"That was foolish of you, Link!" Seymara stood in front of the Ordonian, hands on her hips, staring down at him. He guiltily observed the floor, not daring to meet her gaze.
Next to Seymara stood Enora, who looked at him with sincere pity. She sympathized with him, even if she was a little offended that he had not taken her with him to Ordon Village. She would have loved to see Ilia again, too.
"Yae was in charge of guarding Ordon Village."
Seymara's facial expression was emotionless and empty. Only her eyes couldn't hide her disappointed. "We've had no reports of attacks on Ordon Village. It was the first time a shadow had appeared there. Don't you think that's a strange coincidence. A shadow attacked while you were there? Your recklessness put them all in danger."
"Seymara, I'm sorry," Link murmured sheepishly.
Enora shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Yes! Please don't be angry with him anymore."
Seymara smiled and said, "I'm not angry with him." Her smile disappeared as quickly as it had come, when she turned to Link once again, but without really talking to him: "I just don't want anything to happen to him."
"Because no one will be able to kill Ganondorf?" Link replied clearly offended.
Struck and aghast, Seymara stared at him. It took a while before she found her voice again. "Is that what you think? That I only put up with you so that you will save Hyrule? What if it was the reason? Would you abandon the country?"
"Of course you do! Would you even talk to me if I wasn't the chosen hero?", Link talked back, anger filling his voice. "You don't care about me! You only care about the chosen hero!"
"That's not true! Why would you think I'd set up an army and gather allies? Only for you to not carry the burden alone!" she yelled back. An outburst of emotion Link hadn't expected. It silenced him.
Seymara shook her head in disappointment and turned away from him, walking slowly up and down the room. "I think it's time you grow up and start trusting your comrades. You're not all alone this time! You trusted Midn-"
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't know who Midna is," he exclaimed. "I don't know why you bring her up all the time!"
Seymara looked at him with sympathy. "Forgive me. I shouldn't have. You cannot remember her because the fairy queen has taken away your memories of her," Seymara whispered, looking at him with empty eyes. "She thought it was for the best." She sighed and raised her hand, magic twirling around her fingers. "In consideration of your behavior today, I should have done the same and freed you from your other memories as well, so nothing could distract you!"
The magic disappeared and she turned away once more. "Can't you see? You're putting the people you love in danger?"
Her eyes were bright again. As if life had returned to her, they flashed in the same mysteriously deep brown as on the day they first met.
"If you wish, I can strengthen the fairy queen's spell!"
Enora looked curiously at Link, who looked as though he couldn't believe what he had just heard.
Thoughts flashed through his mind. He remembered the fairy queen's words. "Hero Link, you must put your past behind you! Everything that's happened is over and won't come back. Clear your thoughts of all memories that will hinder you in your task. You must concentrate on the things to come."
Then what Seymara had said more than three months ago in the Shrine of Eternity: "Without the fairy queen, you would never have made it this far. You were lucky to have met her. ... The fairy queen made sure you could fully focus on your task. ... Link, don't worry about it, face your new task. There's no point in dwelling on the past."
Is that what they meant? His memories were taken away from him?
Is that why he could only remember fragments? And now Seymara wanted to repeat the whole ordeal? Make it worse?
"You don't have to make up your mind right away," Seymara said in a husky voice. "You can always come to me once you've made a decision."
Link clenched his fists. Why did everyone think they could boss him around?! Mess with his head the way they wanted to? And talk about it as if it was a normal thing to do?
Everybody wanted to control him.
He wanted to yell at Seymara! Tell her what he thought of all of this! But he kept quiet. He remained silent and bottled up all the anger.
Seymara turned around, but before she reached the door she looked back for a moment. "I'll leave the ocarina with you. I trust you to use it wisely! Never put yourself or others in danger, you hear me?" Her gaze penetrated him, as if she was looking straight into his soul. As if she could see a future that Link could not even imagine. Then she left the room without another word.
"Link, would you like to play?" Enora asked after a few minutes of awkward silence, tugging at his tunic.
As if waking up from a deep slumber, he moved and nodded slowly.
v~v*v~v*v~v
"Attack!"
Several shadowy creatures blasted through Kakariko's snow-covered and broad street.
With their broken antlers they shattered the doors of the houses and smashed everything inside. They were looking for a specific person. He must be here. They smelled his scent.
They had picked it up in a remote village in the southern parts of Hyrule. It was the hero's smell. He had to be somewhere. Yet they couldn't find him and it made them furious.
Whoever crossed the Shadows' path was never to be seen again. Crying out in pain was the last they did before the darkness swallowed them.
"That's enough! Bring the prisoner here," a female voice sneered. The creatures paused and dragged a Hylian through the snow to present him to the woman. It was Renado.
The fiery red hair of the woman glimmered in the light of the rising sun and looked like real flames were surrounding her face. Behind her, a much larger man had appeared.
"Leave him alone, Xera. He's not the one we're looking for," he said calmly and looked at the prisoner. The Shadows surrounded the scene and gave the priest a longing glance.
The woman just grinned. "But he must know where the hero is. After all, he's good friends with him."
Her eyes lit up wickedly. She approached the shaman.
"Where's Link hiding," she inquired while narrowing her eyes to slits. She used her magical ability to read his mind. She could find nothing of interest. Although he had met Link many times, there were no memories to suggest the Hylian's current whereabouts.
Renado shook his head slightly without taking his eyes off of her.
"Come on!" Xera yelled at him. She reached for her whip with two sharp blades at its end.
"So: Where. Is. He?" she repeated furiously, grasping her weapon menacingly. It couldn't be. They had combed all of Hyrule for months, but every lead had come to nothing. Many have met the hero, but nobody knew where he was. As if he had completely vanished.
Renado didn't answer. The Shadows came closer.
"TELL ME!" Transforming her anger into strength, she threw her weapon down onto Renado. The blades whizzed through the air. They hit bull's eye, cut deep into the flesh and pierced some ribs. Hot blood stained the stirred snow. Before his dead body could touch the ground, the shadows lunged at the shaman. Within seconds his body was torn into a thousand pieces. His blood trickled away in the snow.
Xera turned around and looked into the disappointed face of the giant behind her.
"You really have to learn to restrain yourself," Lugh said with concern. "If he had known, he can't tell us anymore."
Insulted, the redhead snorted: "If you hadn't let Link get away, we would have saved ourselves all this trouble in the first place, Lugh! All because of one little dagger!"
"Like I said, I got startled, that's all," he defended himself and rubbed his giant paw over his shoulder. "To be honest, I find all of this far too amusing to regret what happened."
Xera could not help but smile. "You're right." She lifted the blade that was still dripping blood to her mouth and licked up the red fluid. "I've had better," she muttered thoughtfully, casting a pejorative glance at the rampaging mob of creatures still working through the dead body. "Let's leave!" With a wink of her hand, the shadow creatures flocked together and took on a new shape. It was that of a dragon. Its head was huge and covered with plates of armor-like bone, its mouth was so big that it could devour a whole group of people with one bite. With thousands of sharp, dagger-like teeth, it could easily shred their soft bodies and crush bones. Instead of eyes, two gigantic horns grew on the sides of the massive skull.
Lugh simply nodded. "What do you suggest we do next?"
Xera jumped onto the dragon's back and held onto a spike that grew out of the dragon's back with one hand. The dragon rose to his strong legs.
"We return to the castle," Xera commanded. With a few strong beats of its leathery wings, the dragon took flight. He held his muscular limbs close to the long, snake-like body while he set off.
Without another signal from its rider, the beast rose into the sky and glided off to the west.
Lugh followed on the ground. His strong legs made the earth shake beneath him.
All that remained was a ruined village, blood splattered in the snow and footprints that lead away from the site of the massacre.
v~v*v~v*v~v
A green flash flickered through the room as Link yanked up his hand and blocked the beam with a blue barrier before he countered with another magic blast.
His opponent skillfully jumped out of its reach, landed on her hands, bounced and flipped back just to land in front of Link. She kept herself very close to the ground. Supported on both hands and one knee Enora brought Link down with her other leg.
The Hylian, surprised by the unexpected attack, stumbled and landed painfully on his back.
"Very good, Aderu," commented Seymara. "Link, you must do bette -"
A Goron, who had come rushing in through the door, interrupted her: "Kakariko has just been attacked."
Without another word, Seymara hurried out of the room, followed by Link and Enora, who had hesitated only briefly. For the first time the Hylian could see a hint of fear on the woman's face and it frightened him much more than he was willing to admit.
While she was still walking she pulled out her ocarina and played the intuitive melody that brought her, Link and Enora to Kakariko.
When they arrived, the Ordonian had to orientate himself first. Were they really in Kakariko? Everything looked so different.
Wood and stones that had once formed houses were lying in clumps on the street. Only the foundation walls of the buildings were still standing - if there was anything left of a building at all.
Horrified, Link walked through the former village, which was nothing more than a heap of rubble. A hand reached for his shoulder and stopped him.
"Wait, Link," Seymara mumbled. The young man returned her gaze and could well imagine what she intended to say.
"Renado and Luda are...," he began, but could not finish the sentence.
The woman nodded slowly as she began to walk, followed by Enora who looked around cautiously as if she expected to be attacked any moment.
"Xera can read minds. Now you understand why I didn't tell Renado where we were hiding," Seymara explained. Her voice was cold and plain. She felt no sympathy for the deceased shaman and his daughter or at least hid it very well. "I thought I could protect him with this." When she turned around, her eyes were empty again, as if they had absorbed all the death that was looming between the destroyed walls.
v~v*v~v*v~v
"Well, what did you find out?" The fake Zelda was lurking on the throne with her legs crossed over the left armrest.
"Nothing. There was nothing to be found anywhere. Neither in Zora's Domain or the desert, nor in Kakariko. Apparently the goatherd and his babysitter have left the country." Xera grinned slyly. "Fled like a cowardly dog!"
The princess also grinned widely, but only briefly before she rose in annoyance and walked to a table with a map of Hyrule spread out on it.
"I don't believe they're outside the borders. Not even in Kakariko, then? That means we've searched all of Hyrule," she murmured.
"Not yet. There's one place missing," Lugh replied and pointed on the map.
The two women stared at the giant with a greedy grin on their faces. Yes, one spot was still untouched. Far to the south, in the forests of Ordona.
v~v*v~v*v~v
Hopelessly Link crept around among the debris of Kakariko. The snow was covered in red stains. The sight turned his stomach. He could not believe what he saw.
He had known the inhabitants. The people had grown as close as family to him. But they were gone. Everyone had left! Just when Kakariko was slowly recovering.
"Link?" He looked up and saw Enora standing next to Seymara and two Gorons who had just arrived and waved him over. The sadness she felt reflected on the girl's face.
He nodded halfheartedly and realized that he couldn't leave Kakariko despite the terrible sight. Something held him here. Leaving now felt wrong. He wanted to do something. He wanted to help. At least bury the remains of the dead.
Anger was building up inside him. He wanted to see the murderers suffer! He wanted to massacre them. Every single one of them! He wanted to avenge his friends.
"Link!" Seymara pulled him from his thoughts.
He managed to avert his gaze and return to the women.
"It's not good for us to stay here for too long," Seymara remarked.
Before the next word crossed her lips, Yae appeared next to her in a cloud of smoke. His brown hair stuck to his sweaty forehead and blood dripped from a cut on his arm. His clothes were torn in several places, showing the grazed skin underneath.
"I finally found you," he gasped. "Ordon Village's under attack!"
It's been a while ^^;
Situation job-wise has gotten worse on my side and I have to work a lot more than I expected (and I was expecting I have to work a lot). I'm too tired to do any proper internet stuff or to prepare Somewhere chapters. So I have one more chapter finished to upload and will do so if I feel like interneting.
On the positive side: It'll be over much sooner and I'll be back to more or less normal free time by December or at least beginning of next year. Chapter uploads should then continue as normal.
Hope everyone of you is having a nice time. Leave a comment if you like. It sure makes my day and is the best support you can provide for me right now :)
~Freiha