone's friend, you tell them your name. My name is Ilia. What's yours?"
"... Its Link." The boy quietly said after awhile.
"Now we're getting somewhere." Ilia said, patting his back.
"... You said you wanted... to be my friend?" He asked.
"Yeah, everyone else my age is a jerk." Ilia said. "But you seem nice."
"Really?" He asked, looking her in the eyes for the first time. Ilia found him undeniably cute, his blue eyes were wild, they were that of a beasts', but they were shy, emotional at the same time.
"Yeah, it gets real boring sometimes. Dorik, and everyone else picks on me like they pick on you." She told him.
Link returned to looking at the ground, and dug a little into the snow, and plucked an oddly shaped piece of grass. It was in pretty good shape, considering it had been buried under the snow for such a long time. He then blew on it a few times, and began blowing a tune on it.
Epona got up on her legs, and trotted to Link, and nuzzled her head into his stomach.
"Hey, she likes your song." Ilia noted. "She doesn't like a lot of people, but she seems to like you."
".... well... that was... a lullaby my dad... taught me." He mumbled.
"It's a really nice song." Ilia told him. "So you heard the Goats here?" She asked him.
Link nodded in response.
"Well you're really good at it." She said. "Was that grown-up your dad?"
The boy looked up for a second in surprise, and then shook his head fiercely. "My dad... he's... the gown--up was Fado. He's not too good with the goats." Link explained.
"Oh I see. So he's not your dad?" Ilia said.
Link shook his head.
"Hmm... well do you actually work here?"
Link nodded in response.
"Wow, I didn't think you could get a job at our age. How much money do you get?" She asked him.
Link dug into his pocket, and pulled out a red Rupee and showed it to her.
"Wow, that's a lot." She said. "You must be rich."
Again, Link looked up in shock, and shook his head furiously.
"It's not really... I'm not rich." He confessed.
"Huh? But if you get paid like that for helping herd goats each day, you should have tons and tons of money." Ilia said.
Again, Link just shook his head, still just staring at the ground.
"You... you said you... Um... Ilia, would you mind if I told you something?" Link asked.
"Sure, that's what friends are for, right?"
------
"COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!!!!" A Cuccoo crowed somewhere in the distance.
'They have Cuccoo's in the desert?' Ilia thought, waking up in the guest room of the Gerudo Fortress. Ilia got up, and put on her things, wondering about her dream.
'At the very least it wasn't another one of --those-- dreams, but why did I have a dream about my and Link as kids' She wondered. 'That was of the day after I helped him with the trader kids. And I woke up just before he was gonna tell me about his dad. Weird how vivid it was. I can almost smell chimney smoke in the air. Things have really changed since then.'
Ilia got up and got dressed. Today she would be escorting the young Gerudo King through the desert and back to Kakariko. 'With the Gerudo on our side, we might just make it. I hope we can save everyone from Ordon.' Ilia thought.
After putting her boots on, she walked out of the guest room, and journeyed outside to meet with the Bulbins, the young King, and his escort.
------
Outside was brutal, sands were whipping everywhere, and it was hard just to make out the high walls that surrounded the fortress.
Ilia managed to find Epona, and grabbed on to her reigns. The Horse seemed rather spooked by the sudden sandstorms, but was able to calm down slightly at Ilia's presence.
Ilia wandered through the storm, not too different from the ones that ravaged the haunted wasteland, trying to find one of the Gerudo. Ilia grabbed the arm of one of the Royal Escorts, this one wearing bright white, her face covered in a shawl, and a pair of scimitars on her sides.
"What's with the storm? Should we get back inside?" Ilia yelled over the storm.
"I don't know, there hasn't been a storm this bad in centuries!" The Gerudo said.
"Ilia of Ordon? Is that you?" Ilia heard King Alladin say.
"I'm over here!" Ilia yelled, looking for the King.
"Ah there you are." He said, coming towards her, his black armor easily blending in with the dark sands that colored the air. "I'm afraid we'll have to postpone our journey, I think the sandstorms will last awhile."
"That's okay." Ilia said. "I guess it doesn't ma-"
Ilia was then cut off by the most blood-curdling of howls, one that was all too familiar, and created a deep sense of dread within her stomach.
"Alladin, get behind me now!" Ilia shouted, drawing her sword.
"Why?"
"Just do it, those monsters, those beasts, are coming here. Tell your guards to lower their gate, and be ready for attack."
The nearby Escort went to notify the guard, but soon another roar was heard.
"We need to get inside." Ilia said, grabbing Epona's reigns, and guiding her back towards the fortress.
"A king isn't someone who runs away." Alladin told her.
"These things have attacked everywhere, we need to move!" Ilia said, grabbing the Kings wrist with the hand that held Epona's reigns, and tried to pull him back to the fortress.
"No, I'm not leaving here, I want to see these things." Alladin said, adamantly.
Suddenly, another roar could be heard, one much louder, stronger, and fiercer.
"It's a Molgera!" She heard a Guard yell over the winds.
"A Molgera? But that can't be..." The king muttered.
"Come on, do you need another reason to get out of here?" Ilia asked, despite not having the slightest inkling of what a Molgera was.
"But it's just a story.." He muttered. Suddenly, the bigger roar could be heard again, and Ilia could see the shadow of a giant serpent emerging from behind the fortress walls. It's head seemed to split in two, becoming a giant, gaping maw, with a long tongue coming out from the middle. It then snapped it's jaw shut again, and dived into the sand, making a wave of earth and sand blow in it's wake.
"Was that a Molgera?" Ilia asked.
"But it's just a story..." The young King repeated.
"Come on, before the Shadow Beasts get here!" Ilia said tugging on his wrist again.
"But it can't be..." He muttered once more.
"Come on, snap out of it!" She yelled, "Before something really bad happens!"
Then that really bad thing happened. Emerging from the sands that whipped through the winds, a giant warrior slowly lumbered, wielding an axe that was more than twice her height. The man was huge, only just shorter than the axe he wielded. He was clad in thick, dark black armor, much darker than Alladin's, his armor seemed to be made of the darkest of leads, ebony, and a type of material that seemed to absorb the light.
Ilia tried to leap out of his way as he raised his axe to strike. It only just missed her, but cut off Epona's reigns from Ilia's hands, causing the horse, probably half blind by the rampant sandstorm, to run off in another direction.
'What is that?' Ilia thought, trying to recall some of Link's stories that he had told her. 'It looks like those Darknuts Link mentioned. What did he say about fighting them?'
"Well... if you really want to know, when I got to the top of the Temple, there was this giant man, wearing really heavy armor, he was twice my size." Link had said, one sunny summer day, the two of them sitting on the fence of the Ordon Ranch, watching clouds roll over the Ordon Mountains.
"Wow, so what did he do?" She asked him.
"Well after I got in the room, oh, and it was a huge room too, there was a hole in the center of the ceiling that let a patch of light in that he was standing in, the door closed behind me, and a gate dropped over it, locking me in. The first thing I noticed was the statue, just like the one that was in the first room. I walked further into the room, and then noticed the guy. The man, he, well he turned after I got close, and went into an attack stance, he even swung his sword at me a few times."
"Oh, so he was a bad guy after all." Ilia said.
"Yeah, I don't get much luck in places like those." Link said.
"So what happened next?" She asked.
"Well, I drew my sword out, and he did this downward strike at me, his really, really big sword, hit the ground, and I leapt to the side, striking at his side. Some of his armor fell out, and I heard him yell out in pain. He grabbed his sword again, and went into a more defensive stance. I hit his shield with mine, and knocked him off balance. I then used the Helm Splitter technique the Golden Wolf had taught me, and actually split his helmet in two. He actually had a second, simpler helmet under the really ornate one I cut off."
"Really?" She asked. "So how did you beat him?"
"Well, I figured out after a while, I had to cut off the armor. It was held together by these leather straps, so it took me awhile to cut it all off, but eventually, he was only left in his chainmail. He then threw that really big sword at me, I managed to dodge it, and it impaled the wall behind me. He then grabbed this rapier strapped to his side, I also managed to take off his shield, and then he leapt at me. He was a lot faster without his armor, and the fact that I was smaller didn't help with the way he was coming at me. When I tried to strike him, he leapt aside, and swiped his sword at me, and nicked my side, the chainmail I wore barely held."
"Ahh, what did I tell you about doing stuff out of your league?" Ilia asked, punching shoulder playfully.
"Well... the door was locked, so I couldn't... you know..." Link muttered.
"Hey, I was just kidding, no need to get all pathetic." Ilia said.
"Alright." Link said, rubbing the back of his head, slightly embarrassed. "Well, later, Midna told me that it was a Darknut. They're supposed to be cursed soldier's from a war, long ago."
'This must be one of those' Ilia thought. The iron clad knight was by no means as ornate as Link had described, but it had to be a Darknut. The giant swung his axe at the two, Ilia ducked, and threw the young King away from her, to keep him safe. Ilia rolled, drawing her sword, and aimed her blade into a section of the armor where she saw a gap.
'I have to slice off the armor.' She thought, moving the blade through the gap, trying to slice it off. She managed to cut off a strap, but she noticed it was an iron buckle, as opposed to a leather strap. Regardless, her blade managed to slice it off, making the armor loose.
The Darknut noticed this, and went into a defensive stance. 'I have to let it attack me, and then dodge, I don't know any fancy sword moves to attack it with.' She thought. 'I really hope I can dodge all of the attacks though.'
Ilia tried getting closer to it, baiting for an attack, which it did, swiping his lumbering axe at her, which she easily ducked, and slashed at the sides of his armor. She managed to knock a part of it off, revealing his side, which she slashed at again.
She heard a cry of pain come from the Darknut, but it didn't sound the least like any man she had ever heard. Suddenly, the Darknut wheeled around, and with surprising quickness, struck Ilia with it's axe, flinging her a few feat away. Ilia looked to the section of her body that had been struck, and saw that it had cut through the first tunic she wore, cut through her chainmail, through her undershirt, and a slight gash in her stomach from which she was bleeding.
Ilia looked back up, and she saw the Darknut slowly walking toward her. Ilia got up, and readied herself again, ignoring the gash in her front.
Suddenly, another shadow appeared, slashing the sides of the Darknut from behind, successfully knocking off his side armor, and using a scimitar to hack at the chainmail, felling the man before he got a chance to turn around. The shadow came closer, and Ilia saw it was a Gerudo, clothed in red.
"This is bad, it's as if every demon of the desert has come here, first the Anubi, the Leevers and Moldorms came in thousands, then came that Molgera, and now an Iron Knuckle." She said, shaking her head.
"I don't even think that's the worst of it." Ilia said, guessing that Iron Kunckle was the Gerudo term for Darknut.
"Where's the King?" The Gerudo asked.
"I shoved him away when that thing came." Ilia said, clutching her wound. "He shouldn't be too far, but we need to keep him safe, I think things are only gonna get worse."
"I knew this would happen if we welcomed an outsider." The Gerudo muttered. "Now these... Beasts are at our front gates."
"Do they seem, almost colorless? Like they were drained of everything good?" Ilia asked her.
"Yes." The Gerudo answered, somewhat contemptiously.
"Things are gonna get a lot worse." Ilia told her, looking for Alladin. "They're also these men, they're completely black, and they have these bright red eyes, they make you feel just like the beasts do. They're also these giant, disgusting birds, huge, they might be here too."
"Great." The Gerudo said sarcasticaally. For some reason Ilia was beginning to dislike this person. "Sire!? Where are you?" She called out.
There was no response, but suddenly a gust of wind cleared some of the sands in the winds, and the two could see King Alladin, although he was not looking at them, instead his gaze was fixed on a shadow that was blocked by the sandstorm. It was a large shadow, but not like the Iron Knuckle. This one seemed to be of a man, riding a horse. However the more Ilia looked at it, the more defined the shadow became, until Ilia realized it wasn't a shadow, but it was actually one of the Dark Riders that she had seen at Zora's Domain, and at Kakariko. He was staring in contempt at Alladin, and he slowly, lazily, drew his black sword from it's sheath.
Alladin did nothing, he seemed petrified by his gaze, Ilia couldn't blame him. The Gerudo guard rushed in between the two, and tried to attack the man on his decrepit horse, but was grabbed by one of the Shadow Beasts, holding on to her neck before tossing her away. The creature turned it's head at Ilia, letting her look deep into the hollows it had instead of eyes.
Ilia detected the weirdest of urges to charge at the beast, but she had enogh common sense not to. Knowing she had to do something, she grabbed Alladin, and threw him away, and amazingly plunged her sword into the creatures head. The Shadow beast let out a moan, softer than it's roars, or growls, but still a noise that instilled fear, and doubt into ones heart.
She withdrew the blade from the creatures skull, and turned to the rider, who looked at her with a look of complete loathing from it's red eyes.
"What I don't understand, is why you beings refuse to die nice, and quietly." The man said. His lips didn't appear to move, in fact he held his face so still it seemed he didn't have a face save for his eyes, the only thing that showed his seeming contempt for Humanity as a whole. His voice was colder than the slickest of Ice, or the sharpest of stones on a cold night. It was something that instilled emotions into Ilia's heart, much like the Shadow Beasts do, but his voice seemed to give a person self-pity, Ilia couldn't possibly hope to simply survive this man by herself, let alone save the King, could she?
Ilia ignored the feelings, deciding to act based on her stubborn side, letting that part of her know there was no way that she would give in to a person like this. The man waved his hand, and three more of the Shadow Beasts appeared from amidst the sandstorm to surround her.
Ilia immediately rushed to the one closest, and slashed at it's shoulder, and then sliced it's neck off when it was confused. Ilia noticed one coming up behind her, so she rolled acrobatically away from it, and nimbly brought out her bow and fired a lit arrow at it's head, doing little to annoy it, but giving her enough time to take out her sword, rush back towards the beast, and plunge the blade into the beasts skull.
If Ilia had time to reflect, she would have noticed that this was the most acrobatic, or nimble she had ever been in her life, more so actually, but she was still facing a third one, and still had to worry about the young Gerudian King, so she didn't have time to notice she couldn't possibly defeat, let alone kill, a single shadow beast on her best day.
Ilia looked through the deep hollows that formed where the creatures eye's should have been, and waited for it to pounce. When it did, she fell backwards, and plunged the sword into the beasts chest. She got up from under it, and looked at the beast. It seem deterred, but not out, despite the darkness falling from it's wound. Ilia rushed at it while it was stunned, and slashed it's shoulder, and spinning around, used the momentum to lop off it's head.
With the three beasts now killed, Ilia taking deep breaths, thoroughly exhausted, looked around. The Dark Rider had slipped back through the sands while she had been busy fighting for her life. She just now noticed that the sands had began to die. She looked around the courtyard in front of the Fortress and she could see some bodies of the Shadow Beasts, and many other beasts of the desert, some she had heard about, or seen, and some completely new. Among the ones fallen seemed to be some of the Gerudo Warriors, though the seemed to have fared well against the monsters, the sight of them unnerved her.
Ilia could see that the monsters had breached the giant gate, it was now just a crumpled heap of metal lying on either side of the walls surrounding the fortress. Ilia spied the form of the Dark Rider holding King Alladin, seemingly holding him by the scruff of his neck, his steed trotting slowly outside of the fortress.
Ilia quickly looked around her, looking for Epona, knowing she couldn't chase after a horse, or whatever it was that the dark man rode on. She found her, not to far off, kicking wildly, severely spooked, ready to kick anything that came near her. Regardless of this, Ilia rushed towards her, and tried to calm her down. Had it been anyone else, Epona would have knocked her out, but Ilia managed to mount her, and used Epona's current state to chase after the dark man.
"Calm down Epona! We have a job to do!" Ilia said as they raced after the dark man. Ilia still had her sword out, and as they raced towards him, apparently unnoticed, she slashed at his side, causing him to cry out in pain. In a fraction of a second, his eyes met with hers, and sent the feelings of self-pity into her, but Ilia did her best to ignore it. Epona continued to race into the Haunted Wasteland, and the Dark Rider followed after her.
Ilia stopped Epona, and tried calming her again. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. I'll take care of you, but right now I need your help." Ilia said, rubbing her mane, trying to calm her down. It worked, she was still flustered, but at least she wasn't panicking.
Ilia turned Epona to look at the Dark Rider. She once again ignored the feeling of self-pity he emanated, steeling herself for what she was gonna do. What that was though, she had no idea.
As a show of power, the Dark Rider, still holding King Alladin, now limp in his hands, grabbed his hand, and started to squeeze. Suddenly, despite the distance between them, Ilia saw Alladin's hand begin to light up. Ilia managed to make out a Triangle on his hand flicker out of existence. The Dark Rider then placed Alladin on the back of his saddle, and then showed Ilia the back of his hand, a triangle lighting up on it.
'That can't be right!' Ilia thought. 'Since Ganondorf was the one who had the Triforce of Power last, and now that he's dead, it must have wound up on Alladins hand. And now it's on this guy's hand!'
The feeling of self-pity and doubt began to set in. She had learned much from Link's stories, so she knew how powerful this man would be now.
The man then waved his hands over the desert, and Ilia felt a rumbling in the sands. Beneath Epona's hooves the sands shifted much faster than normal. It felt as if the earth was shifting beneath them. Suddenly, from underneath the sands between the two of them, a giant beast emerged. It was black, grey, and dark brown in color, it was a giant serpent, it's head almost completely bisected by it's huge maw, and it's body covered in spikes.
"A parting gift." He somehow arrogantly said over the still roaring winds of the sandstorms.
Ilia just stared upwards at the enormous beast. Ilia sheathed her sword for the moment, knowing it would be of no use, and snapped Epona's reigns, letting her run at full speeds away from the enormous serpent.
Ilia could feel an enormous gust, and another rumbling across the sands, and looked back to see the serpent had burrowed back into the ground. Ilia rode Epona, and took out her bow, she would have to use ranged attacks to survive. Ilia noticed a pit forming in front of them and veered to the left, just in time as the serpents head emerged from it, trying to snap her up, but fortunately missed.
Ilia quickly fired an arrow at it's open maw, hitting the roof of it's mouth, and causing it to retreat back into the sands.
Ilia then noticed the sands next to her shifting as well, and soon what seemed to be a smaller version of the serpent jumped from the sands, and actually flew beside Ilia and her horse. Ilia quickly took out her sword, and slashed at it, easily cutting it in half. Ilia noticed another pit forming in front of the path they were taking, and took out a Kakariko Bomb from the bag strapped to Epona's saddle, and tied it to an arrow.
Ilia turned direction, and aimed the bow, and when the serpent's head emerged from the sands, she fired it, exploding in the serpents mouth. The serpent roared, and then dived once more into the sands, but almost immediately reemerged, and actually flew above her head, sand falling from in between it's spikes, and it's mouth flapping open and closed, roaring it's fiercest.
Ilia didn't have time to be shocked, instead focusing on keeping Epona running on the uneven terrain. Ilia kept an eye to the skies, and just then noticed that the sun had began to set in the sky, coloring the area around her in a delightful bloody red color.
The serpent flew ahead of her, and then doubled back, flying straight into her. Ilia grabbed another bomb, and simply impaled it on the arrow tip, and fired it into the creatures gullet. The creature roared in pain, and crashed into the ground. Ilia snapped Epona's reigns, and going as fast as she could, managed to dodge the serpent.
The serpent still had plenty of fight in it, but at that one instant, the gods took pity on her as she heard a horn blow. Ilia turned around to see the Bulbins riding on top of their boars, firing their arrows at the creature, managing to kill the beast in their barrage.
--------
By now the moon was high in the sky, and the Bulbin's, Ilia, and the head Gerudo Guards were sitting around a fire in the courtyard of the Fortress. All of the bodies had been buried, and they were discussing what to do now.
"I want you out of here." The head guard told them. "There was a reason we have been isolated for so long. We wanted to avoid something like this."
Needless to say, many things were not going well.
"You can't possibly be blaming this on us?" Ilia said, outraged. "When we came here, we thought you had already been attacked! This would have happened regardless! We had to go through that meat grinder just as much as you. When those things attacked my home, I was the only one left."
"Be that as it may, I would run you out the moment I could." The Gerudo said. "But it is not my choice. You are lucky. Tonight what you would call a second in command will be coming. She will be hearing of this for the first time. She will make decisions on what we will do next in our King's absence."
"Then we wait." Chamberlain said, apparently not caring either way.
"She will come in the morning. Until then, just hope we don't change our minds." With that she left them to check up on the guards trying to maintain the makeshift gate the Bulbins had made to replace the metal one.
"Why aren't you more angry?" Ilia asked the Bulbins. She had been through the worst days of her life in the past week, and it annoyed her to no end that the Bublins stayed so calm about everything.
"What happens happens." Chamberlain said calmly. "Getting angry doesn't change what happens."
Ilia got up and headed to the guest quarters where she slept. Today had left her very, very tired.