Chapter 5
Russel had reported to the red brick Ordonville barracks as ordered, riding up on his horse Xavier. In any other town it might have been considered an unusual mode of transportation, but not in Ordonville, and he wasn't the only old-timer who arrived with such transportation. There were a few dozen horses tied up just outside of the Guard command post that didn't have strictly R.H.M.G. regulation saddles. It was just a pale reflection of how many Ordonians had served in his majesty's Guard as cavalrymen over the past several decades, being able to patrol rough terrain where motorized vehicles couldn't go. Several of them still had their owners riding up and dismounting, among them was a face from Russel's past.
"Claude?" He asked the other horseback rider in the gray cavalry uniform as he pulled up alongside him. "Claude Mason?"
"Hey, Russel!" Claude said, slapping the other man on the back. "Haven't seen you since the last unit reunion, what, ten years ago?"
"Something like that." Russel said. They both dismounted, and removed their helmets. "I've been busy, raising the family, feeding the livestock, that kind of thing."
"Yeah." Claude said. "Your boy came through my inn up across the gorge a few nights past. Good lad that one. You did well raising him for Sara. She'd be proud of the man he's become."
"I hope so." Russel replied non-commitally as they walked through the reinforced metal doors of the barracks. "I've been wondering if letting him go was the right thing, now, with all the trouble it's caused."
"Rubbish," Claude said, "Look at what the boy did! You can't stop a man from his destiny, and we don't always get to choose the consequences of that destiny for ourselves or anyone else, Russ; especially not that one. You can't blame him for what everyone else does with it. He's got to be who he is, just like you and I have to be who we are; the best damned cavalrymen in the whole of Ordon."
"The whole of Hyrule, you mean." Russel picked up on the old inside joke. "I don't think these new boys they're turning out in Castleton know which way to get on the horse."
Inside, they were directed straight back to the large yard outside behind the building where the barracks' patrol and response vehicles were kept. They were met by a few hundred of their fellow Guardsmen, many of them were much younger than Russel and Claude, but there were almost as many men with gray in their hair and mustaches with out of style uniforms as there were younger men reporting in from the reserves.
"Looks like all the rest of us old-timers in Ordonville and surrounding showed up for the party too." Claude observed. He then spied a group of almost a dozen Ordonian men wearing cavalry uniforms from decades ago, similar to theirs. "And there's our boys."
The two moved over to join their old unit. A younger officer, a lieutenant by the look of him, was taking down information from them. Russel walked up and presented him, "Lieutenant Captain Russel Swordsmith, acting commanding officer, 3rd Cavalry Ordon Province, reporting for duty as requested sir."
The young officer heard the name and looked up from his paperwork, "Lieutenant Captain Swordsmith, sir." He addressed him. He was a blond Hylian kid, fresh out of officer's training by the look of him. "It's an honor." He said.
"The king called, I answered." Russel said flatly. He had never needed anyone to be honored by his presence. "Do we have deployment orders yet?"
"Yes, if your unit's complete." The officer told him, checking his paperwork. "We need cavalry for special assignment to a command post in Faron Woods."
"There is no command post in Faron Woods, lad. It's too enchanted, everyone knows that. Not safe for anyone." Claude told him. "That's why highway one goes around it and not through it."
"The post is on a need to know basis by king's orders." The officer said. "I was just told about it myself about half an hour ago. "Your experience on horseback will be an asset in getting there and augmenting the existing guard units already posted."
"When do we leave?" Russel asked.
"If you and your mounts are all ready to ride, as soon as you sign here that you've received your orders and accepted re-enlistment for the duration of active hostilities between the United Kingdom of Hyrule and the Republic of Hyrule, sir. It'll take several hours to reach, even on horseback. It's now eight o'clock. You're asked to be in position by dawn."
"Alright boys, everyone else sign the man's papers?" Russel asked.
"Yes, sir." They all affirmed.
Russel then signed his own name in large Hylian letters, followed by Claude. "3rd Cavalry Unit, Ordon Province, mount up!" He commanded.
"Look, Mickey," Shepherd started, trying to figure out how to say this, "some of the people we're with, they may not understand or react well to uh,... to seeing you uh..." He gestured to all of the mouse, still not sure as to how to explain the problem without sounding like a jerk.
Mickey stood there smiling, waiting for him to finish his explanation. Seeing Shepherd's difficulty, Link took over, "What he means to say, is that some of our people have also heard of you and may be so distracted by seeing you they can't concentrate on what they're supposed to be doing."
"Right!" Shepherd agreed, nodding a thank you towards Link.
"Oh, right." Mickey replied. "I think I understand." He drew his black leather hood over his head and then vanished. "Don't worry, I'm still here. It's just a spell. If you need me, I'll be right near by," said a high pitched disembodied voice.
They had returned the broken Sage to his residence to get some real sleep. Shepherd had thought maybe they should take him back to the palace to get some medical help or at least some counseling, but Link advised against it. "What regular mortal counselor is going to know how to help him recover from this?" He asked. "Let him get some real sleep tonight, and we'll contact the Sage of Time in the morning. He'll know more about how to help him through it."
Neither Shepherd nor Mickey could disagree with his logic, but the military commander was still a bit uneasy. "I still don't want to leave him alone by himself right now. Not after what the guy has been through." He said. As he pulled on the main door, it slid open easily. He called out to the nearest guardsman he could see, an older Hylian man. "Guardsman, come here."
The man came rushing over, "Yes, sir?"
"The Sage of Time is back in his residence asleep, but I don't really want him by himself right now. I want you to go and stand guard in his residence while he sleeps. He's been through a lot, and he was pretty out of it and shaken up when we found him. You don't have to stand over his bed, but just be nearby when he wakes up. Keep your sword handy as well. We're pretty sure we got all the shadow creatures we found, but just keep your eyes open." Shepherd instructed him.
"Shadow creatures, sir?" The guardsman asked nervously.
"You'll know it if one's there. The residence is through the doorway to your right and down the hall." Shepherd told him.
"Yes, sir." The guardsman said, he then noticed the four foot mouse in the black leather robe, and quickly glanced away.
"He's with us." Link told him.
"Understood, sir. Anything further?" The guardsman asked.
"Nope, just keep an eye on our friend back there." Shepherd said.
The guardsman nodded then moved off to carry out his instructions. They could hear the sound of his footfalls slowly fading as he moved deeper into the Temple.
Mickey pulled his hood over his head just as they exited the main entry doors of the Temple, and all the guards who observed them coming out saw was the two men exiting that had entered, exhausted, but seeming no worse the wear.
"I need a good cup of coffee." Shepherd said out loud as they passed between the two pools. "Strong tea would be welcome." Link agreed. Their invisible companion remained silent on the subject, but Shepherd made a mental note to try and make sure he didn't get forgotten, invisible or not, when the tea pot got passed around. He really wished coffee grew in Hyrule for days like this.
He still had to report to Zelda, and check on Rodney's progress on his secret project. He also had to check in with the war room and get an update on enemy movements. Link would be joining him for all of it, he knew, and he suspected the mouse wouldn't be far behind. Heck, after his performance in the Temple, Shepherd could even be glad of that, weird or not.
"General, sir." A guardsman flagged him down, running up to him. "Guard command has requested yours and Supreme Commander Link's presence in the war room immediately. They said it was urgent."
"Okay, we were headed that way anyway." Shepherd told him. "They didn't happen to mention what they wanted at," he checked his watch, "three o'clock in the morning, did they?"
"No sir," the guardsman replied, "It was your eyes and above only."
"Oh boy." He responded. "I guess we stop in the war room first then."
"I have a car waiting, sir." The guardsman said.
"Lead the way." Link told him, gesturing. He discreetly motioned behind him for Mickey to follow.
Rodney, being up on a ladder, had his hands in the innards of a Castleton street lamp, replacing the incandescent bulb with something a little more exotic. "Alright, a little adjustment here, and... voila! It's connected. Now, let's see if it will accept the juice without blowing up or something." He said as he connected the voltage lines to the small blue crystal and restored the flow of power. The crystal glowed with a tiny sapphire light, but nothing more interesting, or disastrous, happened.
"Good. Very good. So far, so good." Rodney said, monitoring it for a few more minutes. "So, one down, uh..." he checked his calculations again, "two hundred to go." He said with a yawn. "Okay, stay focused, McKay."
He climbed down the ladder, and packed up his equipment. At two other points in the city, Phil and Afredo were performing the exact same procedure. He listened on the radio as the two wizards reported in their successes with the experimental installations.
"Okay, Corporal," he said to the Guard driver, "Next street light down the block." They would be working all the rest of the night, he knew, but once they were done, if it worked as he hoped it would, it would be worth it.
It had been Afredo's idea actually to use the existing street lamps along the circumference that Phil had drawn out as emitters. All they really needed for it to work was to plug the tiny blue crystals into a power source, and set them all off at once with the right spell. The city's power grid would do the rest. The biggest downside was that they couldn't test it until they needed it. By Rodney's calculations, it wouldn't even be finished at this rate until six o'clock in the morning, right when the sun came up.
"Shepherd to McKay." Came Shepherd's voice over the two way radio.
"Yeah, go for McKay." Rodney answered with another yawn.
"Rodney what's the status on that project we talked about?" Shepherd asked.
"Uh, I just installed the first emitter about a minute ago, Afredo and Phil should have their first ones up too, so I'm thinking around six-ish or so. Are we in a hurry?" He asked, not really wanting an honest answer.
"That'll be pushing it, but I guess it'll do. Supreme Command just got word from coastal radar and satellite observation. The eastern Republic launched about five dozen assault gyrocopters half an hour before I got here. They'll be over the field and Castleton by six. We need to have it up and running preferably before they get here." Shepherd told him.
"You're just trying to pressure me to work harder, aren't you?" Rodney asked sarcastically. "Oh, let's put Rodney under the threat of death again."
"Just get it done McKay. Dawn's coming faster than we want it to today. Shepherd out." Shepherd told him.
McKay's vehicle stopped at the next street lamp. "Okay, let's do this." He said, getting out and putting the ladder into place again.
Just then a loud wail began across the city, and an even louder mature female voice called out from an unseen source. "All civilians, by royal order please relocate on foot to the Castleton city center for your own safety. This is not drill. All civilians, by royal order please relocate on foot to the Castleton city center for your own safety. This is not a drill."
Lights came on all over what had been a dark neighborhood around Rodney, as dogs started barking, and people began moving about in confusion. Within minutes, people came pouring out of their apartment buildings and homes, some of them still in their nightclothes, all of them headed deeper into the city towards Old Castle Town. "Oh that's just great, John!" He said in exasperation while he replaced the next bulb. "Clog the streets while I've got to get around the city quickly!" He started working faster, knowing that if he didn't get it done, the middle of the city would be the worst place for anyone to be.
Link had left Shepherd in the Supreme Command war room after learning of the now definite invasion. Most of the Guardsmen which had been stationed in Castleton had been re-deployed to Hyrule field where it was calculated that the bulk of the invading force would land. The retired Guardsmen from the city and the surrounding villages who had answered the call up that night, and there were many, were now being used to direct the crowds and augment the internal city and palace defenses.
Shepherd's place had naturally been in the war room, directing the defenses. He was a natural military strategist and had more experience with warfare than Hyrule's own native generals had in the last several decades. But Link's place, in spite of his own considerable experience, was with his majesty and the princess. They had their own bodyguards it was true, but none of them could match Link's fighting skills, and Shepherd agreed. Link's place was guarding the royal family from a direct attack on the palace. Link didn't know exactly where Mickey had gone, the mouse had been quiet as a... well, a mouse since they left the Temple of Light.
His majesty and her highness had been in their own apartments, asleep in the east wing of the palace when Link and Shepherd had returned. At least that was the last place they were supposed to be, so that was where Link had headed.
When he arrived, he was surprised to find both king and princess awake and dressed. His majesty wore the suit of clothes he had on from earlier in that day without the jacket as well as his crown. Zelda wore tan ladies' trousers, riding boots, and a modest pink blouse with silver highlights. A thin diadem of gold sat atop her brow. His majesty's suit now bore the additional accessory of a sizable sword strapped to his back, and a very noticeable black colored pistol sidearm holstered at his left breast.
"Your majesty, I came to see you and the princess to safety. There are rooms in the old dungeons deep below where I can take you where no one can reach you." Link told the older man.
The king looked him in the eye and said, "I'm not going anywhere, my son. Not while my kingdom is threatened."
Link looked to Zelda, hoping that she might talk some sense into her father, but she slowly shook her head, "Our place is with our people." She said, "Not hiding in a hole. They need to see us standing strong. How can they have courage if we hide like cowards?" She asked.
Link couldn't argue, but he did say adamantly, "Then I'm still staying with you."
"Good. You can lead us into the center of Old Castle Town so that we can be visible to the people and encourage them." His majesty told him.
Link had a really bad feeling about the king's plans, but he couldn't contradict the man. "Okay, then let's go."
A command post of sorts had been set up in front of the fountain in the center of Old Castle Town. Retired Guardsmen that had been recalled surrounded the town square on foot and on horseback to oversee security. Royal Family Protection agents in their black suits were everywhere among the crowd of people that flooded into the walls of the Old Town trying to weed out the adults who had successfully sneaked past the guards at the gates.
All of the children of the city had been carefully taken into the Old Town behind the ancient walls where it was thought they might be safer, while their parents and other adults had been asked to stay outside. There was no room for all of the hundreds of thousands of people behind the portcullises and drawbridges that someone in the royal family had had the foresight to maintain in working order and even upgrade for all of those centuries. It wasn't well known among the people, but the walls and gates had been regularly enchanted and fortified to withstand the pounding of artillery fire.
It was cold and damp at that hour of the morning. The sun still hadn't risen, and there were children in the square who hadn't brought blankets, or some of them even proper coats. The Princess had quickly seen to it that every one of them received something to stay warm with, as well as warm drinks. She stood near by the fountain telling stories of the ancient legends through a microphone and speakers which had been brought in. Those children, Hylian, Goron, Ordonian, and even a few Zora here and there who were awake to hear it were wide eyed at the way she told them as though she herself had personally been there. There were so many children filling the streets and sidewalks of the Old Town that the pavement could barely be seen for the small bodies sitting, standing, or lying down.
King Daphnes worked near the fountain as well trying to coordinate the city's guard response. He knew there were other men who could do the task, but it was his city and his people, and he wanted them to know he was with them in this.
Link stood in position in between Zelda and the king trying to keep an eye on both. They promised him they wouldn't allow themselves to be too far away from him if things really got bad. So far, it had just been a big impromptu children's slumber party hosted by the royal family as far as the Hero could see, but he hadn't been outside the walls. He knew there would have to be panicked people out there.
It was an hour until dawn, and the sky was already starting to get a little lighter. The children were getting tired, and many were asleep as Zelda continued to talk, sipping from a strong cup of tea. Then, Link's sharp ears began to pick up what sounded like the distant buzzing of bees; lots and lots of bees.
"Here we go." Link whispered to himself, knowing what the buzzing sound portended.
Zelda continued to talk until the buzzing sound grew louder, and then her voice died away as she looked to the sky. Link looked too, but could make anything out yet.
Then there was a great flash of energy like lightning several feet in front of Link. When the smoke had cleared from the strike, there was an older, bald man with a long gray goatee and yellow eyes standing there, dressed in a black leather robe similar to the one Mickey had been wearing. In his right hand was a wicked looking black weapon that had the vaguest resemblance to an old key. The old man fixed his eyes on Link and grinned.
There were a number of sleeping children in between the old man and Link. The old man flicked the fingers of his left hand and they were roughly pushed across the cobblestones of the street to the sides, creating a pathway. The old man began to walk slowly towards the Hero. Link drew his sword and shield, though he worried about all the children around them that might get caught in between them. This isn't the right place for this! He thought.
"Finally," The old man said, gazing at the Master Sword in Link's hand, "after so many years of searching and trying to recreate it from scratch, here it is. The Chi-Blade. The true Chi-Blade." He sounded almost giddy with excitement. "And a young new body to wield it for me." He smiled evilly.
"Xehanort I presume." Link said, unimpressed. "You're not welcome here."
"Oh? How rude of me." He laughed. "Well, then I'll just take what I came for and go."
Well that's enough conversation, Link thought to himself, and launched himself into the air to deliver a strike to the old man's head. But the old man raised his hand and Link froze in mid air. He then snapped his fingers and the Hero fell to the ground hard. Unwilling to stay down, Link jumped back to his feet and spun himself up to deliver a forceful strike to the old man, but he blocked it with his own weapon easily. Link came at him again and again from every angle he knew, spinning and vaulting around him and the man managed to catch every blow of his sword with his own key shaped blade. Link raised the Master Sword high to charge it and the man took advantage of the slight pause in his attacks to hit him in the stomach with the blunt side of his own weapon, knocking the wind out of him. The old man then kicked Link to the ground and batted the Master Sword from his hand. He gestured with his hand and the sacred blade flew into it.
"Identity unrecognized!" Came the mechanized female voice of Fi, the intelligent spirit of the blade as the hilt began to heat up in Xehanort's hand. "Oh really?" The old man cackled, and ice began to cover the hilt. Fi's scream could be heard across the town's square. "Now you will recognize your true master." He told the sword.
He then turned his attention back to Link, "And now for my new, younger body. I think I will enjoy being a teenager again." He said gleefully as he moved to stand over Link, his own keyblade in his right hand, and the Master Sword in his left. He raised the Master Sword with its point aimed at Link's heart and moved to drive it into Link's body.
But then there was a flash of movement and some large bulk got in the way as red blood began to spill from the wound which had been opened up in his majesty's chest. "Not my... not my..." The king struggled to finish his sentence, his blue eyes defiant against the evil man.
Xehanort felt a stab of pain in his own side and found the king's sword had found its own mark. The wound was painful, but not fatal. Xehanort cried out from the pain, raging at the muscular man who had gotten in his way.
"DADDY!" Zelda screamed at the sight of her father impaled upon the blade of evil's bane by an evil man. "NO!"
Careful Gunfire lit up around Xehanort as the Guardsmen who had been watching the whole thing finally took the shots they thought they could. They had held off because of fear of hitting his majesty, Link, or the children surrounding them, but they couldn't take the chance not to now. But it was to no avail, the bullets stopped of their own accord within inches of Xehanort, and none of them touched him.
Xehanort unsheathed the sword from the King's chest and slid his majesty's body onto the ground next to the Hero's form, Link tried to get up, to roll over, to do anything, but he couldn't, he was pinned by some unseen force. The life drained out of the king's eyes as he lay there bleeding on the ground, and then he exhaled his last breath.
"Noble, but useless." Xehanort said slowly. "I will rip your soul from that body and cast it into oblivion, boy. Then it will become the new vessel for my own dark soul, and with it I shall awaken and spread the darkness across all worlds!"
Once again, Xehanort raised the Master Sword and began its downward plunge into Link's immobilized form. And then it was blocked again by the flash of something gold. A golden key shaped weapon stood between Xehanort and his prey.
"Not today, Xehanort. It's over!" Mickey shouted as he went on the attack against his taller opponent.
"It is for you, mouse!" Xehanort shouted back as he wielded the two blades against the four foot swordsmouse. Then he felt the sting of pure light hit his shoulder. "What is this?!" he cried out in pain. And then he looked up. He then experienced an emotion he hadn't felt in a long time. It was pure terror.
Standing over Link's form was the form of a young woman with pointed ears, long hair that seemed to be made of pure, golden, radiant light. In the twilight of dawn, she shone like a new born sun. Her eyes, completely filled with radiant light were filled with tears of sunlight, and in her hands was a golden bow with an arrow knocked and drawn and aimed directly at him.
Beneath her protective stance, Link couldn't believe what he was saying, "The rules, Zelda..." he said weakly, "We can't... You can't interfere like this... Not like this..."
The second arrow was let fly, and a third one was knocked. Xehanort couldn't stop the arrow as it hit him in the chest and dropped him to his knees. "No!" He screamed. "I will not be denied! All things must return to the darkness!" He shouted. Another arrow struck him, and a fourth was knocked and the bow was drawn again.
"I have what I came for," he said in defeat. He crossed the two weapons in his hands and disappeared in a great plume of smoke.
Zelda lowered her bow and arrow, tears of light falling to the ground as she knelt over the body of her fallen father. "I can't..." She whimpered. "I can't bring you back daddy, I'm sorry. I've already gone too far." She wept bitterly.
"You... you broke the rules." Link said, still barely able to rise. "We have... we have to do this as mortals." he said weakly.
Mickey's mouth had been hanging open as he gazed upon the wonderful, beautiful angel of light before him, his hands hanging down at his side, the end of the keyblade resting on the ground. He had never seen anything, or anyone more radiant and beautiful as this... as this goddess was in all of his life. It broke his heart bitterly to see her in pain or upset, and it made him angry that once again Xehanort had hurt good people. He finally heard Link's whispered protests and snapped himself out of it. He ran to the fallen Hero's side to give him whatever aid he could. "I'm sorry pal," he said sincerely, "I should have reacted sooner. I was across the town square with some of the children telling them some of my own stories."
Mickey looked his friend over, and didn't like what he saw. In the middle of Link's stomach was a sickly dark bruise that seemed to ooze darkness like a poison trying to infect Link's body. "Uh, your highness, uh, no that's not right... your gloriousness... uh, oh, Zelda!" He called out to the light filled princess.
Zelda looked up to see who was calling her and saw the funny looking large black mouse waving her over to her fallen beloved. She wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her blouse, and stood up. As she did she looked upon the faces of everyone in the square. Television cameras which had been set up around the square to televise anything of importance that went on or needed to be addressed to the nation were now pointed at her. Children were crying in fear. Those adults that were in the square were on their knees in adoration, their faces bowed low to the ground in humility. I didn't want any of this, she thought to herself. I never wanted any of this. She could feel the energy of their belief in her flowing into her being. She hadn't fully ascended, but had called upon all the power she could while remaining in the physical world, and it was growing by the second as every person in the kingdom who was watching the television at that moment fed her power with their faith. She could hear the terrified reporter trying to do his job while showing the proper reverence for his goddess, "...the Lady Hylia has just manifested herself in full glory and driven off the unknown sorcerer that felled the Hero of Hyrule..." This has to be stopped, she thought to herself. It all has to be stopped. Xehanort, me, all of it.
She went to Link's side and saw what the mouse had seen. It was a sliver of darkness that was feeding on the horrors of darkness that had built up within the soul of her beloved over the eons of their struggles. She could see into his very being and see it slowly poisoning his soul as he tried valiantly to fight it off. She kissed her finger and touched it to his lips saying, "Sleep love, rest." And Link fell completely unconscious. "It's time for the princess to save the Hero and the kingdom." She smiled sadly at the thought.
"Is he going to be okay?" Mickey asked worried. "That looks really bad."
"He's going to sleep now so he can focus on his fight within. He'll need all his energy to conquer the living nightmares." She said, her voice taking on a resonance of power. "The source of the poison of darkness must be destroyed. Will you help me, friend?" She asked the mouse.
"Of course, princess. Let's end this once and for all." Mickey said with determination.
"Then come with me. He knew about the Master Sword, there's only one place he now needs to go." She took his four fingered hand in her own radiant slender feminine one.
"Where are we going?" Mickey asked.
"The Temple of Time, little mouse. But first, we need to pick up a very special weapon that my friends from Atlantis have created for us." Zelda told him. She held his hand tight, and the two of them disappeared from the square in a flash of light.