Twelve
(Far From Home)
Princess Zelda watched from the cockpit of the Phoenix as her small airship approached Belakar City, the capital of the Calatian Empire. Surrounded by a massive forest of blue-leafed trees, Belakar City sat at the intersection of two rivers, straddling the banks in an ordered sprawl of lumber, metal, and stone.
A huge, thick wall of dark red stone surrounded the city, rising above the height of all of the buildings within except for the palace, which sat inside its own triangular inner wall; a fortress inside a fortress. It was widely boasted that no enemy had ever managed to successfully occupy the inner keep in all of Calatia's two-thousand year history. His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Belakar, the thirteenth to bear that name since the first Emperor had built the city and named it after himself, ruled the huge empire from this city, the trade hub of the entire continent.
The Calatian Empire itself now encompassed nearly the entire continent, due to the current Emperor's numerous conquests. Ignoring treaties that had stood for centuries, the present Belakar had invaded and subjugated two of his neighboring countries, and was rumored to be massing his forces for a third invasion. Not only that, the army he had sent to aid the slaver campaign had claimed all of its conquered territory as a Calatian colony, and the Emperor was also rumored to be plotting an expedition to the relatively unknown continent across the eastern ocean, where Lynaka's father Arnak had come from.
"I want it to be said that the sun never sets on my empire," Zelda's uncle had proudly declared to her on a previous visit. "Someday, Calatia will rule the entire world." He had given Zelda's mother the Queen a conciliatory look then. "Along with our ally Hyrule, of course," he amended.
"Of course," the Queen had replied mildly. Zelda knew her mother well enough to see the withering look she hid beneath her diplomatically neutral expression.
That exchange replayed itself in Zelda's mind as the Phoenix approached her uncle's palace. If Viserys' spies were right, her uncle was well on his way to making good his boast, by whatever means he saw fit.
"Your uncle welcomes you to Calatia," Impa said from the copilot's seat, looking up from the Communication Stone mounted there. "He says we may land in the inner courtyard."
"Thank him for his welcome," Zelda said, looking down at the ornate palace.
"Her Highness thanks His Majesty her uncle for his gracious welcome," Impa said into the stone. "We will be landing shortly."
"This will make the first time I've met the Emperor," Horys remarked from the pilot's seat, looking back over his shoulder at Zelda. "Anything I should keep in mind?"
After exchanging a glance with Impa to confirm the connection was cut, Zelda replied. "Just be polite and let me do most of the talking," she said. "My uncle and his courtiers love to trap people with their words and trick them into revealing things. If he asks you a pointed question you don't want to answer, be politely evasive."
Horys raised an amused eyebrow. "Politely evasive?"
Zelda smiled. "Just watch me for how to do it. I've had quite a lot of practice."
He chuckled, angling the small airship down in a gentle descent for the inner keep.
"Don't let on that I have the Triforce of Wisdom," Zelda said as the Phoenix leveled out and slowly began to descend. "That isn't something I want my uncle knowing yet, especially if he has a sorcerer from the Divine Host hidden in his court. As far as they should know, this is a friendly visit because I happened to be in the area on another matter."
"What other matter, in case he asks?" Impa asked.
Horys grinned. "We'll politely evade that till we think of something good."
Zelda laughed lightly.
As the Phoenix settled onto the ground, Zelda saw an honor guard of perhaps two dozen Calatian soldiers lining up in formation along the path to the gate of the inner courtyard of the palace, along with a dozen knights, their polished steel armor gleaming brightly in the sun.
As she stood and went back to the hatch, Zelda straightened her tiara and smoothed down her dress. They had stopped on a small island in the middle of the western ocean for the night, and that morning she had changed from her traveling clothes to one of the more formal outfits she kept aboard her airship, a deep red ensemble 'in honor' of her father's side of her family.
While she waited, Zelda took a few moments to concentrate more fully on what she privately called her 'princess face', a polite though inscrutable expression designed to give the impression of being cordial without giving anything away. With all the intrigue of court life, being able to mask one's true emotions was a vital skill. She prepared herself for the undoubtedly exhausting ordeal of dealing with her uncle and the rest of his court, dreading it but summoning up her determination anyway.
Horys was also dressed in a stiff formal outfit, his hair immaculately combed and even his glasses polished. As the fiancé of a princess, he had to look the part in front of the Calatians. He was technically a prince himself, though his family did not consider themselves royalty. His father Viserys was a legal monarch, but refused any title more ostentatious than 'Lord' for himself.
Since his family had started as the head of a large mercenary organization, Zelda knew Horys would receive an incredible number of backhanded compliments and other cleverly worded derogations of his heritage from the snobby aristocrats her uncle surrounded himself with, but she would tolerate no disrespect of the man she loved. She could deliver excruciatingly polite insults just as well as they could.
Finally ready, she nodded to Impa, and the Sheikah warrior opened the hatch and stepped outside, taking up position next to it.
Zelda followed, lightly moving down the short steps as she regally passed her gaze over the gathered soldiers. A herald, waiting in front of her, smartly spun and unrolled a gilt-edged scroll, loudly proclaiming her titles to the elite gathered in the courtyard.
"Presenting Her Royal Highness, heir to the throne of the Sovereign Nation of Hyrule, Grand Duchess of the Empire of Calatia, Her Imperial Grace, the Crown Princess Zelda!"
Zelda's expression did not so much as flicker at the unusual addition, but she was privately suspicious. She was not ordinarily introduced as 'Her Imperial Grace', not even here among her father's family. What was her uncle up to?
It almost seemed as if he was trying to associate her more strongly with the royalty of Calatia than her home. 'Grand Duchess' was the equivalent of 'Princess' here in the Empire; all members of the immediate royal family were called Grand Duke or Duchess, including all sons or daughters of an Emperor and their children.
"Escorted by the Prince Consort, Horys of Balacruf!" the herald intoned as Horys emerged from the Phoenix.
Again, her expression remained unchanged, but Zelda felt like frowning. Not so much as a 'Highness' or even a 'Lord' for him; she might have guessed. The snubbing had begun already.
Zelda adopted a small, polite smile as she extended her arm and Horys took it, waiting for her uncle the Emperor to approach and greet them personally.
A group of trumpeters standing behind the soldiers along the plush red carpet that had been rolled up to the Phoenix's hatch extended their slim silver instruments at a high skyward angle and blew a complicated but well-orchestrated series of notes, cunningly timed to take greatest advantage of the echo from the high stone walls around. Zelda wondered how often her uncle made them practice this.
Another herald at the other end of the carpet stepped from the group of functionaries and opened his own scroll, -even bigger and more ornate than the one describing her titles had been, Zelda noticed- and boomed its contents across the courtyard.
"His Exalted Imperial Majesty, Gracious Ruler of the Empire of Calatia, Sovereign of lands encircling the world, thirteenth to bear his Blessed Name, the Emperor Belakar and his Beloved Empress, Katarina!"
Zelda sensed an inward disgusted scoff from Impa, though she knew hey bodyguard's face remained as expressionless as her own. Horys similarly maintained a polite expression, but was inwardly rolling his eyes at the ostentatious introduction.
The Emperor emerged from the huge double doors, dressed in rich scarlet robes and wearing an ornate jeweled crown. Zelda's uncle was in his mid-fifties, with dark brown hair which hung to his shoulders, matched by a thick, precisely trimmed beard, both of which were lightly dusted with gray. On his arm, smiling genially, was his young wife.
The Empress was Belakar XIII's second wife, his first having died while delivering his second-youngest daughter, Zelda's cousin Anna. Empress Katarina was only a year or two older than Zelda, with an elaborately arranged flowing mane of golden-blonde hair beneath her jeweled crown. Her crimson gown was just as ornate as her husband's robes, intricately embroidered with gold thread, but Zelda thought it was cut rather too low at the neckline. The Empress was a very beautiful young woman, and this was made as obvious as possible through her appearance. Zelda thought it utterly tasteless for her uncle to flaunt a bride younger than his oldest son, but as always, kept her opinions to herself.
"Zelda, my dear, what a wonderful surprise!" the Emperor exclaimed with a broad smile as he approached. "I wish you would have given me more warning you were coming. We could have prepared a decent welcome for you."
"This was very nice, Uncle," Zelda said, smiling back. "Thank you. I thought the trumpeters did especially well."
"Oh, they were horribly out of tune," Katarina said disdainfully. "We ought to cut their pay again for being so lazy."
Zelda smiled at her anyway. "Dearest Aunt, I was so happy to hear of the birth of your first child," she said, outwardly as polite and genial as could be imagined, but inwardly sneering right back. She was not fond of her uncle's second wife, nor was Katarina of her. "I am sure the Grand Duchess Maria will grow to be as beautiful as her mother."
On both the outside and the inside, Zelda thought inwardly. I'm sure she'll be as horrid a brat as the rest of the royal children.
Katarina smiled, an expression so obviously forced that Zelda thought it was a wonder her face didn't shatter. "You're too kind, Zelda," she said sweetly, the minutest hint of sarcasm hidden in her tone.
"So, my dear, what brings you by?" the Emperor asked, still not quite pointedly ignoring Horys. "Not that we aren't delighted to see you."
"We were exploring some ruins on the western coast," Zelda said, pulling Horys ever so slightly forward. "Since we were so close, and it had been so long since I had seen you, I thought a visit might be nice. Besides, you haven't met my fiancé yet, have you, Uncle?"
"I haven't," said the Emperor, finally looking over at Horys. "I wish you both the best of happiness. Very nice to finally meet you, dear boy."
"It is an honor to meet you, as well, Your Majesties," Horys said smoothly, inclining his head slightly. "Zelda has told me all about you."
"Nothing too bad, I hope," the Emperor chuckled with false joviality. Zelda knew he was all but sneering down his nose at both of them.
Horys smiled genially. "Of course not, Your Majesty," he replied.
"How is your father, Viserys?" asked Empress Katarina, mispronouncing it as 'Vice-riss', probably deliberately.
"Lord Viserys is quite well, thank you," Horys replied, using the correct pronunciation but not emphasizing it, as if he hadn't even noticed. He was handling this very well, Zelda thought. "He sends his greetings."
"Thank him for us," the Empress replied. "Tell me, is he still fighting slaves in that forest he moved into?"
Zelda narrowed her eyes ever so slightly at Katarina's deliberate, dismissive rudeness. She was only barely concealing the fact that she considered Horys and his family no more than upstart commoners. Katarina probably considered it a very great favor that she was deigning to speak with him at all.
"The liberation is progressing very smoothly, Your Majesty," Horys answered, still no trace of offense in his voice or expression, though Zelda knew his opinion of the Empress was steadily lowering with each thinly veiled slight. "The slavers will soon be defeated for good."
"And good riddance, too," said the Emperor. "Come, let us go inside. I've asked the royal chefs to prepare a little something for us."
Zelda thought the tables were probably groaning under that 'little something' inside. The Emperor never missed a chance to show off how fabulously wealthy he was. She wished she could have known his father, her grandfather, who, according to her mother, had been much more gracious and cultured than his heir.
She smiled and followed her uncle and his wife inside, arm in arm with Horys with Impa close behind. Throughout the entire conversation, Zelda had been passively searching the crowd of dignitaries with her higher senses, looking for anything out of the ordinary. So far, all of them were regular humans, just as absent of the ability to use magic as Horys.
If there was in fact a sorcerer here, she would know it immediately.
---
---
Erike restlessly drummed the fingers of her left hand against the hilt of the scimitar at her waist. For nearly an hour now, she had been feeling strangely restless and apprehensive, and not knowing why was making her even more so.
Her parents were still conferring with Queen Zelda and her advisors, getting ready to head out to the desert to search for the Twin Witches, Koume and Kotake. Since the conference yesterday in which this had been decided, Link and Arnak had been trading information, filling each other in on all they knew about Ganondorf's adoptive mothers, along with Val, who knew still more. They wanted to be as prepared as possible before finding the Twin Witches, as well as the possibility of waging war in the desert, in case the Divine Host attempted to set up a staging ground there from which to strike at Hyrule.
When the alarm bell rang, accompanied by shouting from one of the sentries patrolling the castle walls, Erike immediately leaped from her seat and dashed to the nearest exit to the walls. On her way, she passed a Hyrule Soldier, who had one hand on the top of his helmet as he ran through the halls at top speed, heading for the conference room.
Outside, Erike saw why the man had been running so fast; the outer courtyards of the castle were filled with huge, hulking brutes in black-and-purple uniforms, their faces painted with fierce streaks of red and black.
Erike whipped her scimitar out its scabbard, unconsciously dropping into a defensive stance at the unexpected sight. How had they gotten inside?
The city forces were on full alert now, charging out of the castle to engage the invaders. The creak and shuffle of the Divine Host's leather uniforms blended with the clank and rattle of the chain-mail and armor plates of the Hyrulian soldiers, then mixed into a cacophony of shouting, screaming and weapons clashing together as the defenders engaged the enemy.
Erike passed her gaze quickly over the scene, taking in as much information as she could. There were perhaps a hundred and fifty Divine Host soldiers in the courtyard, but from the alarms and gesturing of the soldiers on the opposite wall of the central courtyard, there may have been more in the main city. The defenders, the garrison permanently stationed in Castle Town as the city and palace guard, numbered two hundred and fifty, with a number of other regiments rotating in and out in support of this.
Except, Erike remembered, the majority of the supporting regiment was camped outside the city, near the southern and eastern entrances; if the invaders raised the city drawbridges, the people of Castle Town would be trapped inside with them.
Erike's thoughts were interrupted by the sudden appearance of a group of six Divine Host soldiers a few yards away on the wall. A momentary whirl of thick dark smoke and a sound like electrical crackling was all the warning she had before the creature-soldiers charged at her, grinning hideously beneath their war paint and screaming unintelligibly.
The young warrior braced herself, calculating which of the brutes to engage first as she tightened her grip on her scimitar. Both her father and mother -and later, her sister- had trained her in how to engage multiple foes at once.
As the first came within range, Erike tensed her legs, sprang up onto the parapet, and pushed off into a twisting downward slash with her blade. The soldier put up his blade in an attempt to block, but there was too much force behind her own strike, and her blade smashed his sword back into his own chest. He puffed into smoke, but she didn't pause, moving on immediately on to the next one.
The next three charged her at once, while the other two ran howling at a pair of Hyrule Soldiers who emerged out onto the wall, spears in their hands and swords sheathed at their sides.
Erike whirled her scimitar through a wide, looping pattern that blocked the heavy, slashing strikes of all three of her opponents without losing momentum, deflecting their strikes aside rather than halting them entirely. As she blocked a strike, her leg snapped out and the pointed toe of her boot struck one of the creature-soldiers just under the kneecap. Even over the din of battle, she heard the sharp crunch and the creature-soldier's subsequent howl of pain and rage.
The young Gerudo hurled herself into a backflip to avoid the next charge of the other two, landed in a one-handed handspring, then pushed off again and landed with both feet on the parapet, giving her the high ground for a moment. The three Divine Host soldiers ran after her, one limping behind the other two, but the moment to stabilize her footing was all she needed.
In a stroke of luck, one of the creature-soldiers toppled and puffed into smoke a few steps away from her, uselessly swiping at the arrow that had sprouted from its throat before it disappeared. Erike was too busy fending off the other two to look for the archer, but when three more shafts snapped into her remaining opponents only moments later, she knew he or she was nearby.
The limping creature-soldier continued to advance, by all appearances unaware of the arrow sticking out of his chest next to his right arm, while his fellow, who had taken one in the center of his chest and another in the forehead, exploded into yet another cloud of dark smoke.
It had been only two or three seconds at the most since she had leaped atop the parapet, and now the limping creature-soldier finished closing the distance. Erike slashed down at him, crossing blades with the brute three times in rapid succession before she twisted her curved blade around his and plunged its point into his heart. The creature-soldier vanished into smoke before he could even slide off her blade.
Erike looked around for the archer who had assisted her, passing her eyes over the high places on the walls, and was surprised to note that it was none other than her sister, who stood on the opposite wall across the courtyard, a massive recurved bow nearly as long as she was tall in her hands. Erike could not see her very well from this far away through the haze created by all the defeated creature-soldiers, but a tall, dark-skinned woman with red hair, wearing a sleeveless green jerkin, could be no one other than Lynaka.
Beside her stood Daskin, wearing his usual dark-colored clothes, but he wielded an unfamiliar black-and-gray sword with a blue-green gem set into the crosspiece, occasionally letting loose a thin beam of energy from his hand at the creature-soldiers in the courtyard below.
But behind them was the person of most note; a huge, thickly muscled man, who had to be well over seven feet tall, wearing a dark brown hooded tunic that shadowed his face. The rest of his garb was in leather and dark fabric, crisscrossed with belts festooned with numerous knives, axes, and swords, more than one man could possibly use at once. Currently, the man held a huge double-bladed war-axe in both hands, his legs tensed as his unseen eyes stared down at the crowd of soldiers below.
He said something to Lynaka, gesturing across the way at Erike with his axe, then pointed with one hand down at the courtyard full of battling soldiers. Lynaka turned half around to answer him, then nodded sharply. As she did this, Erike noted with surprise that Lynaka's long hair was gone, now shorter than Erike had ever seen it on her; it did not even reach her shoulders.
The huge hooded man then immediately ran forward and leaped over the wall, falling all the way down to the courtyard as casually as if he had simply skipped a step on the way down a staircase. He landed lightly on both feet, then immediately charged into a formation of Divine Host soldiers, where he proceeded to lay waste to them with his enormous axe. He towered over them, a bear amid a pack of hyenas, a massive pillar of wrath unleashed upon the hordes rampaging through the castle, and none could stop him.
With great difficulty, Erike wrenched her attention away from the unfamiliar man and back up to her sister, who had been waving to get her attention. Lynaka made a circular motion with her hand, gesturing out at the encircling wall, then pointed at Erike, letting her know she was going to make her way over to her. Erike nodded, gripping her scimitar tightly, and braced herself for the appearance of any more of the creature-soldiers in the meantime.
Daskin ran to the edge of the wall and leaped up, impossibly high and far, lightly gliding all the way across the courtyard until he dropped to the stone wall next to her. He grinned, his deep blue eyes twinkling mischievously.
"I thought I'd drop by and keep you company till your sister gets here," he shouted to her over the cacophony of battle.
Erike nodded, noting as she did so that Daskin's hair was much longer than the last time she had seen him, which was only yesterday by her reckoning. He had also acquired three parallel scars on his left cheek just under his eye, spaced closely together and thin, as if left by a creature with small sharp claws. She had to remind herself that he had been gone for weeks, possibly months, by his own sense of time, back in the era of Raneses the Great, but it was still startling to see such a change in his appearance.
"Where is Majacen?" she asked him, keeping sharp watch out for more enemies.
"He's with my mother and Akima, making sure she's all right while they look for the sorcerer controlling this lot," Daskin shouted back.
"Who's Akima?" Erike asked, puzzled.
"Later!" Daskin grunted as he threw out his hand, aiming behind her. A long, twisting rope of blue-white electricity leaped from his hand, smashing with thunderbolt force into a group of Divine Host soldiers that had appeared a few yards away.
The group of soldiers, perhaps six or seven, existed for only a moment; no sooner had they appeared from the cloud of smoke than Daskin's lightning bolt crashed into them and sent them all flying, to puff back into smoke as they tumbled through the air.
Erike turned back to the young man, surprised; clearly, he had been studying magic intensively during his sojourn back in time.
One of the thick metal doors leading into the castle opened, and Erike's father and Lord Fenris charged out, their swords drawn. The sun glinted through the haze off of Arnak's huge greatsword, flickering as he smashed it into an approaching creature-soldier with enough force to send it sailing over the wall into the courtyard below. Link saw the two of them and ran over, his shield in one hand and his sword in the other.
In only moments, the former Triforce Bearers were at their side, weapons held ready. Arnak towered over the shorter Link, yet both looked equally deadly in entirely different ways, contrasted in powerful strength and skillful speed.
"Most of them are in the city!" Link shouted to them, gesturing beyond the castle walls with his sword. "We think that's where the sorcerers are, as well!"
"There's more than one?" Daskin asked his father.
Arnak nodded. "At least three," he replied. "Too much magic is being used out there to be only one, and a few of the soldiers have seen two standing together at one spot on the wall while another attacks from the other side of the city."
"Make that four," Daskin said, running to the edge of the wall and leaping off. Erike followed him with her eyes, watching as he soared up into the air over the battle toward another levitating figure, its long dark robes flowing around it with the wind as it hurled magic missiles down at the defenders in the courtyard.
The two of them met with a crash Erike could hear all the way down on the wall, trading blows as they flew out of sight behind the castle.
At that moment, Lynaka finished her circle around the courtyard wall and joined them. As she approached, Erike again noted with surprise the changes in her sister's appearance; not only was her hair shorter, Lynaka was now much more muscular than she had been the last time Erike had seen her, and she also had a scar on her face. The scar ran from the corner of her right eye down her cheek, ending just above the level of her mouth, as if she had wept a tear made of acid and it had etched a path down her face.
But beyond that, Lynaka's dark brown eyes were much, much harder, full of a deep-seated pain and sorrow, as if she had just seen someone she loved very much die in front of her and was now hunting for the murderer.
In Lynaka's hand was a twin to the sword Daskin had, but with a blue hilt, white blade, and yellow gem set into the crosspiece; the Master Sword, the Blade of Evil's Bane. Erike saw Link nod in recognition of the weapon he had once wielded himself.
"The Divine Host is here to try to assassinate the Queen!" Lynaka said, gesturing with the Master Sword at the inner keep. "They seek to disrupt Hyrule so that it cannot mount a proper defense against their main force, which marches from the south." She looked up at their father. "We should stay near Queen Zelda until Daskin and the others destroy the sorcerers commanding this group."
"The upper throne room is easily defensible," Link replied, sheathing his sword as he dug in his belt for his Communication Stone. "We'll take her there."
As they moved toward the door, Lynaka stopped Erike with a hand on her shoulder. "It is good to see you again, little sister," she said, surprising Erike yet again with a broad smile. Erike was in the midst of replying when Lynaka pulled her into a tight embrace, as if she had not seen her in months instead of only hours, which was probably true for her.
"I have much to tell you," Lynaka said as she released Erike. "When the battle is over."
Erike nodded, watching as Lynaka moved to the edge of the wall. "Up here!" the Hero shouted down into the courtyard.
In reply, the huge hooded man appeared suddenly over the edge of the wall, landing as if he had jumped up from the courtyard. Erike realized how he was able to do the extraordinary things she had seen as he moved past her; on his right hand shone the triangle-of-triangles emblem of the Triforce, with the top portion of the symbol gleaming brightest through his leather glove.
The Bearer of Power looked over at Erike, and though she could not see his eyes within his hood, she did see that he had a dark brown scarf wrapped around the lower half of his face as a mask. He nodded slightly to her as if in recognition or respect, then silently moved off after the others, his multitudinous weapons gleaming in the hazy light.
Arnak gave the man a narrow-eyed glance as he passed him, his dark eyes flicking down to the shining symbol on the man's hand which represented the piece of the Golden Power that he had once borne himself. The man gave Arnak another slight nod, as if recognizing his predecessor.
As a group they ran through the halls of the inner keep, making their way to the top, with Link in the lead. Lynaka took up the rear, running backwards as skillfully as if she had eyes in the back of her head to keep her on course. On their way through the white halls, carpeted in blue with many paintings and decorative weapons lining the walls, they passed armed and armored Hyrule Soldiers rushing to defensive positions, carrying weapons ranging from pikes to crossbows, barking orders to one another over the rattle of their armor.
Swiftly, they ran up the spiraling staircase leading to the upper throne room, interspersed with landings designed as gathering areas for defenders to hold as chokepoints for invaders ascending the stairs to the throne room. Somehow, Erike noted as she glanced behind once, Lynaka managed to climb the stairs facing backwards, her eyes sweeping back and forth in watch for pursuers.
At last, they reached the final landing and the massive metal door which was a last barrier between the upper throne room and the rest of the castle. Arnak moved to grab the lower edge of the door and heave it open, but the Bearer of Power was faster, and opened the huge door with one hand, waving the others through with his axe. As Lynaka passed him, Erike saw the quick nod her sister gave the huge man, and the slight inclining of his head in response.
In two groups, they ran up the pair of staircases that framed the massive door at the rear edge of the balcony just beneath the throne room that overlooked the city. They came together again on the central staircase at the top of the landing where the two lower staircases met, and rushed into the throne room, where they found Queen Zelda waiting with three dozen Hyrule Soldiers, some wielding pikes, spears, and swords, and others holding bows aimed at the entrance.
Queen Zelda's eyes widened noticeably as she looked down at the Bearer of Power, her fingers tightening on her sword, but the huge, silent man held up one hand in a placating gesture, as if reassuring her that he meant no harm here.
Again, Erike's suspicions as to the man's identity renewed themselves.
"Here they come!" the Bearer of Power called to the rest of them, his voice deep and powerful, with an oddly familiar accent.
By the dozens, a huge crowd of Divine Host soldiers appeared in the empty spaces in the cavernous throne room. The Bearer of Power rushed up the carpeted stairs to the throne and took up position three steps below Queen Zelda, his gigantic axe held up in a defensive position.
Lynaka led the charge against the incoming horde, her long white blade flashing as she whirled it in a deadly dance through their ranks. She moved as gracefully as a dancer, shifting fluidly from one creature-soldier to the next in what seemed like one long, uninterrupted movement. The Master Sword leaped out like a striking snake, slicing through two, sometimes three of the Divine Host's soldiers at a time as she slashed through them like a crashing wave. Soon, she was so obscured by smoke from her defeated opponents that Lynaka was only visible by the flash of her blade in the sunlight.
A few yards away, her predecessor as Hero moved no less skillfully, engaging four, sometimes even five creature-soldiers at once as his blade slashed through devastating offensive patterns. Link moved with the speed of both skill and experience, dodging and blocking the heavy slashes of the huge brutes of the Divine Host as he simultaneously sliced through their defenses with his own blade. He made the attacks of the enemy seem almost laughable, as if they were so far beneath his own skill level that it was barely worth his time to fight them.
Arnak's huge greatsword rose and fell like a tumultuous flow of lava, running over and obliterating anything in its path as he moved like a storm of death through the ranks of the enemy. For the first time, Erike saw a true glimpse of what her father must have been like during the war in which he had met her mother; a terrifying, unstoppable titan. Armed with the Triforce of Power, nothing could have stood in his way. Even now, as only a mortal, he was nearly a legion by himself, destroying dozens like they were nothing.
In the company of such glorious warriors, Erike felt almost small, insignificant in the sight of such incredible prowess with the blade, but it was an honor to fight at their side nonetheless. Readying her own weapon, Erike hurled herself into the horde, slashing, whirling, and striking with all the skill and speed she possessed.
Her thoughts shifted down into a narrow focus as she moved from one step to the next, lashing out with her blade each time one of her feet met the ground. Everything came down to one thought: cut. No fancy twirls of the blade, no unnecessary spins, just cut. Deal death with every strike, slash with greatest efficiency of movement to leave foes defeated on the ground behind.
As she moved, it seemed to Erike as if a stirring swell of music accompanied her actions, with a sharp percussive beat every time she landed a strike. She found herself moving in time with the inner music, with soaring strings dictating when to move and how, punctuated by crashing blasts of brassy horns at the end of the crescendo every time her scimitar connected with the blade or body of an opponent. A driving, pulsing drum beat tied everything together, increasing and decreasing in speed and intensity in tune with the flow of her movements.
It seemed like everyone around was affected in the same way, Erike realized as she followed the inner symphony through the cadence of the battle; it was as if she and all the other defenders were instruments in a great orchestra of combat, moving in concert to best reinforce the others as the music swelled, soaring thunderously along as the tide of the battle turned in their favor.
Standing at the top of the stairs beneath the throne was the conductor of the orchestra of battle; Erike could see the Bearer of Power with his feet spread widely apart, his hands raised high above his head as he gestured dramatically with his gigantic war-axe as if it were a conductor's baton. As his hands moved, the troops surged in the directions indicated, though almost no one was looking at him. Erike was soon caught up in the music again, and lost sight of the huge hooded man as he conducted the defense of the Queen.
More creature-soldiers appeared all the time, rushing up the stairs and into the throne room from their apparent launching point on the balcony. Erike moved to head out that way, but even as she noticed the clouds of smoke from the appearing creature-soldiers, Lynaka and Arnak charged out of the door and down the stairs, wading through dozens of foes as easily as through water, their swords whirling in an almost beautiful symmetry as each reinforced the other.
Erike and Link took up position side-by-side in front of the main door to the throne room, also moving in accompaniment. What Erike missed, Link intercepted, and the reverse was also true. What few soldiers got past the two of them were engaged by the Queen's guard, though their numbers were thinning. Once, Erike both saw and felt a huge bolt of energy scream down from the rear of the throne room and smash into a particularly thick group of Divine Host soldiers, incinerating them to ash in an instant.
The music of battle swelled in crescendo, growing in speed and volume as more and more creature-soldiers poured in. The notes whirled about with a frenzy that somehow made the overall sound work even more strongly together, and Erike found herself moving faster and faster in time with the music, far beyond the speed of which she had thought herself capable as she eliminated the Divine Host's soldiers almost faster than they could appear. She had long since lost count of how many foes she had destroyed, moving on to the next as more and more surged toward her.
Finally, the music reached a dramatic, thunderous refrain, repeating again and again in a reinforcing rhythm, building in both speed and volume with each repetition. Erike and Link seemed almost to move as one, working together in such harmony that nothing could get past the two of them, not even with the increasing numbers of the enemy.
A dissonant, contrasting theme broke through the music as a dark figure, robed in deep purple, soared into the throne room over their heads, long light-colored hair streaming behind him with the speed of his flight. His eyes glowed with a fierce purple light, and the dark, menacing theme that accompanied him swelled to an aggressive surge as he swept out an arm toward the Bearer of Power.
Everything seemed to pause for a long moment, only slow, powerful strings accompanying the movements of the hooded man as he sprang up with a long, powerful leap into the air, his axe held high with both hands over his head. A singular note, slow but powerful, increased in volume and intensity as he soared into he air, and was finally punctuated by a tremendous blast from the horns as he smashed his huge axe into the sorcerer's body.
The sorcerer tumbled backwards through the air, and the Bearer of Power, still hovering in place, threw out his hand, his fingers splayed wide. A huge, roaring blast of flame leaped out at the falling dark mage, accompanied by a rapid intricate rhythm of strings with a slowly building blast of horns in imitation of the fire in a crescendo as it rushed through the air.
With a final, dramatic swell of the music coming from nowhere, the sorcerer was consumed by the horizontal pillar of fire and disappeared. The warriors on the ground rapidly finished off the remaining creature-soldiers, slowing down as the notes faded away into silence.
As the last strains of the music trickled away, Link shook his head as if emerging from a daze and turned to Erike with surprise on his face. "Could you hear… music during that fight?" he asked incredulously.
Erike nodded. "Yes," she replied. "I thought I was the only one. I did not question it, for it seemed as if I fought better under its influence."
Link slowly sheathed his sword, looking around the throne room at the fading haze of smoke and the bodies of the fallen defenders. "Me, too," he agreed. "It was like the stronger the music became, the better I fought."
"What you felt," said the deep, powerful voice of the Bearer of Power behind them, "was the magic technique of Battle Music, used to inspire and reinforce troops while directing them without the need for worded orders."
"I have never heard of any such technique," Queen Zelda said as she slowly descended the steps leading to her throne, looking at the huge, hooded man who stood almost in the center of the massive throne room.
The Bearer of Power's hood turned toward her, and though she could not see his face, Erike had the distinct impression that he was grinning. "That is because I invented it," he replied. "The Triforce of Power greatly enhances its effects, as you observed here today.
"Who are you?" the Queen challenged, her demeanor growing more and more suspicious by the moment as she peered at the huge man.
"I am your ally, my queen," the Bearer of Power replied, his voice placating. "Rest assured, I mean you no harm, for our interests are the same in this fight. The Divine Host is just as much my enemy as it is yours, Your Majesty."
Erike glanced behind to see her sister and father approaching, putting away their own weapons. Lynaka's expression was resigned, as if she had known this confrontation was coming but was unsure of what to do to avoid it, while Arnak's face was rapidly moving into a suspicious expression similar to the Queen's as he stared at the Bearer of Power.
"Remove your hood," Queen Zelda said coldly, making it clear her statement was an order with all the authority her royal bearing could provide.
The Bearer of Power thrust the long handle of his double-bladed war-axe through a pair of leather loops on one of the baldrics crossing his back, his hooded head looking around at the gathered warriors. Slowly, almost reluctantly, he reached up and pulled the scarf around his lower face down to his neck, then placed both hands on the edge of his hood.
As the Bearer of Power lowered his hood, Erike's suspicions were confirmed, as were those of everyone else gathered here. The face was incredibly familiar, though not quite the same as she was used to; it was much smoother, totally unlined or scarred, and the skin was a healthy tan, without the greenish tinge to which she was accustomed. He was much younger, only in his mid-twenties, and was clean-shaven, with long fiery red hair that fell past his shoulders as he pulled his ponytail out of his collar.
The present Bearer of Power was none other than a Gerudo male, specifically one of the most infamous in her people's history:
Ganondorf.
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Author's Note: I wrote the battle scene while listening to the Apocalyptica album 'Worlds Collide' on 'repeat'. The songs are probably on YouTube somewhere if you do not have the album and are curious. I then selected my entire Symphonic Metal collection and listened to that during the editing process. That was loads of fun, let me tell you.
As I said last chapter, this was done at my last posting, but since my computer is in the shop(again), I wanted to stretch out my reserve of completed chapters a little. Chapter 13 is only about half done right now, which is actually a bit behind, on my preferred schedule for this story. I'll try to work on it through my flash drive and the other computers I can get to, but it may go a little slower than we'd like. But, until then, thanks for reading!