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Chapter 35
Return
The serpent lunged for Midna as her hold loosened. Her back was on fire where the torpirdo (as Midna had decided to name them) had struck her. Her hair turned into a hand, blocking the serpent's attack. But the sheer force of the blow sent her staggering back. Her guard broken, the serpent snorted fire at her, forcing Midna to leapt sideways to avoid the flame.
The barrage of torpirdos continued.
The serpent blew more fire, and Midna realised it was herding her away from the oni. She tried to move around it, but it kept snorting fire and lashing out with those long fangs. Midna summoned another ball of magic and threw it at the serpent where it exploded in its face. The serpent screeched and backed up, frill flared defensively.
Now to give her new magic a try.
Midna concentrated hard and tried to summon the shadow wolves she had created.
For a horrible moment nothing happened.
Then a wolf leapt from the shadows on the ground. Geometric turquoise patterns crisscrossed its pelt and its eyes were a bright blue. Based on a Fenin, a twili canine, and Link, Midna had created them to act as guards. And to remind her people to whom they owed their freedom to.
Midna jumped on its back and spoke to it in the musical twili language.
The wolf howled and leapt into a sprint straight at the serpent. Midna's hair formed a fist and with an almighty punch sent the creature flying into the air.
Midna couldn't help but laugh as the wolf howled. Then it disappeared.
"What?"
She tried to call it back, but it wouldn't come.
"Come back here you mongrel!"
The serpent picked itself up and dove underground.
Now she was in trouble.
The ground rumbled beneath her and the serpent erupted at her feet.
Something tackled her to the ground, knocking her clear. The impact knocked the wind out of Midna and for a moment she couldn't see as her lungs gasped for air.
When her eyesight cleared, she saw the oni fighting the serpent. The poison was gone, its veins returned to normal. Somehow, it had expelled the poison.
The oni clubbed the serpent on the head with a paw, ignoring the torpirdos completely as they continued to fall. It was a large target, and many found their mark. But still no injury lasted more than a few seconds before closing up. Serpent blew flames in the oni's face, but the oni ignored them, not even flinching. It had learnt to expect facial attacks. The oni's jaws closed around the serpent's mouth and nose. The serpent spat poison and blew flames in the oni's mouth but the oni ignored it. No normal creature should've survived such an assault but the oni was unfazed. Slowly the struggles of the serpent slowed as it suffocated. Within a few minutes it was limp in the oni's mouth. It turned to ash as the oni released it. Then with a roar to shake the earth the birds fell from the sky, their ears bleeding.
It turned to Midna.
"Good boy." She said, as it lowered its head for her to climb on.
She noticed its mouth had already healed.
Around them the shadows swirled.
"You may have defeated my basilik fierce deity, but you have not yet won this battle, let alone the war." Nubia's voice echoed through the empty field.
The oni bunched its muscles beneath Midna as it prepared to attack.
"No Link, we need that sword. Come on." She laid a hand on his head, scratching the sweet spot between his eyes.
It tilted its head to listen to her. It wanted to fight, it had to fight. But it also had to defeat. To be victorious it needed the master sword.
With a growl, it turned and ran.
"This is just the beginning fierce deity. I have an army of shadows to feed and its coming up to dinner time."
Silver tried to get up. Somehow, Zelda had managed to get her to change back to a human. Lifting back the covers, she tried to sit up. Her head swam and she had to grasp the bedpost to stop herself keeling over. She tried to swing her legs over the edge of the bed, but she could barely move them. They were wrapped in bandages. When she tried tostand on them, they took no weight at all, and she fell back on the bed.
"Ah ah ah. You aren't going anywhere young lady." Telma appeared round the door.
"I have to get to Link, he's in trouble."
"You won't be helping him much in that state." The woman entered carrying a tray of soup. "You lost a lot of blood and you've got some pretty nasty injuries. That Majora is something else. Red potions have no affect on his wounds. Even the fairies' magic have little effect."
"I have to go. You don't understand." Silver tried to stand again.
Telma sighed as she put down the tray. With one finger she pushed Silver lightly, and she fell back down.
"You aren't going anywhere until Falcon gets back with the Great Fairy."
The commotion woke Zelda, and she jolted awake looking around sleepily.
"Silver! You're awake!" She smiled, and the sleep washed from her face.
But she still looked haggard and fatigued. She didn't look much like a princess. Not even after Ganondorf's defeat did she look so bad.
"I have to get Link. If I don't, the goddesses are going to seal him and the Dark away!" She was almost shouting.
The two women looked at her, shocked into silence.
"I know." Zelda said, looking down.
"Then you have to let me get to him."
"If you go now, the stress will kill you." She was looking at her hands, clutching her skirt to stop them shaking. "Link needs his mist to defeat the Dark, as soon as he has it the goddesses will act. As you are now, his mind will destroy you."
"I can't leave him!"
"You think I don't care?! Silver he's my guardian. I want to help him for once. All he's done my entire life is protect me. You have no idea how hard it is for me." Zelda had never raised her voice like that before. "But if you go now, I'll lose both of you."
She stood up and with a glance at Telma, left the room. But Silver could smell the saltiness of her tears as she started to cry.
"Zelda's been beside herself with worry. You should take it easy on her."
"She was on the one who shouted at me." Silver whined as Telma handed her the soup.
"Just give her a break alright."
Silver growled but sat back on the bed and propped herself up against the headboard.
It took another two days for Falcon to return with the Great Fairy. In that time, Zelda and Silver spoke very little to each other and in general avoided each other's company. They were both at the end of their tethers.
When she did finally arrive, was Silver was getting stir crazy with being confined to a bed for so long. She had difficulty fitting through the door with her wide iridescent dragonfly wings. She seemed to have decided to dress somewhat conservatively, wearing a small band of leaves around her chest, along with her grass skirt. She fluttered up the stairs and came to the room Telma had given her at the hotel.
"Greetings Silver. It's been a long time."
"Hello." Silver replied.
"So, I see my theory was correct." It was more to herself then to Silver.
She sat in the chair by the bed and began unwrapping the bandings around Silver's legs with long delicate fingers.
"The fairies told me of your fight with Majora. You did well to hold your own."
"Its thanks to Link I'm still alive though."
"Ah yes, the fierce deity. My sisters told me of his power. A creature created solely to destroy the Dark. A force to be reckoned with I'm told."
"Your sisters?" Silver asked.
"Yes, in Termina. They don't look much like us here in Hyrule. They took a liking to the fifth and followed him to Termina where they set up fountains of their own and adopted the fairies living there. They saw the sixth change to a fierce deity."
"Did they see him change back?"
"Yes, I believe they did."
"Do you know how?"
"No, they never said. But I could contact them for you."
She lapsed into silence as she held her hands over Silver's wound, the ambient blue light glowing in her palm slowly closing the wound.
It took hours for the Great Fairy to heal all the wounds, and by the end of it her wings were drooping and there was a faint sheen of sweat on her skin. She covered her mouth as she yawned.
"You need to rest those for a few days to give the new skin time to strengthen." She yawned again. "When I wake up I'll send a fairy to my sisters." Once again she stopped to yawn. "Be careful."
Then she flopped down on the bed next to hers and fell asleep.
Renado came a short while after.
"She'll probably be asleep for the next few days. Make sure you stay in bed in case you reopen your wounds." He handed her a bottle of soup. "But the way, Yeto sent you this."
Then he turned and left.
The journey to the Lost Woods didn't take much longer. Nubia sent a few more monsters but the oni was prepared for them and they didn't take him by nearly as much surprise as the basilisk had. They reached it by noon. Faron was hiding in his spring when they streaked past. Link had broken his barrier as well as Cheretdah's. The mountain rock swung open like a gate and oni ran past and over the bridge into the forest. As soon as he was inside, the Skull Kid appeared.
"Hey you wanna play with me?"
Then he realised who it was.
"HEY! It's you! Don't smash any of my puppets this time ok. Hi Midna!"
If he said anything else, Midna didn't hear him because he was too far behind them.
The oni ran through the paths, taking sharp turns, completely confident in his sense of direction Midna gave up trying to memorise their route, they were going to fast she barely had time anyway. The tunnels of oaks gave way to pine forests and the oni sprinted through the silent realm. Midna hadn't been here since she was little.
There was the one-eyed pine they used to play capture the castle around, and the stream where they used to swim. And there was the crater where they used to play tag and hide-and-seek. It was the also the place where the accident happened, but Midna tried not to think about that.
The oni made no response to the different landmarks of his childhood that they passed. It was as if he didn't remember.
Then the pines began to give way to the tall spindly trees and gorse of the twilight realm. Tall trees with very little balls of leaves at the top flashed past, and the oni leapt patches of moss and gorse bushes with their little glowing orange flowers.
The oni seemed to know which path to take, leaping from island to island, at times running across sol bridges, at others using small floating rocks as stepping stones.
The sky was orange with twilight, the little wisps of shadow magic floating in the air like dust motes.
This was the second time MIdna had returned home cursed.
She hid herself in the thick ruff of fur on his neck, not wanting her people to see her.
Twili screamed and leapt out of the way as the oni ran through their streets.
"Hey, watch it these are still my people." MIdna scolded.
The oni growled but did take more care not to knock over people or carts.
When they reached the palace, it was still in an uproar over the oni's appearance and Midna's disappearance.
"We need to get to the dungeons, quietly" Midna explained.
The oni obviously didn't have the word 'subtle' in its dictionary for it charged straight in and barrelled past the guards that tried to stop it and ran for the dungeons.
Midna pointed the way when they came to a cross-roads and within a few minutes they were running down the stairs to Zant's cell.
In the cell, Zant was playing noughts-and-crosses with himself using a piece of chalk on the wall.
When they reached the cell, the oni looked around for the sword
"Its not here. Sorry Link, but we need this guy as well. He knows the Dark, he used to work for Ganon."
At the sound of the man's name, the oni snarled and lashed his tail, gouging a deep track in the wall.
"I know you're angry, but sorry. You wouldn't listen otherwise. The master sowrd is with Epona. We'll go there in a second."
Midna clicked her fingers and the door swung open.
"Midna!" He sounded very happy to see her. "You left and I didn't know what to do. Everyone was screaming, it was very scary."
"Did you come back here by yourself?" Midna asked.
Zant nodded, smiling.
"You're very clever." Midna had learnt that praising Zant made him happy and more prepared to co-operate."
Midna looked down at the oni who was still glowering, evidently he wasn't completely heartless yet because he was very angry at her. For some reason the transformation wasn't complete yet.
"Give him a ride will you."
The oni sniffed Zant as if he were an old bone he was torn between eating and throwing away. Zant whimpered.
"Nice doggie."
The oni huffed and turned to offer his back.
"Yay!"
The twili scrambled up the oni's back and sat at his shoulder holding the fur in his ruff.
"Now be very good and keep quiet or you'll upset him." Midna warned, turning round to face him.
Zant nodded, a grin on his face.
"Ok, Epona's in a room on the first floor in the west wing."
The oni turned and ran back up the stairs, jumping over the guards that ran down to face him and heading towards Epona. A few guards tried to stop them but the oni batted htem aside if they got too close but for the most part ignored them completely.
In Epona's room, the oni crouched to let everyone off. The master sword lay in its sheath along with Epona's tack on a saddle horse in the corner of the room. But the oni didn't go for the sword. It was looking at the mare. She lay on her side, breathing quietly. The clerics had fled the moment the oni had appeared. But the magic that sustained glowed on her chest in a strange geometric pattern the colour of lavender flowers.
The oni looked at her, and there was emotion in its face. Midna could see the tiniest pinprick of blue in its eyes.
Epona was his only family, he'd known her since birth. She was like a sister to him. Of course she could thaw his heart a little.
"She ran until her heart gave out trying to protect you." Midna explained. "She doesn't need the oni either."
But Link remembered what Nubia had done to her in the forest after they had fled the massacre. It was his fault.
The oni padded forward, sniffing the mare. She smelt of Nubia's curse and poisoned mist.
The mare's ears twitched, and her eyes opened a crack.
"Link?"
The oni then made a sound Midna never expected him to make. He whined and nudged her neck like a cub. The mare smiled her horsey smile and tried to lift her head.
"Did you get scared?" She asked, instantly recognising the hero's curse. "You don't need to be scared. Poni's here now."
She wasn't strong, and her head fell back. The oni whined and nudged her again.
"I'm still here just a bit tired. Everyone will be worried." Epona sounded so quiet. "Silver and Zelda must be so scared. They need Link to make them feel safe."
The pattern flashed red as her heart stuttered, before returning to lavender. The oni whined and nudged her again, more insistently this time.
"Let me sleep for a bit. I'm tired. I'll catch you up later. Listen to Midna won't you."
Then she fell back asleep. The oni whined and nudged her but she wouldn't stir this time. He seemed to panic and nudged her face.
"It's alright Link, she's not dead. She's just sleeping. She did a lot of running. She needs to rest."
The oni looked down for a moment at the mare as she leapt. When he turned to the master sword his eyes were block white once more and all trace of emotion was gone.
The oni turned around went to the master sword. As soon as he touched it, FI appeared.
"Master, I must report you cannot change form until you retrieve your mist. Chances of success against the Dark are 0% without it. I strongly advise searching for a fight until Silver is strong enough. I suggest you wait here until word comes."
Midna floated next to his head.
"Listen to the lady."
The oni looked back at Epona. Then lay down to rest nearby.
The oni is so hard to write about. I'm not used to writing this primitive, hence why there isn't very much from his perspective. The story is going a little weird at the moment I know. I'm sorting things out in my head, but I have the plot sorted till the final battle I think. At least until the last sage. Do read and review, I like to know what you guys think. Also, my style has changed loads so tell me if you like it or not.
I'm about halfway through the First Hero legend as well. Its Selene and Ras' (that lion dude from the Battle of the Flames and the hero in the green flame who stabbed Link is anyone can remember that far back) back story. I plan to explain a lot of things in it, namely Phaira and the other light spirits as well.